Unfamiliar Terrain

In response to Mayor London Breed’s recent Executive Directive, titled “Housing For All,” on May 4, 2023, the San Francisco Planning Commission voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve a package of Planning and Building Code amendments intended to spur reinvestment in the City’s commercial core. (See earlier post regarding the Mayor’s Executive […]

In a decision partially published on November 30, 2022, Save Lafayette v. City of Lafayette[1], the First Appellate District Court of Appeal upheld the City of Lafayette’s approval of the Terraces of Lafayette (the “Project”), a 315-unit housing development project, 20% of which will be affordable to lower-income tenants. That opinion—now final, as the California […]

The land use entitlement process in California is notoriously complicated, lengthy, and fraught with uncertainty. Less attention is paid to the process of receiving building permits, post-entitlement. Generally, this process is more straightforward because the local agency’s review is limited to ensuring state and local building code compliance. Accordingly, the issuance of building permits is […]

In an Executive Directive dated February 7, 2023, Mayor London Breed declared that “San Francisco needs to fundamentally change how we approve and build housing.” The Directive, titled “Housing For All,” comes on the heels of the Board of Supervisors’ January 31st adoption of its updated Housing Element, addressing San Francisco’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation […]

Local landlords and owner-groups filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court last week in response to the recently-passed Proposition M, also known as the Empty Homes Tax Ordinance. We previously covered the new San Francisco legislation here. The Empty Homes Tax Ordinance imposes an Empty Homes Tax (the “Tax”), which ranges from $2,500-$20,000 per […]

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 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 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 […]