Neighborhood NIMBYs aren’t the only ones up in arms over San Francisco’s Family Zoning Plan.
The pro-development advocates at YIMBY Law plan to file suit against San Francisco next month, claiming Mayor Daniel Lurie’s upzoning scheme fails to fulfill the city’s state-mandated allowance of housing, the organization’s executive director, Sonja Trauss, told The Standard.
In response to the decades-long housing crisis, California officials have in recent years been pressuring local governments to loosen zoning requirements or risk losing state funding or land-use control.
San Francisco is mandated by state officials to plan for 82,000 new homes by 2031. Of that, the city must rezone to reasonably allow for about 36,000 homes in the next six years.
The Board of Supervisors approved San Francisco’s rezoning strategy — dubbed the Family Zoning Plan — in December.
The Planning Department, which has been developing the Family Zoning Plan since before the Lurie administration, created its own projections (opens in new tab) using various models that estimate rezoning would allow for the creation of up to 64,000 homes. (That doesn’t mean all those homes will be built, as planners often note.)
However, an analysis from Ted Egan, San Francisco’s chief economist, found that even in the most optimistic scenario, rezoning could create about 14,600 units over the next 20 years — a fraction of the benchmark set by the state. The report provided ammo for those pushing for more aggressive housing policies.
“Why do planners always make promises they can’t keep? They’re addicted to it,” Trauss said.
The plan met with fierce opposition from some residents who argued that wide-scale upzoning would change neighborhood character and function as a developer handout. Responding to those complaints, supervisors debated and approved a slew of amendments that included carve-outs and exemptions for specific areas.
The potential lawsuit mirrors litigation filed by YIMBY Law and Californians for Homeownership against Los Angeles, claiming the city (opens in new tab) was not doing enough to rezone for new housing capacity as laid out under state law. If successful, the lawsuit could force sweeping rezoning or trigger the “builder’s remedy,” under which a city loses the ability to approve or deny housing developments.
In a preliminary review (opens in new tab), California’s Department of Housing and Community Development found that the Family Zoning Plan meets state requirements, based partly on the Planning Department’s projections.
Trauss said YIMBY Law would not push the city to repeal its rezoning plan but rather to expand it by increasing height limits in specific areas. She added that YIMBY Law will be seeking individual residents to sign on as plaintiffs in the case.
Those on the other side of the issue — who think Lurie’s proposal means too much development — filed a lawsuit against the city this month (opens in new tab) over the state-mandated plan. The legal challenge was filed by the NIMBY-aligned groups Neighborhoods United SF and Small Business Forward.
San Francisco has a deadline of Jan. 31 to adopt a finalized rezoning plan. Trauss said her organization plans to file its lawsuit challenging it in February. As for cost?
“We’ll spend as much money as it takes,” she said.