Housing Element

By March 2023, convene City leadership, staff, policymakers, affordable housing advocates, and industry experts to collaborate on an Affordable Housing Implementation and Funding Strategy that provides specific recommendations and responsible parties to achieve and sustain the substantial public funding from local, state, and federal sources, that would join with public-private partnerships, needed to achieve the RHNA targets of over 46,000 units affordable at low- and moderate-incomes. Assign appropriate City staff to include a budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and complete this effort by January 31, 2024.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Include affordable housing investment needs in annual City budget process and Capital Planning process to identify existing housing funding sources, funding gaps and potential new funding sources, including regular general fund allocations that can be made as part of the budget process and local general obligation bonds or other funding sources that require voter approval.

Existing Programs: City Budget; Capital Planning

Create a budgeting tool to track housing investments, including permanently affordable housing production, preservation, and housing services; including investments that advance community identified priority actions, per Action 4.1.3; tracking investments that advance racial and social equity, per Action 4.1.1 and achieve targets for investment in Well-resourced Neighborhoods as referenced in Action 1.2.1 and in Priority Equity Geographies.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Explore the development of public financing tools such as Infrastructure Finance Districts or a municipal bank to leverage the City’s co-investments in order to lower direct City subsidy for permanently affordable housing and/or increase feasibility of approved projects.

Existing Programs: Infrastructure Finance District

Continue to develop and support alternative and philanthropic funding sources to deliver permanently affordable housing faster and at a cheaper per unit cost through tools such as the Housing Accelerator Fund.

Existing Programs: Housing Accelerator Fund

Support the Bay Area Housing Financing Authority’s expected efforts to secure voter approval for a regional measure to fund permanently affordable housing.

Existing Programs: Bay Area Housing Financing Authority; (NEW)

Advocate for federal legislation to increase Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Private Activity Bonds (PAB), for example, by changing federal rules to lower the minimum bond financing needed to access 4% LIHTC (currently 50 percent) or increase the cap on PAB to help unlock more LIHTC in San Francisco and statewide.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Advocate for State legislation to change the voter approval threshold for General Obligation Bonds from two-thirds to at most 55 percent.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Advocate for State legislation to expand non-competitive, permanently affordable housing funding sources that would be distributed to jurisdictions by formula, like the Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA).

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Collaborate with key organizations to reform Proposition 13 (1978)0F for commercial property to provide funding support for local jurisdictions to meet their permanently affordable housing targets.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Assess the City’s capacity to finance a mixed-income and/ or mixed-use, social housing program.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Maintain the jobs-housing linkage program and adjust the fee levels based on an updated nexus study and feasibility study on a regular basis. Future nexus studies should evaluate adjustments in the Jobs-Housing Linkage Fee commensurate with commitments to hiring higher rates of San Francisco residents.

Existing Programs: Jobs-Housing Linkage Fee

Conduct a feasibility study in coordination with Action 1.1.12 to assess large employers’ affordable housing funding on an ongoing basis to complement the jobs-housing linkage requirements and provide paths for large employers to contribute funding to and/or partner with non-profit developers to provide homeownership opportunities.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Explore expanding jobs-housing linkage fees to large employer institutional developments (medical and educational) who are currently not subject to jobs-housing linkage fees, in coordination with Action 1.1.12.

Existing Programs: Jobs-Housing Linkage Fee

Increase staffing at responsible agencies for analysts and community development specialists to implement expanded affordable housing programs in relation to increased funding and targets and to incorporate community strategies into the implementation of the Housing Element.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual Budget

Expand redevelopment tax increment financing to complete the affordable housing programs of the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII) and to replace affordable units destroyed and never replaced.

Existing Programs: Redevelopment Tax Increment Financing

Build between 25% and 50% of the City’s new permanently affordable housing within Well-resourced Neighborhoods over the next two RHNA cycles, implementing the zoning strategies of Policy 20.

Existing Programs: MOHCD Consolidated Plan

Strategically acquire sites and identify targeted funding for land acquisition and banking for affordable housing throughout the city. This will include lots for consolidation that can accommodate permanently affordable housing of at least 50 to 100 units or more through publicly funded purchases, in balance with investment in affordable housing preservation and production and in strategic coordination with sites owned by religious, nonprofit, and public property owners. Prioritize sites of interest identified in coordination with American Indian, Black, and other communities of color. Consider sites that accommodate fewer than 50 units as additional affordable housing funding, financing, and operating approaches are secured.

Existing Programs: N/A

Prioritize land dedication, donation, or purchase of sites as a major strategy for securing affordable housing, including social housing and shared equity cooperatives, through partnerships with religious institutions, other philanthropic or private property owners, and non-profit developers, including ownership models referenced under Action 1.6.1.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Regularly track the pipeline of development sites and land banked for affordable housing development funded by OCII, MOHCD, and other relevant agencies, and develop strategies to ensure sufficient sites to accommodate affordable housing production relative to available funding over a rolling 4- to 8-year outlook and to meet the goals to construct housing in Priority Equity Geographies and Well-resourced neighborhoods per Action 1.2.1.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Develop a land acquisition process and program that permits inexpensive long-term leases for land developed with high affordability.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Continue and expand the City’s Public Land for Housing Program through public-private partnerships and use City resources to support the maximum number of permanently affordable housing units on underutilized publicly owned and surplus sites, balancing the financial needs of enterprise agencies and ensuring adequate space and resources to address gaps in community infrastructure, services, and amenities. As part of this program, continue to implement the City’s Surplus Public Lands Ordinance codified in Administrative Code Chapter 23A, in compliance with the state Surplus Lands Act (Government Code 54220-54234).

The Public Lands Program should include, but not be limited to:

• Annual outreach and marketing of these sites to developers, especially non-profit developers;

• Coordination across agencies, including the Mayor’s office;

• Continue negotiations and completion of any necessary rezoning efforts on identified publicly owned sites that will accommodate the RHNA;

• Facilitation and streamlining of any approvals and subsequent entitlements for proposed projects on publicly identified sites;

• Development and implementation of site-specific incentives including but not limited to financial assistance, streamlined approvals, and reduced fees, to encourage and facilitate affordable housing development on publicly owned sites; and

• Issuance of RFPs for sites ready for development annually.

The City will target 500 to 2000 affordable units in the RHNA planning period. Revisit strategies as appropriate.

Existing Programs: Public Land for Housing; Development Agreements

Support the maximum number of permanently affordable housing units and improved transit facilities on SFMTA-owned sites slated for development by leveraging private investment in market-rate units with public funding.

Existing Programs: Public Land for Housing; Inclusionary Housing; Development Agreements

Prioritize support to neighborhood-based affordable housing developers, particularly those managed by American Indian, Black, and other communities of color. Partner with affordable housing developers to purchase privately owned entitled sites where construction may be stalling.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Support and expedite delivery of the permanently affordable housing projects in former Redevelopment Areas led by the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII).

Existing Programs: Redevelopment Areas

Support co-housing developments on parcels owned by non-profits, like sites owned by religious institutions, to further encourage philanthropically financed affordable housing.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Work with geographically impacted communities, Cultural Districts, and the State, including Caltrans, to study freeway removal opportunities throughout the city as a means of redressing cultural and environmental harm to American Indian, Black and other communities of color through the use of state-owned public land, prioritizing affordable housing and land dedication (as referenced in Actions 1.2.3 and 1.6.1). Focus on freeway segments that need replacement most urgently; contribute the highest air pollution impacts, particularly to persons in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities; and offer the greatest multi-benefit potential for transforming neighborhoods and producing new housing.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Collaborate with geographically impacted communities and Cultural Districts to study the removal of the Central Freeway stub between Interstate 80 and Octavia Boulevard as a means of making new parcels available for housing uses, especially for affordable housing.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Encourage and provide opportunities for large commercial developments to build housing or dedicate land in lieu of their jobs-housing linkage fee obligations, with affordability requirements that align with the income levels of the households anticipated to fill new jobs.

Existing Programs: Jobs-Housing Linkage Fee; (NEW)

Through the Controller’s Office triennial study of financial feasibility of the Inclusionary Affordable Housing Program (including feedback from the Technical Advisory Committee), study a more real-time and systematic methodology for evaluating the inclusionary rates so that they are better tied to local conditions and can maximize total number of Below Market Rate (BMR) units delivered without public subsidy, in balance with the directions of Action 1.3.2.

Existing Programs: Controller’s Study of Inclusionary Housing and Technical Advisory Committee

Through the Controller’s Office triennial study of financial feasibility of the Inclusionary housing Program including feedback from the Technical Advisory Committee, assess by 2024 whether affordability levels of rental and ownership units created through the program could be made accessible to lower income groups in balance with ensuring financial feasibility as referenced in Action 1.3.1.

Existing Programs: Controller’s Study of Inclusionary Housing and Technical Advisory Committee; Inclusionary Housing

Assess inclusionary tiers to address constraints on housing development including financial feasibility, to increase certainty for housing projects, to ensure that inclusionary requirements do not impede or undermine use of State Density Bonus Law, and to reduce staff time and need for specific expertise. Changes to inclusionary tiers should improve or maintain average affordability of inclusionary housing units. Changes to inclusionary tiers and their requirements should retain or expand the percentage of units required, including with consideration to rents, purchase prices, and HOA fees.

Existing Programs: Inclusionary Housing

Explore the potential advantages of modifying proximity inclusionary requirements to provide more flexibility to small housing projects to provide 100% affordable housing offsite, to allow sites beyond a half-mile radius from the market-rate project site if the off-site affordable housing is located in Priority Equity Geographies.

Existing Programs: Inclusionary Housing

Explore new tier for onsite inclusionary housing serving moderate-income households in Well-resourced Neighborhoods, to reduce the financial burden on small, multifamily projects and create more workforce housing. As part of this analysis, consider the prices of surrounding market-rate units, aim for inclusionary tiers at least 20% below surrounding market-rate prices, and consider the number of inclusionary units needed to match local need.

Existing Programs: Inclusionary Housing

Prioritize achieving the maximum number of permanently affordable housing units at lower- and moderate-incomes that are financially feasible, as an essential benefit of new mixed-use development agreements alongside other benefits such as community facilities and transit investments.

Existing Programs: Development Agreements

Incentivize development projects to exceed the required inclusionary housing percentages to maximize the total number of Below Market Rate units via density bonus programs or streamlined regulatory paths as defined in Policy 25.

Existing Programs: Inclusionary Housing; Local Density Bonus Programs; State Density Bonus; SB 35

Amend the Inclusionary Housing Program regulations to allow existing homeowners of Below Market Rate units to purchase another Below Market Rate unit and sell their current unit in cases where household size changes or another reasonable accommodation is required, in order to respond to changing household needs.

Existing Programs: Inclusionary Housing

Ensure that implementation of the City’s inclusionary ordinance for State Density Bonus projects does not undermine the feasibility of projects that already provide affordable units and are consistent with State Density Bonus Law.

• For projects already providing affordable housing through State Density Bonus Law, consider applying the inclusionary tier and requirement to the base project to increase the financial feasibility of smaller density bonus projects.

• Allow greater flexibility for projects that invoke State Density Bonus Law by allowing more deeply affordable units to be counted toward the affordability tiers required under the inclusionary ordinance.

• Study the applicability of the Affordable Housing Fee to bonus projects, evaluating its impacts on project feasibility and affordable housing production. Based on the findings of this study, take action to mitigate impacts of the Affordable Housing Fee program.

Existing Programs: Inclusionary Housing

Continue to rebuild and replace public housing units at HOPE SF sites without displacement of the current residents.

Existing Programs: Affordable Housing Preservation and Rehabilitation; HOPESF; Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD)

Continue to implement temporary relocation plans that ensure affordable housing tenants do not pay more than they are currently paying during rehabilitation or redevelopment of existing affordable housing, including identifying units in permanently affordable housing developments that can be used as relocation housing, and ensure tenants are relocated within San Francisco.

Existing Programs: Affordable Housing Preservation and Rehabilitation

Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment of existing housing cooperatives to identify impediments to success and their need for support, and expand technical assistance and support to cooperatives to meet identified needs.

Existing Programs: Affordable Housing Preservation and Rehabilitation; Coop Housing; Coop Living for Mental Health

Expand resources for preservation, rehabilitation, or rebuilding of cooperative buildings, and adopt requirements such as preservation of affordability, right-to-return, and relocation plans as informed by the needs assessment referenced under Action 1.4.3.

Existing Programs: Affordable Housing Preservation and Rehabilitation; Coop Housing; Coop Living for Mental Health; Tenant Rights

Continue to monitor at-risk affordable housing units on a regular basis to track status, continue to outreach with owners and non-profits to negotiate preservation agreements for properties with expiring affordability restrictions, and fund and enforce noticing requirements within three years, twelve months, and six months of the affordability expiration date. Provide education, counseling, and other services for tenants in affected properties to ensure permanent affordability for all units and housing stability for tenants. Services, education, and resources include but may not be limited to actions referenced under Action 2.1 and 2.2.

Existing Programs: Monitoring of Affordable Housing Preservation and Rehabilitation

Utilize value capture from up-zonings to support large affordable housing developments in need of substantial repair or rehabilitation, to fund rebuilding and financial feasibility of existing affordable units for current residents while creating more affordable homes.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Strengthen monitoring and enforcement of Below Market Rate units to avoid fraud and abuse of units and to unlock more units for those eligible and in need, through active enforcement of existing obligations, expedited leasing of new and turnover units, and completing the build out of the DAHLIA partners database.

Existing Programs: Affordable Unit Occupancy Compliance

Increase production of housing affordable to extremely low and very low-income households and increase the share of units affordable to these households in affordable housing. This includes identifying and deploying operating subsidies necessary to serve these income groups.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable; Building-based Rental Subsidies; Very Low Income Below Market Rate Units

Maximize the use of ongoing tenant-based rental assistance to expand eligibility for extremely and very low-income households who otherwise do not qualify for affordable units.

Existing Programs: Rental Subsidies; Very Low Income Below Market Rate Units

Increase housing that is affordable to extremely low and very low-income households in Well-resourced Neighborhoods, as well as in Priority Equity Geographies and Cultural Districts, through City-funded permanently affordable housing projects.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing; Inclusionary Affordable Housing; Rental Subsidies; Tenant-based Rental Subsidies

Reduce severe cost burdens and increase stability for extremely low- and very low-income renters through ongoing rental assistance for qualifying vulnerable households, including people harmed by past government discrimination, seniors, people with disabilities, transgender people, and families with children, particularly those living in SROs.

Existing Programs: Rental Subsidies; Single-Room Occupancy Units (SROs)

Engage with target communities to determine needs and advocate for expanded tenant and building-based rental assistance programs at the federal and state and local levels to meet the needs of extremely and very low-income households and households with fixed incomes, such as seniors and people with disabilities, as also referenced in Actions 2.1.2, 3.2.1, 1.5.4.

Existing Programs: Tenant-based Rental Subsidies; Rental Subsidies; Local Operating Subsidy; Senior Operating Subsidy; Housing Choice Vouchers

Study and implement expansion of shared equity models that offer moderate- and middle-income homeownership (such as Shared Equity, land trusts, or cooperative ownership) through development of smaller sized lots. Use the studies cited in Actions 2.3.4 and 5.4.6 to inform expansion of these models and pursue partnership with private and philanthropic property owners referenced under Action 1.2.3.

Existing Programs: Community Land Trust; Coop Housing; Shared Equity Housing

Study and implement expansions of programs that create workforce housing for educators to serve other public-sector essential workers such as transit operators and hospital workers.

Existing Programs: Homeownership Assistance Programs; First Responders Down Payment Assistance Loan Program; SFUSD Educators Down Payment Assistance Loan Program; (NEW)

Fund the First Responders Down Payment Assistance Loan Program and the SFUSD Educators Down Payment Assistance Loan Program. Explore potential expansion of down payment assistance programs to transit, utilities, and public works workers.

Existing Programs: Homeownership Assistance Programs; First Responders Down Payment Assistance Loan Program; SFUSD Educators Down Payment Assistance Loan Program

Promote location-efficient mortgage and energy-efficient mortgage programs as a tool for expanding the purchasing power of residents while incentivizing more sustainable trip choices and energy-efficient building practices.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Identify racial, ethnic, and social groups who have been disproportionately underserved by MOHCD’s Affordable Rental and Homeownership units and the underlying reasons why those groups are underrepresented in obtaining such housing. Previously identified groups include American Indian, Black, Latinos, and other people of color, transgender and LGBTQ+ people, transitional-aged youth, people with disabilities, senior households, and households currently living in SROs. This study can inform the housing portal and access points cited in Action 1.7.6.

