Fit the Build

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Housing Element

Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors and Mayor London Breed unanimously voted to amend San Francisco’s Housing Element, which sets out a plan for San Francisco to create over 82,000 new homes in the next eight years.

The approval of the Housing Element is a legislative act that California cities are required to take every eight years. It is a critical step in setting broad goals around how much housing, including affordable housing, that cities aim to build and how they plan to do it. In San Francisco, the Housing Element directs City leaders to create a streamlined approval process for housing, such as:

• Rezoning well-resourced, West-side neighborhoods to allow for increased density, particularly along transit corridors.

• Increasing affordable housing production with a focus on wellresourced neighborhoods.

San Francisco’s requirement is almost triple the amount the city was expected to create (but failed to do so) over the previous eight years. Of the

82,000-plus units, approximately 32,000 must be affordable to low- or very-low-income households. To meet the updated, steep requirement, the city will focus production on small and mid-rise housing across the city, but particularly near transit corridors and the west side of the city.

“I’m thankful for all the work that went into this by City staff, our partnership with the State in working to get this finalized, and the Board of Supervisors for approving it. We need to bring that same focus and shared vision to the work ahead of passing reforms to our housing approval and permitting process, rezoning our city, and securing affordable housing funding. This is a major step for changing how we approve housing in San Francisco, but it’s only the first step,” said Mayor London Breed.

The 2022 Housing Element is San Francisco’s first housing plan centered on racial and social equity. It articulates the City’s commitment to recognizing housing as a right, increasing housing affordability for low-income households and communities of color, creating more small and mid-rise multifamily buildings across all neighborhoods, and connecting housing to neighborhood services like transportation, education, and economic opportunity.

For more information, visit sfhousingelement.org.

Western Addition Safe Streets Project

Mayor London Breed and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced the Western Addition Community Safe Streets Project has been awarded $17.6 million as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program (transportation.gov/ grants/SS4A).

The funding for this grant program comes from President Biden’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and advances U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s nationwide effort to improve roads and address traffic fatalities.

San Francisco’s application was supported by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Senator Alex Padilla. The overall budget to improve safety for the community—which includess design, construction, and education/outreach campaign activities—is estimated to be $22 million.

“This federal support will help us to make our streets safer for the residents and workers in the Western Addition community,” said Mayor London

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Breed. “Projects like this are essential to creating safer road conditions in neighborhoods throughout our City, and helping us make our communities safer for all. I want to thank Secretary Buttigieg and the U.S. Department of Transportation for their critical support for this project.”

The Western Addition Community Safe Streets project (WACSS) includes traffic signal upgrades and speed management improvements in support of the City’s Vision Zero goals. These safety improvements were identified in the Western Addition Community Based Transportation Plan (WACBTP).

“SFMTA’s community-based plans start with community—working with neighbors to understand their priorities and collaborating to turn those priorities into actions. We’re grateful to the people of the Western Addition for their work, and to the federal DOT for helping us implement the plan’s commitments,” said Jeffrey Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation.

Key elements of the WACSS project are as follows:

• Signal visibility enhancements to improve safety through larger 12” signal heads and mast arms

• Pedestrian signal improvements such as pedestrian countdown signals (PCS), accessible pedestrian signals (APS), pedestrian-activated flashing beacons, upgraded streetlighting, and upgraded curb ramps

• Speed management strategies such as lower speed limits through 20 mph signage, radar speed signs, quick build improvements based on WACBTP, and additional community engagement

• Multilingual education and outreach campaign on traffic safety and speed management

“We join City partners in thanking the U.S. Department of Transportation for its award of $17 million to implement the Western Addition community-based plan,” said District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, Chair of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. “The Transportation Authority also appreciates the US DOT’s award for our San Francisco Vision Zero Freeway Ramps Study. Both efforts will help save lives and create healthier and more equitable communities in our city.”

The Western Addition Traffic Signal Upgrades Phase 1 project is estimated to begin construction in Spring 2023. Near-term improvements identified in the WACBTP have been implemented. These include daylighting, continental crosswalks, bulb-outs, pedestrian-actuated rectangular rapid flashing beacons, and advanced limit lines.

The Western Addition Traffic Signal Upgrades Phase 2 project, estimated to begin construction in Spring 2025, has started design using local funds and is proposed to complete design and implement improvements at 16 intersections as part of the WACSS project.

1064 Mission Street

A new Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) building opened at 1064 Mission Street earlier this year to serve adults exiting homelessness. The building is made up of 256 studio apartments, making it San Francisco’s largest PSH site. Of the 256 units for formerly homeless adults, 103 units will be reserved for individuals over the age of 55.

This project is the result of a collaboration between the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH), Mercy Housing California, and Episcopal Community Services (ECS). The building was funded with City and State funds.

The supportive housing at 1064 Mission Street will include on-site services, programs, and amenities, including:

• on-site nursing and primary care, provided by the St. Anthony Foundation

• in-home supportive services for individuals with disabilities, operated by Homebridge

• a 6,000-square-foot commercial kitchen run by ECS’s social enterprise program, Conquering Homelessness through Employment in Food Services (CHEFS)

• community open space, open to the public five days per week neighborhood is still recovering. Yearend pricing levels for Downtown properties are well below average, and they are a factor in the reported data. Downtown’s housing stock consists of larger buildings; it is rare to see a 5-9-unit building in this section of San Francisco. Subsequently, the lower value indicators of Downtown sales are not affecting data points in the 5-9-unit sector.

The above information was sourced from the Mayor’s Press Office.