San Francisco once again finds itself at a crossroads between corporate interests and the urgent need for affordable housing. The Mosser Hotel, located at 54 4th Street in the South of Market, seeks permission to convert 72 out of 81 existing residential hotel rooms to tourist hotel rooms, adding to the existing 78 tourist hotel rooms already operating there. If approved, this move would further deepen the city’s affordable housing crisis, hurt hotel workers, and set a dangerous precedent for other property owners looking to prioritize profits over housing stability.
Despite these concerns, the Mosser’s owners claim that lost residential units will be replaced at 509 Minna Street. However, this site has already been in use as supportive housing since 2021, housing people transitioning out of homelessness through a city-supported program run by the Department of Public Health, the Department of Adult Probation, and Westside Community Services.
The Planning Department’s draft motion falsely claims that 509 Minna still contains 72 tourist hotel rooms, when in reality, these rooms have been used as transitional housing since the pandemic. Counting these existing rooms as “new” replacement units is misleading at best, and the project at 54 4th fails to provide one-for-one replacement housing as required by the city’s regulatory codes put in place to prevent the loss of residential hotels. Moreover, the Minna Project serves a specific population in a sober living environment, which is not a direct replacement for general residential housing available to all.
This is not the first time the Mosser has attempted to abandon its obligations as a residential hotel, having applied for a similar conversion of units in 2017. For nearly a decade, the property has claimed a “lack of demand” for low-income housing, despite the city’s ongoing affordability and homelessness crisis. During these years, between 53 and 76 low-income residents could have been housed in the Mosser.
The Mosser’s residential vacancy rates raise serious concerns about the city’s role in approving the unit conversions. Granting a conversion permit now would send a clear message to landlords that not renting out residential units can ultimately lead to approval for more lucrative tourist accommodations.
In addition to the conversion of units, the Mosser must also apply for a Conditional Use Authorization permit to expand its tourist operations, a process that requires the Planning Commission to evaluate impacts on housing, transit, and social services.
Hotel workers at the Mosser are currently not unionized. Expansion of the Mosser’s hotel services would add jobs that do not pay enough for workers to afford living in San Francisco, pushing more employees into long commutes from cities such as Modesto and Sacramento. This would further strain regional transit systems, increase reliance on public assistance, and place additional pressure on surrounding communities.
The economic argument for this hotel expansion is also weak. The Mosser Hotel’s market study, conducted in 2018 with a brief 2023 update, projected visitor spending would return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024—a forecast that has already proven incorrect. The Mosser’s current tourist occupancy rate of 59 percent mirrors citywide averages. Converting more rooms to tourist use would not create new demand but instead take business from existing hotels, leading to job losses and reduced working hours elsewhere in the City’s hospitality sector.
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Given these economic risks, the Planning Commission must carefully weigh whether this project serves the city’s long-term interests. The conversion of residential units into tourist accommodations is not a right in San Francisco—it requires explicit city approval. The Planning Commission has a duty to reject projects that remove housing that is affordable to low-income residents, strain public resources, and fail to offer meaningful economic benefits. San Francisco cannot afford to lose more residential hotels for the sake of yet another tourist hotel. The Commission must deny this application.
Join us at City Hall (Rm 400) Thursday/20 at 1pm to tell the Planning Commission to STOP THE CONVERSIONS.
Angelica Cabande is the executive director of SOMCAN. Established in 2000, SOMCAN is a multi-issue and multi-strategy organisation that uplifts the lives of youth, families, individuals, and workers. We work on a wide range of issues—from tenant rights to community planning to Filipino language access to workers’ rights—and provide culturally competent direct services ranging from tenant counselling, family support, youth empowerment, employment, and health and wellness activities. SOMCAN believes in uplifting the voices of immigrant, people-of-color, and low-income communities so that they will be heard in local policy-making decisions and so that government officials are accountable to their needs.
