In a recent article on housing element reform, ϴdiscussed how San Francisco’s current zoning regulations create barriers to private housing development, fail to meet state-set targets for new housing, and fall short of promoting fair housing for all. By January 2026, the city must adopt new zoning regulations that make it possible to build enough homes to meet the state’s target of 82,069 new homes by 2031. Otherwise, the city risks losing local control over housing policy, faces litigation from the California Attorney General, becomes ineligible for hundreds of millions of dollars of state affordable housing and infrastructure investments, and ushers in an era of builders’ remedy projects. Shortly after we published our primer, Mayor Lurie released the Family Zoning Plan, a proposal that boldly reimagines the city’s zoning regulations and makes it much more likely that San Francisco will meet the housing needs of all San Franciscans.
What Is the Family Zoning Plan?
The Family Zoning Plan is a proposal to change San Francisco’s zoning code to allow more housing to be built in more neighborhoods throughout the city. These policy changes increase the likelihood that enough new housing will be built by 2031 to meet local housing needs by (1) removing obstacles to building dense multifamily housing in most neighborhoods and (2) creating new opportunities to build housing near neighborhood amenities, including good schools, job opportunities, and transit.
San Francisco Needs to Build More Housing for All Income Groups
Under current zoning rules, San Francisco is nearly certain to fall short of its housing production goals, missing the mark by more than 36,000 unbuilt homes.
Source: .
The Family Zoning Plan focuses on allowing denser housing in San Francisco’s northern and western neighborhoods where very little new housing has been built, in part due to overly restrictive zoning rules dating back to the 1970s. The plan prioritizes zoning changes for sites with a likely probability of development, thereby maximizing San Francisco’s chance of meeting the state’s housing production target by 2031. Key provisions include
- Zoning for six- to eight-story multifamily housing above shops, restaurants, and other businesses on neighborhood commercial streets with relatively heavy foot traffic and in key transit corridors, as well as taller high-rise buildings in certain high-volume transportation corridors.
- Implementing “density decontrol,” thereby allowing property owners to build additional housing units while complying with existing height restrictions and setback requirements on many residential streets in high-resource neighborhoods. Small apartment or condominium buildings up to four or six stories will be permitted.
As a complement to this rezoning policy, the city is concurrently developing options to help support small businesses and tenants potentially affected by rezoning. New and existing financial and administrative assistance programs are being contemplated for businesses. Local tenant protections will be strengthened to ensure renters will not lose their homes as a consequence of demolitions and redevelopment.
What’s Different ϴthe New Zoning Map?
The Family Zoning Plan represents San Francisco’s most ambitious zoning reform proposal in decades. This reform will allow denser housing in northern and western neighborhoods that have remained largely untouched by development for more than 50 years. Compared with previous rezoning drafts released in 2023 and 2024, the new zoning proposal has a more expansive scope, as evidenced by three changes.
Proposed Family Zoning Map
The city has stated that adoption of proposed zoning rules will likely result in development of 36,200 more housing units by 2031, allowing the city to meet its state-mandated housing production target. Click the image to zoom, or view an .
Source: from San Francisco Planning’s page.
First, the new proposal would promote housing development in neighborhood commercial corridors such as California Street and Balboa Street and transit corridors along Geary Boulevard, Taraval Street, and Judah Street. It would raise height limits to support six- to eight-story multifamily housing while leaving height limits and setback requirements in place on the vast majority of residential blocks. The plan would create opportunities for new housing on many residential streets in these high-resource neighborhoods by allowing property owners to build additional housing units while complying with existing zoning rules on building height. Minor height increases would be allowed on large properties and corner lots.
Second, the new proposal would create a new zoning designation, “Residential Transit-Oriented, Commercial,” to extend the areas where commercial development can occur between existing neighborhood commercial districts and residential districts. By allowing certain commercial areas to expand, the new zoning designation might create new retail spaces for small businesses to move into.
Third, the proposal would incorporate other helpful reforms aligned with best practice guidance from the state. These reforms would codify design standards, standardize environmental requirements, and set maximum parking requirements for the city.
