SAN FRANCISCO—It was announced on Monday, January 4, that the city of San Francisco and the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) reached a deal regarding the university’s expansion plans.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a tweet that the city and UCSF agreed on a “proposed community benefits plan” and the “highlights” include:
- The Medical Center’s capacity will increase by 42 percent as well as “200 in-patient beds.”
- “1,263 new homes” for the university’s employees.
- Forty percent of “new and existing UCSF housing (about 1,000 homes) will be affordable units.”
- “$20 million in transportation improvements.”
- Thirty percent “local hire targets for both construction and permanent entry level jobs.”
Breed added that the coronavirus pandemic “reinforced” the need for a “strong healthcare system” and said “long-term projects with well-paying jobs and affordable housing” are “essential” for SF’s “recovery and our economy moving forward,” in a tweet.
According to the mayor’s office, the proposed benefits “will be memorialized in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that, once finalized, will be signed by representatives from the City and UCSF,” according to a January 4 news release.
The agreement comes after city officials like Breed and the SF Board of Supervisors expressed concerns that UCSF’s expansion plans might be approved without them having a chance to weigh in on it.
One of them is Dean Preston, a member of the Board of Supervisors, who called for a hearing and said “transparency and community accountability are key,” in a December 22 tweet.
Called the Comprehensive Parnassus Heights Plan (CPHP), UCSF said the plan is a vision that will enhance its “research, education, and care delivery and contributes to the vibrancy of the neighborhood and the broader community,” according to a press release from October 2019.
Part of the CPHP is renovating the university’s hospital, Moffitt Hospital, which has been there for nearly seven decades. It does not match California’s “seismic code and must be decommissioned for in-patient care by 2030,” as stated in the UCSF’s news release on January 4.
The university said that the CPHP “reflects broad input from thousands of external and internal stakeholders” which includes more than two dozen public meetings, town halls, surveys, consulting community leaders, elected officials, and employees at UCSF in a process that began in 2018.
California State Senator Scott Wiener, who represents San Francsico applauded the CPHP in a tweet calling UCSF an “invaluable asset for our city” and said it was “long overdue” on January 4.
To move forward with its planned expansions, UCSF must receive approval from the University of California Board of Regents, which can happen as soon as Wednesday, January 20.
