San Francisco Family Zoning Plan

Family Zoning Plan is a set of changes to San Francisco’s restrictive zoning rules that will allow new homes to be built in more neighborhoods across the City. These changes are required by state law and focus on property in the western and northern parts of San Francisco, specifically in and near the areas designated by the state as Housing Opportunity Areas, which are neighborhoods with greater access to parks, quality schools, better environmental conditions, and with higher median incomes. This rezoning is required by the City’s Housing Element. Under state law, the rezoning must be adopted by January 2026. Mayor Lurie introduced the San Francisco Family Zoning Plan in June 2025 and will be heard at Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors in Fall Summer 2025.

These digital renderings show examples of how neighborhoods across the City could evolve.

While San Francisco has built more housing, including affordable housing, in recent years than many other Bay Area cities, housing production in both the City and the broader Bay Area have not kept pace with population and economic growth over the past several decades. This shortage of housing has caused home prices to soar in recent decades, and many residents are vulnerable to being priced out of San Francisco and California. The state’s increased housing requirements mean that every jurisdiction will need to build more to address current needs and these long-term trends

Under these requirements, San Francisco needs to plan for the construction of at least 82,069 housing units affordable to different income levels between 2023 and2031, or about 10,000 units annually – this is known as our Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA, commonly pronounced “Ree-Na”). This figure is almost three times higher than the City’s previous RHNA requirement (in the period between 2014 and 2022). This was driven by the need to consider our unmet housing needs – that is, people who are living in overcrowded conditions, and renters and homeowners who are cost burdened and struggling to make ends meet. In short, these numbers reflect the fact that too many San Franciscans live under precarious and inadequate housing conditions.

To get to 82,069 units, the City can factor-in housing units that are already in the development “pipeline” and expected to be built before 2031, in addition to additional housing construction that could reasonably be expected under existing zoning.

The most recently proposed map, including prior published drafts can be found under the Renderings tab.

The Department will continue to collaborate with stakeholders to incorporate any requested changes and to prepare the final ordinances for action by the Board of Supervisors

The proposed rezoning continues to focus change on major transit routes, commercial streets, and other major thoroughfares and hubs of activity. Key components include:

• Mid-rise (6-8 stories) and high-rise housing (9+ stories) on major transit and commercial streets. High-rise buildings are generally proposed at major intersections, transit hubs, and portions of corridors with the most frequent transit service.
• Form-based zoning (i.e. limiting residential density by the allowable building size rather than the size of the lot, or some other arbitrary figure) in residential areas off the corridors, where limits on building size will remain unchanged, so that projects may build additional units within the existing height limit (typically 4 stories). Properties near selected commercial streets can get an extra floor (up to 5 stories).
• Corner lots and “opportunity sites” larger than 8,000 square feet can go up to six stories.

San Francisco’s rezoning plan sets baseline zoning standards that meet state requirements—but it also goes further to create a local bonus program that creates additional housing capacity while preserving local control.

To complement state law, the plan introduces Housing Choice San Francisco, a new local housing bonus program designed as an alternative to the State Density Bonus Law, a state program that offers additional height and density to projects that provide an increased number of affordable units. Housing Choice San Francisco creates an alternative local program that offers projects more flexibility in how affordable housing is delivered—without sacrificing the design standards and neighborhood character that matter to our communities

If the City does not take proactive steps like this, it risks losing access to state funding and forfeiting control over where and how housing is built. By acting now, the rezoning ensures we stay in compliance with state law while protecting our ability to shape growth thoughtfully and equitably.

Unlike the State Density Bonus Law, the local housing bonus program:

• Maintains design and architectural standards while streamlining approvals;
• Offers multiple ways to meet affordable housing goals, including on-site units, off-site land dedication, providing rent-controlled units, or paying an affordable housing fee;
• Applies where it makes sense—on commercial corridors, near transit, and on large lots;
• Allows moderate-scale infill in residential neighborhoods with duplexes, triplexes, or four-plexes—so more housing opportunities are distributed across the city, not concentrated in certain areas.

The local program is a strategic response to state mandates, giving San Francisco the tools to lead with its own policies, rather than relying solely on state defaults.

To promote inclusive communities and address housing segregation, the state mandates that a substantial portion of new housing, including affordable housing, be constructed in neighborhoods with better access to economic opportunities and essential services, such as public transit, parks, shops, and community facilities. These neighborhoods are primarily concentrated in the northern and western parts of the City. In addition to proximity to transportation and services, the rezoning is looking at the areas likeliest to produce housing, particularly those streets with vacant commercial buildings, parking lots, while considering ways to increase ability to add multi-family housing in surrounding areas. The proposed map continues to focus change on major transit routes, commercial streets, and other major thoroughfares and hubs of activity.

