Millions at Risk as San Francisco Tries Fast Housing Element Approval

Despite concerns from some Planning Commissioners and YIMBY commenters, San Francisco Planning Department staff said at a Sept. 29 commission meeting that it will have “substantial time” to revise the city’s Housing Element and get it approved by the state before severe penalties kick in.

The Planning Department’s Shelley Caltagirone said that the first draft of the city’s eight-year housing plan “has not been rejected by the state,” and that the department is in an “iterative process” with California’s Department of Housing and Community Development. It is also working with HCD on a concurrent investigation into the city’s slow housing approval process, the first of its kind.

“There’s no question that San Francisco is under unique scrutiny,” Caltagirone said. “But with that comes more power to fix the things that we see in front of us.”

The city received its first round of feedback from HCD on Aug. 8. It said that in order to be in compliance with state laws and move San Francisco toward its mandated housing goal of 82,000 new units by 2031, the Planning Department would need to find more sites available for housing and land use changes in “well-resourced neighborhoods.” HCD also called for more certainty in the housing approval process, including reduced “governmental constraints.” The Housing Element must also have clearer descriptions and timelines for how its plans will be implemented.

The current Housing Element expires in January and the state gives the city until May 31 to get its new eight-year plan certified, after which it could lose millions of dollars in transit and affordable housing funds, and be forced to complete a mandatory citywide rezoning by Jan. 31, 2024, instead of two years later. Decertification would bring “chaos in housing approval processes,” Caltagirone said.

Community engagement about rezoning will begin in the spring, focusing on the city’s low-density west side. That outreach would ideally start immediately after the Housing Element is approved, Caltagirone said, but added that the department wants to get a “jump start so we’re prepared for any outcome.”

The city’s certification timeline calls for an Oct. 6 reveal of the new version of the Housing Element, that will take HCD’s feedback into account, with only one week of public feedback before resubmitting to the state. Planning Commissioner Sue Diamond said she was “stunned by the notion” people would only have a week to review and respond to such an extensive and complex document, but Caltagirone said public comments would still be welcomed and included in the city’s discussions with HCD until adoption. The Planning Department is counting on that milestone to take place in early April, after hearings before the Board of Supervisors begin in March.

Given the board’s often-lengthy approval process, Jake Price of the Housing Action Coalition said at the meeting that the adoption hearings should be happening in January, not March. Those concerns were echoed by a caller from SF YIMBY who said he was “alarmed” to see the current schedule and that the city is in “dire straits.”

Commission President Rachael Tanner said that she wanted to make sure the body would have ample time to send the Housing Element back for revisions without having to worry that they would later be deemed out of compliance by the state.

“We hate to get things and feel like we have to approve it,” she said.

Caltagirone said that whether the commission voted to approve on first reading or not, the department would immediately bring proposed revisions to HCD to find out whether or not they would be an issue for state certification.

“The state is essentially helping us understand what we need to do and how to improve outcomes,” she said.