SAN FRANCISCO—SF Mayor Edwin Lee issued a Mayoral Executive Directive ordering all City departments that have legal authority over the permitting or mapping of new or existing housing to focus work plans on the building and development of all new housing includes affordable housing, according to a press release from the Mayor’s office website.
“Our City’s growing economy requires a diverse supply of new housing stock, and San Francisco needs to remain focused on protecting our existing rental housing,” said Mayor Lee. “Through the Housing Trust Fund, we created a permanent source of revenue to fund affordable housing production and with our City departments, we are going to build more housing in San Francisco more effectively so our City remains an affordable place to live for people at all levels of the economic spectrum and keep families in our vibrant City.”
The mayor has created a Working Group of the City’s Departments Heads, where the focus will be on three goals:
• Make recommendations to the Mayor for City polices and administrative actions to preserve and promote rental housing in San Francisco;
• Require the Planning Commission to consider Discretionary Review hearings when a loss of housing is proposed; and
• Create an advisory body to City departments with permitting authority to create a clearinghouse for code compliance checks for buildings that are being withdrawn from the rental market under Residential Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Ordinance or a Notice of Intent to Withdraw units from the residential market.
The Working Group of Departments Heads will include the Director of Department of Building Inspection, Director of Planning Department, Chief of the Fire Department, Director of Rent Board and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing. Recommendations will be submitted by February 1 showcasing how the Departments plan to implement the Directive, as well as any specific adjustments to increase housing production and ensure the protection of current rental stock.
By LaDale Anderson
