Committee Advances Sweeping Cuts to Affordable Housing Requirements in Bid to Restart Construction

San Francisco's Government Audit and Oversight Committee voted 2-1 on July 2 to send the city's most aggressive housing production package since the pandemic to the full Board of Supervisors — slashing on-site affordable housing requirements from as high as 20% to just 5% and cutting development impact fees by two-thirds. The ordinance now heads to the full board on July 14 alongside a companion Housing Trust Fund ballot measure that would more than double annual affordable housing funding to $125 million, but the two measures are not formally linked — a gap that drew the lone dissenting vote and a pointed commitment to bring amendments.

• Inclusionary housing rate drops to 5% and impact fees cut 67% as committee forwards ordinance to full board on a 2-1 vote
• Building trades, developers and housing advocates line up behind the package, calling stalled construction an existential crisis for union jobs and housing supply alike
• Mission, SOMA, and Bayview community groups warn the ordinance breaks neighborhood bargains and eliminates affordable units with no guaranteed replacement funding
• Supervisor Fielder votes no, announcing she will bring amendments at the full board to restore higher rates in the Mission
• Vice Chair Mahmood secures verbal commitment: if the Housing Trust Fund ballot measure fails, the mayor's office will bring legislation to raise the rate back to 10%