Category: California

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Newsom announces new accountability measures for cities that receive homelessness aid

By Mollie Burke : sfchronicle – excerpt

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new requirements Friday for cities and counties receiving state money to address homeless encampments.

Newsom, who has been cracking down on local governments that refuse to accommodate new housing projects or homeless shelters, said that the state will “claw back” funding for localities that fail to comply with their housing goals.

San Francisco became the first city to fall out of compliance with the housing element law, the California Department of Housing and Community Development ruled in July. San Francisco is required to plan for 82,000 new units between 2023 and 2031, but the city authorized just over 3,000 new units in 2023 and 831 units in the first half of this year, according to the city’s Planning Department. The state announced in August that San Francisco was back on track to return to compliance.

Under a law passed in 2023 by San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener, cities that fail to comply must streamline the approval of most projects.

Newsom also said Friday that cities must follow “all state housing and homelessness laws” to hold on to their millions in state aid from encampment resolution funds…(more)

How did we end up with an anti-San Francisco governor and an anti-San Francisco Senator? What is wrong with our city that no one who likes us runs for state office?
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SB 610: Senator Wiener attacks Fire Hazard Maps as impediments to housing.

By Amy Kalish : marinpost -excerpt

Fire truck got stuck in a tight turn. Had to get another. Use a different approach. Hydrant was 300 feet away Here’s something fresh!

There is a new and dangerous assault on local control. Senator Wiener is not content to merely wrest zoning from cities. He is now targeting Fire Hazard Severity Zone Maps as “impediments” to housing.

SB 610 upends local considerations — and would eliminate the State Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps and familiar terms — most noticeably “ember resistant zones.” A whole new system would instead declare portions of the state “Wildfire Mitigation Areas.” There would be no comparative maps to see where changes were made.

Wiener introduced SB-610 “Fire prevention: wildfire mitigation area: defensible space: State Fire Marshal” as a “gut and amend” bill, meaning the contents were completely changed after it had already passed the Senate in an innocuous form (a proposed annual report by the chair of the State Energy Resources Commission).

The Assembly had no time to digest the language or its ramifications and it has sailed through.

Wiener bluntly states the reasons to ditch a functioning system in his SB 610 Fact Sheet:

  • “to keep localities from weaponizing the fire hazard mapping as anti-housing/development tools.”
  • “LRA (Local Responsibility Area) maps can functionally result in restrictions on growth in those areas through imposing costly building standards, increased disaster planning and mitigation requirements, or increasing home insurance premiums.”
  • “Local jurisdictions have the ability to misuse this process and make the majority of their community a high or very high FHSZ (Fire Hazard Severity Zone) map that could impact housing development.”
  • In other words, the Maps must go in order to keep cities and counties from cheating their way out of “fair share housing.”…(more)

How can anybody be so callous about human lives?

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URGENT — OPPOSE SB 7

This is an URGENT call to action. SB 7 is a terrible bill, and it needs to be opposed before it’s next heard on 6/26. Letters and calls should be in ASAP. Today if possible.

What is the Problem with SB 7?
This is a housing bill that makes HCD stronger and RHNA worse. SB7 takes recommendations from a 176 page report — “California’s Housing Future 2040: The Next Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA)” — sent to legislators just two months ago, and hastily tries to get them passed into law in the next few weeks.

Through a sneaky process called “gut and amend,” new language has been put into SB 7 — which already passed the Senate in another form — and is now working its way through the Assembly.

No underlying problems of 6th cycle RHNA are addressed. This bill relies on unsubstantiated claims about the state’s housing crisis to justify usurping local control.

The 6th cycle RHNA is not even mid-way through, and all cities are failing its metrics. The solid reasons why are heavily documented — to the point that a housing element audit was recently authorized to examine the process.

The HCD is doing an end run around the audit and any flaws it might uncover; the new language of SB 7 bolsters their powers for 7th cycle RHNA, and they want it done now.

WHAT HCD GETS WITH SB 7:

  • An increase in authority, zero oversight, no transparency
  • Heavier hand against cities, bolstered by new punitive legislation
  • Further control over local zoning control
  • Eliminates the right to appeal RHNA mandates
  • Allows unchecked lobbyist influence
  • Continue to disregard infrastructure costs and other impacts to cities
  • Continue to disregard actual data, including population projections that show California’s numbers flat through 2060
  • Inclusion of open space in their calculation for how much new development a jurisdiction can absorb
  • No requirement to base policy on robust economic theory
  • No requirement to base RHNA mandates on legitimate population projections
  • RHNA allocations will continue to increase market rate housing
  • RHNA will require — but not advance — affordability.
  • Unelected bureaucrats will continue creating policy with no accountability

THIS IS HAPPENING FAST:
SB7 is being rushed through without due diligence.
This “gut and amend” bill bypassed normal deadlines, and showed up at the last minute. In the Senate it was an innocuous bill about group housing.

