Mayor Lurie Signs Historic Family Zoning Legislation to Make City Affordable for Generations of San Franciscans

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie today signed his landmark Family Zoning plan, a legislative package that ensures future generations of San Franciscans can afford to raise their children in the city. The plan will fulfill state housing requirements, allowing San Francisco to retain local control over the development of new housing, and in combination with supporting legislation, strengthens San Francisco neighborhoods by updating laws to protect rent-controlled buildings, small businesses, neighborhood character, and historic landmarks. 
Mayor Lurie’s Family Zoning plan gained broad support from community groups across the city—including San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 and the San Francisco Police Officers Association, the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations, the Small Business Commission, the Youth Commission, small business owners, and community leaders. The signing of the Family Zoning plan builds on the mayor’s work to make San Francisco affordable to future generations by standing up more housing. In the last six months, Mayor Lurie cut the ribbon on affordable housing communities across San Francisco’s South of Market, Richmond, Bayview, Sunnydale, Hunters Point Shipyard, Civic Center, and Outer Sunset neighborhoods. 
“With the signing of the Family Zoning Plan, we are creating a generational roadmap for how our city builds housing—so the next generation of San Franciscans can build their lives here. And we will do it the San Francisco way,” said Mayor Lurie. “So many San Franciscans came together to make this Family Zoning Plan a reality: Firefighters and police officers, seniors and small business owners, and affordable housing builders, labor unions, neighborhood leaders. Thank you to Board President Mandelman, Supervisor Melgar, and all those who have helped shape and deliver this plan.”  
San Francisco and cities across California are required under state law to undertake rezoning processes that will facilitate the creation of new housing. Mayor Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan, which the California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) has preliminarily indicated meets state housing requirements, preserves San Francisco’s ability to shape growth in ways that reflect and protect the character of its unique neighborhoods and retain essential funding for transit and affordable housing. HCD is expected to issue its final determination later this month. 
The legislation includes base zoning changes and establishes Housing Choice San Francisco, a new local housing bonus program. As an optional alternative to the state’s density bonus program, the local housing bonus program also creates opportunities for growth consistent with core policy goals and design standards, while adhering to state requirements. 
Key provisions of the family zoning plan include: 

• Supports more housing options by updating zoning rules to allow a wider range of building types and increased height in key areas, from smaller buildings in residential areas to larger apartment and condo projects in commercial districts and on transit corridors—while protecting historic landmarks and neighborhood character.  
• Encourages housing near public transit by:
  • Creating a new zoning district that supports both homes and small businesses near transit.
  • Reclassifying certain residential areas to allow more density and mixed-use development.
  • Providing incentives for buildings to include space for community-serving uses like grocery stores, community facilities, childcare, and other amenities.
• Modernizes zoning to better align with housing and economic goals and account for state laws, including the state density bonus, such as:
  • Updating height and bulk rules to allow more housing in designated areas while protecting historic buildings.
  • Creating the Housing Choice SF program (local program), an optional alternative to the state density bonus, which offers incentives and flexibility to projects that choose the program and abide by all local height limits, design standards, and other code requirements.
  • Creating a special use district for SFMTA-owned sites to support coordinated development of both housing and transit facilities.
• Generates resources and expands flexibility for affordable housing through the new local housing bonus program and our existing inclusionary housing program, allowing developers to meet requirements in multiple ways—such as:
  • Building on-site affordable units
  • Paying an affordable housing fee
  • Dedicating land or units off-site
  • Creating 100% rent-controlled buildings
• Simplifies development processes by:
  • Cutting red tape for housing and small business projects
  • Making it easier for impacted businesses to relocate
• Strengthens tenant protections in coordination with pending legislation that ensures residents are supported as neighborhoods grow and change.
• Promotes high-quality design with new architectural standards that enhance neighborhood aesthetics.
• Maintains local control by meeting state housing requirements and aligning with the general plan and planning code priorities. 

