Planning Commission adopts San Francisco's 2022 Housing Element update after weeks of public debate
December 15, 2022 | San Francisco City, San Francisco County, California
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The San Francisco Planning Commission on Dec. 15 recommended adoption of the city's Housing Element 2022 update, approving the package of findings, the mitigation monitoring and reporting program (MMRP) and several last-minute edits designed to respond to state feedback and community concerns.
Planning Department staff told the commission the update responds to a tight state schedule and new requirements from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). James Pappas, a lead planner, said the city must show a clear path to meet the region's housing targets (RHNA) and that the draft had been adjusted after an HCD letter received Dec. 14.
"HCD has provided a pathway for certification assuming remaining points have been addressed," Pappas said during the presentation. He and his team said the plan increases capacity, refines implementing programs and includes an environmental impact report and a mitigation program.
The session was dominated by public comment. Supporters — including housing advocates and affordable-housing developers — urged the commission to adopt the plan to avoid losing state funding and to meet RHNA targets. Jake Price of the Housing Action Coalition said adoption was a necessary but not sufficient step.
By contrast, speakers organized under the Race and Equity in All Planning (REP) coalition urged the commission to remove several recent implementation actions — specifically actions numbered in the draft as 8.1.5 through 8.1.8 — which they argued could allow rapid upzoning and demolition without adequate anti-displacement protections. "What community advocates are calling not the circuit breaker, but the developer dirty bomb, will nullify every attempt at equity in the Housing Element," Gilbert Williams of Poder said.
Planning staff and several commissioners engaged with those concerns through a detailed, on-the-record edit session. Commissioners pressed staff to clarify how the plan treats nonvacant sites (sites currently in use but counted toward capacity), how the city's rezoning scenarios would be implemented, and how any midterm "circuit breaker" would be paired with community engagement and affordability safeguards.
After discussion, staff read a set of amendments into the record. Among the changes: the city's public-lands target was clarified to specify "500 to 2,000 affordable units" in the arena planning period; the city's approach to inclusionary housing "tiers" was revised to require assessments that "improve or maintain average affordability of inclusionary housing units" and retain or expand the percentage of required units; the language on the midterm rezoning/circuit-breaker was strengthened to "shall consider community engagement in alignment with implementing program area 4.2" in areas at disproportionate displacement risk; "governmental constraints" were defined to include, "including but not limited to process, fees or design"; and the land-banking strategy was revised to increase acquisition capacity by 50% above the sites acquired in 20222026.
Commissioner Koppel moved to adopt the CEQA findings and MMRP, to approve a resolution recommending Board of Supervisors adoption of the Housing Element 2022 update as amended, and to initiate potential future conforming amendments should HCD require further edits. The motion passed in the recorded vote (6 to 0; Commissioner Ruiz had recused herself earlier from this set of items).
The Planning Department described the next steps as: introduction at the Board of Supervisors, hearings in the Board's land-use committee, second readings and final adoption, followed by signature and state certification. Staff emphasized the adoption is an important step in a multi-stage process; legislative rezoning and program implementation will follow separate public processes and may require additional approvals.
The commission's action leaves in place a housing blueprint that planners say responds to more stringent state requirements and increases capacity assumptions; critics warned the protections and monitoring must be enforced to prevent displacement. The Board of Supervisors will consider the recommendation next year.
Planning Department staff told the commission the update responds to a tight state schedule and new requirements from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). James Pappas, a lead planner, said the city must show a clear path to meet the region's housing targets (RHNA) and that the draft had been adjusted after an HCD letter received Dec. 14.
"HCD has provided a pathway for certification assuming remaining points have been addressed," Pappas said during the presentation. He and his team said the plan increases capacity, refines implementing programs and includes an environmental impact report and a mitigation program.
The session was dominated by public comment. Supporters — including housing advocates and affordable-housing developers — urged the commission to adopt the plan to avoid losing state funding and to meet RHNA targets. Jake Price of the Housing Action Coalition said adoption was a necessary but not sufficient step.
By contrast, speakers organized under the Race and Equity in All Planning (REP) coalition urged the commission to remove several recent implementation actions — specifically actions numbered in the draft as 8.1.5 through 8.1.8 — which they argued could allow rapid upzoning and demolition without adequate anti-displacement protections. "What community advocates are calling not the circuit breaker, but the developer dirty bomb, will nullify every attempt at equity in the Housing Element," Gilbert Williams of Poder said.
Planning staff and several commissioners engaged with those concerns through a detailed, on-the-record edit session. Commissioners pressed staff to clarify how the plan treats nonvacant sites (sites currently in use but counted toward capacity), how the city's rezoning scenarios would be implemented, and how any midterm "circuit breaker" would be paired with community engagement and affordability safeguards.
After discussion, staff read a set of amendments into the record. Among the changes: the city's public-lands target was clarified to specify "500 to 2,000 affordable units" in the arena planning period; the city's approach to inclusionary housing "tiers" was revised to require assessments that "improve or maintain average affordability of inclusionary housing units" and retain or expand the percentage of required units; the language on the midterm rezoning/circuit-breaker was strengthened to "shall consider community engagement in alignment with implementing program area 4.2" in areas at disproportionate displacement risk; "governmental constraints" were defined to include, "including but not limited to process, fees or design"; and the land-banking strategy was revised to increase acquisition capacity by 50% above the sites acquired in 20222026.
Commissioner Koppel moved to adopt the CEQA findings and MMRP, to approve a resolution recommending Board of Supervisors adoption of the Housing Element 2022 update as amended, and to initiate potential future conforming amendments should HCD require further edits. The motion passed in the recorded vote (6 to 0; Commissioner Ruiz had recused herself earlier from this set of items).
The Planning Department described the next steps as: introduction at the Board of Supervisors, hearings in the Board's land-use committee, second readings and final adoption, followed by signature and state certification. Staff emphasized the adoption is an important step in a multi-stage process; legislative rezoning and program implementation will follow separate public processes and may require additional approvals.
The commission's action leaves in place a housing blueprint that planners say responds to more stringent state requirements and increases capacity assumptions; critics warned the protections and monitoring must be enforced to prevent displacement. The Board of Supervisors will consider the recommendation next year.
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