Existing Programs: DAHLIA; Housing Placement

Evaluate and update existing policies and programs to increase the percentage of Affordable Rental and Homeownership units awarded to underserved groups identified through the studies referenced in Actions 1.7.1 and 5.4.9, including but not limited to preferences, strengthening targeted outreach, education, housing readiness counseling, and other services specific to the needs of each group, ensuring accessible accommodations in these services, in coordination with production of affordable housing per Actions 1.5.1, 1.5.3, and 1.6.2.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing; Inclusionary Affordable Housing; Housing Placement; Community-Based Services; Tenant Counseling and Education; Financial Capability Services; Rental Housing Counseling; Homeownership Assistance Programs

Identify strategies to secure housing for applicants to the Affordable Rental and Homeownership unit lottery program who have not won the lottery after more than five years of submitting applications.

Existing Programs: DAHLIA; Housing Placement

Identify and adopt local strategies and advocate for State legislation to remove barriers to access permanently affordable housing for immigrants or people who lack standard financial documentation such as credit histories, bank accounts, or current leases; and for transgender people whose documentation may need corrections not possible due to immigration status, and/or non-California state laws.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing; Inclusionary Affordable Housing; Housing Placement; City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Expand existing culturally responsive housing counseling to applicants of MOHCD Affordable Rental and Homeownership Opportunities through a network of community-based housing counseling agencies, in consultation with Cultural Districts, and as informed by the needs identified under Actions 1.7.1, 1.7.2, and 5.4.9. These programs include financial counseling, market-rate and below market rate rental readiness counseling, and other services that lead to finding and keeping safe and stable housing; expansion of such services should be in coordination with Actions 2.1.4 and 4.1.2.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing; Inclusionary Affordable Housing; Housing Placement; Community-Based Services; Tenant Counseling and Education; Financial Capability Services; Rental Housing Counseling; Homeownership Assistance Programs

Explore changes to the DAHLIA affordable housing application portal and other access points for housing programs and services, including affordable housing as well as resources administered by the SF Housing Authority such as rental assistance vouchers and public housing, to better serve groups identified in Action 1.7.1.

Existing Programs: DAHLIA

Identify new strategies to address the unique housing and service needs of specific vulnerable populations to improve housing access and security for each group, using the findings from the City’s housing Consolidated Plans and through direct engagement of these populations. Studies should address the needs of veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, transitional-aged youth, transgender and LGBTQ+ populations.

Existing Programs: Senior Housing; Supportive Services; Housing for People with Disabilities; Housing for TAY; Housing for LGBTQ+; 100% Affordable Housing; Permanent Supportive Housing; Consolidated Plan

Evaluate increasing neighborhood preference allocation for Below Market Rate units in Priority Equity Geographies to better serve American Indian, Black, and other communities of color, if possible, per the Federal Fair Housing regulations, as informed by Policy 5 and related actions.

Existing Programs: Neighborhood Resident Housing Preference

Create or expand programs to provide housing counseling, financial literacy education, and housing readiness to low-income American Indian, Black and other people of color households who seek housing choices in Well-resourced Neighborhoods by 2024, and provide incentives and counseling to landlords in Well-resourced Neighborhoods to offer units to low-income households. Consider similar incentives referenced in Action 8.4.16.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Expand housing for transitional-aged youth in permanently affordable housing, integrated with supportive programs that address their unique needs such as a past criminal record, substance abuse, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other specific needs, as informed by the strategies referenced in Action 8.7.3.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing; Permanent Supportive Housing; Supportive Services

Study and identify programs, geographies, and building types that respond to the needs of recently arrived immigrants to inform permanently affordable housing investments in the neighborhoods in which they initially settle, such as Chinatown, the Tenderloin, the Mission, Cultural Districts, and other gateway neighborhoods.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing

Fund the Tenant Right-to-Counsel program to match the need for eviction defense.

Existing Programs: Tenant Right to Counsel

Provide a priority in the allocation of direct rental assistance to vulnerable populations and in areas vulnerable to displacement. Geographies will be updated based on most up-to-date data and analysis. Assess rental assistance need for these groups and allocate additional funding secured by Action 1.1.1.

Existing Programs: Direct Rental Assistance

As informed by Action 2.1.4 and in coordination with community liaisons referenced under Action 4.1.2, support and expand community-led navigation services and systems to provide tenants’ rights education and support and expand other related programs such as the existing culturally competent Code Enforcement Outreach Program that is offered within the Department of Building Inspection.

Existing Programs: Tenant Counseling and Education; Code Enforcement Outreach Program; Organizational Capacity Building; Community-Based Services

Increase funding to expand the services of community-based organizations and providers for financial counseling services listed under Action 1.7.5, as well as tenant and eviction prevention services listed under Program 2, to better serve vulnerable populations, populations in areas vulnerable to displacement, and Cultural Districts. Tenant and eviction protection services include legal services, code enforcement outreach, tenant counseling, mediation, and housing-related financial assistance; expansion of such services should be informed by community priorities referenced under Action 4.1.3. Complete by completion of Rezoning Program or no later than January 31, 2026.

Existing Programs: Tenant Counseling and Education; Code Enforcement Outreach Program; Organizational Capacity Building; Community-Based Services; Rental Subsidies; Tenant and Landlord Assistance; Financial Capability Services

Provide adequate legal services to support eviction prevention including support for rent increase hearings, habitability issues, or tenancy hearings with the Housing Authority.

Existing Programs: Tenant Right-to-Counsel

Expand on-site case management services that focus on removing barriers to housing stability to support non-profit housing providers in preventing evictions of their tenants.

Existing Programs: Permanent Supportive Housing; Tenant and Landlord Assistance; Tenant Counseling and Education

Expand housing retention requirements to prevent evictions and support tenants of non-profit affordable housing. Allocate additional funding needed to support these functions and staff in non-profit organizations.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing; Inclusionary Housing

Develop a system to respond to housing transfer requests, especially in affordable and supportive housing, and monitor their potential as a housing retention and eviction prevention strategy.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing; Inclusionary Housing

Implement the digital Rental Housing Inventory to collect data that informs the evaluation of anti-displacement programs, including rental rates, rent control status, vacancy, and services provided.

Existing Programs: Rental Housing Inventory

Increase relocation assistance for tenants experiencing either temporary or permanent evictions, including increasing the time period during which relocation compensation is required for temporary evictions from three to six months. Explore options to ensure long-term affordability of low-income tenants who return to their units.

Existing Programs: Tenant Rights

Clarify and limit the definition of nuisance or other just cause evictions to limit abuse.

Existing Programs: Eviction Protections

Pursue proactive and affirmative enforcement of eviction protections programs, especially for Owner Move-in and Ellis Act evictions, including annual reporting by owners that is enforced by site inspections and confirmation of owner occupancy, funded through owner fees.

Existing Programs: Tenant Rights; Eviction Protections

Proactively enforce eviction protection and avoid predatory practices or tenant harassment by pursuing affirmative litigation models.

Existing Programs: Tenant Rights; Eviction Protections

Advocate for State legislation to reform the Ellis Act (Government Code Chapter 12.75) to stabilize rental housing by, for example, imposing a minimum holding period of five years before the Act can be used to evict tenants.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Advocate for State legislation to reform the Costa-Hawkins Housing Law to allow cities to better stabilize tenants by, for example, allowing cities to extend rent control to multifamily housing that is at least 25 years old. Assign City staff to lead this task.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Increase fines and enforcement for illegally preventing SRO residents from establishing tenancy by forcing short-term stays.

Existing Programs: Tenant Rights

Collaborate with HCD and the State legislature to clarify expectations and advocate for changes for tenant protections and community anti-displacement based on recent legislation.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Prioritize and expand funding for the purchase of buildings, including those with chronically high residential vacancy, underutilized tourist hotels, and SRO residential hotels, for acquisition and rehabilitation programs that serve extremely low to moderate-income households, including unhoused populations.

Existing Programs: Small Sites; Affordable Housing Preservation and Rehabilitation

Identify SRO residential hotels in advanced states of disrepair, particularly those owned by nonprofits and/or master-leased by the City as supportive housing, for rehabilitation and repair with public and/or philanthropic assistance. Explore cost-effectiveness of acquisition and demolition of severely deteriorated SROs and rebuilding as Permanent Supportive Housing, if it is cheaper than rehabilitation, allowed by planning code, and meets requirements for tenant relocation during construction and right to return for tenants.

Existing Programs: Affordable Housing Preservation and Rehabilitation; Permanent Supportive Housing; Tenant Rights

Increase non-profit capacity-building investments, particularly for American Indian, Black, and other community organizations of color, to purchase and operate existing tenant-occupied buildings as permanent affordable housing in Well-resourced Neighborhoods, particularly for populations at risk and in areas vulnerable to displacement, to expand implementation of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA).

Existing Programs: COPA; Community-Based Services; Organizational Capacity Building

Evaluate the feasibility of utilizing the Small Sites program to increase shared equity or cooperative ownership opportunities for tenants. This study would also inform expansion of shared equity homeownership models cited in Actions 5.4.6 and 1.6.1.

Existing Programs: Small Sites; Shared Equity Housing; Coop Housing

Incentivize private owners to sell residential buildings to non-profit affordable housing developers via transfer tax exemptions or other financial measures.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

To achieve the objective of over 1,000 units, the city will pursue acquiring affordability and preserving at-risk units pursuant to Government Code 65583.1 as follows:

• Identify the specific, existing sources of committed assistance and dedicate a specific portion of the funds from those sources to the provision of housing pursuant to this subdivision.

• Indicate the number of units that will be provided to both low- and very low-income households and demonstrate that the amount of dedicated funds is sufficient to develop the units at affordable housing costs or affordable rents.

At-risk units to meet the following requirements:

• Demonstrate that the units will meet the following requirements:

• long-term affordability covenants and restrictions for occupancy of at least 55 years;
• located within an “assisted housing development”;
• found (via a public hearing) eligible for preservation, with a reasonable expectation that the units will change from affordable to another use during the next eight years;
• At the time of occupancy, the unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition; and
• At the time of identification, the unit is available at affordable cost to persons or families of low- or very low-income.

Or for acquisition and conversion to affordable rental housing, including permanent supportive housing, the City shall meet the following requirements:

• The unit will be made available for rent at a cost affordable to low- or very low-income households.

• At the time the unit is identified for acquisition, the unit is not available at an affordable housing cost to either of the following:

• Low-income households, if the unit will be made affordable to low-income households.
• Very low-income households, if the unit will be made affordable to very low-income households.
• At the time the unit is identified for acquisition the unit is not occupied by low- or very low income households or if the acquired unit is occupied, the local government has committed to provide relocation assistance prior to displacement, if any, pursuant to Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 7260) of Division 7 of Title 1 to any occupants displaced by the conversion, or the relocation is otherwise provided prior to displacement; provided the assistance includes not less than the equivalent of four months’ rent and moving expenses and comparable replacement housing consistent with the moving expenses and comparable replacement housing required pursuant to Section 7260.
• The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition at the time of occupancy.
• The unit has long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be affordable to persons of low- or very low income for not less than 55 years.
• For units located in multifamily ownership housing complexes with three or more units, or on or after January 1, 2015, on foreclosed properties, at least an equal number of new-construction multifamily rental units affordable to lower income households have been constructed in the city or county within the same planning period as the number of ownership units to be converted.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Implement recently voter-approved vacancy tax for residential units that stay empty for over 6 months on owners of properties with at least three residential units. Explore additional legislation to tax other unit types and vacancies, such as units used as secondary or vacation homes.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Explore regulatory paths, including a tax or other regulatory structures, to discourage short term speculative resale of residential units, particularly those which seek to extract value out of evicting tenants, or rapid reselling to more lucrative markets.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Continue to improve compliance, enforcement, and restrictions on intermediate-length occupancy dwelling units. Explore tracking and publishing data on short-term rentals on the Rental Housing Inventory.

Existing Programs: Office of Short-Term Rentals

Increase fines and enforcement for illegally converting SROs to new uses.

Existing Programs: DBI Regulation

Facilitate and encourage more legalizations of unauthorized units through financial support such as low-interest or forgivable loans for property owners.

Existing Programs: Legalization of Unauthorized Dwelling Units (UDUs); (NEW)

Update the Conditional Use findings requirements for removal of unauthorized units to (1) account for tenancy within the unauthorized unit and (2) to identify alternative findings that account for the cost and construction burdens of legalization.

Existing Programs: Legalization of Unauthorized Dwelling Units

Reduce cost of legalization of unauthorized units by removing Planning and Building Code requirements that are not critical for health or safety.

Existing Programs: Legalization of Unauthorized Dwelling Units; Land-use Controls; Building Code

Adopt incentives or explore other mechanisms to encourage property owners to rebuild buildings struck by fire to house prior tenants within two years or by when the transitional housing program timeline expires.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Adopt requirements for replacement of units affordable to the same or lower income level as a condition of any development on a nonvacant site consistent with those requirements in state Density Bonus Law (Government Code section 65915(c)(3).) Replacement requirements shall be required for sites identified in the Sites Inventory that currently have residential uses, or within the past five years have had residential uses that have been vacated or demolished, and:

• Were subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of low or very low-income, or

• Subject to any other form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power, or

• Occupied by low or very low-income households

For the purpose of this action, “previous five years” is based on the date the application for development was submitted.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Identify and implement strategies by Spring 2023 to increase and accelerate placement in Permanent Supportive Housing through the Coordinated Entry System for racial and social groups who are overrepresented in the unhoused population, such as extremely and very-low income American Indian, Black, and Latino(a,e) people, transgender people, or people with prior involvement in the criminal justice system.

Existing Programs: Coordinated Entry

Study and remove barriers to entry for temporary shelters, transitional housing, Rapid Rehousing, and Permanent Supportive Housing for unhoused individuals and families, particularly for individuals with mental health or substance use issues, and prior involvement with the criminal justice system.

Existing Programs: Coordinated Entry

Redesign the Coordinated Entry System for housing placement and services for unhoused residents to reflect the evaluation recently completed by HSH, to house the most vulnerable populations and to ensure vacant units are filled in a timely manner. Consider a system that is inclusive of self-referrals by unhoused people to case managers in our communities and streamline the process for case managers to refer unhoused people to community-based shelter beds and vacant units in PSH sites.

Existing Programs: Coordinated Entry

Provide housing navigation services, case management when applicable, and rental assistance as available to people exiting homelessness during the housing search stage. Provide ongoing services to ensure tenant retention.

Existing Programs: Coordinated Entry; Tenant-based Vouchers; Permanent Supportive Housing; Rapid Rehousing

Improve programs intended to transfer people experiencing violent crime and domestic violence to safe housing.

Existing Programs: Violence Against Women Act; (NEW)

Strengthen housing navigation services by assigning a support counselor, with similar lived experience, to individuals. Counselors should be assigned regardless of where that person lives instead of being tied to a particular location, so that consistent support can continue through residential transitions.

Existing Programs: Coordinated Entry

Expand rental assistance programs as a homelessness prevention tool, including those designed for emergency response and population-specific assistance. Advocate for additional federal and state resources per action 1.5.5.

Existing Programs: Targeted Homelessness Prevention; Problem Solving

Prioritize those at risk of becoming unhoused for homelessness prevention investments, such as flexible financial assistance or the Step Up to Freedom¹ program and other programs that offer a continuum of care and wrap around services in addition to housing. Highest risk is known to include those with prior experience of homelessness, people with involvement with the criminal justice system, extremely low and very low-income American Indian, Black, and Latino/es, domestic violence victims, transgender people, and those at imminent risk of losing housing (i.e., an eviction notice, or subject to landlord harassment).

Existing Programs: Targeted Homelessness Prevention; Step Up to Freedom

Collaborate with jurisdictions across the Bay Area to create and expand a regional homelessness prevention response system to share data across systems, and administer the increased funds from local, State, and federal agencies.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Expand the capacity of temporary shelter models that are low barrier and that incorporate housing-focused case management, such as non-congregate shelter options and Navigation Centers. Per HSH’s forthcoming strategic plan, aim to increase temporary shelter investments, along with Permanent Supportive Housing and homelessness prevention investments to improve the rate of successful exits from homelessness to stable housing.

Existing Programs: Shelters; Navigation Centers; Transitional Housing

Evaluate the needs of unsheltered people and explore creating more types of shelters in the system with tailored amenities and services. Examples could include wellness hubs, ‘clean and sober’ shelters, and safe consumption shelters for legal and illegal substances; this could also mean an expansion of existing models, such as non-congregate shelters and shelters focused on transgender people.

Existing Programs: Shelters; Transitional housing

Expand the timeline during which transitional housing programs² are offered for people coming out of jails, prisons, immigration detention centers, and substance use treatment.

Existing Programs: Transitional Housing; Homecoming Project

Remove approval barriers for shelter sites that are City-funded but not City-owned or -leased under local Ordinance 60-19. The over-the-counter review process for shelter construction authorized under a declared shelter crisis should be allowed regardless of the declaration of a shelter crisis.

