Revitalize for People, Not Profit
February 20, 2025
REP-SF members South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) and SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Heritage District, and other community organizations are fighting against proposed legislation from the Mayor's Office that would let corporate developers get away from paying their fair share of fees for essential community services. The legislation would take away funding from critical needs such as affordable housing and childcare. This proposed legislation to eliminate impact fees for new luxury development will further the historical pattern of disinvestment and marginalization that SOMA and the Tenderloin have endured for decades.
This proposed legislation would eliminate impact fees for projects that convert office space to housing in the South of Market, Tenderloin, and surrounding neighborhoods. These projects are 100% market rate, with zero on-site affordable housing and zero funding for affordable housing. Areas vulnerable to displacement called Priority Equity Geographies, such as the South of Market and the Tenderloin neighborhoods, and Cultural Districts, are among those that would be impacted. Developers would get financial breaks, meanwhile, neighborhoods would be left struggling without the resources they need.
Thirty-three organizations representing communities in the South of Market, Tenderloin, and citywide have signed onto a letter opposing this harmful legislation unless amended significantly.
To protect vulnerable communities, we demand the following amendments to the legislation:
Exclude Priority Equity Geographies
Exclude Cultural Districts
Reinstate a 3-year sunset date to this policy, as included in the original draft
On Monday, Feb. 10, the Land Use Committee members voted to approve this legislation. It will be heard before the Full Board of Supervisors on Thursday, Feb. 25. This is our LAST CHANCE to amend this legislation before the Board votes to approve this policy. Unfortunately, there's no opportunity for public comment at the hearing, so we have to make our voices heard before Feb. 25!
ACT NOW!
Join us in demanding that developers pay their fair share! Tell our city leaders to support the revitalization of downtown without impacting SF communities!
Write a letter to Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Board of Supervisors by Feb. 24: Join our letter-writing campaign and share it on your social media! Every letter counts! bit.ly/amend-office-to-housing-letter
Share this video on your social media to help us spread the word!
The Situation
San Francisco’s downtown has had a slow recovery after the pandemic and so have our communities. Over 30% of office space downtown is sitting vacant and unused. SF wants to “revitalize” downtown by converting offices into housing. This may seem like a good idea, but let’s dig a little deeper into how this only helps developers and could actually hurt our communities.
THE CITY’S PLAN: WHAT’S CHANGING?
Former Mayor London Breed and current District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey have proposed legislation that will reduce requirements for developers to convert offices into housing. They propose to do this by removing certain impact fees. What are impact fees? These are the fees that developers are required to pay to support communities impacted by development.
WHY IS THIS BAD?
This legislation promises housing, but it won't be affordable. And because of prior laws passed by the Board, it might all be used as corporate rentals, instead of permanent housing for local residents. Even worse, without impact fees, we won’t be able to pay for the essential services and infrastructure our communities need. The impact fees that the City is proposing to eliminate pay for things like:
Affordable housing for low-income residents
Childcare centers that help parents go to work
Eliminating impact fees would further the historical pattern of disinvestment and marginalization that SOMA and the Tenderloin have endured for decades. We need more support for our communities – not less – and we must push back against top-down planning that plans over us and not with us!
IT’S NOT JUST DOWNTOWN!
The new legislation says it aims to “revitalize” downtown, but SF Planning’s Map shows that it extends into SoMa, Chinatown, North Beach, and the Tenderloin—some of the city’s most vulnerable communities. It goes beyond “downtown” and overlaps with low-income communities of color with high concentrations of families, children, seniors, people with disabilities, and renters.
The areas targeted by this proposed legislation also include two city-recognized Cultural Districts: the SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Cultural District and the Transgender Cultural District in the Tenderloin. Residents worry that while developers get financial breaks, their neighborhoods will be left struggling without the resources they need.
PROTECTING OUR COMMUNITIES:
To protect vulnerable communities from the harms of this proposed policy, we demand that Priority Equity Geographies and Cultural Districts be excluded from this legislation and that this policy has a sunset cap of 3 years, as included in the original draft.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
This legislation was originally introduced by former Mayor Breed’s office without consultation with impacted communities. The SF Planning Department has historically targeted low-income communities and communities of color such as the South of Market, first with Urban Renewal and later the gentrification brought on by the tech booms, that have all demolished, displaced, and evicted our communities. This is another example of the City failing to plan with existing communities and instead planning over communities, incentivizing luxury developments for wealthy residents.
SOMA and the Tenderloin continue to have the highest rates of luxury residential development, despite the neighborhoods’ residents having among the highest needs in the city for affordable housing, putting huge demands on the limited existing infrastructure. At the same time, the City continues to cut modest impact fees that support desperately needed community-serving services. These impact fees contribute to meeting the needs of new and existing residents and serve an important role in creating complete neighborhoods, especially in neighborhoods that the City has neglected to invest in for decades. We need more support for our communities, not less.
Completely exempting office conversion projects from all impact fees hurts residents in these vulnerable neighborhoods and sets a dangerous precedent regarding the city’s commitment to its residents. Ordinarily, impact fees support several community needs, not just affordable housing and childcare, but also schools, parks, and other community-serving infrastructure. Completely removing impact fees in these areas for affordable housing and daycare continues the disturbing pattern where the City is creating developer giveaways throughout San Francisco and allowing developers to get away with paying their fair share. The fees exist for a reason and acknowledge that market-rate housing development has an impact on the existing neighborhood and developers have an obligation to help build complete communities.
WE NEED TRULY AFFORDABLE HOUSING – NOT DEVELOPER GIVEAWAYS!
During the Feb. 10 Land Use Committee hearing, SOMCAN’s executive director Angelica Cabande explained how the proposal contradicts the city’s own policies encouraging affordable housing. “This says it will increase affordable housing while removing affordable housing fees,” Cabande said.
Zachary Frial, an environmental justice organizer with SOMCAN, noted that the city has already reduced fees and other requirements for affordable housing and that the state has already offered property tax breaks for office-to-housing conversions. But very little housing is under construction in the city. Frial said: “How many more giveaways do developers need before they start actually building housing?”
“In spite of all these measures that are supposed to result in more housing development, the city (built) only 1,200 new units of housing last year, less than half the 2,500 units in 2023,” Frial said. “It doesn’t seem like the problem is that there is too much red tape or that there are too many fees and requirements. The problem lies in market conditions.”
TAKE ACTION: REVITALIZE FOR PEOPLE, NOT PROFIT!
Join us in demanding that developers pay their fair share! Tell our city leaders to support the revitalization of downtown without impacting SF communities! Please take action to join us in pushing back against this harmful legislation:
SIGN letter to Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Board of Supervisors by Feb. 24: bit.ly/amend-office-to-housing-letter
Tell them why this legislation is harmful to our communities. Demand that they protect your neighborhood’s housing and public services! Join our letter-writing campaign and share it on your social media! Every letter counts!
Share this video on your social media to help us spread the word!
