San Francisco moves to relax Central SoMa zoning rules to boost housing

San Francisco could relax requirements for housing developments in the Central South of Market neighborhood and Transbay plan areas under new legislation brought by Mayor London Breed.

Why it matters: San Francisco's approval process for new housing is notoriously long . The proposal is the city's latest effort to reduce barriers in hopes of meeting the state's mandate to create 82,000 housing units over the next eight years.

Driving the news: The legislation, co-sponsored by Supervisor Matt Dorsey (District 6), would eliminate zoning provisions that require a minimum amount of office space in new mixed-use projects on large sites.

• Currently, these types of projects must maintain a ratio of two-thirds commercial space to one-third residential.
• The mayor's office said the proposal would allow fully residential developments and boost residential space in mixed-use projects, enabling thousands of new housing units.
• It's "another step towards unlocking longtime barriers that have slowed us down and prevented progress," Breed said in a news release .

State of play: The zoning provisions were part of an eight-year plan to extend downtown's skyline toward SoMa and create a booming hub with 8 million new square feet of modern office space and 8,800 new housing units.

• It was meant to support higher density mixed-use developments, particularly office spaces.
• That plan experienced delays with the onset of the pandemic, leading to shuttered storefronts and stalled construction sites.

The big picture: Like San Francisco , many Bay Area cities have moved to repurpose vacant office buildings in the aftermath of the pandemic.

• Local officials have led initiatives to convert offices into housing amid an office vacancy rate high .
• Some have also sought to transform empty hotels and schools into apartments.

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