Existing Programs: Land Use Controls

Improve access to medication for addiction treatment, such as methadone and buprenorphine, for opioid use disorders in temporary shelters to support people in their journey out of homelessness.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Offer safe places to park for unhoused people living in their vehicles and access to financial assistance to help address their barriers to housing.

Existing Programs: Crisis Interventions, SFMTA Fine and Fee Waiver Program

Identify a numerical target in the 2023 HSH Strategic Plan for building or acquiring permanent supportive housing, in proportion to the expansion of shelter and homelessness prevention services, to continue the trend in reduction in homelessness seen in the Point-in-Time Count from 2019 to 2022 over the Housing Element cycle.

Existing Programs: Permanently Supportive Housing, Rapid Rehousing

Increase funding needed to meet the targets set in Action 3.4.1, in balance with funding needed for the other actions to reduce homelessness, including short and long-term rental subsidies, temporary shelter and targeted homelessness prevention.

Existing Programs: Permanent Supportive Housing; Supportive Services

Prioritize tenant-based rental assistance with social services for people who are: (1) unhoused, (2) at risk of homelessness or displacement, or (3) ready to exit Permanent Supportive Housing for more independent living.

Existing Programs: Permanent Supportive Housing; Rapid Rehousing; Tenant-Based Rental Subsidies; Housing Ladder

Increase operating subsidy funding for services and rent in City-funded affordable housing projects so that the share of housing units for formerly unhoused people can increase to 30% or greater of all project units.

Existing Programs: Local Operating Subsidies; Permanent Supportive Housing; Tenant-Based Rental Subsidies

Expand and improve on-site supportive services within Permanent Supportive Housing projects, including sustained care for mental health or substance abuse issues, case management, and childcare.

Existing Programs: Permanent Supportive Housing

Advocate for and secure additional funding for building and operation of Permanent Supportive Housing from state and federal sources.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy

Strengthen the Housing Ladder³ strategy to support residents of Permanent Supportive Housing to move to less-supportive settings, freeing up supportive housing units for unhoused people. Actions include potentially revising San Francisco Housing Authority preference system to grant higher preference to these households in using direct rental assistance or other available subsidies or creating a new City-supported shallow subsidy for these households.

Existing Programs: Housing Ladder; Tenant-Based Rental Subsidies; (NEW)

Increase flexibility within Rapid Rehousing programs⁴ so that the length of the subsidy can be extended based on the household needs and to prevent future experiences of homelessness.

Existing Programs: Rapid Rehousing

Continue to provide mobile services for residents in scattered-site supportive housing, for example the Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool program.

Existing Programs: Permanent Supportive Housing, Rapid Rehousing; Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool

Assess reasons for individuals exiting permanent supportive housing to address high turnover in permanent supportive housing.

Existing Programs: Permanent Supportive Housing

Continue to invest in step-down housing to improve outcomes for substance use treatment of people experiencing homelessness.

Existing Programs: Step-Down Housing

Increase board and care and other high-acuity housing programs to provide a safe and service-rich environment for people who need a higher level of care than PSH can provide.

Existing Programs: Permanent Supportive Housing, Supportive Services

Develop and align citywide metrics that measure progress towards positive outcomes for American Indian, Black, and other people of color, and other disadvantaged communities resulting from housing policies using methods consistent with the San Francisco Equity Index prepared by the Office of Racial Equity. These metrics will be part of the Monitoring Program in Action 8.1.9 and will include affordable housing placement, displacement mitigation measures, and homeownership rates.

Existing Programs: San Francisco Equity Index; Office of Racial Equity; (NEW)

Identify and fund liaisons within key City agencies such as MOHCD and Planning to support the housing needs and priorities of American Indian, Black, and other people of color, and other disadvantaged communities; such liaisons should provide regular check-ins with the community at centralized community spaces and reporting on housing programs and Housing Element implementation progress.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Identify priority actions in the Housing Element Implementing Programs that respond to the needs of American Indian, Black, and other people of color, and other disadvantaged communities, through collaboration with Cultural Districts or other racial and social equity-focused community bodies such as the Community Equity Advisory Council or the African American Reparations Committee. Report back to communities on the progress of those priority actions and update prioritization annually.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; Community Equity Advisory Council; African American Reparations Committee

By January 31, 2023, establish an interagency Housing Element implementation committee. This committee should meet with members of racial and social equity focused bodies as cited in Action 4.1.3, to inform the City’s budget and work program on housing equity. The committee would be responsible for creating a Monitoring Program described in Action 8.1.9, developing an affordable housing strategy, reviewing the City’s annual affordable housing funding budget, and reporting progress measured in Actions 8.1.9, 4.1.1 and 4.1.3 to the Planning Commission and Mayor’s Office and for identifying financial or legal challenges to progress.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Monitor and shape housing investments, including permanently affordable housing production, preservation, and housing services, using the affordable housing funding and investment tracking cited in Action 4.1.1 so that resource allocation is accountable to the community priority actions identified in Action 4.1.3.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Continue to improve demographic data collection and reporting on applicants and recipients of various housing services, including affordable housing lotteries, rental assistance and vouchers, and public housing.

Existing Programs: DAHLIA; Data, Evaluation and Compliance

Continue racial and social equity and displacement analysis to target levels of investments that prevent community displacement through increased permanently affordable housing production, equitable access to housing, and other community stabilization strategies for vulnerable populations. This will include a triennial progress report on the displacement of population by income, race, and geography in relation to existing community stabilization programs and production of affordable housing.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Identify and implement affordable housing production and preservation investments and other community stabilization strategies targeted at levels that will prevent displacement and other adverse racial and social equity impacts of future zoning changes, development projects and infrastructure projects, as informed by ongoing racial and social equity analysis related to housing.⁵

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Develop and require community accountability measures, including notification and engagement of residents, when building housing on environmentally contaminated sites.

Existing Programs: Environmental Justice Framework; (NEW)

Develop and implement community outreach and engagement strategies that center racial and social equity and cultural competency to be used by Planning Department staff as well as developers or community groups.

Existing Programs: Planning Outreach and Engagement Strategy, (NEW)

Increase resources and funding to partner with community-based organizations primarily serving and representing American Indian, Black, and other people of color, and other disadvantaged communities, to ensure inclusive outreach and engagement and meaningful participation in housing and planning processes through focus groups, surveys, and other outreach events.

Existing Programs: Community Plans; Community Strategies; General Plan Updates

Develop and implement guidelines, and update the municipal codes where needed, to ensure elevated representation of American Indian, Black, and other people of color, and other disadvantaged communities in decision-making or advisory bodies such as Community Advisory Councils (CACs).

Existing Programs: Community Advisory Councils

Implement the upcoming housing strategies recommended by the African American Reparations Advisory Committee.

Existing Programs: African American Reparations Advisory Committee; Cultural Districts; Community Equity Advisory Council

Support the development and implementation of community-led plans in the Tenderloin, the Fillmore, the Mission, Sunsetand all Cultural Districts through their CHHESS reports. These community plans, reports, and boards will guide priorities and investments in their neighborhoods.

Existing Programs: Tenderloin Plan; Cultural Districts; Community Equity Strategies; Sunset Forward

Identify and adopt zoning changes that implement priorities of American Indian, Black, Filipino, Latino(a,e), and other communities of color identified in Cultural Districts or other community-led processes within Priority Equity Geographies.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; Land Use Control; (NEW)

Consult with related Cultural Districts or other racial equity-focused community bodies such as the Community Equity Advisory Council to evaluate the racial and social equity impacts of proposed zoning changes within Priority Equity Geographies and areas vulnerable to displacement, using the framework identified under Actions 4.1.7 and 4.1.8.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; Community Equity Advisory Council

Allocate resources and create an implementation plan for any applicable anti-displacement measures parallel with the adoption of zoning changes within Priority Equity Geographies and areas vulnerable to displacement.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Prioritize Planning Staff and resources for housing improvement projects for low-income residents, and community-led housing projects in Priority Equity Geographies and areas vulnerable to displacement.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Identify neighborhoods with a higher concentration of low-income, immigrant, and rent-burdened families with children, such as Tenderloin, Mission, Chinatown, and/or SoMa, and allocate resources to increase permanently affordable housing that addresses their incomes and needs in those neighborhoods.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing

Simplify language used in project notifications and hearing notices with the aim of clearly communicating a project’s proposal or the topic of the hearing. Pursuant to the Language Access Ordinance, continue to provide translation services at commission hearings and for hearing agendas and minutes upon request. Aim to translate at least crucial portions of notifications, such as the project descriptions or hearing topics, into languages that comprise 5% or more of the total city population.

Existing Programs: Neighborhood Notification, Notice of Public Hearing

Expand and target job training and financial readiness education programs to residents of Priority Equity Geographies prioritizing youth from American Indian, Black and other communities of color.

Existing Programs: Workforce Development; Financial Capability Services

Support developers of new permanently affordable housing developments in Priority Equity Geographies to include affordable community serving uses as part of their ground floor use programming by matching affordable housing developers with prospective small businesses and service providers known to the City seeking space. Help identify potential funding sources for tenant capital improvements, such as impact fees, Community Benefit Districts’ grants and Small Business Program grants. Examples of community serving uses include, but are not limited to: grocery stores, healthcare clinics, or institutional community uses such as child-care facilities, community facilities, job training centers, and social services.

Existing Programs: Community Facilities, Community Benefit Districts, Small Business Programs

Adopt commercial space guidelines that encourage the development of businesses owned by American Indian, Black and other people of color in permanently affordable housing buildings.

Existing Programs: Neighborhood Retail Regulations; (NEW)

Provide resources for tenant improvements for businesses owned by American Indian, Black, and other people of color in permanently affordable housing buildings.

Existing Programs: Loans and Grants for Businesses; (NEW)

Expand capacity-building, job training, start-up, and business development resources for Black business owners in development and contracting construction trades in support of building housing.

Existing Programs: Loans and Grants for Businesses; Technical Assistance for Businesses; Workforce Development; Developers of Color Fellowship (Dream Keeper Initiative/MOHCD)

Grow a range of business and career-building opportunities in Priority Equity Geographies through resources to support affordable Production, Distribution, and Repair (PDR) space, protections and incentives for PDR in the Planning Code, enforcement of PDR zoning, and industrial (or commercial) design guidelines.

Existing Programs: Loans and Grants for Businesses; Technical Assistance for Businesses; Workforce Development; Land-Use Controls; Commercial Design Guidelines; (NEW)

Change regulations and definitions in current Planning code to improve flexibility on allowing home-based businesses and work from home in residential districts, for example, create an accessory entrepreneurial use that allows up to two employees.

Existing Programs: Land-Use Controls, (NEW)

Advocate for local or state legislation to make it mandatory for financial education to be integrated into all middle schools in San Francisco, similar to New Jersey’s Law A1414, as a way to open access to economic opportunity, as the public school system primarily serves students of color in Priority Equity Geographies in San Francisco.

Existing Programs: City’s Annual State and Federal Advocacy; (NEW)

Strengthen interagency coordination to ensure that Cultural District strategies related to the creation or improvement of cultural anchors and spaces are integrated into planning, funding, and construction and/or rehabilitation of public projects (e.g., parks and open spaces, street improvements, libraries, and transit facilities).

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts

Update the Planning Code and Planning Department protocols where necessary to reflect strategies developed in Action 4.2.1, this includes updating Planning Department requirements to require project sponsors to engage with interested Cultural Districts to allow these communities to provide input upon initiation of a project application and to allow the project sponsor adequate time to address the input through dialogue or project revisions.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; Processing and Permitting Procedures

In Cultural Districts, reduce conditional use authorizations or other entitlement barriers for mixed-use buildings that can commit via deed restriction or other legal agreement to the inclusion of businesses, institutions, public realm improvements, public art, or services that support Cultural District needs and identify a minimum term based on consultation with Cultural District boards.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; Conditional Use Authorizations; Land-Use Controls

Ensure Cultural Districts and their CHHESS reports guide culturally supportive housing developments, affordable housing investments, and neighborhood investments in coordination with Program 5.2.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; 100% Affordable Housing

Increase staff allocation within MOHCD, OEWD, DPW, ARTS, and Planning to create a more robust, sustained, and effective Cultural Districts program, provide more direct support for the development and implementation of their respective Cultural History Housing and Economic Sustainability Strategies (CHHESS).

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; Cultural History Housing and Economic Sustainability Strategies

Improve consultation with local Native Ohlone representatives, including the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone representatives, and American Indian residents in policy development and project review regarding tribal and cultural resource identification, treatment, and management while compensating them for their knowledge and efforts. Improvements should include commissioning the development of community-led, culturally relevant guidelines for identifying and protecting tribal and cultural resources and identifying funding sources for cultural resource identification, treatment and management.

Existing Programs: Association of Ramaytush Ohlone; Tribal Leaders

Encourage uses in the ground floor of buildings that support housing, neighborhood activity and identity, especially in Cultural Districts, over inclusion of utility infrastructure, such as transformer vaults.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts

Create objective Special Area Design Guidelines if requested by communities in Cultural Districts and Priority Equity Geographies where the design of public space and architecture could help reinforce cultural identities, in compliance with State requirements.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; (NEW)

Study creation of a cultural resource mitigation fund that could be paid into by projects that impact cultural resources to support cultural resource protection and preservation throughout the city, prioritizing funding the development of cultural spaces as described in Action 5.2.5.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Designate historically and culturally significant buildings, landscapes, and districts for preservation using the Citywide Cultural Resource Survey, Planning Code Articles 10 and 11, and state and national historic resource registries to ensure appropriate treatment of historic properties that are important to the community, with a focus on those that are important to American Indian, Black, Japanese, Filipino, and other communities directly harmed by discriminatory government actions, and to unlock historic preservation incentives for more potential housing development sites.

Existing Programs: Historic Preservation Review; Retained Elements Special Topic Design Guidelines; Citywide Cultural Resource Survey; Planning Code Articles 10 and 11

Promote the use of the Retained Elements Special Topic Design Guidelines to development applicants to address sites where conserving parts of buildings sustains cultural identity and proposed housing serves the community.

Existing Programs: Historic Preservation Review; Retained Elements Special Topic Design Guidelines

Develop objective design standards for the treatment of historic buildings and districts to provide consistent and efficient regulatory review that facilitates housing development approvals and protects the City’s cultural and architectural heritages.

Existing Programs: Historic Preservation Review; Design Review; (NEW)

Promote historic preservation and cultural heritage incentives, such as tax credit programs and the State Historical Building Code, for use in residential rehabilitation projects through general outreach, interagency collaboration with MOHCD and OEWD, building trades collaboration, educational materials, community capacity building efforts, and the regulatory review process.

Existing Programs: Historic Preservation Grants; State Historical Building Code; (NEW)

Revise Urban Design Guidelines to provide guidance on including signage, lighting, public art, historical interpretation, and educational opportunities in housing development projects in a manner that reflects neighborhood history and culture, prioritizing the acknowledgement and representation of American Indian history and culture, in coordination with State requirements.

Existing Programs: Historic Preservation Review; Urban Design Guidelines

Complete the Citywide Cultural Resources Survey, including the citywide historic context statement, with ongoing community engagement to identify important individual historic or cultural resources and districts, prioritizing engagement with American Indian, Black, Japanese, and Filipino communities, and other communities directly harmed by past discriminatory actions.

Existing Programs: Historic Preservation Review; Citywide Cultural Resources Survey

Complete the Heritage Conservation Element of the General Plan to bring clarity and accountability to the City’s role in sustaining both the tangible and intangible aspects of San Francisco’s cultural heritage, prioritizing engagement with American Indian, Black, Japanese, and Filipino communities, and other communities directly harmed by past discriminatory actions during completion of the element.

Existing Programs: Historic Preservation Review; Heritage Conservation Element

Consider the effects on housing in balance with the Planning Department’s racial and social equity goals for any recommendation of approval, disapproval, or modification of landmark designations or historic district designations, or approval of substantive new review processes or requirements for historic resources.

Existing Programs: Planning Landmark Designations; Historic District Designations; Historic Resource Review

Commission an American Indian community-led study to document the discriminatory practices and government actions against San Francisco’s American Indian communities including the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 and the cumulative impacts of genocide, exploitation, and dispossession of resources in terms of wealth loss, disparate housing and health outcomes, and scale of displacement.

Existing Programs: Association of Ramaytush Ohlone; Tribal Leaders; American Indian Cultural District; Office of Racial Equity

Commission a community-led study by affected San Francisco communities, including American Indian, Black, and other communities of color, to document the history of redlining, racial covenants, and exclusionary zoning practices in San Francisco and their cumulative impacts, particularly on Black households, in terms wealth-loss, disparate housing and health outcomes, and scale of displacement.

