California Construction News staff writer
The City and County of San Francisco have officially received a “prohousing” designation from the State of California, a step to ensure faster and more sustainable housing development.
“I know folks are wondering ‘What does that mean?,” Mayor London Breed said at a press conference. “It means a lot.
“It means more money. It means more housing. It means more jobs. It means more opportunity. It means all of the above.”
Breed says the designation shows the progress made in the city since 2021 when the Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal to build almost 500 units of housing on an empty parking lot . . . which “set us back considerably.”
“The great news about today, with some of the changes we have made . . . we are currently on the road to what I believe will be a housing boom all over San Francisco.”
To achieve this designation, San Francisco agreed to streamlining multifamily housing projects, up-zoning areas near employment centers and transit, and increasing access to affordable housing for low-income households and communities of color.
The designation marks a turnaround for the city, which faced state scrutiny following the Board of Supervisors’ rejection of a significant housing project at 469 Stevenson St. In response, Mayor London Breed and city officials collaborated closely with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to reform local policies.
“We are proud that the state has recognized San Francisco as a Prohousing city,” Breed said. “This has taken a lot of work locally to change our laws and get to yes on housing.”
The Prohousing Designation Program (PDP) recognizes cities that actively work to reduce barriers to housing development. With this designation, San Francisco gains access to exclusive grants and additional points in funding applications for housing and infrastructure projects.
In its application, San Francisco outlined several initiatives aimed at expediting housing development, including:
- Priority processing for 100% affordable projects
- Elimination of parking requirements for residential developments
- Establishment of the Central SoMa Housing Sustainability District for streamlined approvals
- Adoption of the Constraints Reduction Ordinance to simplify housing entitlements
- Creation of a one-stop Permit Center for coordinated building permits
- Benchmarks for reducing post-entitlement permitting timelines
- Local funding initiatives to preserve affordable units at risk of conversion to market rates
