Here’s what Scott Wiener has done

As State Sen. Scott Wiener moves toward his next ambitious political move—a run for Congress—residents of the neighborhoods where he will need votes are going to start to see the results of his housing agenda.

Mayor Daniel Lurie’s West Side zoning plan is, in large part, a result of Wiener’s legislation, which forces cities to accept more luxury housing with no money for the infrastructure of affordable units that San Francisco needs.

The latest, SB 79, which is on the governor’s desk, would allow massive new development in “transit rich” areas, which includes most of San Francisco. (The measure includes no money for new transit at a time when Muni and BART are facing a near-fatal financial crisis.)

But there’s more.

SB 423, which Weiner authored and the governor signed in 2023, essentially removes any Planning Commission or Board of Supes authority over a wide range of luxury housing projects. Those projects are subject only to “ministerial” approval, which means a clerk stamps the documents and construction can begin.

Here’s the latest example: A developer wants to build a 70-unit, eight story building on Capp St. between 17th and 18th—a part of the city that still has some (relatively) affordable rentals. Only 12 of the units, 17 percent, would be affordable. The other 58 will have to rent at levels far above the current median; otherwise, the project won’t make financial sense.

From the SF Chronicle:

Even with rents surging 11.5% in the past 12 months, developers say that in the best case scenario new multifamily housing development is still 18 months away from starting. And that is only if construction costs and interest rates stay flat, and rents jump an additional 20%.

This kind of luxury housing in a lower-income area will almost certainly lead to gentrification and displacement.

There’s absolutely nothing the city can do about it.

From the Planning Dept. staff:

As a result, effective June 28, 2024, the following housing types may be approved ministerially under SB 423, if otherwise eligible:

• Code complying housing projects with 2-9 residential units

• Code complying housing projects with 10 residential units that meet San Francisco’s inclusionary affordable housing requirements (on-site, off-site, or payment of the in-lieu fee)

• Code complying housing projects with 11+ residential units that meet San Francisco’s inclusionary affordable housing requirements, with a minimum of 10% of the units provided on-site and restricted as affordable to households at 50% AMI (rental) or 80% AMI (ownership).

That’s this project.

There will be more.

The Planning Commission will hold an informational hearing on the project Thursday/25. Then the developer will have 30 months to break ground.

If you live in that part of the Mission, and you see your favorite local cafe or restaurant or bar replaced with something far more upscale, and you see rents in the neighborhood keep rising, remember who made it happen.

The commission will also hear, and potentially vote on, a massive commercial project called The Gateway, which would create 2.1 million square feet of industrial space on the edge of the Bayview.

The application documents are complicated, but they suggest that much of this project will be an Amazon distribution center. As we reported:

The EIR says that it will generate about 5,000 “person vehicle trips” a day. Some of that will be people driving to work, since the area is badly served by transit.

A lot will be diesel trucks and gas-powered vans coming and going to bring in and bring out parcels.

This is in a neighborhood that the EIR freely admits has an alarmingly high incidence of asthma and other diseases that are linked to car and truck exhaust.

Soon, they will be moving to use robot trucks.

The commission didn’t vote on changes that neighborhood groups say would threaten historic preservation in North Beach, so that will come back at the same meeting.

The meeting starts at noon.