June 10th: Amended in Assembly
June 18th: Passed Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee
June 26th: Up for a vote in the Local Government committee

your message can be this simple: I OPPOSE SB 7.
Contact for direct representatives are below, they also need to hear from us.

First Last Email Phone
Chair, D Juan Carrillo juan.carrillo (916) 319-2039
V-Chair, R Marie Waldron marie.waldron (916) 319-2075
R Bill Essayli bill.essayli (916) 319-2063
D Matt Haney matt.haney (916) 319-2017
D Ash Kalra ash.kalra (916) 319-2025
D Blanca Pacheco blanca.pacheco (916) 319-2064
D James Ramos james.ramos (916) 319-2045
D Chris Ward assemblymember.Ward (916) 319-2078
D Lori Wilson lori.wilson (916) 319-2011
Chief Cons. Angela Mapp angela.mapp (916) 319-3958

SB 7 Verville sample letter

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Confederacy of NIMBYS cheer Peskin, criticize Melgar on housing

By KELLY WALDRON : missionlocal – excerpt

As dozens of slides on the evils of new housing construction flashed on the screen, the 100 or so residents gathered Wednesday night at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center agreed on one thing: Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin best represented their views, while the local district supervisor Myrna Melgar did not.
Peskin, who is running for mayor and spoke for around 10 minutes, often skeptical of new market-rate housing, was a clear winner for the crowd. District 7 Supervisor Melgar, who represents the area in which the meeting was held and is running for re-election there, attended but did not speak. She was not a fan favorite — and she made it clear the feeling was mutual.
“These are not my people,” said Melgar about the event put on by Neighborhoods United, a coalition of over 50 neighborhood associations across the city…(more)  
 
Melgar was invited to speak but just sat in the audience and said nothing. One of her opponents, Stephen Martin-Pinto was in attendance and gathered a lot of support last night. There were a lot of people from D-4., D-7, and D-11 that I recognized.

RELATED:

An Open Letter to Mission Local reporter Kelly Waldron

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Democrats kill California homeless camp ban, again

By Marisa Kendall : calmatters – excerpt

For the second year in a row, Democrats today voted down a bill that sought to ban homeless encampments near schools, transit stops and other areas throughout California.

Despite the fact that cities up and down the state are grappling with a proliferation of homeless camps, legislators said they oppose penalizing down-and-out residents who sleep on public property.

Senate Bill 1011 stumbled in its first committee hearing, stalling in the Public Safety Committee on a 1-3 vote. The measure by Senate GOP leader Brian Jones and Democratic Sen. Catherine Blakespear, both of the San Diego area, would have made camping within 500 feet of a school, open space or major transit stop a misdemeanor or infraction. It also would have banned camping on public sidewalks if beds were available in local homeless shelters…

Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Oakland, said while she appreciates that Californians don’t want to see encampments, she couldn’t support the bill.

“It’s kind of like trying to make a problem invisible versus addressing the core of the problem,” said Skinner, who joined Wahab and Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, in voting “no.”…(more)

RELATED:

California fails to track its homelessness spending or results, a new audit says

This is a controversial issue, but, one that could hurt some of those who voted to opposite. I’m wondering what Scott Wiener thinks is the core of the problem and how he would address it. Does he think that building more housing is the solution or has he some other idea he has not shared with us?

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Four Anti-California Coastal Commission Bills Hit Sacramento.

These four bills — all by Democrats — take different tacks:
Actions may take if you oppose them

•   SB951 By San  Francisco Senator Scott Wiener
Puts further restrictions on what kinds of projects can be appealed directly to the Commission. In it’s current version. https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb951?slug=CA_202320240SB951
An earlier version of that bill would have cut a chunk of San Francisco out of the Coastal Zone entire, but that proposal was amended. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/coast-housing-wiener-18624806.php Together they show that many pro-housing legislators have taken heart from last year’s battle for the coast.

