San Francisco’s “Upzoning” Plan for New Housing Explained
Mayor Lurie and the planning department released a map proposing where San Francisco can build more housing by increasing height limits for apartment buildings. This is called upzoning and is required by state law. San Francisco’s state-mandated housing goal is 82,000 new units. If our upzoning map doesn’t add up, we risk losing local planning control and the state will decide where to put the new housing. Every California city has to submit a map to meet their state-required housing goal.
It’s important to note that San Francisco’s plan:
Does not change existing height along the coast and Sunset Boulevard
Focuses upzoning in areas where it makes the most sense – along commercial and transit corridors (especially where there are trains)
Encourages the use of all modes of transportation
Read the planning department’s upzoning document (the map is on page 24).
For some, the upzoning is welcome because it means creating housing options to meet real-life needs. Young adults and families want affordable apartments that will allow them to stay in San Francisco. Seniors want the option to downsize to an apartment in a building with an elevator where they can safely age in place without leaving their neighborhood. Building multi-family housing will help grandparents remain close to their grandkids.
For others, the prospect of changes to a neighborhood they’ve known for decades can cause tremendous concern. Because of the state mandate, doing nothing is not an option. San Francisco is required to upzone.
The creation of this map was led by Mayor Lurie and the planning department with input from supervisors. My input was based on what I’ve heard from many Sunset residents. I’ve attended a number of town halls on housing sponsored by neighborhood groups, the planning department, and Self Help for the Elderly which is creating affordable senior housing in the Sunset.
Two things I heard most were: Protect the coast and protect Sunset Boulevard. And I focused on these two concerns. The map reflects our community’s wishes: it indeed protects the coast and Sunset Boulevard.
There are no changes to existing heights on the streets adjacent to the coast and the Great Highway. For further protection, our city charter forbids housing development on parkland. Now that the Great Highway between Lincoln and Sloat is legally parkland under the jurisdiction of the Rec and Park Department, it is protected from any oceanfront housing. Ocean Beach is not going to become Miami Beach.
Some have questioned why Self Help for the Elderly can build affordable housing for seniors near the coast at La Playa and Lincoln that is taller than existing height limits. A state law from 1979 allows several extra stories of height at the coast only for housing that is 100 percent affordable. The senior housing meets that criteria.
The existing heights on Sunset Boulevard will not change. A draft of the upzoning map last year suggested allowing up to eight stories along the entire stretch of Sunset Boulevard (36th and 37th Avenues). The current map does not upzone Sunset Boulevard. I made the case that upzoning on Sunset Boulevard was nonsensical because it has zero commercial properties.
The mayor agreed with me that we should focus most upzoning along actual commercial and transit corridors. That’s why the map has height increases along Irving, Judah, Noriega, and Taraval.
This map is still a draft. It must go through a lengthy and public process at the planning department. Public comment and input will be taken. The Board of Supervisors will not vote on the map until later this fall. The deadline to submit an approved map to the state is January 2026.
Why doesn’t the map include the entire city? This article explains why the map is mostly focused on San Francisco’s western neighborhoods. The state has identified the western neighborhoods as "well-resourced areas" where upzoning must be prioritized. This is an effort by the state to make up for historical issues: "With no zoning changes in more than half a century, San Francisco’s well-resourced western neighborhoods have added little new housing. Northeastern neighborhoods have been rezoned several times this century and have borne more than their fair share of new housing construction."
San Francisco has already made some progress in making it possible to build new housing on the westside. Last year, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved legislation allowing for a two-story increase on corner lots on the westside. You may be familiar with the Gus’s Market at 44th Avenue and Noriega, where new housing was built above a grocery on a corner lot. The taller housing and ground floor amenities at the corner anchors a neighborhood of single-family homes. Everyone gets to enjoy the amenity, whether it be a grocery, cafe, or senior/childcare center. This concept was also supported by every candidate for mayor last year because it’s a common sense approach to building more housing that benefits an entire community. You can read more about it here.
Housing is also an equity and environmental issue. Improving San Francisco’s diversity depends on building new housing that a middle income family can afford — and ensuring that enough of our existing housing stock remains rent controlled. To address climate change, we need to encourage transit, walking and biking and reduce suburban sprawl. This requires building more housing near transit. You can read my full housing platform here.
Our future depends on being able to keep seniors, young adults, and middle-income workers and families in San Francisco — along with welcoming newcomers who bring their talents and diversity to our city. We can do this by embracing more multi-family housing that can coexist with single-family homes and complement the westside neighborhoods we love.
Mayor Lurie and I agree. Here’s what Mayor Lurie told the San Francisco Chronicle: “For years we’ve made it easier to block new homes than to build them even as the cost of living soared and more people were pushed out. We want a city with more families, more workers, more dreamers. We want to build housing for the next generation of San Franciscans so kids who grow up here can have the same opportunity to raise their own children in this beautiful and special place.”