Sen. Weiner and Mayor Lurie are fast-tracking a Real Estate Industry-led upzoning that will worsen our affordability crisis.
Instead of building the 70,000+ already-approved homes or converting vacant Downtown offices to housing, they are targeting intact neighborhood commercial districts and rent-controlled housing for massive upzoning — without affordability requirements or tenant and small business protections. Instead of using their political power and creative financing to develop public land for affordable housing, they are earmarking valuable opportunity sites for luxury development.
Upzoning in and of itself is not a bad policy. As long as it’s a tool in a larger community plan to thoughtfully grow neighborhoods without displacement. Blanket upzoning and deregulation without affordability guarantees only serve to repeat the harmful mistakes of the 1940’s-70’s “Redevelopment Era”, when public redevelopment agencies cleared large parts of the Western Addition and Japantown, displacing thousands of residents and erasing the community’s thriving cultures. Those policies done in the name of “progress” tore communities apart and left lasting scars – a lesson that guides today’s fight for affordability, equity, and real community benefits in planning.
San Francisco is the last place we should be pushing Trump decontrol and deregulation policies that will exacerbate our housing crisis in an area with double the nation’s income inequality divide.
This “Big Beautiful Upzoning” can be amended and YOU can help make it a real community plan!
We are asking the Mayor and Board of Supervisors to amend this legislation to include strong affordability and funding guarantees and tenant and small business protections – to really build the housing our families and workers need.