Existing Programs: African American Reparations Advisory Committee; Cultural Districts; Office of Racial Equity

Commission a community-led study by affected San Francisco communities, including American Indian, Black, and other communities of color, to document the history of urban renewal in San Francisco and its cumulative impacts, particularly on Black households, in terms wealth loss, disparate housing outcomes, and scale of displacement.

Existing Programs: African American Reparations Advisory Committee; Cultural Districts; Office of Racial Equity

Commission a community-led study by affected San Francisco communities to document the history of racialized public housing and its replacement in San Francisco and its impacts, particularly on Black households, in terms of wealth loss, disparate housing and health outcomes, and scale of displacement.

Existing Programs: African American Reparations Advisory Committee; Cultural Districts; Office of Racial Equity

Commission a community-led study by affected San Francisco communities to document the history of predatory lending practices and other discriminatory real estate practices in San Francisco and its impacts in terms of wealth loss, disparate housing and health outcomes, and scale of displacement.

Existing Programs: African American Reparations Advisory Committee; Cultural Districts; Office of Racial Equity

Report on the cumulative impacts to San Francisco’s American Indian, Black, and other communities of color resulting from discriminatory practices and government actions as understood from the studies called for in Program 5.1 and Actions 5.1.1 through 5.1.5 to present a holistic view of the harms incurred and redress the harms comprehensively. Provide annual updates on new displacement trends and patterns and expand resources and programs to reverse negative trends.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Incorporate findings from the studies called for in in Program 5.1 and Actions 5.1.1 through 5.1.5, including the resulting disparities and inequities, when applying the Planning Department’s racial and social equity assessment tool⁶ to applicable projects.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Incorporate relevant findings of the studies called for in Program 5.1 and Actions 5.1.1 through 5.1.5 in city decision documents for actions intended to redress past racial and social harm.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

In recognition of the dispossession of American Indians of their ancestral lands, identify opportunities to give land back for traditional cultural and ceremonial uses and to invest in spaces for the American Indian community to participate in traditional cultural practices and convene community gatherings.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

In recognition of the disproportionate loss of Black residents from San Francisco in recent decades resulting in part from a culmination of discriminatory government actions, identify opportunities to donate or dedicate land for use or development by Black-led, community-serving organizations.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Fund the development and implementation of community-led strategies in Cultural Districts to retain and grow culturally associated businesses and services that attract residents back to the area.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts

Recognize spaces of cultural importance identified by American Indian, Black, Japanese, Filipino, and other communities directly harmed by discriminatory government actions in community planning and regulatory review for development projects, consult them in decisions affecting those spaces, and direct resources towards their preservation and management.

Existing Programs: Historic Preservation Review

Fund the development of cultural spaces that serve communities harmed as described under Program 5.2, using potential new funding sources such as the mitigation fund referenced under Action 4.5.4 or community facilities fees.

Existing Programs: (NEW) Cultural Resource Mitigation Fund; Cultural Districts

Prioritize businesses and non-profit organizations associated with American Indian, Black, Japanese, Filipino, and other communities directly harmed by discriminatory government actions for grant funding and technical assistance through the Legacy Business Program.

Existing Programs: Legacy Business Program

Evaluate and identify common cases of discrimination and violation of fair housing law and groups who continuously face such discrimination, including transgender and LGBTQ+, or people with disabilities, and implement solutions to strengthen enforcement of fair housing law in those cases.

Existing Programs: Fair Housing Enforcement; Fair Housing Testing

Amend the City’s Fair Chance Ordinance to incorporate best practices to expand housing access for people with criminal records to privately owned units, Housing Choice Voucher units, and other federally funded units.⁷

Existing Programs: Fair Chance Ordinance

Create and expand incentives for private landlords to use rental assistance programs (e.g., Housing Choice Vouchers) to rent their units to extremely and very low-income households. Incentives could include covering lease up fees, rent payment during the inspection period, providing tenant support for housing retention, and covering unit damage upon separation, as well as establishing a fund to support these incentives.

Existing Programs: Section 8 Housing Choice (Tenant) Vouchers; Tenant Counseling and Education; Supportive services; Rental Subsidies; Tenant-based Rental Subsidies; (NEW) Incentive Programs for Landlords/Section 8

Address racial bias in home appraisals by strengthening local fair housing legislation for all stages of residential valuation and enhancing fair housing enforcement.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Prioritize American Indian residents for housing opportunities to redress the historic dispossession of resources affecting these communities, such as by the Indian Relocation Act, and other government actions that broke the cohesion of this community.

Existing Programs: Lottery Preference Programs

Establish pilot and permanent programs that offer homeownership opportunities targeted to Black households harmed through redlining or urban renewal or other forms of systemic racism related to housing, including Black individuals and their descendants who hold Certificates of Preference from the urban renewal period, as referenced in Actions 5.4.8  and 5.4.9. Building on the Dream Keeper initiative, such programs should include silent second loans or grants for down payment assistance, as well as other financial assistance to reduce income eligibility as a barrier to access homeownership opportunities.

Existing Programs: Homeownership Down Payment Assistance; Certificate of Preference; Dream Keeper Initiative; (NEW)

Upon completion of the pilot programs for Black communities cited in Action 5.4.2, evaluate and extend the programs to other communities directly harmed by discriminatory government actions.⁸

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Target increased investment in the Down Payment Assistance Loan Program to American Indian, Black, Japanese, Filipino, and other communities directly harmed by redlining or urban renewal or by other discriminatory government actions.

Existing Programs: Homeownership Down Payment Assistance

Implement right to return legislation for residents of public housing including opportunities to those previously displaced.

Existing Programs: Right-to-Return

Pursue expanding and modifying the shared equity homeownership and land trust models to address their effectiveness and scalability, including capacity and expertise of community-based organization to manage and support such projects, to serve communities harmed by past discrimination. Use the findings of the study referenced in Action 2.3.4 to inform expansion of these models.

Existing Programs: Share equity housing; Land Trusts

Create and pilot programs to increase access to Affordable Rental and Homeownership units and other housing services as redress for American Indian, Black, Japanese, Filipino, and other communities directly harmed by past discriminatory government actions including redlining, urban renewal, the Indian Relocation Act, or WWII Japanese incarceration. Programs should be informed by the truth-telling processes described in Program 5.1.

Existing Programs: Preference Programs; 100% Affordable Housing; Inclusionary Affordable Housing; Certificate of Preference; (NEW)

Expand the Certificates of Preference program as required per recent State Law, Assembly Bill 1584 (Health and Safety Code, SEC 13 – 16), to qualify eligible descendants of those displaced by redevelopment projects for priority in renting or buying affordable housing. Conduct comprehensive outreach and engagement to identify the descendants of households who have been displaced. Expanding this program should rely on strategies that ensure such units meet the preferences and needs of eligible households as informed by Action 5.4.9.

Existing Programs: Certificate of Preference

Conduct a study to engage with Certificates of Preference holders and their descendants to identify their housing needs, preferences, and income levels and create a tracking system to better monitor who has obtained or declined affordable rental and homeownership opportunities and why.

Existing Programs: Certificate of Preference; (NEW)

Expand and fund community capacity to implement housing programs and investments for American Indian residents as one strategy to redress the historic dispossession of resources affecting these communities, such as the Indian Relocation Act, and other government actions that broke the cohesion of this community.

Existing Programs: Community-Based Services; Organizational Capacity Building

Pursue multi-generational living for extended families and communal households that have space and amenities for children, working-age adults, seniors and persons with disabilities, when building permanently affordable housing or cooperative housing referenced in Action 1.6.1.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing

Establish programs to assist extremely low and very low-income families with children to relocate from SROs and overcrowded living conditions to appropriate permanently affordable housing.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Encourage family-friendly housing, which could include higher numbers of two- or three-bedroom units, units that are affordable to a wide range of low- to middle-income households, and child-friendly amenities such as playgrounds, on-site childcare, or designated childcare units.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Continue to require multi-bedroom unit mixes.

Existing Programs: Unit Mix Requirements

Study and identify programs that respond to the needs of transgender and LGBTQ+ groups, particularly those who are refugees, lack family connections, or previously incarcerated, to incorporate into permanently affordable housing investments that are concentrated in the neighborhoods where they have historically found community, such as the Castro for LGBTQ+ communities or the Tenderloin for transgender people of color, building upon research spearheaded by the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District.

Existing Programs: LGBTQ Cultural District, Compton’s Transgender District

Support and fund the implementation of San Francisco’s “Ending Trans Homelessness Plan,” as well as the ongoing housing placement for the transgender community, in recognition of the severe disparities in housing access and safety experienced by this group.

Existing Programs: Ending Trans Homelessness Plan

Adopt Trauma-Informed Systems⁹ with robust training resources and increase cultural competency training specific to transgender and LGBTQ+ populations for all service providers and property managers in the City’s affordable housing projects and Homeless Response System.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Expand short term medical recovery housing programs for unhoused transgender people, such as is offered by Maitri, so that transgender people can access medical care by meeting the public health system requirement for stable housing prior to undergoing gender-affirming surgeries.

Existing Programs: Medical Recovery Housing

Allocate resources to population-specific programs outside of the Homelessness Response System in acknowledgement that transgender and LGBTQ+ communities do not currently access the system because of safety and discrimination concerns.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Expand the Senior Operating Subsidy (SOS) program to allow extremely and very low-income seniors to be eligible for new senior Below Market Rate rental units.

Existing Programs: Senior Operating Subsidy (SOS) program

Increase permanently affordable senior housing along transit corridors to improve mobility of aging adults and seniors, particularly for extremely and very low-income households including through expansion of Senior Operating Subsidies as referenced in Action 6.3.1.

Existing Programs: 100% Affordable Housing; Senior Operating Subsidies

Create or support financing programs that support aging in place, including improvements to accessibility through home modifications or building ADUs, and supported by technical assistance programs referenced in Action 8.2.2.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Implement new strategies to support and prevent the loss of residential care facilities, using the recommendations of the Assisted Living Working Group of the Long-term Care Coordinating Council¹⁰, including business support services, as well as City-funded subsidies for affordable placement of low-income residents.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Support and explore expanding the Home Match Program to match seniors with people looking for housing that can provide home chore support in exchange for affordable rent.

Existing Programs: Home Match

Strengthen interagency coordination to identify and implement strategies to address the housing needs of seniors and people with disabilities, informed by the Housing Needs Assessments referenced in Action 6.3.7.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Conduct a Housing Needs Assessment¹¹ for seniors and people with disability every three years to inform strategies that meet their housing needs, as referenced in Policy 32.

Existing Programs: Access Plan Review

Continue to provide housing affordable to HIV positive applicants on the Plus Housing List.

Existing Programs: Plus Housing Program

Explore a Disabled Operating Subsidy (DOS) program to allow extremely and very low-income people with disabilities better access to permanently affordable housing units.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Eliminate the requirement for a hearing for any Reasonable Accommodation requests making all requests administrative in nature, and clearly explain the review process for the public to seek a Reasonable Modification by January 31, 2024.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Create a rezoning program to meet the requirements of San Francisco’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation across income levels and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing laws, relying on a combination of strategies in Actions 7.3.2 and 7.2.1 above to accommodate the RHNA shortfall with a buffer (approximately 36,282 new units) primarily in Well-resourced Neighborhoods, in proximity to transit and commercial corridors. The rezoning program shall reasonably account for sites’ likelihood of development during the planning period using an analytical model and shall not add government constraints that reduce project financial feasibility as determined by an analysis prior to the rezoning enactment. Seek to implement a rezoning program that exceeds the identified RHNA shortfall plus 15% buffer (i.e., 36,282 units) to provide more capacity sooner and that would reduce the need and size of any subsequent rezoning triggered by Action 8.1.5. In addition, make any conforming amendments to relevant area plans in the city’s General Plan based on final rezoning actions. Complete this effort by January 31, 2026.

As described in the Sites Inventory Rezoning Program, the rezoning will meet the requirements of Government Code Section 65583.2(h)-(i), including sites identified to meet the very low and low-income RHNA unmet need will be zoned to:

• permit owner-occupied and rental multifamily uses by-right for developments in which 20 percent or more of the units are affordable to lower-income households. By-right means local government review must not require a conditional use permit, planned unit development permit, or other discretionary review or approval that would constitute a “project” for purposes of CEQA;

• accommodate a minimum of 16 units per site; and

• require a minimum density of 20 units per acre.

At least 50 percent of the lower-income rezoning need must be accommodated on sites designated for residential use only or on sites zoned for mixed uses that accommodate all of the very low- and low-income housing need, if those sites allow 100 percent residential use and require residential use to occupy 50 percent of the total floor area of a mixed-use project.

Existing Programs: Housing Element 2022 Update Sites Inventory and Analysis, (NEW)

Increase staff allocation within Planning to engage with communities living in Well-resourced Neighborhoods to inform existing residents how locating new housing and permanently affordable housing in every neighborhood can address historic inequity and injustice and expand housing opportunities for local residents and their families while strengthening neighborhood vitality. Use Sunset Forward Strategies as a reference for community engagement and development of housing strategies.

Existing Programs: Sunset Forward; (NEW)

Increase the opportunity to create more small multi-family buildings (4 to 20 units) by replacing lot-based unit maximum zoning controls with form-based zoning in Well-resourced Neighborhoods near transit.

Existing Programs: ConnectSF Transit Strategy; Land-use Controls

In Priority Equity Geographies and Cultural Districts where community-led strategies have defined and codified community benefits required for project approvals, establish/implement ministerial approval processes for mid-rise and small multi-family buildings. Examples include designating commercial space as a Community Benefit Use, as defined in Action 9.4.5, or offering reduced rent for community-serving purposes via a development agreement or deed-restrictions.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

In areas outside of Priority Equity Geographies, unless areas opt-in through community-led processes, allow a minimum of four units on all residential lots and a minimum of six on corner lots, expanding on the State duplex/lot split program (SB 9) and pair with rental and/or down payment assistance that supports opportunities for low- and moderate-income tenants and owners.

Existing Programs: SB 9, (NEW)

Revise and codify SB 9 program implementation with Department of Building Inspection to ensure that both flag-shaped lots and utility easements for lot splits are accepted.

Existing Programs: SB 9, (NEW)

Permit uses and eliminate regulatory limitations, such as conditional use authorizations, that discourage innovative, smaller housing types where licensing is not required, such as co-housing¹² with amenities that support seniors and those with disabilities.

Existing Programs: Land-Use Controls; (NEW)

Modify the definition of “dwelling unit” to comply with Health and Safety Code 17021.5. Evaluate and amend the definition of “family” to ensure that it provides zoning code occupancy standards specific to unrelated adults and complies with fair housing law. Permit group housing broadly throughout the city, particularly in zones allowing single-family uses, increase group housing density permitted in these districts, and remove Conditional Use Authorizations or other entitlement barriers to group housing. Changes should focus on special needs groups, including those with disabilities, by ensuring that intermediate care facilities or congregate living health facilities, with six or fewer residents are treated no differently than other by-right single-family housing uses as required in Health and Safety Code sections 1267.8, 1566.3, and 1568.08.

Existing Programs: Land-Use Controls; (NEW)

Support process and code changes in Priority Equity Geographies that seek to define specific needs or limits around co-housing types, as informed by Policy 18. Conduct an affordability analysis to determine financial feasibility.

Existing Programs: Land-Use Controls; (NEW)

Create a co-housing informational program that provides ideas and recommendations on types, financing structures, precedents, and technical guidance to support their creation in Cultural Districts and Priority Equity Geographies to meet community needs.

Existing Programs: Cultural Districts; (NEW)

Revise HOME-SF program and entitlement process to apply to more sites and be easier to use by: eliminating Commission hearings for program-compliant project applications; eliminating environmental criteria (i.e., historic resource, shadow, and wind); expanding applicability to RH1 and RH2 zoned areas; and, broadening the modifications to be more aligned with the State Density Bonus program. Proposed projects should not demolish existing rent-controlled units and must meet tenant protection, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in Housing Crisis Act of 2019.

Existing Programs: Home-SF

Explore height increases and density limit removal at major transit nodes along Rapid bus and rail corridors, in addition to areas referenced in Policy 20, along with planning for needed infrastructure improvements and achieving maximum permanently affordable housing units.

Existing Programs: ConnectSF Transit Strategy

Increase the opportunity for mid-rise multi-family buildings in Well-resourced Neighborhoods through changes to height limits, removal of density controls, and other zoning changes along SFMTA’s Muni Forward Rapid Network¹³ and other transit routes such as California Street, Union Street, Lombard Street, Geary Blvd, Judah Street, Noriega Street, Ocean Ave, Taraval Street, Sloat Blvd, 19th Ave, Park Presidio Blvd, West Portal Ave, Junipero Serra Blvd, Church Street, Divisadero Street, 17th and Market/Castro, and Van Ness Ave. In areas that overlap with Priority Equity Geographies, such as the Japantown Cultural District, any potential zoning changes should be developed through community-led processes per Policies 18 and 29.

