Feature
by the San Francisco Planning Department
The Housing Element is a major part of the San Francisco’s General Plan that seeks to ensure adequate housing for current and future San Franciscans. Between 1990 and 2000, San Francisco’s population grew by almost 52,800 and the city saw about 55,250 new jobs created.
In the same period, only 10,800 new housing units were built to accommodate this growth. San Francisco, as a regional destination and a dynamic job center, will continue to attract new households, putting greater pressure on the already tight housing market. San Francisco’s share of the regional housing need for 1999 through 2006 has been pegged at 20,370 new units, with almost two-thirds to be affordable. The Housing Element details objectives and policies that address a growing housing demand, further intensified by the city’s limited land supply. It also tackles the pressure of economic inequality, seeking to make certain that housing is affordable to a wide range of household incomes.
The Housing Element consists of two parts. Part I contains the background data and needs analysis, forming the basis for policy formulation. Part II lists objectives and policies and describes the programs to be carried out over the next five years to implement these objectives and policies. As San Francisco develops its few remaining major vacant areas, the city will have to actively look at in-fill housing opportunities in its existing neighborhoods.
Housing Element Listed below is Part II, a comprehensive set of housing objectives and policies that are the framework for decision-making, priority setting,andprogramimplementation.It continues many existing city housing policies that emphasize affordable housing production, permanent affordability, and the protection of the existing housing stock. New policies will strive to expand land capacity necessary to increase housing production, will direct new housing to appropriate locations, especially in areas well served by transit and other urban amenities, and will emphasize design and density controls that enhance existing neighborhood character. Over the next few weeks, the planning commission will hold special meetings to receive public testimony on the updated Housing Element.
Please check the SFAA Web site for up-to-date details.
Objectives and Policies Summary
Housing Supply
Objective 1: Identify and maximize opportunities to increase the potential supply of housing in appropriate locations citywide.
Policy 1.1 – Establish higher residential densities near transit corridors, in neighborhood commercial districts, and in appropriate areas near downtown.
1.2 – Encourage housing development, particularly affordable housing, in neighborhood commercial areas without displacing existing jobs or discouraging new employment opportunities.
1.3 – Identify opportunities for housing and mixed-use districts near downtown and former industrial portions of the city.
1.4 – Locate in-fill housing on appropriate sites in established residential neighborhoods.
1.5 – Support development of affordable housing on surplus public lands.
1.6 – Create incentives for the inclusion of housing, including permanently affordable housing, in new commercial development projects.
1.7 – Encourage and support the construction of quality, new family housing.
1.8 – Allow new secondary units in residential areas that are in close proximity to neighborhood commercial districts and public transit.
1.9 – Require new office developments and higher educational institutions to meet the housing demand they generate, particularly the need for affordable housing for lower income workers and students.
Housing Retention
Objective 2: Retain the existing supply of housing.
Policy 2.1 – Discourage the demolition of sound existing housing.
2.2 – Control the merger of residential units to retain existing housing.
2.3–Restricttheconversionof rental housing to other forms of tenure or occupancy.
2.4 – Retain sound existing housing in commercial and industrial areas.
2.5 – Preserve the existing stock of residential hotels.
2.6 – Establish procedures for considering the legalization of existing illegal secondary units, particularly in areas near transit and commercial districts.
Housing Condition
Objective 3: Enhance the physical condition and safety of housing without jeopardizing use or affordability.
Policy 3.1 – Ensure that existing housing is maintained in a decent, safe, and sanitary condition, without increasing rents or displacing low-income households.
3.2 – Preserve at-risk, privately owned assisted housing.
3.3 – Maintain and improve the condition of the existing supply of public housing.
3.4 – Monitor and moderate the correction of serious continuing code violations to prevent the loss of housing.
3.5 – Improve the seismic stability of existing housing without reducing the supply of affordable
housing.
3.6 – Preserve landmark and historic residential buildings.
Housing Affordability
Objective 4: Support affordable housing production by increasing site availability and capacity.
Policy 4.1 – Actively identify and pursue opportunity sites for permanently affordable housing.
4.2 – Include affordable units in larger housing projects.
4.3 – Encourage the construction of affordable units for single households in residential hotels and “efficiency” units.
4.4 – Grant density bonuses and parking requirement exemptions for the construction of affordable or senior housing.
4.5 – Allow greater flexibility in the number and size of units within established building envelopes, potentially increasing the number of affordable units in multi-family structures.
4.6 – Support a greater range of housing types and building techniques to promote more economical housing construction and achieve greater affordable housing production.
Objective 5: Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the city’s affordable housing production system.
Policy 5.1 – Prioritize affordable housing projects in the planning review and approval processes, and work with the development community to devise methods of streamlining housing projects.
5.2 – Support efforts of non-profit organizations and other community-based groups and expand their capacity to produce and manage affordable housing.
5.3 – Create greater public awareness about the quality and character of affordable housing projects and generate community-wide support for new affordable housing.
5.4 – Coordinate governmental activities related to affordable housing.