Much of the eastern and southern parts of San Francisco have already been rezoned in the past. These areas can and have accommodated most of the city’s new housing in the past two decades. We expect to continue to see tens of thousands of new housing units in these areas.

Existing zoning needs to be updated to allow for more housing while also supporting the City’s equity goals. San Francisco has historically prohibited new multi-family buildings in more affluent parts of the City, resulting in socioeconomic and racial exclusion from these neighborhoods while also concentrating development on lower-income neighborhoods where denser development is allowed. In the past 20 years, the City has rezoned neighborhoods on the eastern side of the City to create more housing capacity in neighborhoods like SoMa, the Mission, Potrero Hill, and the Central Waterfront. The City now must further make broader zoning changes to allow more housing opportunities citywide.

The current proposed rezoning program focuses on higher-income western and northern San Francisco neighborhoods where restrictive zoning polices currently make it challenging or impossible to build new multifamily housing, which offers more diverse and affordable housing options. Over the past 15 years, only 10% of San Francisco’s new housing has been built in these western and northern areas, even though they cover over 50% of the City’s land area. State and City policies require us to add housing in the western and northern areas of the City so that we can create housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income households in well-resourced neighborhoods and work to reverse historic patterns of economic and racial segregation.

Without compliant rezoning legislation by January 2026, San Francisco risks losing State certification of the Housing Element, which could lead to a loss of vital state grants that the City relies on. These grants total hundreds of millions of dollars, and are used to build affordable housing, pave city streets, and keep MUNI and other key City services running. Failure to comply could also lead to lawsuits and state-imposed penalties, including fines and forced approval of “builder’s remedy” projects. That means that the City would lose the ability to apply any kind of zoning rules (including today’s height, density, and setback rules). In other words, the City would lose local control over the housing it currently approves, allowing the state to approve many kinds of developer projects with few, if any, limits.

Other California cities are already facing this problem because they don’t have certified Housing Elements or are soon to face it because they haven’t completed actions they committed to in their Housing Elements. A significant number of cities are facing large “builder’s remedy” projects across the state, including cities such as Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Menlo Park and Palo Alto. The state has seen a series of dramatic legal rulings and settlements, including a Beverly Hills case where a judge suspended the city’s permitting power because the city didn’t have a valid housing element. Similarly, the city of Davis – which was also without a certified Housing Element - was forced to approve a project that violated zoning rules and would have otherwise required voter approval.

Go deeper. What happens if we don't rezone?

The latest census data from 2022 shows the City's rental vacancy rate at approximately 5.5% and homeownership vacancy rate at 0.8%, which are both below the national average.

Recent studies indicate that in cities like San Francisco, where there are fewer vacant homes available for rent or sale and housing costs are extremely high, more individuals are susceptible to homelessness. This poses significant challenges, especially for those with low incomes. Research recommends promoting the construction of new homes across various parts of the city through initiatives such as rezoning. Go Deeper: Housing Vacancies and Homeownership - Press Release

In a typical housing market, at least 5% of units are expected to be vacant and available for rent or sale at any given time, and a rate between 5-10% is not unusual nationally. This level is important to allow people the ability to move, find available housing in a range of neighborhoods and types of housing, and ensure low availability doesn't put undue pressure to raise prices. And it is expected for units and buildings to undergo renovation and maintenance over time as buildings age. Higher than typical vacancy rates matter, and the voter-approved vacancy tax is one way in which the City is addressing the issue.

While efforts to encourage landlords to rent out vacant units are ever-evolving and important, they will not adequately address the scale of our present and future housing needs or fulfill the commitments outlined in our certified Housing Element. State law mandates rezoning to address San Francisco's Regional Housing Needs Allocation shortfall, which is 36,200 units. Relying on existing homes will be insufficient to alleviate the housing shortage or to meet our obligation.

San Francisco, like many cities, is facing high office vacancy rates. The City is actively encouraging the conversion of office buildings into housing and has already changed our zoning to facilitate this process. However, conversions involve extraordinarily complex and expensive renovations that are layered on top of the same challenges facing all housing projects, like high construction costs and interest rates. Moreover, most office buildings are not suitable for conversion due to their layout and lack of appropriately available residential necessities like windows and ventilation. Nonetheless, the City has created a Downtown Adaptive Reuse Program to make it easier and faster to convert underutilized commercial buildings into housing, which includes waiving the inclusionary housing requirement and impact fees for eligible adaptive reuse projects.

The Family Zoning Plan is a collaborative effort with City departments to align housing growth with essential infrastructure and services for healthy, connected, and resilient communities. New housing will be added gradually, and City agencies are planning ahead to enhance infrastructure and community facilities to meet the pace of growth. Key infrastructure and service agencies, like SFMTA, SFPUC, Rec Park, and SFUSD routinely maintain and update their own long-range plans informed by population and housing growth projections, and the City’s Capital Planning Committee updates the city’s 10-year Capital Plan every two years.

