Only the SF City Attorney & the Mayor Can Stand Up Against a State Takeover

PRESS RELEASE FOR Tuesday, December 5, 2023

With the passing of the Resolution by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to push back on the State’s attempted takeover of the City’s governance over all housing, it is now up to the City Attorney and the Mayor to defend the City’s democratic and civil rights.

At this afternoon’s full SF Board of Supervisors hearing, they voted to pass Resolution 231175 with eight votes in favor– enough to withstand a Mayoral veto– that instructs SF Mayor London Breed and SF City Attorney David Chiu to push back against the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and their "San Francisco Housing Policy and Practice Review" (PPR) released on October 25, 2023. By instructing HCD to correct egregious mistakes in their PPR, making clear that their deadlines are unattainable, and telling the State that they need to instead focus on equity-oriented goals such as building the affordable housing the City desperately needs, the Board is standing with the overwhelming majority of communities that support the Resolution and the stance against HCD’s actions.

“A line has been drawn in the sand. On the one side are HCD’s threats to give governance of the City’s housing policies over to luxury developers, giving them unchecked power to get whatever they want approved. On the other side are nearly a hundred community organizations, affordable housing developers and vulnerable communities who are saying, ‘Our voices matter. Our needs for affordable housing matter. Racial and social equity matters,’” says Jeantelle Laberinto of the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition - San Francisco (REP-SF).

“What we want to see now is for the City Attorney and the Mayor to follow through expeditiously with what our Board of Supervisors is telling them to do and stand up for our City and our communities,” Laberinto continues.

Even with the passing of the Mayor’s housing streamlining legislation today, HCD can still de-certify San Francisco's Housing Element which would trigger the so-called “Builder’s Remedy,” which would allow developers to get automatic approvals despite only requiring 10% below market rate (BMR) units. This is a far cry from the 57% affordable housing goal in the SF Housing Element, and the previous city requirement of 22% BMR. The “Builder’s Remedy” is the nickname for provisions in Senate Bill 330, the “Housing Accountability Act”, which would go into effect if HCD decertifies San Francisco’s  Housing Element. On November 28 and in the October PPR, HCD threatened to do just that.

“Tellingly, there is no accountability for developers who are sitting on 50,000 units already approved housing and that they are not building. The Builder’s Remedy allows unchecked power by luxury developers, which HCD is greenlighting as their ultimate goal,” says John Avalos of the Council of Community Housing Organizations (CCHO). “Ironically, we have to ask the State and the Mayor to focus on the dozens of the equity-centered Actions in our City’s Housing Element that they’re currently ignoring and which would make real differences to create more affordable housing, protect tenants from displacement, and lift up communities of color– all things that should be the true mission of HCD.”

An overwhelming majority of development in San Francisco, roughly 85 percent, takes place in Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities such as the Mission, South of Market and the Bayview. This pattern mirrors the Redevelopment and Urban Renewal of the past that tore down existing BIPOC communities such the Fillmore, Japantown and the South of Market to make way for higher income, mostly white residents and real estate speculators.

“The Mayor’s streamlining legislation just gives us a hypercharged version of more of the same inequitable distribution of development and its displacement impacts on communities of color. An overwhelming majority of the proposed development will continue to be in BIPOC communities, such as the South of Market (SOMA),” says David Woo of the SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Heritage District. “This was supposed to be the first Housing Element that focused on equity, and instead with the Mayor’s legislation under HCD’s pressure, gentrification will again accelerate in SOMA, leaving low-income communities of color, such as Filipinos, increasingly vulnerable to evictions and being priced out,” Woo continues.

"If this legislation is not amended further it will lead to the widespread displacement of immigrant businesses from the Mission’s cultural corridors, and the demolition of community murals and unregistered historic sites," said Larisa Pedroncelli of United to Save the Mission. "While some amendments have been made, the legislation still streamlines market-rate housing in the Mission and other communities of color in ways that are specifically not allowed by the San Francisco Housing Element."

“HCD doesn’t want any ‘constraints’ on development, even if that means kicking out low-income tenants and building housing no one but investors can afford,” says Molly Goldberg of the San Francisco Anti Displacement Coalition (SFADC). 

“With the resolution, the ball is now in the hands of the City Attorney and the Mayor to carry through with our legal obligation to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing,” says Laberinto of the REP-SF Coalition. “Equity isn’t just a nice to have; it’s a legal and moral obligation. We hope the City Attorney and the Mayor see that in how they defend San Francisco from the State takeover.” 

The San Francisco Anti Displacement Coalition (SFADC), the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition - San Francisco (REP-SF), and the Council of Community Housing Organizations (CCHO) together represent nearly a hundred community-based organizations that have played critical roles for decades in innovating affordable housing, tenants rights, and anti-displacement policies in San Francisco.