Existing Programs: ConnectSF Transit Strategy; SFMTA’s Muni Forward Rapid Network

Study removing the planning code requirement on large development sites south of Harrison Street in the Central SoMa Special Use District that limits residential uses in proportion to office ones on sites larger than 40,000 square feet that entail new construction or an addition of 100,000 square feet or more.

Existing Programs: Land Use Controls

Study feasibility challenges and support proposals for adaptive re-use of vacant and under-utilized commercial office buildings to potentially increase housing and affordable housing opportunities, especially if building types work well for groups that would benefit from their proximity to transit, services, or institutions, such as seniors, teachers, or students.

Existing Programs: Land Use Controls

Pursue partnerships that commit large institutional employers that are not subject to job-housing linkage fees (such as hospitals and educational institutions) to conduct an analysis of the housing demand of their employees and to meet that demand within institutional master plans or equivalent documents.

Existing Programs: Institutional Master Plans, (NEW)

Pursue partnerships with educational institutions to identify the housing needs of students, monitor implementation of planned student housing in institutional master plans, and promote strategies to address the unmet housing needs of students.

Existing Programs: Institutional Master Plans, (NEW)

Prioritize City permitting staff resources for the review of ADUs that do not displace tenants.

Existing Programs: Accessory Dwelling Units

Continue to strengthen the interagency coordination (e.g. Roundtable Review) for permit processing of ADUs and implement an integrated online permitting system and permitting governance structure to support permit streamlining and government transparency.

Existing Programs: Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs); Processing and Permitting Procedures

Create an affordable ADU program that provides financial support for professional services and construction of units that serve low-income households.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Encourage Junior ADUs (JADUs) as an effective and low-cost way of adding habitable space within existing single-family homes, as JADUs also expand opportunities for multi-generational living.

Existing Programs: Accessory Dwelling Units

Revise ADU rent control provisions under local program to start ten years after issuance of Certificate of Occupancy to support homeowners adding units in existing single- and two-family housing.

Existing Programs: Accessory Dwelling Units

Once adopted, submit the ADU ordinance to HCD and revise the ordinance based on HCD’s review as needed.

Existing Programs: Accessory Dwelling Units

Reduce building code or jurisdictional conflicts to enable cost-efficient construction types and materials such as cross laminated timber,¹⁴ cassette,¹⁵ or modular¹⁶ construction, especially where local jobs are supported.

Existing Programs: Building Code

Expand the construction workforce through training programs in partnership with non-City apprenticeship programs and expand the Local Hire program to allow more projects to participate.

Existing Programs: CityBuild Training; Local Hire; Workforce Development

Modify requirement to collect impact fees upon issuance of a Certificate of Final Completion and Occupancy instead of issuance of building permit, in order to support small and mid-size multifamily housing projects.

Existing Programs: Impact Fees

Assess modification of Article 12C of the San Francisco Health Code Non-Potable Water Ordinance as it relates to housing projects, with specific consideration of increasing square footage requirement for housing projects from “at or over 100,000 square feet,” to "at or over 2500,000 gross square feet.”

Existing Programs: San Francisco Health Code Non-Potable Water Ordinance

If the City issues building permits¹⁷ for fewer than 29,049 new units¹⁸ by January 31, 2027, then the City shall enact and implement:

• additional rezoning outside of Priority Equity Geographies and areas vulnerable to displacement, and 

• additional constraints reductions for housing projects, including existing projects in the development pipeline.

This additional rezoning and additional constraints reductions shall accommodate 115% of the shortfall, minus any capacity created by the rezoning(s) in Action 7.1.1 in excess of 36,282 units.¹⁹

The scope of this additional rezoning and additional constraint reduction:

• shall account for sites’ likelihood of development during the RHNA planning period, and affirmatively incorporate the results of an analytical model and the cumulative constraints analysis described in Action 8.1.8 to increase supply choice and affordability and accommodate the RHNA in the planning period.

• shall not impose any new governmental constraints not already in effect on January 31, 2027 to the development of housing unless that constraint is offset by the repeal or mitigation of another constraint.

• shall consider progress and implement strategies toward meeting the RHNA goals by income group and AFFH objectives, including strategies considered under 8.1.10.

• shall consider community engagement, in alignment with Program area 4.2 in areas that may be disproportionately impacted with displacement risk beyond Priority Equity Geographies.

The City shall complete this effort, if needed, by July 31, 2028. The City will implement this program in consultation with HCD, including HCD approval.

Existing Programs: Planning Code, Land Use Controls, Processing and Permitting Procedures

In alignment with the provisions and purpose of the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (Government Code 66300 et seq.), any City-adopted rezoning or development controls shall not impose any new governmental constraints to the development of housing unless those increased constraints are offset by the removal or reduction of other constraints. A “new governmental constraint” is a city-imposed requirement, including but not limited to process, fees, or design, that increases the cost of development not in effect on January 31, 2023, not including mitigation measures adopted in compliance with CEQA or a requirement adopted to specifically protect against a threat to health or safety.

Existing Programs: Planning Code, Land Use Controls, Processing and Permitting Procedures

Explore increasing General Fund support for non-regulatory and non-permit review activities of the Planning Department to support the implementing actions of this plan, including community engagement, Cultural Districts strategies, funding strategies for affordable housing, and community plans for services and infrastructure needed for additional housing, Housing Sustainability Districts, rezoning, and overall revisions to the Planning Code.

Existing Programs: Planning Code, Land Use Planning and Controls, Processing and Permitting Procedures

Conduct a pro-forma-based study of cumulative governmental constraints on housing development in relation to the socio-economic needs to the city. The study shall quantify the net number of economically feasible housing units that could be built in the City under the regulatory status quo and conduct a sensitivity analysis to determine the amount of constraint reduction necessary to ensure that the majority of typical code-compliant housing projects are economically feasible, including quantification of the hypothetical increase in the net number of economically feasible units that would be realized under a range of constraint-removal scenarios. The study shall consider the effects of economic cycles, considering feasibility under both current economic conditions as well as feasibility under average prevailing conditions over the preceding decade, and sensitivity analysis to variations in construction costs and market rents and sales prices. It should also consider the cost of housing in relation to the population needs. The study shall be updated triennially in tandem with the required Controller’s study of the Inclusionary Program required by Planning Code Section 415.10, with the first such study completed in tandem with the first Controller’s study completed on or after January 31, 2025, but in no case later than January 31, 2027.

The results of the cumulative constraints study shall also inform Action 8.1.5 with the goal of ensuring the economic feasibility of achieving the city’s RHNA targets during the planning period.

Existing Programs: Planning Code, Land Use Controls, Processing and Permitting Procedures

Create a Monitoring Program to track progress against Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing goals and metrics and evaluate the effectiveness of AFFH programs, including but not limited to displacement and place-based strategies that address community preservation and revitalization. The evaluation should also seek to harmonize the multiple goals of housing supply, choice, affordability, and conservation. Evaluate reductions to project approval timelines through constraints reduction programs; and monitor housing production from a variety of sources, including pipeline projects, the rezoning described in Program 7.1.1, SB 9, and ADUs. This team shall provide a mid-term evaluation of progress against these metrics and make adjustments to improve performance through additional programs, increased constraints reduction, and additional rezoning, as necessary. This Monitoring Program will be led by the Interagency Housing Element Implementation committee in consultation with community organizations described in Action 4.1.4.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

By January 2026, the Interagency Housing Element Implementation committee (see Action 4.1.4) will assess if the City has approved the appropriate housing units by income level to meet the RHNA goals. If the City is behind the pro rata affordable housing production goals the Interagency Housing Element Implementation committee should trigger:

• Increase of additional City funding for affordable housing and pursuit of additional State funding
• Increase the land banking strategy to accommodate 50 percent more affordable housing units than the capacity of the sites acquired from 2022 through 2025

The City will implement these actions in consultation with HCD.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Create low-interest construction loan programs for eligible lower-income homeowners to expand their existing homes with additional units or demolish and replace their homes with more units up to the allowable maximum density.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Create and sustainably fund financing, technical assistance, outreach, and educational programs, such as the Housing Development Incentive Program for Homeowners, for eligible homeowners interested in updating their property from single- to multi-family housing, particularly assisting low-income property owners, households of color, seniors, and people with disabilities. Such programs should ensure accessible accommodations for aging adults and people with disabilities.

Existing Programs: Housing Development Incentive Program for Homeowners; (NEW)

Explore new fees on housing applications that propose large new or large expansions to single-family homes where no new units are added to create a funding for affordable housing including programs as described in Action 8.2.2.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Develop Objective Design Standards that do not act as a constraint on new development and eliminate subjective design review of housing projects while ensuring that new development in existing neighborhoods support livability, building durability, access to light and outdoor space, and creative expression.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Codify commonly applied but unadopted policies, on such topics as roof decks or flats, as design standards to increase certainty in decision-making at Planning Commission.

Existing Programs: Land Use Controls

Evaluate open space and exposure standards to reduce the number of projects seeking exceptions on typical lot conditions, for instance by removing the inner court five-foot setback at each level requirement under Planning Code Section 140 and amend Section 135(g)(2) to allow inner courts to serve as usable open space even if the height of adjoining walls is somewhat larger than the width of the inner court to allow more efficient construction techniques and reduce the cost of housing construction.

Existing Programs: Land Use Controls

Establish objective design standards as part of Better Streets requirements for on- and offsite improvements that replace existing subjective ones.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Revise public right-of-way (ROW) policy, rules, and procedures across city agencies to facilitate the use of the below grade public ROW for utility infrastructure that would currently be required to be installed on private property to maximize the construction of housing units and expedite post-entitlement approvals as described in Post-Entitlement Permitting and Pipeline Support Program under 8.9.

Existing Programs: Land Use Controls

Eliminate or remove application of design guidelines including through imposition of project-specific conditions of approval that subjectively restrict the massing of housing for projects that comply with applicable objective standards in accordance with the State’s Housing Accountability Act.

Existing Programs: Design Review

Create and adopt a new objective design standard to require the use of natural and durable materials for front façade and windows, for example stucco, stone, concrete, wood, and metal to replace existing discretionary design guidelines, except in Special Area Design Guidelines or adopted or listed Historic Districts, that require detailed front façade compatibility with surrounding neighborhood architectural patterns, for example window proportions, roof shape, or type of entry.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Create, complete, adopt, and apply the Ground Floor Residential Objective Design Standards to housing projects to require porches, stoops, and open space under specific conditions without compromising accessibility to invite social engagement and belonging.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Eliminate the use of “neighborhood character” and/or “neighborhood compatibility” terminology in case report findings towards approvals.

Existing Programs: Design Review

Given health and safety requirements in the Building Code and rear yard requirements in the Planning Code, eliminate the use of “light” and “air” terminology in case report findings to support discretionary requests.

Existing Programs: Design Review

Remove terminology of “neighborhood character” and “neighborhood compatibility” in the Urban Design Element. Replace such concepts with policies that promote objectivity and certainty and that avoid severe changes to building scale and architectural expressions that dehumanize the experience of the built environment, while supporting the need for physical evolution of neighborhoods in accommodating new housing. Explore implications with Proposition M.²⁰

Existing Programs: Urban Design Element

Incentivize housing project applications outside of Priority Equity Geographies that maximize density and height under existing zoning and regulatory programs as that will result in the production of more permanently affordable housing units, as informed by the racial and social equity impact analysis referenced in Actions 4.1.7 and 4.1.8.

Existing Programs: SB 35; State Density Bonus; Local Density Bonuses

Establish local non-discretionary ministerial approval18F for housing applications in Well-resourced Neighborhoods outside of areas vulnerable to displacement that net two or more housing units, do not demolish existing rent-controlled units, and meet tenant protection, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, by Board of Supervisors or voter approval of a City Charter amendment. Planning staff will use the Rent Board’s Housing Inventory data and seek input from tenants organizations.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Adopt one or more Housing Sustainability Districts in Well-resourced Neighborhoods outside of areas vulnerable to displacement that include tenant protections, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in Housing Crisis Act of 2019, by January 31, 2026.

Unless implementation of Action 8.4.2 has already occurred in the same geography and renders Housing Sustainability Districts (HSD) unnecessary, Housing Sustainability District(s) shall encompass at least 15% of the total land area of the city up to the maximum allowed by state law and shall not include parcels where residential uses are not permitted or are critical sites for City infrastructure, such as parks or utilities.

Existing Programs: Housing Sustainability Districts

Establish a non-discretionary ministerial pathway for project applications that provide 20% affordable housing on site through mechanisms described in Actions 8.4.2 and 8.4.3, for RHNA Cycle 6 lower-income sites identified in the Housing Element Update 2022 Sites Inventory that have been reused from Cycles 4 and 5 by January 31, 2024, as required by per California Government Code §65583.2 (c).

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Eliminate Commission hearings on any code-complying project in the Well Resourced Neighborhoods subject to the Housing Accountability Act by July 31, 2023 until January 31, 2027.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

In Priority Equity Geographies where community-led strategies have defined and codified community benefits, affordable housing goals, environmental justice measures, design standards and/or any other community-determined outcomes required for project approvals, streamline approval processes including reducing notification requirements, consolidating appeal hearings, and providing non-discretionary ministerial pathways, to facilitate certainty in the development process and comprehensively address all community concerns.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Revise current hearing procedures for Planning Code Sections 147 and 295 Height Restrictions on Structures Shadowing Property Under the Jurisdiction of the Recreation and Park Commission to codify that the City complies with the maximum number of allowed hearings for projects as required by the project approvals requirements under Housing Crisis Act of 2019 hearing requirements i.e., Government Code section 65905.5 and ensure project approvals meet Housing Crisis Act of 2019 hearing requirements.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Remove Conditional Use Authorizations or other regulatory barriers for lot mergers and lots or proposed densities that exceed conditional use thresholds on housing applications that net two or more housing units, do not demolish existing rent-controlled units, and meet tenant protection, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in Housing Crisis Act of 2019 to facilitate larger and more efficient housing projects by January 31, 2025.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Remove Conditional Use Authorization requirement for demolition of single-family or multi-unit buildings that (1) are not tenant occupied and without history of tenant evictions, recent buyouts, no-fault, Ellis, or OMI Evictions; (2) net two or more housing units in the case of projects that construct less than 4 units or that net an increase of at least 50% in the number of existing units for projects that construct 4 or more units, (3) do not demolish existing rent-controlled units, and (4) meet tenant protection, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in Housing Crisis Act of 2019 by January 31, 2025. Continue to apply Conditional Use requirements to demolition of tenant occupied buildings. Review “protected unit" standards in the Housing Crisis Act, and strengthen definitions for local use as necessary, to ensure that properties with a history of no-fault evictions, such as Ellis Act or Owner-Move-Ins, continue to require heightened scrutiny or prohibition of demolition. Planning staff will use the Rent Board’s Housing Inventory data and seek input from tenants organizations.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Remove Conditional Use Authorizations where required to achieve greater height for a housing project or replace height and bulk districts that require Conditional Use Authorizations to exceed the base height with one that allows the current maximum height by January 31, 2025.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Reduce the minimum lot size to 1,200 square feet and minimum lot width to 20 feet for proposed projects that net at least one housing unit.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Study changes to existing objective Planning Code standards on wind speeds in downtown (c-3) districts under Section 148 to prevent creation by new buildings taller than 85’ of hazard level wind speeds (26 mph) in identified pedestrian areas and to remove the existing comfort standard (7-11 mph); publish a clear document describing the methodology and procedures for wind analysis using these standards; study adopting Planning Code standard measures (e.g., building design objective standards) for certain locations that reduce hazard level wind speeds to reduce individual project-level technical analysis and expedite housing application approvals; and commit to addressing wind impacts collectively through the results of the study in action 9.2.12.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Analyze interaction between different planning department teams and identify and implement where internal application review processes could be reformed and simplified, for example, standardizing and codifying technical studies and best practices to shorten the time to get to a stable project description.

Existing Programs: N/A

Designate a lead permitting agency or assigned project manager for priority projects or projects delivering over 20% affordable housing to facilitate interagency alignment from application start to certificate of occupancy and final certification.

Existing Programs: N/A

Lower the requirement for a major encroachment permit to a minor encroachment permit for housing projects to lay utility lines through public land to meet streetlight requirements for SFPUC.

Existing Programs: Land Use Controls

Continue to implement the Mayoral Executive Directives to accelerate creating new housing and expand City department’s compliance with the directives (Mayor Breed’s Executive Directive 18-01 and Mayor Lee’s Executive Directive 17-02).

