These S.F. leaders want to sue California, saying it’s unfairly targeting city on housing policy

By Aldo Toledo : sfchronicle – excerpt

The office of San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan wants the city attorney to sue the state of California over efforts, led by state Sen. Scott Wiener, Chan says, to “singularly penalize” the city in its efforts to build market-rate housing. Chan’s office said in a statement that “San Francisco has more than 70,000 units of housing approved and waiting to be built, we should not be penalized because some politicians want to sell out to realtors and developers.”

San Francisco Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Connie Chan want the city attorney to sue the state of California over what they say are efforts, led by state Sen. Scott Wiener, to “singularly penalize” the city in its efforts to build market-rate housing.

In a letter sent to the city attorney Dec. 26, Chan and Peskin argue that the city has long been committed to building housing, especially affordable housing, and has taken steps to do so by dedicating hundreds of millions in public funds to housing construction, streamlining permitting processes and approving over 70,000 new units…

“Not only has Senator Wiener set up San Francisco to fail, despite all our legislative and funding efforts, he added a last minute amendment to SB423 that singles out San Francisco for streamlining in 2024, which is years earlier than every other jurisdiction in California,” Peskin and Chan wrote…

In an interview, Peskin said Wiener is “in the pocket of the market-rate development” industry and discriminating against his hometown by holding it to a different, higher standard than the rest of the state …(more)

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