op-ed (opens in new tab)<\/a> this week, UC Davis professor and housing law expert Chris Elmendorf warned that the report could be grounds for the state to take control \u2014 at least in the absence of far more significant upzoning. <\/p>\nThe California Housing Defense Fund, which sues cities whose zoning is not compliant with state law, has already threatened to sue San Francisco. The advocacy group YIMBY Action called on state officials to tell the city exactly what it has to do to fix its plan.<\/p>\n
But some say the saber-rattling isn\u2019t justified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe report shouldn\u2019t be a shock to anyone, but not because Mayor [Daniel] Lurie, his departments, and the Board of Supervisors have made some colossal error in judgment,\u201d tenants advocate Shanti Singh said. \u201cIt\u2019s because zoning is just one factor of 100.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singh said YIMBYs \u2014 the \u201cYes in My Backyard\u201d housing hawks who advocate for less process and more cranes in the sky \u2014 are taking advantage of the report to push for a bolder rezoning plan. Local YIMBY Action organizing director Jane Natoli said the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us cover to do more,\u201d Natoli said. \u201cThe report, when you dig into it, says, \u2018This is necessary but not sufficient.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if the builder\u2019s remedy is never realized in San Francisco, it\u2019s a big stick the state can use if it wishes. Elmendorf said that makes the city more likely to alter its plan if California\u2019s Department of Housing and Community Development mandates changes. It\u2019s also useful for local elected officials who want to save face with angry constituents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it a lot easier, if you\u2019re a politician, to say, \u2018I don\u2019t love this, but Sacramento is making me do it,\u2019\u201d Natoli said.<\/p>\n
The builder\u2019s remedy could come either at HCD\u2019s discretion or as the result of a court ruling that San Francisco is out of compliance. The former seems unlikely. An HCD spokesperson said Friday that the agency maintains the position it had when it sent a positive September letter to the city. In other words, Egan\u2019s report did not compel the state to take any immediate action.<\/p>\n
The possibility of a court ruling is more feasible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m afraid \u2018We\u2019re going to sue the government until the capital markets do what we want\u2019 is basically the textbook definition of San Francisco YIMBYism,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n
An analogous lawsuit is playing out in Los Angeles, providing a blueprint for YIMBY legal groups in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
But San Francisco Planning Director Sarah Dennis-Phillips isn\u2019t worried.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing that we\u2019ve done has changed since HCD sent that letter,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re laser-focused on adopting this plan right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dennis-Phillips pointed out that Egan\u2019s report also found that the zoning plan as it is stands, would bring rents down \u2014 a success, she said, even if it doesn\u2019t mean the work is done.<\/p>\n
But Natoli said a lawsuit is still possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t rule it out,\u201d she said. \u201cAt a certain point, this issue is going to need to be litigated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mass evictions, demolitions, and huge skyscrapers haunt the nightmares of rezoning opponents. Those fears are sensational \u2014 the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1337,101,103,102,104,106,105,23681],"class_list":{"0":"post-32724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-housing-development","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","11":"tag-san-francisco-news","12":"tag-sf","13":"tag-sf-headlines","14":"tag-sf-news","15":"tag-yimby"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}