REP-SF Advocacy Platform
July 31, 2025
The REP-SF Advocacy Platform outlines our demands around the City’s upzonings, including advancing affordable housing first, community stability, real family and dignified housing, and affirmatively furthering fair housing. Our Advocacy Platform also focuses on strengthening protections for small businesses and tenants to prevent displacement and support those who have been displaced.
Upzoning
1. Recognize What's Already Been Accomplished
a. The City must advocate to HCD to count as many of the units already entitled as possible (currently 70,000 entitled units in the city's permit pipeline).
b. The City must advocate to HCD to count Housing Preservation Program (HPP) projects toward the RHNA goals (refer to AB 670 if it passes).
c. The City must advocate to HCD to recognize that SF has already complied with the upzoning deadline.
i. Recognize upzoning already in place (4 and 6 plex legislation), entitlements already conferred (70,000 units entitled by Planning), streamlining measures already in place (Breed's local measure, plus early implementation of SB 423 before the rest of the state, plus permit expediting measures, plus elimination of inclusionary requirements and community impact fees).
2. Affordable Housing First
a. Planning should meet with every developer whose entitled project is not moving forward into construction, and for every developer unable to move their project into construction in the next 12 months, the City must negotiate to acquire these sites for affordable housing development.
b. Engage communities in every District to identify priority sites for affordable housing development. Then, create a multi-site Affordable Housing SUD that includes upzoning these sites for greater feasibility for affordable housing.
c. Create a real affordable housing feasibility plan.
i. Advocate to the State for a multi-year commitment of significantly increased funding for the Multi-Family Housing Program.
1. Any statewide and regional affordable housing bond measures must be additional to a multi-year budget commitment for affordable housing development and preservation.
ii. Advocate for a multi-year local commitment of City funding for affordable housing development and acquisitions/ preservation.
d. Public Lands for 100% Affordable / Social Housing. No more market-rate housing development on public lands.
i. This includes the SFMTA sites.
e. Restore inclusionary housing requirements citywide to 2022 levels.
f. The proposed “use it or lose it” provision should have no exceptions or extensions except for 100% affordable / social housing projects.
3. Community Stability
a. Prohibit demolition of existing rent-controlled units.
b. Prohibit demolition of existing neighborhood-serving small businesses
c. Retain language for zoning districts that says that "existing residential units are protected" (and similar) to prevent against demolitions, conversions, and mergers of units that have been protected.
d. Retain existing zoning district controls that disallow demolition of existing residential units.
e. Disallow conversions of existing residential units to non-residential.
f. Eliminate the proposed change to Planning Code Section 317 that says that Residential flats can be demolished without a conditional use process if the developer is adding one new unit or “maintaining the number of units demolished equivalent in size to the units demolished."
g. Require infrastructure with growth.
i. Reinstate impact fees in developments to support childcare, transit, parks, culture, etc.
4. Real Family and Dignified Housing
a. Require developers to build 25% of the units with 3-bedrooms or larger (use TCAC standards so units aren't too small or too large).
b. Reduce the maximum unit size from 4,000 to 2,800 sq ft.
c. Retain the common area requirement for “efficiency dwelling units with reduced square footage.”
d. The minimum size of "efficiency dwelling units with reduced square footage" and group housing units must be 275 square feet.
e. The “objective design standards” are a step in the right direction. However, the Zoning Administrator must not be able to adopt new standards or revisions to the standards without a process for public input.
5. Affirmatively Further Fair Housing
a. Enabling more market-rate housing and density decontrol for market-rate housing are not AFFH strategies (Martinez v City of Clovis).
b. Equity-oriented Housing Element implementation actions must be accomplished prior to any further actions for market-rate housing, especially those with deadlines that have already passed.
c. Require an equity analysis accompanied by a “roll-back” provision. If housing prices continue to increase, and if affordable housing production continues to lag behind, then all "base heights" will revert back to what they were prior to the upzoning.