Does the Family Zoning Plan Affirmatively Further Fair Housing?
In the , the city acknowledged that many exclusionary zoning rules in San Francisco’s northern and western neighborhoods emerged in the 1970s as an indirect way to insulate affluent, primarily white neighborhoods from social and demographic changes. ϴhas previously written about this issue, explaining how these zoning rules continue to unfairly limit housing choice for low-income families and people of color and how they do not live up to San Francisco’s obligation to ensure that local housing policies do not unfairly discriminate against or negatively impact any group of people on an arbitrary basis.
The Family Zoning Plan is an important step toward remedying historic patterns of segregation by dismantling hallmarks of exclusionary zoning and by allowing denser multifamily housing in northern and western neighborhoods. These well-resourced neighborhoods represent more than 50% of the city’s total land but built in the last 15 years. Under Mayor Lurie’s proposal, neighborhoods with resources and amenities to support new families will play a more active role in meeting the city’s housing needs, reducing the strain on eastern and southern neighborhoods that have already been rezoned to accommodate new housing while still recovering from historic disinvestment.
Housing Opportunity Areas Versus Housing Production Areas
Only a small fraction of new housing built in San Francisco since 2005 is located in the city’s northern and western neighborhoods, leaving many families with limited choices for places to live.
Source: San Francisco Planning Department.
Will the Family Zoning Plan Allow Enough New Homes to Be Built?
Zoning reform is an important component of San Francisco’s strategy to address the housing and affordability crisis that the region and state are facing. However, zoning changes alone cannot remove all obstacles to housing development. Housing can only be built if it is financially feasible for the builder or property owner, a threshold that is informed by land and construction costs, fees, available public subsidies and incentives, and the predicted rent or purchase cost to a future resident. Zoning regulations represent just one policy lever among many that the city can adjust to support private market housing development. While the city can adjust other policies to make it easier to build housing, ultimately, the actual number of new homes built by 2031 will be influenced by many factors that are outside of the public sector’s control, including the cost and availability of materials and labor.
What Else Is San Francisco Doing to Help More Housing Be Built?
In addition to zoning reform, the city has implemented and continues to explore other ways to lower costs and encourage new housing development. In 2023, the Board of Supervisors approved the to lower affordable housing requirements and building fees for housing projects for three years. Last year, voters approved Proposition C, a real estate transfer tax waiver for office-to-residential conversion projects until 2029. Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors gave initial approval to a proposal to eliminate inclusionary housing and other city-imposed fees for these conversion projects. If broader economic conditions continue to make housing development prohibitively expensive, the city could explore temporarily reducing or removing city-imposed fees for additional types of housing projects.
In addition to adjusting city-imposed fees, the city is currently working on process changes to streamline development. These changes include crafting a local density program that offers a parallel path to the State Density Bonus Program. That program aims to allow more housing projects to access ministerial review (whereby a project is approved if it complies with existing standards) as well as commonly requested waivers for certain form-based zoning rules. The city is also evaluating the to look for opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce expensive delays for builders.
What Happens Now That the Family Zoning Plan Has Been Released?
Over the next month, the city attorney will draft legislation to codify the elements of the Family Zoning Plan into an ordinance that Mayor Lurie will introduce. The new zoning ordinance must be adopted by the Board of Supervisors and signed into law. If these conditions are met by January 2026, San Francisco will continue to retain local control over housing policy and will move forward with passing other critical provisions of the Housing Element.
The ordinance will be reviewed by the Planning Commission and by the Land Use Committee before it is brought to the Board of Supervisors for a vote. These commission meetings provide opportunities for residents to share their feedback on the Family Zoning Plan as the plan is reviewed and potentially amended.
There will also be opportunities for residents to learn more about the Family Zoning Plan and how proposed zoning changes may impact their neighborhoods. In partnership with community and neighborhood organizations, ϴis hosting several educational events. Stay tuned for details, and please join us at one of these upcoming events.