Transit-Oriented Housing Development Plan Falls Flat in San Francisco

The Home SF plan was supposed to usher in a wave of new housing development on transit corridors in San Francisco. Now, 2.5 years later, that promise might finally be ready to become reality.

1 minute read

December 4, 2019, 9:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


San Francisco

Andrey Bayda / Shutterstock

J.K. Dineen reports on the progress with the Home SF program, adopted two and a half years ago in San Francisco to add 16,000 housing units along transit corridors by 2037.

"The program lets developers exceed height and density limits in exchange for including more affordable housing in their projects, and the idea was to push more projects in historically development-wary neighborhoods," explains Dineen.

So far, however, the plan has yet to live up to its ambitions. "Not one Home SF project is under construction and just three have been approved," according to Dineen. The sluggish pace of development is blamed on the "one-size-fits-all" legislation that enabled the program, but there is evidence that developers are starting to Home SF as an attractive alternative to the state's development bonus incentives.

The article includes a lot more details about a wave of new projects seeking approval under the program.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019 in San Francisco Chronicle

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