Unfamiliar Terrain

San Francisco appears to be on track to meet the state’s deadline for adoption and certification of its Housing Element, with a final vote at the Board of Supervisors scheduled for January 31, the last possible day to remain in compliance under state law. On December 15, the Planning Commission reviewed a draft of the […]

Voters in San Francisco and Oakland approved[1] two measures with significant implications for residential property owners: San Francisco’s Proposition M, also known as the Empty Homes Tax, and Oakland’s Measure V, which expands Oakland’s Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance. Proposition M – the Empty Homes Tax (San Francisco) The Empty Homes Tax provides that owners […]

The Regional Water Quality Control Board for the San Francisco Bay Region (the “Board”) recently eliminated a credit that many transit-oriented development projects have relied on to meet stormwater runoff requirements. The Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit for the San Francisco Bay Region, reissued on May 11, 2022 as Order No. R2-2022-0018 (the “Stormwater Permit”)[1] […]

The 2021-2022 California Legislative Session closed on August 31 and was dominated by further efforts to address the state’s continued housing crisis. The flurry of major legislation passed by the Legislature and now on the Governor’s desk for signature focuses on expanding the types of development sites eligible for housing production and streamlining approval of […]

In early June, we reported on the key land use-related ballot propositions San Francisco voters faced during the June 7, 2022 special election. Now that the dust has settled after the election, voters came very close to approving but ultimately rejected the new Muni bond, but did approve changes at the Building Inspection Commission and […]

San Francisco voters will again confront a formidable ballot during the special election on June 7, 2022, with an array of ballot propositions to consider. Key land use-related measures are as follows: Proposition A (Muni Reliability and Street Safety Bond): Proposition A would provide up to $400,000,000 in general obligation bonds that would be used […]

On April 20, 2022, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) adopted new recommended thresholds for determining the significance of individual projects’ greenhouse gas impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Fifteen years after the Legislature amended the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to require consideration of individual project contributions to global climate […]

On March 14, 2022, a new eviction ordinance took effect, amending the San Francisco Administrative Code to require that landlords provide residential tenants a 10-day written warning and opportunity to cure prior to initiating “just cause” eviction proceedings. “Just causes” for eviction include failure to pay rent, a material lease violation, severe nuisance, illegal use […]

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is finalizing its Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan (RHNA Plan) for the sixth housing element cycle (2023-2031), which allocates a total of over 440,000 housing units across all Bay Area cities and counties, more than double the allocation from the prior 2015-2023 cycle. Notably, 27 Bay Area cities […]

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors continues to pursue options for COVID-19 tenant protections, in anticipation of the September 30, 2021 expiration of State protections of residential tenants from eviction for non-payment of rent due to COVID-19. On September 28, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed on second reading amendments to the City’s COVID-19 residential […]

While the 2020-2021 California Legislative Session was dominated by the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis and the ultimately unsuccessful Gubernatorial recall election, there were significant efforts made to change statewide housing policy. Last week, the Governor began signing some of those new housing bills into law—including the widely discussed SB 9, which is regarded as the […]

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the commercial real estate market, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is pursuing relief for certain categories of commercial tenants, including adoption of an ordinance creating a rebuttable presumption that a commercial tenant’s legally required shutdown excuses rent owed for the shutdown period. We previously reported on San Francisco’s eviction […]