Existing Programs: Mayor Executive Directives

Amend the Planning Code to prohibit Discretionary Review requests for code compliant projects adding at least one net unit, except for projects affecting buildings with units that are tenant occupied, are located in Priority Equity Geographies, or meet the definition of protected units under the Housing Crisis Act of 2019. Remove neighborhood notification requirements for projects outside of Priority Equity Geographies that are code complying, net at least one housing unit, and only expand the rear or side of an existing building and for all non-discretionary ministerial projects.

Existing Programs: N/A

Prioritize Department staffing and resources to review Discretionary Review applications that are filed within Priority Equity Geographies in a timely manner and reallocate the Planning Department’s staff resources from other Discretionary Review applications to support low-income homeowners with technical assistance as identified under Action 8.2.2, using the Department’s Racial and Social Equity Assessment tool. Consider Commission action to limit Discretionary Review heard by Commission for projects that do not affect the size or number of dwelling units on a parcel, for example, changes to decks or other similar exterior modifications.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Whenever Planning Code amendments or revisions are proposed, advocate for ensure and promote simpler or an overall reduction of rules that affect housing approvals to reduce the specific or institutional knowledge needed by City staff, applicants, and members of the public to increase accessibility.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Create best-practices applicant checklist of priority pre- and post-entitlement documents for all departments and agencies that participate in post-entitlement review and permitting.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Led by American Indian, Black, other communities of color, and Cultural Districts, explore options to support community engagement as part of ministerial review to simplify and shorten the approval process for housing projects citywide. All considered options must not add subjective constraints to the housing approval process and must reduce project approval timelines.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Ensure that local adopted rules and procedures that implement future state housing law support and conform with the State’s legislative intent.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Remove Commission hearings for program-compliant State Density Bonus projects that do not require additional entitlements in consultation with California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Request that HCD and the State legislature clarify and consolidate permit milestone and timeframe definitions that stem from past legislation to ensure data accuracy and compliance in the required Annual Progress Report.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Advocate for HCD to provide more immediate and standardized implementation support for State housing legislation so that it is directly operational for general planning staff, reducing the need for highly specialized experts, to reduce constraints on staffing.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Establish and document two critical markers of site and building permit applications progress, “complete application” and “approved application” in permit application processes, to ensure accurate data collection and continued compliance with the Permit Streamlining Act.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Evaluate the local CEQA review process to identify what goes beyond the CEQA statute and state guidelines in San Francisco-specific initial study checklist topics (e.g., wind and shadow) and requirements pertaining to notification, posting, public hearings, and appeals. Amend Chapter 31 of the Administrative Code to modify or eliminate the identified requirements while continuing to satisfy CEQA. Update department standard operating procedures, guidelines, and bulletins to reflect the amended code and evaluation. Evaluate replacing CEQA wind analysis with expanded and modified Planning Code 148 objective requirements as described in Action 8.4.12 to new buildings taller than 85’ throughout the city.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Issue comprehensive plan check comments concurrently with design review comments after submittal of a complete application within the timeframes required by the Permit Streamlining Act and/or Housing Accountability Act for housing applications; complete legislative and/or procedural changes to enable the CEQA and code review process to begin earlier in the application process to expedite permit processing.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Examine and change necessary legislation to allow project applications that only require building permits to not meet the definition of a “project” under CEQA (locally and/or at state level).

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Develop a streamlined process for implementing use of the Housing Element Environmental Impact Report for future housing projects and future planning code amendments related to housing consistent with the Housing Element 2022.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Revise data collection process and establish data dashboards on application process, approvals, and unit delivery to provide more accurate, up to date, and transparent information to the State, advocates, and communities and reduce staff time on reporting. Review current requirements and eliminate any out-of-date or redundant housing reporting requirements.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Study and address post-entitlement permit processes for projects subject to California State Highway System permits.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Comply with all state laws including but not limited to SB 35 Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process (Gov. Code, § 65913.4), Housing Crisis Act (Gov. Code, § 66300), Housing Accountability Act (Gov. Code, § 65589.5), Permit Streamlining Act (Gov. Code, §§ 65941.1 and 65943), and CEQA timelines., This will include strengthening data collection, clarifying definitions, revising processes, and other actions to comply with all state housing laws.

Include an analysis of proposed housing projects for potential applicability of the Housing Accountability Act in staff reports and commission resolutions.

Existing Programs: Planning Code, Processing and Permitting Procedures

Expand the Impact Fee exemption to a broader range of permanently affordable housing projects including those with units affordable up to 120 percent of Area Median Income or projects that rely on philanthropic capital.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Utilize and comply with the state-wide streamlining opportunities to expedite and increase the production of Permanent Supportive Housing. Continue the nondiscretionary approval of Supportive Housing projects in accordance AB 2162 and of all shelters, including Low Barrier Navigation Centers, in accordance with AB 101.

Existing Programs: Plan Review, AB 101, AB 2162

Make shelters, transitional housing, or crisis interventions (such as Safe Sleeping Sites) principally permitted in all zoning districts, regardless of the declaration of a shelter crisis.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Remove requirement for General Plan referrals for shelters, 100% affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, and development agreement projects.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Remove Planning Code Section 429 Public Art requirements for 100% affordable housing projects.

Existing Programs: Planning Code

Create an administrative process for 100% affordable rehabilitation projects to add accessory dwelling units.

Existing Programs: Plan Review

Strengthen the interagency coordination to streamline the requirements for the associated approvals for publicly funded affordable housing by creating a public inventory of all such approvals, establishing a baseline process and expected duration for each approval, and ensuring clear project management; examples of associated approvals include the PG&E requirements to accommodate Public Utilities Commission (PUC) low-cost electric service, or the multi-agency review of disability access to reduce per-unit construction costs.

Existing Programs: Plan Review

Identify common disputes and establish processes to resolve them in specific time periods. Resolve common disputes between the SFPUC and PG&E, especially on affordable housing project applications, which result in unnecessary equipment, delays, and costly upgrades.

Existing Programs: Plan Review

Assess the effectiveness of recently issued administrative bulletins on code and standards interpretations intended to establish clear expectations and reduce review and inspection time from the Mayor’s Office of Disability for 100% affordable housing projects. Revise these bulletins regularly to address any ongoing challenges with accessibility reviews.

Existing Programs: Plan Review

Streamline plan checks, response to revisions, and field inspection process to support and reduce review time from Mayor’s Office of Disability by 20% for 100% affordable housing projects.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Advocate for AB 101, State legislation that requires Low-Barrier Navigation Centers by right, to cover other crisis interventions that house people that are not considered emergency shelter, for example safe sleeping sites.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Determine and codify procedures that recognize that housing applications for shelter, temporary housing, or crisis interventions (such as Safe Sleeping Sites) do not meet the standard of a “project” under CEQA, to ensure compliance with AB 101.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Work with design professionals to produce replicable building details (such as bathroom layouts) that are code compliant and meet accessibility standards on publicly subsidized 100% affordable housing projects. This will reduce plan review time, field corrections, and cost, while maintaining high-quality standards.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Expand use of third-party consulting peer review of construction documents on publicly subsidized 100% affordable housing projects, in addition to continuing to maintain staff experts on affordable housing project review and assigning them to affordable housing projects.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Implement innovations in project financing, including options for payment and performance bonds, retention, and other contract terms, expedited payments to contractors on publicly subsidized 100% affordable housing projects.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Expand nonprofit project management capacity, especially focused on areas of the city that have not seen much affordable housing development and where there are few or no community-based affordable housing developers.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Support new systems of property management and asset management for efficiencies and low cost per unit for expanded portfolios that include mid and smaller size buildings.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Ensure compliance with SB 1087 requirements, including immediately delivering the adopted housing element to water and sewer service providers, that sewer and water providers have policies and procedures that grant priority for service allocations to proposed developments that include housing units affordable to lower-income households.

Existing Programs: Existing compliance and priority for affordable housing

Enable public-private partnership solutions to front-end the necessary funding for on- and off-site infrastructure investments to expedite housing for large master plans and development agreements with major up front infrastructure needs, such as Treasure Island, Candlestick Point, Mission Bay, Hunters Point Shipyard, Parkmerced, and Schlage Lock/Bayland North. Solutions could include Infrastructure Finance Districts, Tax Increment Financing, or other methods to provide direct City investment, allocation of public financing, or issuance of other public debt.

Existing Programs: Infrastructure Finance Districts

Advocate for regional, State, and federal funds through the existing infrastructure bank or other paths to help finance the infrastructure needs of large urban infill and redevelopment projects.

Existing Programs: Infrastructure Bank

Continue to strengthen coordination of interagency permitting review and approval processes for implementation of approved large master-planned or development agreement projects to accelerate construction timelines of infrastructure improvements.

Existing Programs: Plan Review

Participate and perform data and process analysis as directed by mandatory Policy and Practice Review HCD scope and timeline.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Revise local process, procedures, and other relevant requirements to implement priority recommendations of HCD’s finalized Policy and Practice Review.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Amend Housing Element, as needed, to include final actions required by outcomes of mandatory Policy and Practice Review HCD effort.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Create workflow and organizational charts to clarify how City agencies review and permit housing; link interdepartmental process and combine pre- and post-entitlement project review and monitoring teams, when feasible, to optimize workflow.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Coordinate pre- and post-entitlement review Actions across City agencies to reduce entitlement process time. This includes actions 8.1.14 to support priority projects; 8.4.15 to lower permit requirements for streetlights; 8.4.20 to create applicant checklist for pre- and post- entitlement documents; 8.6.7 to streamline publicly funded affordable housing projects; 8.6.8 to resolve common disputes between the SFPUC and PG&E; 8.6.9 to assess the effectiveness of recently issued administrative bulletins to reduce review and inspection times from the Mayor’s Office of Disability for 100% affordable housing projects; 8.6.13 to produce replicable building details that meet accessibility standards on publicly subsidized 100% affordable housing projects; 8.6.14 to expand use of third-party consulting peer review of construction documents on publicly subsidized 100% affordable housing projects; and 8.6.15 to innovate financing on publicly subsidized 100% affordable housing projects.

Existing Programs: Land Use Controls, Plan Review, (NEW)

Create and expand programs to improve indoor air quality for existing housing, prioritizing resources in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities, such as applying the standards in Article 38 of SF Health Code to such housing.

Existing Programs: Environmental Justice Framework; Climate Action Plan; Article 38 of SF Health Code, (NEW)

Create electric conversion policies and programs for existing housing that decrease the use of gas appliances in homes to support respiratory health, prioritizing Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities.

Existing Programs: Environmental Justice Framework; Climate Action Plan; Safety & Resilience Element; (NEW)

Support and streamline permits for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), energy and weatherization retrofits and upgrades, prioritizing Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities.

Existing Programs: Energy Efficiency Upgrade Programs; Energy Upgrade California; Renewable Energy Requirements; Solar, Electric, and Water Heating Incentives; Processing and Permitting Procedures

Expand funding for repair and rehabilitation programs to remove mold, lead, and other health hazards through programs such as Fix Lead SF and CalHome recognizing the need to protect tenants throughout the remediation process and not pass along costs afterwards, prioritizing Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities.

Existing Programs: CalHome Rehab Program; Healthy Homes Lead Hazard Remediation; Environmental Justice Framework; Fix Lead SF

Continue to connect residents and housing developments with technical support and financing programs for earthquake safety retrofits such as the Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program.

Existing Programs: Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program, Safety & Resilience Element; Hazards and Climate Resilience Plan

Create programs to provide rehabilitation assistance to qualified homeowners to maintain exterior cladding, roofs, and essential building utilities in housing in Environmental Justice Communities.

Existing Programs: CalHome Rehab Program (MOHCD); Environmental Justice Framework; (NEW)

Establish priority building permit and entitlement Planning Department review processes for multi-family residential development projects that rehabilitate or adaptively reuse existing buildings to support sustainable building practices, per Policy 34, while preserving cultural resources.

Existing Programs: Ministerial Approval; Processing and Permitting Procedures; Historic Preservation Review; Safety & Resilience Element

Ensure and reinforce that all community planning efforts meet the City’s Climate Action Plan to prepare existing neighborhoods and future housing projects for sea level rise and flooding impacts, especially in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities.

Existing Programs: Community Plans; Community Strategies; Climate Action Plan; Environmental Justice Framework; Safety & Resilience Element; Waterfront Resilience Program; Islais Creek Southeast Mobility and Adaptation Strategy

Provide neighborhood and infrastructure planning to mitigate flood risks during extreme weather events or due to climate crisis impacts, prioritizing resources for Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities.

Existing Programs: Development Agreements; Community Plans; Community Strategies; Climate Action Plan; Environmental Justice Framework; Safety & Resilience Element; Waterfront Resilience Program; Islais Creek Southeast Mobility and Adaptation Strategy

Enhance high-pressure fire protection for the Westside of San Francisco by implementing and constructing Phase 1 of the Westside Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System (PEFWS) and continue to work with the community and obtain funding to implement and construct Phase 2 of the PEFWS.

Existing Programs: Phase 1 of the Westside Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System; Safety & Resilience Element

Identify strategies to reduce the impact of polluting sources, such as freeways, in planning efforts in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities so that impacted residents may provide input on solutions that support health of sensitive populations, such as seniors, children, and those with disabilities. Examples of strategies include vegetative buffers and location of childcare and other sensitive uses away from busy roadways, among others.

Existing Programs: Article 38 of SF Health Code; Environmental Justice Framework; Safety & Resilience Element

Strengthen building standards to ensure that new housing developments limit sound intrusion from exterior and interior sources.

Existing Programs: Building Codes

Explore whether certification or building codes effectively incentivize the use of low volatile organic compounds (VOC) materials in new construction to reduce exposure.

Existing Programs: Building Codes; Processing and Permitting Procedures; Environmental Justice Framework

Maximize the installation of site-appropriate, native trees and vegetation at grade and on roofs in new residential development, especially in neighborhoods with less tree canopy coverage as per the SF Better Streets Plan, the SF Green Landscaping Ordinance, and the SF Better Roofs Ordinance.

Existing Programs: Better Streets Plan; Green Landscaping Ordinance; Better Roofs Ordinance; Environmental Justice Framework; Safety & Resilience Element

Update Planning Code requirements, such as the SF Green Landscaping Ordinance, to reduce paved surfaces and underground enclosed space in rear and side yards to specifically retain deep soil for trees and more sustainable vegetation.

Existing Programs: SF Green Landscaping Ordinance; Land Use Controls

Study and document the impact of open space and housing on people’s health, especially for children, for the Planning Commission’s use in evaluating open space and rear yard variances in housing applications.

Existing Programs: Development Agreements; Open Space Requirements; Environmental Justice Framework

Enforce compliance with existing requirements in the SF Stormwater Management Ordinance to incorporate on-site stormwater management and flood resilience

Existing Programs: SF Stormwater Management Ordinance; Safety & Resilience Element

With passage of more opportunities for non-discretionary ministerial approvals in Policy 25, redirect Planning Department staff time as available towards long-range environmental efforts, like those that reduce the city’s regional and global contributions to the climate crisis instead of the discretionary permit and environmental review of such housing projects with minimal environmental impacts.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Study ways for the city to plan, fund, and mitigate environmental conditions (e.g., wind) that impact many sites, may not be pragmatically solvable on a site-by-site basis, and could deter or delay projects that include affordable housing units, especially in Priority Equity Geographies.

Existing Programs: Hazards and Climate Resilience Plan

Identify the public health needs of neighborhoods, especially in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities, in community planning processes or when planning for large-scale development projects by engaging community-based organizations; public health needs include addressing air, soil, groundwater contamination, and noise pollution.

Existing Programs: Environmental Justice Framework

Organize housing and neighborhood business and service areas to prioritize proximity in neighborhood planning or development agreement projects that propose land use changes.

Existing Programs: Development Agreements; Community Plans; Community Strategies

Apply equity metrics identified under Action 4.1.1 in identifying necessary infrastructure improvements for Priority Equity Geographies and to guide all City investment decisions, including but not limited to: Capital Planning, General Plan Elements, Interagency Plan Implementation Committee, or Citizen Advisory Council review, in coordination with Actions 9.3.5 to 9.3.7.

Existing Programs: Capital and Operational Planning (city-level and agency-level); General Plan Elements; Vision Zero; Interagency Plan Implementation Committee; Community or Citizen Advisory Councils

Prioritize investments in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities related to improving transit service, pedestrian safety, schools, child development centers, parks, streetscape, and other neighborhood amenities, in coordination with the investments referenced under Action 9.3.7.

Existing Programs: Capital and Operational Planning (city-level and agency-level); General Plan Elements; Interagency Plan Implementation Committee; Community or Citizen Advisory Councils

Strengthen interagency coordination, review, and compliance processes to ensure that transit, walking, and biking infrastructure and safety improvements are integrated into planning, funding, and construction and/or rehabilitation of public projects (e.g., parks and open spaces, libraries, and transit facilities) in addition to private development projects, consistent with the City’s Vision Zero policy.

