A half-century of obstruction against new housing across much of San Francisco has boiled down to 30 days: That’s how long state housing regulators gave City Hall to move swiftly with changes. And yet officials are almost certain to blow past the deadline.
Missing this key timeline would potentially put the city on a path losing control of local housing rules — something akin to a state takeover of a dysfunctional school district.
At the end of October, after more than a year of investigation, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) issued its long-awaited audit of SF’s housing permitting and development process. The review demanded immediate reforms, giving the city until November 24 to pass a first set of rule revisions or face possible sanctions.
The state watchdogs singled out an already-proposed package of new rules, known as “constraints reduction,” that would satisfy many of their demands. The legislation, however, has been stuck in committee for months, as supervisors pitch new suites of amendments and the city attorney’s office labors to vet them.
During an Oct. 2 meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee, Sup. Aaron Peskin said planning codes needed to be inspected one by one, like old cans of peas in the back of a pantry, as reported by The Frisc. Committee chair Sup. Myrna Melgar objected to the relitigation. Nevertheless, earlier this month, she flew overseas to learn how Japanese elementary schools teach math. This week’s Land Use meeting did not address the constraints reduction package or other major zoning issues.
Now HCD says SF is highly unlikely to meet its November 24 deadline. “By delaying the adoption of the constraints reduction ordinance, it is almost certain the city will miss some of their first deadlines,” David Zisser, HCD’s assistant deputy director of housing policy, tells The Frisc via email.
In addition to passing constraints reduction, HCD wants the city to make these changes by Black Friday:
- Eliminate Planning Commission hearings for most kinds of code-compliant housing projects.
- Eliminate the city’s double standards for zoning-compliant projects in the name of “neighborhood character” and “compatibility.”
- Allow developers access to state density bonus laws without having to go through the Planning Commission “when no other entitlements are required.”
- Pass the constraints reduction ordinance and implement the parts of the Housing Element highlighted in HCD’s June “letter of support.”
Zisser says legislation enacting all of the above would have to pass through the Land Use Committee; be affirmed twice by the full Board of Supervisors; and then get the mayor’s signature by the end of next week.
But supervisors have no regular meetings next week. There’s basically no time left.
The audit also singled out a few internal practices that do not require the passing of legislation (but for which the state will still expect some documentation down the line), and set additional deadlines for months and years down the line for more stringent reform.
The “can of peas” mindset has put the city in line for what could be dire consequences. One penalty is the “builder’s remedy” — a temporary suspension of most local zoning laws, which happened in Santa Monica last year when the Los Angeles-adjacent beach town failed to meet its own housing promises. During the three-week suspension, developers got 16 projects approved.
The state could also take over San Francisco’s development process entirely. That would be an unprecedented move, but so too was this audit.
Melgar, the District 7 supervisor, was not available for comment for this report, but staff member Jennifer Fieber emailed one of Melgar previous comments, saying that “currently this legislation, as drafted without amendments, is out of compliance with our own Housing Element” and that the supervisors have had no choice but to wait for it to be properly amended.
In addition, Melgar alleges that the original language in the bill concerning the rules around potential demolition of rent-controlled housing would itself have violated the city’s Housing Element.
Fellow Land Use committee members Peskin and Dean Preston did not return requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Sup. Joel Engardio, one of the cosponsors of the constraints reduction ordinance, said only that Engardio “wants to see housing opportunities” but until the package moves out of committee, the District 4 supervisor has little direct leverage. The staffer added the amendment work and “disagreement between some members” are responsible for the delays.
If, as predicted, SF misses this first major deadline, the state will issue a formal warning, presumably on November 27, the first business day after the holiday weekend. This would reset the clock for another 30 days — which could mean a new ultimatum between Christmas and New Year’s Day, when City Hall is quieter than an abandoned construction site.
It’s unclear if there’s even enough time for the normal legislative process, without emergency hearings, to produce what the state is asking for by then. The full board only has three more regular meetings on the calendar before its winter break.
Sup. Matt Dorsey, who also has sponsored the constraints reduction package, has been pushing board colleagues for weeks to show more urgency on housing issues, emphasizing the dire straits of HCD’s scrutiny. “We shouldn’t be testing the state,” Dorsey aide Madison Tam tells The Frisc.
Tam still thinks that supervisors could squeeze the package through the second 30-day window and avoid the builder’s remedy by year’s end, but she agreed this game of chicken — on what’s only the first of many big changes — probably won’t encourage regulators to take the city seriously.
Leading up to the passage of our major housing blueprint, the Housing Element, back in January, it became evident that not everyone appreciated the gravity of the situation. Now, as SF lawmakers must fill in the blueprint’s details, it feels like deja vu all over again.
The state’s hammer is over their heads. If they don’t move swiftly, legislators could return to City Hall after the break with one heck of a new year’s hangover.
Adam Brinklow covers housing, development, and more for The Frisc.