By Mike Ege : sfstandard – excerpt
This week, the Board of Supervisors has a return engagement with two controversial housing bills, and is set to clear financing for three importantaffordable housing projects. They will also likely vote to expand a funding scheme for further promoting tourism, and declare certification of theJune 7 election results. (As always, wonks looking for the full kit and caboodle can check out the complete agenda.)
Housing Bills: Will Gridlock Continue?
The Board is set to again consider two bills on housing that caused considerable headaches for housing advocates: one, to legalize more dwelling units in single-family neighborhoods, and another to stop development of certain “micro-unit” housing projects. The two bills have been paired together as part of a compromise, but at the board’s June 14 meeting, District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman asked that the bills be continued due to advice from the City Attorney.
The Mandelman bill, originally drafted to allow some fourplexes and other multi-unit buildings in districts zoned for single-family homes, was received with some optimism from housing advocates. But it was plunged into development hell at the board’s Land Use and Transportation Committee, who tacked on several caveats…
The companion bill, sponsored by District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, bans “micro-unit” efficiency studio housing in the Tenderloin and Chinatown, with the intention of preventing the gentrification of those neighborhoods’ existing stock of single room occupancy hotels…(more)
They might as well quit building micro units since most are empty due to the lack of takers.