Existing Programs: Interagency Transportation Advisory Staff Committee, Interagency Street Design Advisory Team, ConnectSF, Planning Transportation Review under CEQA, Vision Zero

Continue to adhere to guidelines in the Better Streets Plan when new housing creates improvements to sidewalks, streets, and other public spaces.

Existing Programs: Better Streets Plan review through Interagency Transportation Advisory Staff Committee and Interagency Street Design Advisory Team

Strengthen interagency coordination for transportation, evaluating and prioritizing the existing and future needs of Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities, and Well-resourced Neighborhoods targeted for increased housing capacity, and plan for staffing and funding needed for these investments (e.g., general obligation bonds, federal grants). This includes delivering a capital program that provides extensive transit priority on a network transit routes that would make it possible for service to reliably operate every five minutes or better,²¹ and consistent with the city’s ConnectSF vision and its Transit Strategy

Existing Programs: ConnectSF and its Transit Strategy and Streets and Freeways Strategy; SFCTA San Francisco Transportation Plan (SFTP); Transportation Element; MTC Plan Bay Area 2050

Repair, maintain, and optimize the existing transit system, particularly through SFMTA’s 5-year Capital Improvement Program’s (CIP) Transit Optimization and Expansion Projects (e.g., transit only lanes, transit signal priority, boarding islands, etc. on transit streets) in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities and Well-resourced Neighborhoods targeted for increased housing capacity.

Existing Programs: SFMTA 5-year Capital Improvement Program; SFMTA Muni Forward; SFMTA Muni Service Equity Strategy; ConnectSF Transit Strategy

Expand and improve local and regional transit service as identified in ConnectSF Transit Strategy, prioritizing essential workers, low-income households, and transit-dependent people, and in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice communities.

Existing Programs: ConnectSF Transit Strategy; SFMTA Muni Service Equity Strategy; SFCTA SFTP

Adopt requirements that encourage trips using priority modes²² in new housing and reduce transportation impacts from new housing. Such requirements for some new housing may include additional transportation demand management measures and driveway and loading operations plans; protecting pedestrian, cycling, and transit-oriented street frontages from driveways; and reducing vehicular parking.

Existing Programs: Planning Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program and related Planning Code TDM provisions; Planning Code Transportation Sustainability Fee; Planning Transportation Review under CEQA; Development Agreements

Collaborate with the San Francisco Unified School District to evaluate the feasibility of providing a priority in the school assignment process for lower income families to be assigned at higher quality schools.

Existing Programs: School Assignment Priority

Remove Conditional Use Authorizations outside of Priority Equity Geographies and areas vulnerable to displacement where required to remove an existing use and construct housing, and instead apply neighborhood notification procedures for proposed demolition of identified community-service uses, such as theaters, grocery stores, and laundromats, by January 31, 2027 and support their economic survival through a replacement provision or participation in a Community Benefit Use program²³ as described in Action 9.4.5.

Existing Programs: Community Benefit Use; Conditional Use Authorizations; Land Use Controls; Neighborhood Retail Regulations; Processing and Permitting Procedures; Environmental Justice Framework; (NEW)

Develop or adopt certification programs for community-serving businesses, such as grocery stores, child development centers, healthcare clinics, and laundromats, starting in Priority Equity Geographies so that there is a way to resource or plan for them via other actions.

Existing Programs: Land-Use Controls; Processing and Permitting Procedures; (NEW)

Incentivize new housing to commit via deed restrictions or other legal agreement to below market rate commercial leases for community-based organizations serving the neighborhood community for a minimum of ten years by providing fee waivers, especially in Cultural Districts.

Existing Programs: Fee Exemptions; (NEW)

Study the creation of a Community Benefit Use program, referenced in Actions 7.2.2 and 9.4.8, that allows new housing developments to have a highly flexible ground floor use entitlement and tenants to be eligible for rent subsidy in exchange for community participation in tenant selection or for businesses that obtain certifications as described in Action 9.4.3.

Existing Programs: (NEW)

Create and implement a long-range community facilities plan, and update every 5-10 years, for public facilities including parks, recreation centers, schools, child development centers, libraries, to accommodate a thirty-year projected population growth, informed by equity metrics in a manner that secures equitable access in Priority Equity Geographies, Environmental Justice Communities, and Well-resourced Neighborhoods that are targeted for increased housing capacity, building on processes such as the Community Facilities Framework, and in collaboration with Interagency Plan Implementation Committee.

Existing Programs: Community Facilities Framework; Interagency Plan Implementation Committee; (NEW)

Develop a comprehensive and regularly updated map of daily needs, amenities, and community facilities, to inform the work of the interagency coordination under Action 9.3.3 as well as community-based organizations in planning for services, resources, open space, and businesses to be near each other and supportive to communities.

Existing Programs: Community Facilities Framework; (NEW)

Expand and allow community serving uses, such as retail, restaurants, and personal services within areas that are primarily residential especially on corner parcels, especially uses under the Community Benefit Use program defined under Action 9.4.5.

Existing Programs: Land-Use Controls; Community Benefit Districts; Neighborhood Retail Regulations; (NEW)

By March 2023, convene City leadership, staff, policymakers, affordable housing advocates, and industry experts to collaborate on an Affordable Housing Implementation and Funding Strategy that provides specific recommendations and responsible parties to achieve and sustain the substantial public funding from local, state, and federal sources, that would join with public-private partnerships, needed to achieve the RHNA targets of over 46,000 units affordable at low- and moderate-incomes. Assign appropriate City staff to include a budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and complete this effort by January 31, 2024.

Increase funding to expand the services of community-based organizations and providers for financial counseling services listed under Action 1.7.5, as well as tenant and eviction prevention services listed under Program 2, to better serve vulnerable populations, populations in areas vulnerable to displacement, and Cultural Districts Tenant and eviction protection services include legal services, code enforcement outreach, tenant counseling, mediation, and housing-related financial assistance; expansion of such services should be informed by community priorities referenced under Action 4.1.3. Complete by completion of Rezoning Program or no later than January 31, 2026.

Create a rezoning program to meet the requirements of San Francisco’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation across income levels and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing laws, relying on a combination of strategies in Actions 7.3.2 and 7.2.1 above to accommodate the RHNA shortfall with a buffer (approximately 36,282 new units) primarily in Well-resourced Neighborhoods, in proximity to transit and commercial corridors. The rezoning program shall reasonably account for sites’ likelihood of development during the planning period using an analytical model and shall not add government constraints that reduce project financial feasibility as determined by an analysis prior to the rezoning enactment. Seek to implement a rezoning program that exceeds the identified RHNA shortfall plus 15% buffer (i.e., 36,282 units) to provide more capacity sooner and that would reduce the need and size of any subsequent rezoning triggered by Action 8.1.5. In addition, make any conforming amendments to relevant area plans in the city’s General Plan based on final rezoning actions. Complete this effort by January 31, 2026.

As described in the Sites Inventory Rezoning Program, the rezoning will meet the requirements of Government Code Section 65583.2(h)-(i), including sites identified to meet the very low and low-income RHNA unmet need will be zoned to:

• permit owner-occupied and rental multifamily uses by-right for developments in which 20 percent or more of the units are affordable to lower-income households. By-right means local government review must not require a conditional use permit, planned unit development permit, or other discretionary review or approval that would constitute a “project” for purposes of CEQA;

• accommodate a minimum of 16 units per site; and

• require a minimum density of 20 units per acre.

At least 50 percent of the lower-income rezoning need must be accommodated on sites designated for residential use only or on sites zoned for mixed uses that accommodate all of the very low- and low-income housing need, if those sites allow 100 percent residential use and require residential use to occupy 50 percent of the total floor area of a mixed-use project.

If the City issues building permits²⁴ for fewer than 29,049 new units²⁵ by January 31, 2027, then the City shall enact and implement:

• additional rezoning outside of Priority Equity Geographies and areas vulnerable to displacement, and

• additional constraints reductions for housing projects, including existing projects in the development pipeline.

This additional rezoning and additional constraints reductions shall accommodate 115% of the shortfall, minus any capacity created by the rezoning(s) in Action 7.1.1 in excess of 36,282 units.²⁶

The scope of this additional rezoning and additional constraint reduction:

• shall account for sites’ likelihood of development during the RHNA planning period, and affirmatively incorporate the results of an analytical model and the cumulative constraints analysis described in Action 8.1.8 to increase supply choice and affordability and accommodate the RHNA in the planning period.

• shall not impose any new governmental constraints not already in effect on January 31, 2027 to the development of housing unless that constraint is offset by the repeal or mitigation of another constraint.

• shall consider progress and implement strategies toward meeting the RHNA goals by income group and AFFH objectives, including strategies considered under 8.1.10.

• shall consider community engagement, in alignment with Program area 4.2 in areas that may be disproportionately impacted with displacement risk beyond Priority Equity Geographies.

The City shall complete this effort, if needed, by July 31, 2028. The City will implement this program in consultation with HCD, including HCD approval.

In alignment with the provisions and purpose of the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (Government Code 66300 et seq.), any City-adopted rezoning or development controls shall not impose any new governmental constraints to the development of housing unless those increased constraints are offset by the removal or reduction of other constraints. A “new governmental constraint” is a city-imposed requirement, including but not limited to process, fees, or design, that increases the cost of development not in effect on January 31, 2023, not including mitigation measures adopted in compliance with CEQA or a requirement adopted to specifically protect against a threat to health or safety.

Conduct a pro-forma-based study of cumulative governmental constraints on housing development in relation to the socio-economic needs to the city. The study shall quantify the net number of economically feasible housing units that could be built in the City under the regulatory status quo and conduct a sensitivity analysis to determine the amount of constraint reduction necessary to ensure that the majority of typical code-compliant housing projects are economically feasible, including quantification of the hypothetical increase in the net number of economically feasible units that would be realized under a range of constraint-removal scenarios. The study shall consider the effects of economic cycles, considering feasibility under both current economic conditions as well as feasibility under average prevailing conditions over the preceding decade, and sensitivity analysis to variations in construction costs and market rents and sales prices. It should also consider the cost of housing in relation to the population needs. The study shall be updated triennially in tandem with the required Controller’s study of the Inclusionary Program required by Planning Code Section 415.10, with the first such study completed in tandem with the first Controller’s study completed on or after January 31, 2025, but in no case later than January 31, 2027.

The results of the cumulative constraints study shall also inform Action 8.1.5 with the goal of ensuring the economic feasibility of achieving the city’s RHNA targets during the planning period.

Adopt one or more Housing Sustainability Districts in Well-resourced Neighborhoods outside of areas vulnerable to displacement that include tenant protections, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in Housing Crisis Act of 2019, by January 31, 2026.

Unless implementation of Action 8.4.2 has already occurred in the same geography and renders Housing Sustainability Districts (HSD) unnecessary, Housing Sustainability District(s) shall encompass at least 15% of the total land area of the city up to the maximum allowed by state law and shall not include parcels where residential uses are not permitted or are critical sites for City infrastructure, such as parks or utilities.

Establish a non-discretionary ministerial pathway for project applications that provide 20% affordable housing on site through mechanisms described in Actions 8.4.2 and 8.4.3, for RHNA Cycle 6 lower-income sites identified in the Housing Element Update 2022 Sites Inventory that have been reused from Cycles 4 and 5 by January 31, 2024, as required by per California Government Code §65583.2 (c).

Eliminate Commission hearings on any code-complying project in the Well-resourced Neighborhoods subject to the Housing Accountability Act by July 31, 2023, until January 31, 2027.

Remove Conditional Use Authorizations or other regulatory barriers for lot mergers and lots or proposed densities that exceed conditional use thresholds on housing applications that net two or more housing units, do not demolish existing rent-controlled units, and meet tenant protection, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in Housing Crisis Act of 2019 to facilitate larger and more efficient housing projects by January 31, 2025.

Remove Conditional Use Authorization requirement for demolition of single-family or multi-unit buildings that (1) are not tenant occupied and without history of tenant evictions, recent buyouts, no-fault, Ellis, or OMI Evictions; (2) net two or more housing units in the case of projects that construct less than 4 units or that net an increase of at least 50% in the number of existing units for projects that construct 4 or more units, (3) do not demolish existing rent-controlled units, and (4) meet tenant protection, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in Housing Crisis Act of 2019 by January 31, 2025. Continue to apply Conditional Use requirements to demolition of tenant occupied buildings. Review “protected unit" standards in the Housing Crisis Act, and strengthen definitions for local use as necessary, to ensure that properties with a history of no-fault evictions, such as Ellis Act or Owner-Move-Ins, continue to require heightened scrutiny or prohibition of demolition. Planning staff will use the Rent Board’s Housing Inventory data and seek input from tenants organizations.

Remove Conditional Use Authorizations where required to achieve greater height for a housing project or replace height and bulk districts that require Conditional Use Authorizations to exceed the base height with one that allows the current maximum height by January 31, 2025.

Revise local process, procedures, and other relevant requirements to implement priority recommendations of HCD’s finalized Policy and Practice Review.

Amend Housing Element, as needed, to include final actions required by outcomes of mandatory Policy and Practice Review HCD effort.

Remove Conditional Use Authorizations outside of Priority Equity Geographies and areas vulnerable to displacement where required to remove an existing use and construct housing, and instead apply neighborhood notification procedures for proposed demolition of identified community-service uses, such as theaters, grocery stores, and laundromats, by January 31, 2027 and support their economic survival through a replacement provision or participation in a Community Benefit Use program²⁷ as described in Action 9.4.5.

1.1.1. By March 2023, convene City leadership, staff, policymakers, affordable housing advocates, and industry experts to collaborate on an Affordable Housing Implementation and Funding Strategy that provides specific recommendations and responsible parties to achieve and sustain the substantial public funding from local, state, and federal sources, that would join with public-private partnerships, needed to achieve the RHNA targets of over 46,000 units affordable at low- and moderate-incomes. Assign appropriate City staff to include a budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and complete this effort by January 31, 2024.

Metric: Expand affordable housing funding by a minimum of 30%.

New Housing Choices and Affordability in Areas of Opportunity

Housing Mobility Strategies

1.2.1. Build between 25% and 50% of the City’s new permanently affordable housing within Well-resourced Neighborhoods over the next two RHNA cycles, implementing the zoning strategies of Policy 20.

Metric: 25%-50% of permanently affordable housing on newly acquired sites in Well-Resourced Neighborhoods by 2031.

New Housing Choices and Affordability in Areas of Opportunity

Housing Mobility Strategies

1.2.2. Strategically acquire sites and identify targeted funding for land acquisition and banking for affordable housing throughout the city. This will include lots for consolidation that can accommodate permanently affordable housing of at least 50 to 100 units or more through publicly funded purchases, in balance with investment in affordable housing preservation and production and in strategic coordination with sites owned by religious, nonprofit, and public property owners. Prioritize sites of interest identified in coordination with American Indian, Black, and other communities of color. Consider sites that accommodate fewer than 50 units as additional affordable housing funding, financing, and operating approaches are secured.

Metric: Acquire and fund sites for minimum of 2,160 units over the 8-year plan, with 25-50% in Well-Resourced Neighborhoods.

New Housing Choices and Affordability in Areas of Opportunity

Place-based Strategies to Encourage Community Conservation and Revitalization

Housing Mobility Strategies

1.5.3. Increase housing that is affordable to extremely low and very low-income households in Well-resourced Neighborhoods, as well as in Priority Equity Geographies and Cultural Districts, through City-funded permanently affordable housing projects.

Metric: Apply 25-50% distribution of affordable units in Well-resourced Neighborhoods to the total ELI and VLI units produced, including 30% of units in affordable housing for formerly homeless.

1.5.4. Reduce severe cost burdens and increase stability for extremely low- and very low-income renters through ongoing rental assistance for qualifying vulnerable households, including people harmed by past government discrimination, seniors, people with disabilities, transgender people, and families with children, particularly those living in SROs.

Metrics: Expand Senior Operating Subsidy (SOS) by 40 units per year or 320 new units over the 8-year plan to reach a total of 363 households served. Expand the Local Operating Subsidy Program (LOSP) by 163 units per year or 1,304 new units over the 8-year plan to reach a total of 2,863 households served.

1.7.8. Evaluate increasing neighborhood preference allocation for Below Market Rate units in Priority Equity Geographies to better serve American Indian, Black, and other communities of color, if possible, per the Federal Fair Housing regulations, as informed by Policy 5 and related actions.

Metric: Complete evaluation by 2026 and implement changes if found appropriate by 2027.

