Is new condo development being shut down?
This week’s Guardian covers what they’re calling an indirect housing moratorium in the eastern neighborhoods…
No one’s quite sure what to call it yet, but it has shaken San Francisco’s housing debate to its very core, pitting developers against proponents of low-income housing and blue-collar jobs.San Francisco planning officials acknowledged March 16 that no developer in eastern San Francisco can build another market-rate unit until the city answers a key question:
How does a million-dollar loft impact the person who cleans that loft — or works in a warehouse next door — and needs a place in the city too?
Here’s the backstory: The San Francisco Planning Department determines on a project-by-project basis whether an environmental impact report is necessary. Several months ago planners decided that a 68-unit residential building at 2660 Harrison St. had a green light to move forward with no EIR.
When land-use attorney Sue Hestor and the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition appealed that decision, the Board of Supervisors did something unusual: On Jan. 24 the board upheld Hestor’s appeal, which in effect asked that an EIR for the project include an analysis of the “cumulative impact” of all market-rate housing, including 2660 Harrison, on the eastern neighborhoods of the city.
In other words, a 2660 Harrison EIR would have to include a look at the project’s impact on available jobs in eastern San Francisco and on the future availability of low-income housing.
And under that precedent, every developer of every market-rate housing project would have to undergo the same expensive, time-consuming process.
Although I agree that the infrastructure is key to good neighborhood planning, this needs to be a priority so that construction on all levels of housing can continue. The best thing that could happen for home buyers in San Francisco is more inventory, but the flip-side of that is only going to drive prices further out of reach.