Small Business Protections
1. Displacement prevention, not just developer incentives
a. Retain and enforce the commercial vacancy tax.
b. Require developers to provide minimum warm shell conditions to increase feasibility for neighborhood-serving small businesses, such as finish flooring, ADA-compliant bathrooms, and lighting fixtures.
i. If the project involves demolition of a commercial space that previously had a restaurant or bar, the developer must provide minimum warm shell conditions such as venting for kitchen exhaust, a hand sink, a floor sink, and other fixtures to meet Department of Public Health requirements.
c. Require the SF Office of Small Business to do proactive community outreach to all small businesses, informing them of their rights and protections, and informing them of the services provided by the Office of Small Business. Small businesses throughout San Francisco are unaware of the new state laws and local programs that incentivize and streamline development.
2. Change State Laws to Support Displaced Businesses
a. Amend AB 2011/AB 2243 (CA Govt Code Sections 65912.100). The Mayor must work with our State legislators to amend AB 2011 / AB 2243 to accomplish the following:
i. Require developer payments to businesses with gross receipts up to $2M.
1. Businesses that were in operation for 1–5 years should receive relocation assistance equal to six months rent; businesses in operation for 6–10 years should receive nine months rent; businesses in operation for 11–15 years should receive twelve months rent; businesses in operation for 16–20 years should receive fifteen months rent; businesses in operation for more than 20 years should receive eighteen months rent.
2. Payments to businesses should include compensation for tenant improvements in the temporary location and tenant improvements in the newly constructed building.
ii. Make these developer payments a requirement for all businesses displaced by upzoning and permit streamlining, including but not limited to SB 423, SB 330, State Density Bonus, AB 1287, local upzoning, and permit streamlining programs.
iii. Allow municipalities to require developer payments into a fund to be used to compensate businesses near the construction site that will be impacted while work is being done.
iv. Allow municipalities to require developers to provide a first right of refusal for existing businesses to return into the newly constructed building with a space that works for the temporarily relocated business, and at a rent level sustainable for the displaced business, and within a reasonable range of what the rent was for the old space.
3. RTO-C Districts
a. Revise the RTO-C to reduce the allowable square footage per storefront, and prohibit formula retail.
Tenant Protections
1. Appropriate noticing: Tenants should be made aware early and regularly of the possibility of and/or intent to demolish, as well as their rights to remain, their right of first refusal, and their right to relocation assistance, in the language in which they negotiated their lease.
a. At time of purchase by LLC, with disclosure of intent to redevelop;
b. At time of preliminary application submission;
c. From complete application notice letter to time of planning approval letter issued;
d. At least six months prior to date tenants must vacate (tenants must be allowed to stay for as long as possible, until three months prior to demolition);
e. Requirement for a Relocation Specialist and a City-certified Relocation Plan for all projects that propose to temporarily displace existing tenants.
2. Just compensation for displaced tenants: Tenants should be guaranteed the greatest amount of relocation assistance permitted under existing state and local law.
a. Payments to middle and upper income tenants equivalent to Ellis (per limits of State law);
b. Payments for lower-income tenants equal to at least 42 months times the difference between fair market rent and the equivalent AMI rent (per State law);
c. Extension of relocation payment when there is an extension of the temporary eviction;
d. Demo permit contingent on approval of relocation plan by Planning;
e. Right of the displaced tenants to move back into their homes if the developer's project hasn't proceeded to demolition within 12 months of receiving its Planning approvals.
3. Replacement of protected units: There should not be any loopholes in the legislation or in its implementation that might allow owners to avoid replacement of protected units.
a. Presumption of lower-income households in existing units unless proven otherwise by owner;
b. Replace demolished rental units with new rental units.
4. Disincentives for project sponsor abuse: As Planning has acknowledged, developers more often than not submit plans for redevelopment of empty buildings. They should be prevented from forcing tenants out via harassment or eviction and stripping them of their rights prior to redevelopment.
a. Prohibit demolition of buildings where there are findings of harassment or illegal eviction by the Rent Board;
b. Prohibit demolition of buildings that have been removed from the rental market via Ellis Act eviction within the last 10 years;
c. Prohibit demolition of buildings that have been removed from the rental market via Owner/ Relative Move-In (OMI) eviction within the last 5 years;
d. Require a Conditional Use permit noticing and public hearing for all projects that propose to demolish existing housing.