“This is an historic effort to course-correct for decades of policy that limited housing options for a large part of San Francisco. This generational step forward allows us to maintain local control and expand on what makes our neighborhoods wonderful places to live,” said District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar. “While there is still work to be done to protect existing tenants and small businesses and expand our affordable housing, more transit-oriented development will undoubtedly benefit our local economy and bring positive outcomes to our community.” 
“No piece of legislation is perfect, but the Mayor’s Office and Planning Department have accomplished a significant feat in landing an upzoning capable of earning the support of a majority of the Board of Supervisors,” said Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman. “This legislation will not be the last word on housing in San Francisco; there is still more work to be done to identify additional areas of the city where more density can be achieved in ways that will enhance those neighborhoods and help address our housing shortage, and there is still much more to be done to ensure the preservation of important historic resources and of our rent-controlled housing stock.  But the passage of the Family Zoning Plan keeps us in compliance with State law and moves the city closer to meeting our housing needs, and those are worthy accomplishments.” 
“The Family Zoning Plan is an ambitious and balanced step forward for San Francisco,” said District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “With its passage, we’ll be able to expand opportunities for new rent-controlled housing, encouraging homes near transit and strengthening our commitment to building thriving, mixed-income communities for generations to come.” 
 “The Family Zoning Plan is an important step toward creating much-needed housing for everyone while allowing San Francisco to control its own future," said District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. “Through its local density bonus program, our city will encourage new housing development, including 100% rent-controlled buildings, while securing over $100 million a year in funding for affordable housing for years to come.” 
“This is an historic step that begins to reverse a half century of planning codes that effectively banned new apartments in much of San Francisco,” said District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter. “We are united in tackling our housing and affordability crisis and allowing San Francisco to be a welcoming and dynamic city.” 
"San Francisco is not only the fastest-aging city in the country—we also have the fewest children per capita,” said District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill. “We have a moral imperative to build more housing. I'm proud to have gone parcel by parcel with every neighborhood association and merchant group in District 2 to thoughtfully update the plan to add density while respecting our existing community resources.” 
“I grew up living in Sunset in-laws and have always wanted the opportunity to have my own place in the neighborhood, but the price of a typical home is almost $2 million,” said District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong. “The Family Zoning Plan will give us a chance to have more housing opportunities and prevent Sacramento from coming in to make planning decisions for us.” 
“With the adoption of the Family Zoning Plan, San Francisco is opening doors of opportunity for thousands of new families,” said Sarah Dennis Phillips, SF Planning Director. “This isn’t just about creating more places to live, it’s about expanding access to the building blocks of healthy, successful lives—schools, public transportation, parks, and daily services. I want to thank and congratulate my colleagues at the Planning Department for developing such a thoughtful plan and to the mayor and members of the Board of Supervisors for getting it across the finish line.” 
“The Family Zoning Plan is a first, significant step toward a more welcoming and affordable San Francisco. It modernizes outdated, exclusionary rules and finally opens the door for more homes in every part of the city. We also recognize that it is a compromise, and that meeting San Francisco’s housing needs will require more than this plan alone,” stated Brianna Morales, Housing Action Coalition Community Organizer. “In the months ahead, the city must expand housing capacity, strengthen funding for affordable homes, and remove barriers that limit feasibility, especially in the neighborhoods best equipped to support growth. We appreciate the mayor’s leadership in bringing this across the finish line, and we look forward to continuing the work to ensure every family, senior, and worker has the opportunity to live and thrive in San Francisco.” 
“The Family Zoning Plan makes it easier to build housing in neighborhoods across the city, bringing us closer to a San Francisco where families and working people can afford to live here,” said Jane Natoli, San Francisco Organizing Director of YIMBY Action. “While more work lies ahead to ensure San Francisco is doing its fair share to ease our housing shortage, this plan is a promising step forward.” 
 “This is an extraordinary moment for San Francisco. The Family Zoning Plan represents the most significant transformation of citywide land use in at least half a century, driven by city and state leaders committed to making San Francisco more affordable, more equitable, and more vibrant. We are moving beyond the denial and inaction on housing that has too often defined our city by taking real steps toward building the future we all deserve,” said Annie Fryman, San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) Director of Special Projects. “SPUR has long believed that San Francisco should be a place where entry-level renters, hourly workers, artists, students, and longtime residents can choose to live in any neighborhood; where seniors have options to stay near their support networks as they age; and where young families are not only inspired to raise their children here, but can afford to do so with confidence. San Francisco will no longer be defined by fear of change or historic patterns of exclusion. With policies like the Family Zoning Plan, the city is taking a bold and necessary step toward a more welcoming and imaginative future.”