SF Lawmaker Proposes Fix to Flawed Lot Splitting Bill

Senate Bill 9, a controversial California law meant to streamline the building of second homes and duplexes on single-family lots, has created little new housing.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has launched a new bill he hopes would fix the flaws of SB9 and fuel needed housing across the state, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Wiener’s Senate Bill 677, introduced Friday, would bar cities from requiring homeowners to live on the property for at least three years after they were approved for a lot split — SB9’s greatest flaw, according to housing advocates.

The proposed law would prevent homeowners associations from restricting such proposals in their neighborhoods, which experts say has effectively banned SB9 projects in much of the state.

It would also make Wiener’s landmark law to streamline housing development, SB423, stricter on cities.

“SB9 was a huge, huge step for the state of California,” Wiener told the Chronicle. “And now we want to make the law as good as it can be.”

One of the selling points of SB9 was that it would be fast. It requires cities to fast-track duplexes and lot splits in single-family neighborhoods, without the often-lengthy hearings that bog down other housing projects.

But SB9, touted as the biggest housing law in years, stumbled out of the gate.

The law requires lots to be split roughly in half — but since many homes are in the middle of the property, that would mean cutting the house in half.

The owner-occupancy requirement, which some called a “poison pill,” was meant to keep investors from flipping lots. But the high costs and complexity of the SB9 process often make it more trouble than it’s worth, especially as many cities added extra restrictions on duplexes after its passage, according to the newspaper.

“If you don’t know what you’re getting into, it becomes your full-time job,” Gloria Riechers, who co-owns Riechers Engineering, which specializes in SB9 lot splits, told the outlet.

Under SB9, San Jose has received 37 construction applications, San Francisco 32, Saratoga 27, Berkeley 22, Oakland five and Danville one, according to local planning departments.

For comparison, San Francisco in 2022 and 2023 received more than 460 applications for accessory dwelling units, or granny flats, according to the state housing department.

In 2021, the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation estimated SB9 would make 700,000 new homes financially worth building — and that was a conservative estimate, according to researchers.

Three years later, suburbs across the state largely look the same as they did before. A 2023 analysis from the university said SB 9’s impact had been “limited.” Others saw a flop from the get-go.

“This is just symbolic at this point,” Chris Elmendorf, a property law professor at UC Davis, recalled thinking of SB9 when it was signed. “This isn’t going to do anything, or it’s going to do very little.”

— Dana Bartholomew