1.7.9. Create or expand programs to provide housing counseling, financial literacy education, and housing readiness to low-income American Indian, Black and other people of color households who seek housing choices in Well-resourced Neighborhoods by 2024, and provide incentives and counseling to landlords in Well-resourced Neighborhoods to offer units to low-income households. Consider similar incentives referenced in Action 8.4.16.

Metric: Target relevant programs for 30% increase in Black and American Indian people served by 2024.

2.1.1. Fund the Tenant Right-to-Counsel program to match the need for eviction defense.

Metric: Increase the number of households served annually from 1,300 per year to 1,600 per year to serve all tenants in need of full-scope representation. Report on households in need of eviction defense and households served with full-scope representation every year to track improvement over the 8-year plan and adjust the goal accordingly.

2.1.4. Increase funding to expand the services of community-based organizations and providers for financial counseling services listed under Action 1.7.5, as well as tenant and eviction prevention services listed under Program 2, to better serve vulnerable populations, populations in areas vulnerable to displacement, and Cultural Districts. Tenant and eviction protection services include legal services, code enforcement outreach, tenant counseling, mediation, and housing-related financial assistance; expansion of such services should be informed by community priorities referenced under Action 4.1.3. Complete by completion of Rezoning Program or no later than January 31, 2026.

Metrics: Expand counseling services from 1,500 households served every year to 2,000, prioritizing this expansion for American Indian and Black households by the end of 2025. Expand investments in other forms of outreach and engagement, such as Know-Your-Rights workshops and tenant organizing and advocacy services, by 20% over the 2022 baseline by the end of 2025. Expand alternative dispute resolution and other legal services from 700 households served every year to 840 by the end of 2025.

2.3.1. Prioritize and expand funding for the purchase of buildings, including those with chronically high residential vacancy, underutilized tourist hotels, and SRO residential hotels, for acquisition and rehabilitation programs that serve extremely low to moderate-income households, including unhoused populations.

Metric: 15% increase in the distribution of ELI and moderate-income households in Small Sites Program acquired buildings by 2027.

2.3.3. Increase non-profit capacity-building investments, particularly for American Indian, Black, and other community organizations of color, to purchase and operate existing tenant-occupied buildings as permanent affordable housing in Well-resourced Neighborhoods, particularly for populations at risk and in areas vulnerable to displacement, to expand implementation of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA).

Metric: At least 25% of annual Small Sites Program acquisitions in Well-resourced Neighborhoods by 2027.

New Housing Choices and Affordability in Areas of Opportunity

Protecting Existing Residents from Displacement

3.1.1. Identify and implement strategies by Spring 2023 to increase and accelerate placement in Permanent Supportive Housing through the Coordinated Entry System for racial and social groups who are overrepresented in the unhoused population, such as extremely and very-low income American Indian, Black, and Latino(a,e) people, transgender people, or people with prior involvement in the criminal justice system.

Metric: Proportion of people placed in Permanent Supportive Housing through Coordinated Entry from racial and social groups overrepresented in the homeless population should be equal to or greater than their representation in the homeless population by the end of the 8-year plan.

3.4.3. Prioritize tenant-based rental assistance with social services for people who are: (1) unhoused, (2) at risk of homelessness or displacement, or (3) ready to exit Permanent Supportive Housing for more independent living.

Metrics: Increase the number of households served annually by tenant-based shallow subsidies from 1,350 per year to 1,550 per year by 2025. Increase the number of households served annually by the locally funded emergency rental assistance program from 1,800 per year to 2,000 per year by 2025. Continue to use non-LOSP resources, such as Continuum of Care, MHSA, and SFHA S8 contracts, to support permanent supportive housing. By 2025 establish tracking of percentage of rent assistance going to unhoused, at-risk of homelessness, and ready to exit Permanent Supportive Housing to inform program priorities.

4.2.1. Develop and implement community outreach and engagement strategies that center racial and social equity and cultural competency to be used by Planning Department staff as well as developers or community groups.

4.2.2. Increase resources and funding to partner with community-based organizations primarily serving and representing American Indian, Black, and other people of color, and other disadvantaged communities, to ensure inclusive outreach and engagement and meaningful participation in housing and planning processes through focus groups, surveys, and other outreach events.

Metric: Create community engagement strategies by end of 2023, identify culturally competent planners by end of 2024, and secure funding of $750,000 per year for CBOs for community engagement by 2023.

4.2.4. Implement the upcoming housing strategies recommended by the African American Reparations Advisory.

Metric: Identify key priorities by end of 2023 and then update Housing Element Implementing Programs accordingly upon completion of plans.

Place-based Strategies to Encourage Community Conservation and Revitalization

Fostering and maintaining compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws

4.3.1. Expand and target job training and financial readiness education programs to residents of Priority Equity Geographies prioritizing youth from American Indian, Black, and other communities of color.

Metric: 10% increase in participation by youth from American Indian, Black, and other communities of color in job training and financial readiness by 2026.

4.3.2. Support developers of new permanently affordable housing developments in Priority Equity Geographies to include affordable community serving uses as part of their ground floor use programming by matching affordable housing developers with prospective small businesses and service providers known to the City seeking space. Help identify potential funding sources for tenant capital improvements, such as impact fees, Community Benefit Districts’ grants and Small Business Program grants. Examples of community serving uses include, but are not limited to: grocery stores, healthcare clinics, or institutional community uses such as child-care facilities, community facilities, job training centers, and social services.

Metric: Include community serving uses in 60% of permanently affordable housing starting in 2024. Establish dedicated funding source for tenant improvements in these spaces by 2026.

5.3.1. Evaluate and identify common cases of discrimination and violation of fair housing law and groups who continuously face such discrimination, including transgender and LGBTQ+, or people with disabilities, and implement solutions to strengthen enforcement of fair housing law in those cases.

Metric: Conduct survey led by community-based organizations serving transgender, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities by December 2024, develop solutions by December 2025, and implement solutions throughout the rest of the 8-year plan.

5.4.2. Establish pilot and permanent programs that offer homeownership opportunities targeted to Black households harmed through redlining or urban renewal or other forms of systemic racism related to housing, including Black individuals and their descendants who hold Certificates of Preference from the urban renewal period, as referenced in Actions 5.4.8 and 5.4.9. Building on the Dream Keeper initiative, such programs should include silent second loans or grants for down payment assistance, as well as other financial assistance to reduce income eligibility as a barrier to access homeownership opportunities.

Metric: Extend and expand budget allocation for Dream Keeper Initiative through 2031, including the Dream Keeper Downpayment Assistance Loan Program to serve at least 200 households, the Senior Home Repair Program to serve at least 120 households, and in Dream Keeper homebuyer education for up to 3,000 people over the 8-year plan. Increase participation of Black households in financial literacy education and housing readiness by 30% by 2025.

Place-based Strategies to Encourage Community Conservation and Revitalization

Fostering and maintaining compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws

Protecting Existing Residents from Displacement

5.4.7. Create and pilot programs to increase access to Affordable Rental and Homeownership units and other housing services as redress for American Indian, Black, Japanese, Filipino, and other communities directly harmed by past discriminatory government actions including redlining, urban renewal, the Indian Relocation Act, or WWII Japanese incarceration. Programs should be informed by the truth-telling processes described in Program 5.1.

Metric: Increase affordable rental and homeownership placement of underserved populations from groups harmed by past government discrimination by 33% over the 8-year plan.

Place-based Strategies to Encourage Community Conservation and Revitalization

Fostering and maintaining compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws

Protecting Existing Residents from Displacement

5.4.8. Expand the Certificates of Preference program as required per recent State Law, Assembly Bill 1584 (Health and Safety Code, SEC 13 – 16), to qualify eligible descendants of those displaced by redevelopment projects for priority in renting or buying affordable housing. Conduct comprehensive outreach and engagement to identify the descendants of households who have been displaced. Expanding this program should rely on strategies that ensure such units meet the preferences and needs of eligible households as informed by Action 5.4.9.

Metric: Finalize research of displaced households and develop a comprehensive outreach and engagement plan for descendants of displaced households by 2024. Implement the outreach and engagement plan for descendants of displaced households in 2025 and throughout the end of the 8-year plan.

Fostering and maintaining compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws

Protecting Existing Residents from Displacement

5.4.10. Expand and fund community capacity to implement housing programs and investments for American Indian residents as one strategy to redress the historic dispossession of resources affecting these communities, such as the Indian Relocation Act, and other government actions that broke the cohesion of this community.

Metric: Invest in affordable housing development and acquisition capacity for American Indian-specific community serving organizations by 2025, with a goal to make the first acquisition serving American Indian tenants in 2026.

Fostering and maintaining compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws

Protecting Existing Residents from Displacement

6.1.4. Continue to require multi-bedroom unit mixes.

Metric: Start tracking units by number of bedrooms in new housing developments by January 2024.

6.2.2. Support and fund the implementation of San Francisco’s “Ending Trans Homelessness Plan,” as well as the ongoing housing placement for the transgender community, in recognition of the severe disparities in housing access and safety experienced by this group.

Metric: Reach functional zero transgender homelessness by 2027.

6.3.1. Expand the Senior Operating Subsidy (SOS) program to allow extremely and very low-income seniors to be eligible for new senior Below Market Rate rental units.

Metric: Increase number of senior households served eightfold over the 8-year plan.

6.3.2. Increase permanently affordable senior housing along transit corridors to improve mobility of aging adults and seniors, particularly for extremely and very low-income households including through expansion of Senior Operating Subsidies as referenced in Action 6.3.1.

Metric: Increase the number of permanent affordable housing units for seniors by 20% in Well-resourced Neighborhoods near transit corridors over the 8-year plan.

Exclusionary Land use and zoning laws

Community opposition

7.1.1. Create a rezoning program to meet the requirements of San Francisco’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation across income levels and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing laws, relying on a combination of strategies in Actions 7.3.2 and 7.2.1 above to accommodate the RHNA shortfall with a buffer (approximately 36,282 new units) primarily in Well-resourced Neighborhoods, in proximity to transit and commercial corridors. The rezoning program shall reasonably account for sites’ likelihood of development during the planning period using an analytical model and shall not add government constraints that reduce project financial feasibility as determined by an analysis prior to the rezoning enactment. Seek to implement a rezoning program that exceeds the identified RHNA shortfall plus 15% buffer (i.e., 36,282 units) to provide more capacity sooner and that would reduce the need and size of any subsequent rezoning triggered by Action 8.1.5. In addition, make any conforming amendments to relevant area plans in the city’s General Plan based on final rezoning actions. Complete this effort by January 31, 2026.

As described in the Sites Inventory Rezoning Program, the rezoning will meet the requirements of Government Code Section 65583.2(h)-(i), including sites identified to meet the very low and low-income RHNA unmet need will be zoned to:

• permit owner-occupied and rental multifamily uses by-right for developments in which 20 percent or more of the units are affordable to lower-income households. By-right means local government review must not require a conditional use permit, planned unit development permit, or other discretionary review or approval that would constitute a “project” for purposes of CEQA;

• accommodate a minimum of 16 units per site; and

• require a minimum density of 20 units per acre.

At least 50 percent of the lower-income rezoning need must be accommodated on sites designated for residential use only or on sites zoned for mixed uses that accommodate all of the very low- and low-income housing need, if those sites allow 100 percent residential use and require residential use to occupy 50 percent of the total floor area of a mixed-use project.

7.1.2. Increase staff allocation within Planning to engage with communities living in Well-resourced Neighborhoods to inform existing residents how locating new housing and permanently affordable housing in every neighborhood can address historic inequity and injustice and expand housing opportunities for local residents and their families while strengthening neighborhood vitality.

Metric: Complete rezoning program and launch a program to provide community education on affordable housing planning and development by January 31, 2026.

8.4.2. Establish local non-discretionary ministerial approval18F for housing applications in Well-resourced Neighborhoods outside of areas vulnerable to displacement that net two or more housing units, do not demolish existing rent-controlled units, and meet tenant protection, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, by Board of Supervisors or voter approval of a City Charter amendment Planning staff will use the Rent Board’s Housing Inventory data and seek input from tenants organizations.

Metric: Make zoning changes and establish processes by January 31, 2026. Apply to at-minimum the approximately 36,282 units resulting from the rezoning program in Program 7.1.

8.4.3. Adopt one or more Housing Sustainability Districts in Well-resourced Neighborhoods outside of areas vulnerable to displacement that include tenant protections, relocation, and replacement standards as recognized in Housing Crisis Act of 2019, by January 31, 2026.

Unless implementation of Action 8.4.2 has already occurred in the same geography and renders Housing Sustainability Districts (HSD) unnecessary, Housing Sustainability District(s) shall encompass at least 15% of the total land area of the city up to the maximum allowed by state law and shall not include parcels where residential uses are not permitted or are critical sites for City infrastructure, such as parks or utilities.

Metric: Make zoning changes to cover at least 15% of the city by January 31, 2026.

8.4.4. Establish a non-discretionary ministerial pathway for project applications that provide 20% affordable housing on site through mechanisms described in Actions 8.4.2 and 8.4.3, for RHNA Cycle 6 lower-income sites identified in the Housing Element Update 2022 Sites Inventory that have been reused from Cycles 4 and 5 by January 31, 2024, as required by per California Government Code §65583.2 (c).

Metric: Make zoning changes by January 31, 2024. Apply to the 331 reused sites with no pending projects.

8.6.3. Make shelters, transitional housing, or crisis interventions (such as Safe Sleeping Sites) principally permitted in all zoning districts, regardless of the declaration of a shelter crisis.

Metric: Make zoning changes by 2024.

9.3.2. Prioritize investments in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities related to improving transit service, pedestrian safety, schools, child development centers, parks, streetscape, and other neighborhood amenities, in coordination with the investments referenced under Action 9.3.7.

Metrics: See below for all quantifiable investments; the goal is to complete all the improvements below by the end of the 8-year plan.

Bayview-Hunters Point

Community facilities & services: New commercial kitchen and food retail space and new education and learning space at Hunter’s View.

Parks & open space: India Basin’s new open space and improvements. New park in Hunter’s View. New playground at Alice Griffith.

Chinatown

Health services: Secure funding for the renovation and expansion of the Chinatown Public Health Center.

Japantown

Parks & open space: Japantown Peace Plaza renovation.

Portola

Health services: Secure funding for the renovation and expansion of the Silver Avenue Family Health Center Renovation.

Potrero

Community facilities & services: New childcare center.

Parks & open space: Two new open spaces, community room, and teen room.

Urban design: New streetscape of at least one street.

SOMA

Parks & open space: Gene Friend Recreation Center renovation, including a new basketball court, playground and the replacement of a facility with a new gym and expanded program space.

Tenderloin

Health services: New Crisis Stabilization Unit for people in immediate crisis with behavioral issues.

Treasure Island

Community facilities & services (construction commencement and/or completion): Historic chapel renovation that can serve as a community center, new library kiosk, and new childcare facility.

Health services: New Behavioral Health Center with 172 replacement residential step-down beds and around 70 new ones.

Parks & open space: Seven new parks and one new promenade.

9.3.6. Repair, maintain, and optimize the existing transit system, particularly through SFMTA’s 5-year Capital Improvement Program’s (CIP) Transit Optimization and Expansion Projects (e.g., transit only lanes, transit signal priority, boarding islands, etc. on transit streets) in Priority Equity Geographies that overlap with Environmental Justice Communities and Well-resourced Neighborhoods targeted for increased housing capacity.

Metrics: Transit improvements remain within 10% of CIP Transit Optimization and Expansion Projects schedule for Priority Equity Geography and Environmental Justice Communities located projects. Investments in Treasure Island: New ferry service to and from SF, new ferry plaza, new on-island shuttle service, new AC Transit service to and from East Bay, new bikeshare program and bike lanes, new streets, new freeway on- and off-ramps.

9.4.6. Create and implement a long-range community facilities plan, and update every 5-10 years, for public facilities including parks, recreation centers, schools, child development centers, libraries, to accommodate a thirty-year projected population growth, informed by equity metrics in a manner that secures equitable access in Priority Equity Geographies, Environmental Justice Communities, and Well-resourced Neighborhoods that are targeted for increased housing capacity, building on processes such as the Community Facilities Framework, and in collaboration with Interagency Plan Implementation Committee.

Metric: Complete community facilities plan by 2026; include an analysis of estimated investment required to implement it. The plan should prioritize the Tenderloin, Western Addition, Chinatown, Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitation Valley, Sunnydale and Excelsior, as these were identified as R/ECAPs and TCAC Areas of High Segregation and Poverty concentration; the plan should include strategies to prevent displacement from these investments. The plan should also include facilities identified as top priority in the Sunset Forward community plan, which include affordable health services and child development centers, community spaces, and multiuse spaces. Secure initial funding through the General Fund, bonds, and state and federal grants by 2028.