The city. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
The deadline for San Francisco to finalize its plan to increase the number of housing units over the next eight years is approaching, but already local politicians are wondering if the goals set by the state are realistic.
Driving the news: Last week, the board of supervisors met to discuss the city’s housing element, which is to show California regulators how San Francisco plans to build 82,000 homes, 46,000 of which are to be affordable.
Why is this important: Without an approved plan by January 31, 2023, San Francisco risks losing state funding grants for affordable housing and more, as well as losing local control over zoning laws. This means that, in theory, developers would be able to build any type of residential buildings they want, as long as they meet safety, environmental and affordability standards.
- Sticking to the plan, however, could massively increase the city’s housing production given that it averaged 3,500 new units per year between 2010 and 2020.
- Pro-growth camps say rising inventories will bring relief to home buyers and renters in what has become one of the country’s most expensive markets.
Yes, but: How will the city find the money to meet the state’s affordable housing goal, supervisors asked during last week’s hearing.
What they say : “What you have here is a state government that … doesn’t put its money where it belongs,” supervisor Aaron Peskin told Axios. “If you want to tell us what to do, then send us a check to help us do it.”
By the numbers: Today, the city funds about 40% of construction costs for new affordable housing, with 60% coming from other sources, including state grants, said Anne Stanley, spokeswoman for the mayor’s office for housing and community development, in Axios.
- As Stanley put it: “The production of new affordable housing depends on state funding; San Francisco cannot produce the required number of homes without significant state investment.
Reality check: For the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year, Stanley said his department (the city’s main source of funding for 100% affordable housing projects) has budgeted $649 million for affordable housing and development. It would take about an additional $1.3 billion to meet the state’s goal for the year.
The other side: Sacramento lawmakers, including Sen. Scott Wiener, criticized the supervisors’ response.
- “Would I like to see the state put more money into affordable housing? Sure,” Wiener told Axios. “But the idea that the state is responsible for all of San Francisco’s housing problems is just ridiculous.”
- Wiener said Council should maintain the zoning changes outlined in the housing component, which would bring more density to the west side of town, in particular. He also pointed to the need to streamline permitting processes, which he said are “the worst in the state…in terms of time, complexity and political interference.”
On his side, Wiener says he is working on a few bills over the next year that he hopes will help, including a measure that would allow religious institutions to build 100% affordable housing on their land.
And after: The Planning Commission will work to get state approval on the housing element in December before heading to the oversight board to be formally adopted by the end of January.
- And then, as Wiener said, “You do your best to build as much as you can.”