•   AB2560 by San Diego Assemblymember David Alvarez.
Exempts from the Coastal Act apartment projects that make use of density bonus law – a policy that lets developers build taller, higher and with fewer restrictions if they set aside units for lower income residents. https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2560?slug=CA_202320240AB2560

•   SB1077 Encinitas Senator Catherine Blakespear
Makes the same exception for accessory dwelling units ( ADUs) https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb1077?slug=CA_202320240SB1077,

•   SB1092 by Encinitas Senator Catherine Blakespear
Forces the Commission to process appeals of locally-approved apartment buildings faster.  https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb1092?slug=CA_202320240SB1092

RELATED:
Fresh batch of YIMBY housing bills clash with coastal protections (again)

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Sunset/Parkside District 4 Town Hall – Up-zoning Plans

Find out what you can do if you object to this plan.

Example of the up-zoning planned for commercial corridors in the Sunset and  Richmond including 19th Avenue, Sunset, Lincoln, Judah, Lawton, Noriega, Taraval, Vicente, and Sloat.

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 6:30-8:30 PM – a live event (Zoom)
Christ Church Lutheran, 1090 Quintara Street
Sunset/Parkside District 4 Town Hall – Up-zoning Plans
Protect Neighborhoods, Support Merchants, Meet Housing Needs
Register – in person*  Limited space of 125
Register – via Zoom

https://www.neighborhoodsunitedsf.org/d4townhall

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Sweeping California bill wants to save downtown S.F. Is it the answer to the city’s problems?

By Roland Li : sfchronicle – excerpt

San Francisco’s leaders have spent the past few years desperately trying to figure out how to deal with a glut of empty offices, shuttered retail and public safety concerns plaguing the city’s once vibrant downtown. Now, a California lawmaker wants to try a sweeping plan to revive the city’s core by exempting most new real estate projects from environmental review, potentially quickening development by months or even years.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced SB1227 on Friday as a proposal to exempt downtown projects from the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, for a decade. The 1970 landmark law requires studies of a project’s expected impact on air, water, noise and other areas, but Wiener said it has been abused to slow down or kill infill development near public transit.

“Downtown San Francisco matters to our city’s future, and it’s struggling — to bring people back, we need to make big changes and have open minds,” Wiener said in a statement. “That starts with remodeling, converting, or even replacing buildings that may have become outdated and that simply aren’t going to succeed going forward.”

Eligible projects would include academic institutions, sports facilities, mixed-use projects including housing, biotech labs, offices, public works and even smaller changes such as modifying an existing building’s exterior. The city’s existing zoning and permit requirements would remain intact…

Wiener said he agreed that CEQA provided important oversight but that downtown’s “concrete jungle” was different than more environmentally sensitive areas…

Wiener is also the author of SB969, which would allow alcohol to be served outdoors in designated downtown “entertainment zones.” Wiener’s SB886, in 2022, exempted university student housing projects from CEQA if they met similar requirements such as being near public transit and did not demolish rental housing. Wiener has also proposed SB951 this year to ease the Coastal Commission’s housing oversight in San Francisco.

Wiener has passed a long list of state laws meant to spur more housing construction, particularly in dense urban areas with access to transit. He has also zeroed in specifically on San Francisco’s housing crisis before, including last year when he passed a bill that requires cities behind on their state housing goals to streamline approval of some projects, including an amendment singling out San Francisco for more frequent assessments of its compliance.

…   (more)

Scott takes another jab at San Francisco that he claims does not remove local control in one of the densest neighborhoods, because he can? His opponents are looking good these days. Scott needs to pay for all his unfunded mandates and do something about the high cost of living like supporting AB 1999 to cut utility bills. The exorbitant rents and ridiculous costs of operation a business downtown is what cleared the offices. Removing cars and parking did not help either.

Continue reading “Sweeping California bill wants to save downtown S.F. Is it the answer to the city’s problems?”

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Wiener wants to allow more big development along the Ocean Beach coast

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

The infamous tower that nobody likes 

State Sen. Scott Wiener, in a move that makes very little policy sense, is trying to exempt San Francisco’s oceanfront areas from the jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission.

On the surface, it’s a solution in search of a problem: The commission’s oversight powers are very limited, and only cover a tiny sliver of developable land on the Western edge of the city.

