SF
Prop
E
Affordable Housing Production Act
Affordable Housing: Board of Supervisors
Amends the City Charter to modify the approvals process for certain types of housing developments.
Amends the City Charter to modify the approvals process for certain types of housing developments.
Proposition E is a Board of Supervisors-sponsored charter amendment that would defeat Proposition D (Affordable Homes Now), the ballot measure sponsored by SPUR. While Prop. E and Prop. D appear similar, they would have very different outcomes. (Read our analysis of Prop. D.)
Prop. E would remove some of the red tape for city approvals of three types of housing development if they meet the city’s codes[1]: 100% affordable housing projects, mixed-income housing projects with increased affordability, and educator housing projects. The city would have to issue permits for these projects within six months after an application is deemed complete. However, Prop. E would not set time frames for city departments to deem an application complete, and there would be no recourse if the city continues to delay approvals on that basis.
The following three categories of multifamily housing would be eligible for streamlining under Prop. E:
Under the City Charter, various city boards, commissions and officials — including the Planning Commission, the Board of Appeals, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Arts Commission and the Board of Supervisors — are allowed to make discretionary decisions about housing approvals, even if housing projects meet all of the city’s codes and laws. In San Francisco, this creates layers of bureaucracy and politicizes housing projects, often delaying and blocking projects even when they comply with the city’s existing laws and codes. San Francisco’s discretionary review process has frequently been cited as an obstacle to development in multiple studies and planning documents, including the city’s own housing plan.[5]
In 2014, then-Mayor Ed Lee implemented some internal processes to streamline permitting. However, a complete reform of discretionary review can only be done with a charter amendment, which requires voter approval. That is why both Prop. D and Prop. E are on the ballot.
Mayor London Breed planned to place a housing streamlining measure on the ballot in 2020, but it was postponed due to the onset of the pandemic. Supervisor Ahsha Safai proposed a streamlining charter amendment on the ballot in 2021, but it was tabled by the Rules Committee and never went to the full Board of Supervisors.
In 2022, a coalition of pro-housing advocates (including SPUR) sponsored a voter initiative measure, Prop. D, to streamline multifamily housing development. Mayor Breed also supports Prop. D.
Prop. D was criticized by some members of the Board of Supervisors for proposing to streamline mixed-income housing and to expedite 100% affordable housing that includes units that are affordable to moderate- and middle-income households. To defeat Prop. D, seven members of the Board of Supervisors placed a competing charter amendment, Prop. E, on the ballot. The two ballot measures appear very similar. However, the policy details included in these measures would make a significant difference in the impact each would have on affordable housing production in San Francisco.
Prop. E requires a simple majority (50% plus one vote) to pass. If both Prop. D and Prop. E meet the threshold to pass, the proposition with more votes will prevail.
Prop. E was put on the ballot to defeat Prop. D. They sound similar but would have very different outcomes.
Prop. D would accelerate all 100% affordable projects that conform to existing rules and shield them from nuisance lawsuits. Prop. E would not. Prop. E would require 100% affordable housing projects to have a much lower overall average affordability in order to be eligible for streamlining, so it would apply to fewer projects than Prop. D. In fact, Prop. E’s affordability level replicates existing state law, making it ineffective for encouraging the development of more affordable housing projects. Prop. D would expand streamlining to include 100% affordable projects that serve moderate- and middle-income households, including first-time homebuyers.
Mixed-income projects deliver about 40% of the affordable housing that is built in San Francisco. Prop. D would require a modest increase in the number of affordable units in mixed-income projects. Prop. E would require a much higher percentage of units to be affordable, which would render most mixed-income projects financially infeasible to build. This requirement means that makes Prop. E would be unlikely to speed up the production of affordable housing.
A lack of local skilled construction workers is a major obstacle to the construction of new housing in San Francisco. Prop. D would require eligible projects to pay middle-class wages, provide health care and offer apprenticeship opportunities to create pathways into middle-class construction jobs. Prop. E would require eligible projects to hire “skilled and trained” workers who have graduated from specific state-certified apprenticeship programs; about one-seventh of California’s construction workforce meets this standard. Prop. E's labor standard would not deepen the bench of construction workers or provide a pathway to bring non-union workers into higher-quality construction jobs.
One serious roadblock to building enough affordable housing in San Francisco is the time frame for the approval and permitting process. Prop. D would speed up approvals by mandating time periods for the city to determine an application’s completeness and eligibility for streamlining. Prop. E would not provide these mandates, which means that many projects could continue to experience significant permitting delays without recourse.
For more details, see SPUR’s July 2022 article, What’s the Real Difference Between San Francisco’s Two Affordable Housing Ballot Measures?
Speeding up the construction of certain 100% affordable projects, mixed-income and educator projects would benefit low-income households by increasing the supply of affordable housing in San Francisco. However, this measure would not improve the existing process for streamlining 100% affordable housing projects. It would create new burdens on mixed-income and educator housing that would make it harder for those projects to be financed and built. Consequently, this measure would preserve the status quo for housing approvals and would not advance equity goals in San Francisco.
Prop. E is a measure that was designed to block the passage of Prop. D, Affordable Homes Now. It would do nothing to significantly improve the approvals process for housing projects in San Francisco. Unlike Prop. D, Prop. E would maintain the Board of Supervisors’ discretionary approval on 100% affordable housing projects that seek city funding or lease city properties. Maintaining discretionary approvals opens the door to nuisance lawsuits from anti-housing groups to block or delay 100% affordable housing proposals.
Because Prop. E would only allow streamlining on affordable housing projects for residents with incomes up to 80% of AMI, it would prevent streamlining of projects targeted to moderate income first-time homebuyers making up to 140% AMI. Under this measure, mixed-income projects would face onerous requirements that would render most projects infeasible, making it unlikely that Prop. E would produce any additional affordable units.
Finally, the restrictive nature of the workforce requirements on mixed-income and educator housing projects means that contractors would likely have difficulty hiring workers, which would continue to create obstacles for development. San Francisco’s housing affordability crisis demands immediate reforms, and this measure would maintain the status quo.
[1] Eligible projects could not be denied their permits by the Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors, Historic Preservation Commission, Art Commission and Board of Appeals if they comply with the objective standards in the code. Eligible projects would be subject to review by the Planning Department and the Department of Building Inspection.
[2] San Francisco’s citywide inclusionary housing policy requires that rental development projects reserve 22% of the units for affordable housing. Ownership projects must reserve 23% of the units for affordable housing. The inclusionary requirement is even higher in some zoning districts.
[3] Of the additional affordable units, 20% would have to be three-bedroom units and 30% would have to be two-bedroom units. If additional affordable units are studios, they could be priced at no more than 80% of AMI.
[4] At least four-fifths of the units in an educator housing project would have to be affordable to households with an income from 30% to 140% of AMI, with an overall average of 100% AMI across all such units. Up to one-fifth of the units could be affordable to families at 160% AMI.
[5] San Francisco Planning Department, Draft Analysis of Governmental and Non-Governmental Constraints, March 2022, https://sfhousingelement.org/draft-analysis-government-and-non-government-constraints-report.
[6] San Francisco Planning Department, Housing Affordability Strategies: Housing Development Feasibility and Costs, white paper, 2020, https://default.sfplanning.org/plans-and-programs/housing/affordability-strategy/HAS_Feasibility_and_Dev_Costs_FInal.pdf.