Committee adopts amendments to inclusionary-housing ordinance for pipeline projects, continues file one week

The Land Use and Transportation Committee on Sept. 11 voted to adopt amendments to a broader ordinance that reduces inclusionary-housing requirements and development-impact fees for certain projects, and then continued the file one week for further committee action.

President Aaron Peskin noted a technical drafting error in the large ordinance and proposed a fix. Supervisor Ahsha Safai presented substantive amendments aimed at smaller pipeline projects — especially projects of 10 to 24 units and Home SF projects approved before Nov. 1 — allowing those projects to request reduced inclusionary requirements to keep projects viable. Safai said the amendments would allow 10–24-unit pipeline projects to seek a reduction to 12% on-site and 16.4% off-site inclusionary requirements, with proportional adjustments for Home SF projects.

Public commenters representing housing and development advocates supported the changes. Jake Price of the Housing Action Coalition, architects and developers, and multiple residents called in to back inclusion of medium-size projects in the fee-reduction framework, saying smaller projects are more sensitive to costs and can add housing in neighborhoods.

Vice Chair Dean Preston said he remained unconvinced about the broader legislation but supported moving the amendments through committee to allow fuller Board consideration. The committee voted to adopt Supervisor Safai’s amendments and President Peskin’s amendments (each recorded as three ayes), and then voted to continue the ordinance as amended to the Sept. 18 meeting so it could be brought forward as a committee report at that meeting.

The changes affect projects already in the pipeline that meet the stated criteria; proponents said the amendments are designed to balance housing production with affordability goals by tailoring requirements for smaller projects and preserving incentive pathways.