San Francisco mayor issues directive to implement new housing strategy

San Francisco Mayor London Breed issued a directive Monday providing further guidance on the city’s eight-year plan to permit 82,000 new housing units in the city.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that California has approved the city’s Housing Element plan, making it one of the few Bay Area cities to meet a state deadline to deliver a plan to permit enough housing to accommodate the region’s population.

The San Francisco Housing Element plan certified by Newsom’s Department of Housing and Community Development will triple the city’s previous 10-year annual production average, according to a news release from the governor.

“San Francisco needs to fundamentally change how we approve and build housing,” Breed said in her directive. “San Francisco can and should be a statewide leader on housing.”
Her directive asks city departments “to remove barriers to housing construction, reform outdated zoning restrictions, and find long-term solutions for creating more affordable housing.”

Newsom has threatened and in some cases instructed the state’s attorney general to sue local governments that he didn’t feel were doing enough to solve the state’s housing crisis, and he has also prevented them from qualifying for state housing grants.

In November, Newsom had issued a blanket rejection of local governments’ plans to curb homelessness, putting on hold hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

The state and its major metropolitan areas have issued billions of dollars in bonds over the past several years to support efforts to alleviate the housing crisis without much visible headway in a state full of visible encampments of homeless people.

In 2022, California had 30% of the nation’s homeless population, though it has less than 12% of the country’s total population, according to the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.

Newsom’s administration has also created a new formal Prohousing Designation for local governments, making them eligible for funding incentives and additional resources through state grant programs to speed the production of housing.

So far, 10 cities and counties are designated as Prohousing, not including San Francisco.

“Under my administration, the old practices of stalling and denying developments by local governments will not be tolerated,” Newsom said in a news release.
“Jurisdictions can either be part of the solution or be held accountable.”

“San Francisco – and all jurisdictions in California – are legally required to plan for their fair share of housing,” according to Newsom’s announcement that the city’s Housing Element was approved. “Traditionally, there have been no consequences for failing to do so.”

San Francisco’s plan includes midterm assessments and if the city does not permit 29,000 homes within four years, it pledges to immediately rezone additional sites. Additionally, if the city’s housing production for lower-income residents falls behind, San Francisco will specifically rezone additional sites that are adequate to meet the housing needs for lower-income households and other supportive programs. 

“San Francisco’s 2023 Housing Element puts forward an ambitious plan for meeting the city’s housing needs, setting forth hundreds of specific policies and actions that the city must fulfill over the next eight years,” Breed said.