No, Mayor Lurie, Overpriced Studios Aren’t “Family” Housing
PRESS RELEASE for Wednesday, April 9, 2025
San Francisco, CA – San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is deceiving the public in calling the latest proposal for major zoning changes throughout the City, “Family Zoning” when in fact, they will encourage a proliferation of overpriced studio apartments.
In a statement by Mayor Lurie released on April 3, the same day the SF Planning Department shared its latest map and details on the proposal to upzone most of the City, the Mayor’s spin doctors got to work to hide that the upzoning plan:
will make rent and home prices more expensive,
will increase the displacement of tenants and small businesses, and
incentivizes neighborhoods across the City to be demolished by developers.
Making the upzonings even worse are last-minute additions for “density decontrol,” which would create further zoning giveaways by the City that developers will use to build as many tiny studios as they can cram into new construction.
“REP-SF strongly opposes the last-minute additions to the City’s upzoning proposal, influenced by real estate lobbyists. Density decontrol enables developers to build studios and tiny units that are the complete opposite of family housing. Overpriced studios will only benefit developers and investors, and will not meet the needs of San Francisco’s families,” says Jeantelle Laberinto, of the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition (REP-SF).
“The City is lying about this upzoning plan providing any type of housing that we need, especially family-sized housing and truly affordable housing. All we’ll be getting are overpriced studios and tech sleeping pods and dorms, and not the housing our communities are fighting for,” says Dyan Ruiz of the REP-SF coalition. “What we need is more affordable family housing like Kapuso at the Upper Yard, which our communities fought to get built.”
“Our families are already living doubled up in studios or one-bedroom apartments. Building more similar style units, like studios, is not going to improve the living conditions of our immigrant families that are already living in these overcrowded conditions. We need to build affordable three-bedroom to five-bedroom apartments,” says Zachary Frial, organizer with South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), a member of REP-SF.
On April 4, the REP-SF coalition submitted a letter to the SF Planning Commission, strongly opposing the City’s latest upzoning plan and urging the City to adopt our community solutions focused on equity and affordability. The letter reads:
“The Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition (REP-SF) strongly objects to the latest Housing Element Rezoning Program, ‘Expanding Housing Choice,’ as it abdicates the City's control over its own planning and zoning to the State, and it lacks an affordable housing plan. The upzoning proposal does not meet our desperate housing needs, especially for truly affordable housing and family-sized housing. By escalating land values through upzoning and incentivizing developers to take advantage of density decontrol, which only serves to increase the profits of the real estate industry, the City is making housing more expensive for all residents, small businesses, and affordable housing development. We strongly recommend that the Planning Commission direct the Planning Department to implement the equity-based provisions of the SF Housing Element that are critical and now overdue. Below, REP-SF outlines our proposal to refocus Housing Element implementation on equity and affordability.”
Our letter outlines REP-SF’s proposal to refocus the City’s Housing Element implementation on equitable city planning:
Build Real Affordable Housing NOW
Upzone For Equity-Based Urban Planning
Stop Selling Off Our Public Lands
Require Family-Sized Units Instead of Density Decontrol
Prohibit Excessively Large Units
For more information, please read our full letter to the Planning Commission and our blog post about SF Planning's proposed upzonings and our community demands. REP-SF will be speaking during public comment at the upcoming Planning Commission hearing tomorrow, April 10 and April 17.