Objective 6: Protect the affordability of existing housing and produce a greater number of permanently affordable units.
Policy 6.1 – Protect the affordability of units in existing buildings at risk of losing their subsidies or being converted to market rate housing.
6.2 – Ensure that affordable housing is kept affordable.
6.3 – Safeguard tenants from excessive rent increases.
6.4 – Achieve permanent affordability through non-profit and limited-equity housing ownership and management.
6.5 – Monitor and enforce the affordability of units provided as a condition of approval of housing projects.
Objective 7: Expand the financial resources available for permanently affordable housing.
Policy 7.1 – Enhance existing revenue sources for permanently affordable housing.
7.2 – Create new sources of revenue for permanently affordable housing, including dedicated long-term financing for housing programs.
7.3 – Develop greater investments in and support for affordable housing programs by corporations, churches, unions, foundations, and financial institutions. Housing Choice
Objective 8: Ensure equal access to housing opportunities.
Policy 8.1 – Encourage sufficient and suitable rental housing opportunities and emphasize permanently affordable units wherever possible.
8.2 – Employ uniform definitions of affordability that accurately reflect the demographics and housing needs of San Franciscans.
8.3 – Ensure affirmative marketing of affordable housing.
8.4 – Encourage greater economic integration within housing projects and throughout San Francisco.
8.5 – Prevent housing discrimination.
8.6 – Increase the availability of units suitable for users with supportive housing needs.
8.8 – Eliminate discrimination against households with children.
8.9 – Promote the adaptability and maximum accessibility of residential dwellings for disabled and elderly occupants.
8.10 – Encourage the provision of new home ownership opportunities through new construction so that increased owner occupancy does not diminish the supply of rental housing.
8.11 – Ensure an equitable distribution of quality board and care centers, adult day care facilities, and single-room occupancy hotels throughout the city.
Objective 9: Avoid or mitigate hardships imposed by displacement.
Policy 9.1 – Minimize the hardships of displacement by providing essential relocation services.
9.2 – Offer displaced households the right of first refusal to occupy replacement housing units that are comparable in size, location, cost, and rent control protection.
Homelessness
Objective 10: Reduce homelessness and the risk of homelessness in coordination with relevant agencies and service providers.
Policy 10.1 – Focus efforts on the provision of permanent affordable and service-enriched housing to reduce the need for temporary homeless shelters.
10.2 – Aggressively pursue other strategies to prevent homelessness and the risk of homelessness by addressing its contributory factors.
10.3 – Improve coordination among emergency assistance efforts, existing shelter programs, and health care outreach services.
10.4 – Facilitate childcare and educational opportunities for homeless families and children.
Housing Density, Design, and Quality of Life
Objective 11: In increasing the supply of housing, pursue place-making and neighborhood building principles and practices to continue San Francisco’s desirable urban fabric and enhance livability in all neighborhoods.
Policy 11.1 – Use new housing development as a means to enhance neighborhood vitality and diversity.
11.2 – Ensure housing is provided with adequate public improvements, services, and amenities.
11.3 – Encourage appropriate neighborhood-serving commercial activities in residential areas, without causing affordable housing displacement.
11.4 – Avoid or minimize disruption caused by expansion of institutions, large-scale uses and auto-oriented development into residential areas.
11.5 – Promote the construction of well-designed housing that enhances existing neighborhood character.
11.6 – Employ flexible land use controls in residential areas that can regulate inappropriately sized development in new and existing neighborhoods, while maximizing the opportunity for housing near
transit.
11.7 – Reduce or remove minimum parking requirements for housing projects in areas near transit and commercial districts, increasing the amount of lot area available for housing units.
11.8 – Employ design and density controls that assert the prominence of corner lots in neighborhoods and realize their increased housing potential.
11.9 – Strongly encourage housing project sponsors to take full advantage of allowable building densities in their housing developments.
11.10 – Set allowable densities and parking standards in residential areas at levels that promote the city’s overall housing objectives while respecting neighborhood scale and character.
11.11 – Include energy efficient features in new residential development and encourage weatherization in existing housing to reduce overall housing costs and the long-range cost of maintenance.
Regional and State Housing Needs
Objective 12: Strengthen citywide affordable housing programs through coordinated regional and state efforts.
12.1 – Generate a better understanding, by localities across the region, of the relationship between economic growth and increased housing needs.
12.2 – Support the production of well-planned housing region wide that addresses regional housing
needs and improves the overall quality of life in the Bay Area.
12.3 – Encourage jurisdictions throughout the Bay Area to recognize their share in the responsibility
to confront the regional affordable housing crisis.
12.4 – Foster educational programs across the region that increase public understanding of the need
for affordable housing and generate support for quality housing projects.
12.5 – Support the State of California in developing and implementing state affordable housing plans
and programs.
Reprinted courtesy of the San Francisco Planning Department. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily re?ect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the SF Apartment Magazine. For a complete version of the “Housing Element,” please visit the Planning
Department’s Web site. Copyright © 2003.