SF Requires Zoning Changes to Meet Family Needs

But absent major zoning changes, San Francisco will have few places to build such housing. That’s because neighborhoods like the Excelsior and Outer Mission that include the most housing opportunity sites strictly limit the number of units that can be built in a project. This makes building family-size two to three bedroom apartments financially unfeasible, and explains why San Francisco has constructed so little of such housing.

As San Francisco finally builds a strong constituency for new affordable family housing, a major obstacle is being overlooked: there are not enough sites to address the need. But getting the money is only half the battle. Absent major zoning changes, San Francisco will have few places to build such housing.

Let’s start by looking where family housing is actually being created.

In recent years, the Tenderloin has been where most new family housing in San Francisco has been built. Two family projects recently broke ground, and a third site has been secured for future family housing. Absent building on a site currently occupied, there will be no future locations for family housing in the Tenderloin.

For all of the complaints about the proliferation of upscale housing in SOMA, the city’s nonprofit sector has built surprisingly little affordable family housing in that community. The Sixth Street Redevelopment Area primarily focused on housing for single-adults, and spent a fortune on the Plaza Hotel for a project that houses few or no families with children.

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