{"id":156762,"date":"2026-01-30T17:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156762\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T17:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:30:08","slug":"neighbors-try-to-delay-affordable-senior-housing-in-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156762\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighbors Try to Delay Affordable Senior Housing in San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neighbors who live near proposed low-income senior housing on Mission Street have already bargained down the project size from 120 homes to 70. Now they\u2019re using a loophole in a recent law to delay the project even more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the edge of Bernal Heights, the building would be four stories high and replace the\u00a0 discount retail store Big Lots and its parking lot. The store closed in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It would also replace \u2014 and here\u2019s where the neighbors come in \u2014 part of a small park next to the old Big Lots site. The park has been closed since 2020, but neighbors who object say it\u2019s a crucial resource for families on the block.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to an online petition<\/a> (\u201cSave Our Park!!\u201d), the neighbors \u201cwelcome affordable senior housing in our community\u201d but want the city to force a redesign that won\u2019t infringe on the park space. (The petition has 359 signatures.)<\/p>\n

They were scheduled for a Board of Supervisors hearing in December, but it was postponed and is now slated for next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

San Francisco\u2019s housing rules have traditionally allowed for appeals like this to rise to the top of the City Hall food chain, one reason why SF has had some of the slowest housing approval times in the state. A Board of Supervisors appeal is how the now-infamous South of Market tower on Stevenson Street \u2014 500 homes to be built on a parking lot<\/a> \u2014 got kiboshed in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AA sign at Coleridge Park that says \u201cPark is closed until further notice.\u201d Someone has added the word \u201cillegally\u201d to the sign. The park is private property and owned by the developer proposing to build affordable senior housing on the site. (Photo: Adam Brinklow)<\/p>\n

But in large part because of that Stevenson ruling, state lawmakers passed new rules meant to end this kind of appeal. So how is it happening, especially with subsidized homes meant for dozens of the city\u2019s most vulnerable residents?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bernal\u2019s edge<\/p>\n

3333 Mission checks a lot of boxes for a range of housing proponents. While at the bottom of the hill, it\u2019s still in Bernal Heights, where the median condominium price last year<\/a> was more than $1 million. SF\u2019s new housing plan deliberately targets well-off neighborhoods historically resistant to new housing, but prosperous Bernal Heights was left off the map.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposed 70 units would be more new homes than Bernal Heights added from 2020 through 2024, according to the Planning Department. The new building would complement a 49-unit senior housing next door.<\/p>\n

These homes, all for sale, should be priced between $33,000 and $131,000, and 100 percent reserved for low-income seniors, a fast-growing local population<\/a> at high risk of falling into homelessness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The project is also the work of a local developer, the nonprofit Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. BHNC paid more than $2 million for the shuttered Big Lots site in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The problem, neighbors say, is Coleridge Park. It\u2019s a private space also owned by BHNC, not to be confused with the city-owned Coleridge Mini Park less than a block away. It closed in 2020 because of COVID and never re-opened. BNHC says it\u2019s because of inadequate resources for maintenance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neighbor Jeanne Choy Tate, who authored the neighborhood petition, fears it will never reopen under current plans.<\/p>\n

That said, it\u2019s not disappearing entirely. The new development will cut it roughly in half to 3,885 square feet. BNHC says it\u2019s also adding 1,000 feet of community space<\/a> open to the public in the new building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BNHC has made other concessions. It already agreed in 2024 to bring the project down from 120 units to 70 and from six stories to four. At a public meeting, neighbor Don Lucchesi, who filed the appeal of the project with the board, said he\u2019d prefer it to shrink further, down to 56 homes.<\/p>\n

Lucchesi did not return requests for comment, but Choy Tate says the developer has dismissed neighborhood concerns: \u201cThey\u2019ve never listened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A fast track\u2026 or so they thought<\/p>\n

When state Sen. Scott Wiener\u2019s housing bill SB 423 gained approval in 2023, it included a special present for Wiener\u2019s hometown of San Francisco.<\/p>\n

SB 423 gives developers a faster track in cities behind on their state-mandated housing goals. Because of SF\u2019s historic delinquency in approving new homes, SB 423 kicked in first here, in 2024. Since SB 423 became law in San Francisco, 20 developments have qualified; another with hundreds of units on the Embarcadero is in the works. The city lists 11 more in the \u201cpreliminary filing\u201d stage.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"This\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

As long as SB 423 project complies with local code, adds an extra level of affordable housing, and uses union labor, it can bypass various reviews and public appeals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At least that\u2019s what BHNC thought last year when it used the law to file its application for 3333 Mission. But neighbors found a loophole. Says Gina Dacus, CEO of Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, \u201cThe appeal does not challenge the already approved entitlements\u201d \u2014 that is, the building itself \u2013 \u201dbut rather the tentative final map,\u201d meaning the property line alterations that make the construction legally possible. Put another way, the opponents are literally attacking the grounds for the new building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every day of delay incurs more fees, and if the appeal goes beyond February it will have \u2018a negative impact\u2019 on the application for a critical state grant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

BHNC housing development manager Connie Xie<\/p>\n

The matter made the supervisors\u2019 agenda in December before the postponement. District 9 Neighbors For Housing\u2019s Brandon Powell, whose group pushes for more homes in Bernal Heights, calls the appeal a case of \u201cSF snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

If it gets to a hearing next week or in the future, it\u2019ll likely have an uphill battle. The current board voted 7 to 4 for the citywide upzoning plan, which philosophically is all about less red tape for housing. That said, supervisors often defer to colleagues whose district holds a project in question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this case, it\u2019s Jackie Fielder, who voted against the citywide housing plan. Fielder did not respond to requests for comment about 3333 Mission.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Delays can kill housing<\/p>\n

Another opponent of citywide upzoning is a critic of SF\u2019s red tape in this particular case. \u201cThe appeals process, while democratic in intent, often imposes disproportionate costs on small, local builders,\u201d says Quintin Mecke, director of the Council of Community Housing Organizations, a coalition of tenant groups, activists, and affordable housing developers.<\/p>\n

Delays cost small developers like BHNC money and jeopardize grant deadlines. Even when appeals ultimately fail, they can set back or even sink projects by holding up a key piece of the funding puzzle.<\/p>\n

BHNC housing development manager Connie Xie said in December that every day of delay incurs more fees, and if the appeal goes beyond February it will have \u201ca negative impact\u201d on their application for a critical state grant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not uncommon for big projects to split lots, merge them, or in other ways shuffle property lines. The 3333 Mission appeal could show the way for others to exploit the loophole, SF Planning chief of staff Dan Sider tells The Frisc: \u201cState law has closed other avenues of appeal, so it would not be unreasonable to assume we will see more of these.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

SiteLab urban planner Ben Grant predicts a new round of local and state legislation in response to these loopholes. \u201cThe city and state will work to backfill laws and policies to prevent exploiting them \u2014 always fighting the last war.\u201d<\/p>\n

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