Supervisors debate quadplex/6‑plex upzoning and affordability; committee adopts amendments and continues files to May 9

The Land Use and Transportation Committee spent the bulk of its April 25 meeting debating three overlapping proposals to increase small‑scale housing capacity in low‑density neighborhoods and to set rules for so‑called "missing middle" development.

The proposals included an approach from Supervisor Rafael Mandelman to rezone RH1 districts to RH2 and create a density exception to allow more units; Supervisor Mar (Marr) and Supervisor Safai offered alternative drafts with affordability controls, owner‑occupancy/look‑back requirements and different demolition/review rules. Planning department staff and Century Urban presented feasibility analysis work: an early memo examined 3–4‑unit prototypes without affordability requirements and subsequent analysis is underway to quantify how affordability obligations or look‑back provisions would affect feasibility. Planning said it aims to deliver further analysis within about three to four weeks.

The central disagreements at committee were familiar: whether tighter affordability and occupancy restrictions would prevent speculative demolition but make projects financially infeasible; conversely, whether looser rules would produce more units but risk displacement and higher market prices. Supervisor Dean Preston urged a 5‑year ownership look‑back to reduce speculation; Supervisor Safai proposed an option to pay an affordable‑housing fee in lieu of on‑site units and to allow demolition under specified streamlined review as part of a trade‑off to accelerate production.

A number of community groups and housing advocates testified. Representative comments urged (a) affordability guarantees on bonus units (e.g., price/rent caps tied to AMI), (b) look‑back and look‑forward owner/occupancy rules to deter flipping, and (c) monitoring and enforcement to prevent speculative conversion of protected stock.

Committee action and next steps: Chair Melgar moved to accept Supervisor Safai’s amendments to his file, and to continue both that file and Supervisor Marr’s file to the call of the chair; the committee then triplicated the Mandelman file into duplicate tracks, accepted Supervisor Preston’s look‑back amendment for one duplicate and Supervisor Marr’s amendments for another duplicate, and continued the duplicated and original files to May 9. Those continuances and amendments were approved by roll call; planning staff will provide updated feasibility analysis and options to address identified feasibility gaps before the committee reconvenes.