Building on public lands and tweaking the city's inclusionary housing program are just two of the options being considered by San Francisco leaders and housing advocates to help alleviate the city's growing affordability crisis.
With developers increasingly opting for in-lieu payments instead of building below-market-rate housing, affordable housing advocates are pressing for changes to San Francisco's Inclusionary Affordable Housing Program to increase the supply of middle-income housing.
"As it stands, every new residential project of 10 or more units must price 12 percent of the units at below market rate, pay a fee to opt out or build below-market-rate units off-site," explains Jonah Owen Lamb.
"'If the developers would take that program seriously and build the units and stop feeing out ... we'd get more middle-income units,' said Peter Cohen, co-director at the Council of Community Housing Organizations. But with the hot real estate market, developers are gladly paying the fee instead of losing profits, so tweaks need to be made to the program to prevent that."
Increasing opt-out fees and "[giving] builders the option to have a wider variety of below-market-rate pricing for more middle-income units" are two of the ideas being explored.
In addition, "Mayor Ed Lee is calling on city departments to take inventory of their vacant and underdeveloped sites to determine which ones are ripe for development [of below-market-rate housing] -- examining everything from historic reservoirs to smaller parcels," reports Joshua Sabatini. "Lee has also appointed a housing task force, with recommendations due Feb. 1 on how to speed up and encourage housing development citywide."
FULL STORY: Ideas to increase middle-income housing in San Francisco floated
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
California Grid Runs on 100% Renewable Energy for Over 9 Hours
The state’s energy grid was entirely powered by clean energy for some portion of the day on 37 out of the last 45 days.
New Forecasting Tool Aims to Reduce Heat-Related Deaths
Two federal agencies launched a new, easy-to-use, color-coded heat warning system that combines meteorological and medical risk factors.
AI Traffic Management Comes to Dallas-Fort Worth
Several Texas cities are using an AI-powered platform called NoTraffic to help manage traffic signals to increase safety and improve traffic flow.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.