In the 51 years since the voters approved the commission, there have been only two instances when someone has appealed a development decision on the San Francisco coast—and both times, the commission denied the appeal…

Wiener’s bill, SB 951, would “remove urbanized San Francisco from the Coastal Zone — while retaining coastal natural resources in the zone — and refine the role of the coastal commission in housing approvals under certain circumstances.”…

“The Coastal Commission is the first pre-emption of local government land-use authority,” Sup. Aaron Peskin told me. “Wiener can’t have it both ways.”…

In fact, Peskin has introduced a resolution opposing the bill, and already has five co-sponsors.

“This is a naked power grab,”…

In addition to sending out odd press releases, Scott has a way to attacking his constituents during an election campaign that makes one wonder how much he really wants to continue in his position. There are three other candidates who so far have not threatened to squash San Francisco under the kind of loads Mr. Wiener is threatening to lower on us.

Only if you failed to witness the latest Scott Wiener attack via phone comments at the latest Coastal Commission Meeting, where he practically screamed at the Commissioners accusing them of holding up a project on the beach for 9 years. According to the Commissioners, he was mistaken and another organization help the project up for 9 years. They turned it around in 5 months once they were handed the documents they needed to proceed.

Details and links to the California Coastal Commission meeting are here:

https://csfn.net/index.php/2024/01/25/wiener-called-out-by-coastal-commissioners/One wonders how relevant this is to a similar encroachment on the Marina Green by Rec and Park that is under scrutiny now by the citizens and the Board of Supervisors. Does the state want to hand over our entire coastline to the Developers to do what they will with it? More on that here:

Ordinance # 231191 – Implementation of Gashouse Cove Project – Marina Yacht Harbor and oppose the plans proposed by San Francisco Rec & Park. Already two petitions have generated thousands of letters and neighborhood groups are living up to protest these projects. Add your voice.

In addition to his anti-constituent anti-build opponents, Wiener has now managed to piss off a lot of his YIMBY followers by attacking what is left of the streets of San Francisco. The anti-car brigade is out of control and has gone too far for many of his former fans. SFMTA pretty much killed downtown San Francisco by removing traffic and parking and now they are attacking our neighborhood businesses by destroying the roads from Valencia to Taraval.  People are crying ENUF ALREADY.

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San Francisco gets all clear from state housing officials

By Sarah Klearman, Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times : via email – excerpt

San Francisco is back in California’s good graces.

The city is now officially compliant with state housing law, according to a letter sent to San Francisco planning officials by the state department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Jan. 16. San Francisco fell out of compliance at the end of last year after it failed to accomplish a handful of state-mandated changes to the way it approves and permits new housing by a late November deadline.

Each of the changes the city failed to implement – part of a longer to-do list handed to San Francisco as part of a state investigation into why the city’s timelines for approving and building new housing are the longest of any jurisdiction in California — were tied to the passage of San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s constraints reduction ordinance. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors failed to pass the legislation, meant to ease the process of building new housing in San Francisco, by the November deadline.

The state gave San Francisco 30 days – until the end of December — to pass the ordinance and subsequently prove to HCD it had taken all necessary steps to comply with state housing law. Failure to do so would have made the city susceptible to punitive measures like loss of its ability to enforce local zoning codes, a measure known as the builder’s remedy, as well as loss of eligibility for certain kinds of state funding.

The Board of Supervisors ultimately passed the constraints reduction ordinance in December. But they did so with several modifications to the ordinance, even as HCD had repeatedly encouraged the board to pass the ordinance exactly as it was authored by Breed.

After roughly a week of review, HCD confirmed ahead of the December deadline that the modified ordinance met its standards, positioning San Francisco to return to compliance with state housing law. David Zisser, who heads HCD’s housing accountability unit, said in December the department needed a letter from the city describing the actions it had taken to come back into compliance before it could give San Francisco the all clear.

The Jan. 16 letter cements the OK for San Francisco, meaning the city will dodge the punishments that await California jurisdictions that fall out of compliance with California housing law…

HCD, which has taken a keen interest in San Francisco, assigned the city a list of 18 total action items last October as part of the conclusion of its more than year-long study into how the city approves and builds new housing. The first of the items were due in late November; an additional tranche were due Jan. 1. San Francisco Planning Director Rich Hillis told the Business Times at the beginning of January the city had accomplished those items before the Jan. 1 deadline.

Additional action items are due in coming weeks…(more)

For the full list of action items and deadlines assigned to the city by HCD, contact HCD. Thanks to a friend we got the information in the article, which raises a few  good questions for the officials at the Affordable Housing discussions.