The mayor’s plan to upzone San Francisco has gone before the Board of Supervisors.
At the Land Use and Transportation Committee meeting today, supervisors are considering the plan, which would allow taller, denser buildings in the city’s north and west, and proposing amendments.
Anticipated amendments include provisions to incentivize future building of units with two or more bedrooms, the removal of lower-income areas from the plan, and the exclusion of rent-controlled housing from the plan.
But the city is limited in what changes it can make. The state requires San Francisco to introduce the capacity for an additional 36,000 units of housing — and has warned that while the proposed plan currently complies with the mandate, San Francisco doesn’t have much wiggle room.
Don’t introduce “potential constraints on development,” Paul McDougall, a senior program manager at the California Department of Housing, warned San Francisco.
McDougall gave several examples, some of which supervisors are contemplating: Labor provisions that would require certain wages or union participation, taking sites out of the plan, affordability requirements, adding permit procedures, and more.
If San Francisco fails to rezone, it could face the “builder’s remedy,” where the city loses its ability to approve and reject new housing developments.
The state-mandated upzoning has split San Franciscans. Supporters see it as a landmark step for a city long resistant to growth, arguing that as more housing is produced, housing costs will ease for future generations.
Opponents foresee a different outcome — one in which residents and businesses are displaced by new development, without enough new housing to improve affordability.
1:30 p.m. — all Supervisors are in attendance
Technically, Monday’s meeting is only of the Land Use and Transportation Committee, but today all the supervisors are in attendance.
Only the supervisors who sit on the committee—Myrna Melgar, Bilal Mahmood, and Chyanne Chen—can introduce amendments. But with their support, any supervisor can put suggestions forward.
“All of us have put in significant amounts of work for our constituents and also in the legislative process to draft amendments and to consider what is being proposed,” Melgar said about the full chamber. “All of us are here because this is an important thing.”
12:00 p.m. — Connie Chan hosts rally to discuss concerns about the rezoning plan
Before the 1:30 p.m. meeting, District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan organized a rally on the steps of city hall to discuss concerns with the zoning plan, and was joined by Supervisors Chyanne Chen, Jackie Fielder, and Shamann Walton.
“It is our full intention to make the state housing mandate, but I believe that San Francisco can develop and meet this goal without displacement,” said District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan. “Displacement of tenants and small businesses should not be the cost of doing business for developers.”
Connie Chan speaks at a rally about upzoning concerns on Oct. 20, 2025. Photo by Io Yeh Gilman.
Chan hopes to introduce amendments that will direct developers toward building on vacant sites.
At the rally, speakers frequently took aim at the state laws requiring San Francisco to rezone. “Over the last decade, representatives we have sent to Sacramento have eroded rights of working people who do the jobs of building and constructing all types of property here,” said Mike Casey, former Local 2 leader and the president of the San Francisco Labor Council, who was one of several labor leaders to join the rally.
Romalyn Schmaltz, a north beach business owners, holds her handmade sign at a rally about concerns about upzoning on Oct. 20, 2025. Photo by Io Yeh Gilman.
Flo Kelly hold a sign saying “don’t let developers off scott free” at a rally about upzoning concerns on Oct. 20, 2025. Photo by Io Yeh Gilman
At the rally, many people held signs referencing San Francisco’s state senator Scott Wiener, who wrote some of the laws requiring San Francisco to rezone. “A-bun-dance is for Wieners,” one said. “Don’t let developers off Scott free,” said another.
People also brought signs from the campaign for recall of former District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio. While Engardio’s support of converting the Great Highway to a park was the key issue in his recall, some activists have made it clear that they are also concerned about upzoning — and are willing to organize more recalls.
Recall Engardio signs in a pile at a rally about upzoning concerns on Oct. 20, 2025. Photo by Io Yeh Gilman.
The final speaker was District 2 supervisor candidate Lori Brooke, the co-founder of Neighborhoods United, who has been working against the rezoning plan since 2023. She told rally attendees to demand that the supervisors change the plan.
“If they really want to change the plan to address our concerns, they can,” she said.
The rally ended with Chan leading the crowd in a chant: “Yes we can! Yes we will!”
Former Board of Supervisor President Aaron Peskin and SF Building and Commissions Trades Council Vice President Vince Courtney before a rally about concerns about upzoning on Oct. 20, 2025. Photo by Io Yeh Gilman
Mission Local will be posting periodic updates to this article throughout the meeting.