Given the broad geography of the rezoning work, engagement activities included a mix of in-person and virtual events – ranging from smaller gatherings like focus groups and community conversations (which are one-on-one meetings with community groups), to larger events like open houses. These efforts were designed to engage a diverse cross-section of community members and gather a wide range of perspectives to inform the zoning proposal.

Understanding that communities most impacted by the lack of affordable housing often face the greatest barriers to participation, the project team partnered with organizations serving renters, seniors, families, immigrants, communities of color and other vulnerable groups. These partnerships helped ensure that these voices were not only included but centered in the planning process.

Here are some examples of the ways we have encouraged San Franciscans to engage with SF Planning on the Family Zoning Plan:

• Community workshops
• Open Houses
• Focus Groups
• Housing Education Workshops
• Community Conversations and Office Hours
• Surveys
• Webinars
• Email Communications
• Public Service Announcements on MUNI
• Planning website, planning commission hearings, public workshops
• We continue to meet with stakeholders as requested

Additionally, we will be sending out a mailed notice in advance of the adoption at the Planning Commission.

Our current laws successfully discourage demolitions of homes. Demolitions make up just 4% of no fault evictions, - that number drops to 2-3% when adding “just cause” evictions – and they have remained rare even during boom periods. The other 96% of evictions – mostly due to the Ellis act, owner move-ins, and capital improvements – are in part symptoms of our hyper competitive housing market which provides greater incentives for landlords to evict their tenants.

From 2012-2025, records show that 269 Units have been demolished, or roughly 20 units per year. Over half of these units were single family homes. During this same time, roughly 2 units were built for every unit lost.

Zoning is an important part of creating sustainable and equitable communities that increase access to economic activity and allow new homes and businesses. Expanding Housing Choice focuses on increasing housing capacity in the Housing Opportunity Area, on streets with commercial and transit where development is most likely to happen. Zoning changes do not force new developments to happen. The City generally does not directly build housing, and new housing mostly depends on property owners and economic conditions for construction.

No, changes to existing buildings or demolition of existing buildings would not be required when the zoning is updated. Owners would maintain the same control over their property that they have today. However, if a property owner chose to rebuild their property, the rezoning may allow for more homes on a single parcel than were allowed previously.

Listed historic resources will continue to be subject to protections. The rezoning encourages or in certain cases requires continued preservation of designated historic resources. The City is continuing to diligently carry-out the San Francisco Citywide Cultural Resources Survey (SF Survey), a multi-year effort to protect our cultural heritage by identifying and documenting places and resources of cultural, historical, and architectural importance to San Francisco’s diverse communities. In addition, a bolstered historic landmark program continues to identify and designate our most important historic resources and confer both recognition and protection.

Buildings identified as cultural and historic resources will be subject to review processes designed to preserve our heritage while still allowing for new housing. SF Survey provides detailed information on many buildings, helping identify candidates for the City’s local landmark program, which offers the highest level of protection.

Importantly, historic designation does not prevent new housing. It does, however, require a more thoughtful, context-sensitive approach to ensure that any new development respects and integrates a property’s historic character.

City agencies are working to develop programs and policies to support small businesses in advance of the rezoning adoption.

The Office of Small Business offers several programs that provide technical assistance and grant funding to maintain the small businesses ecosystem in San Francisco. In some instances, new development arising from the rezoning may replace older commercial buildings, and the Office of Small Business offers relocation assistance services that can help impacted business owners.

By increasing allowable heights and densities, along with other complementary strategies, The Family Zoning Plan has the potential to improve housing affordability by:

1) Increasing housing supply and variety – new construction can help lower housing costs by better meeting demand and creating a wider range of housing types (e.g., multifamily) that are typically more affordable than single family homes. Studies consistently show that easing height and density limits increases overall housing supply, which in turn can stabilize or reduce rents and home prices, particularly at the regional scale. Cities like Boston, Sacramento, and Minneapolis are already seeing these trends take effect. The rezoning and related efforts will increase the variety and types of housing available, adding fourplexes, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), townhomes, and mid-sized multi-family buildings, all of which tend to be more affordable than single-family homes. Additionally, many studies conclude that market-rate housing development causes decreases in rents in nearby rental buildings.

2) Encouraging filtering through new market-rate housing – Allowing the construction of new, even higher-end housing – enables higher income households move into newer buildings, thereby freeing up older, lower-cost units. This natural process, known as filtering, increases the availability of more affordable housing options for lower-income residents and reduces pressure on existing lower-cost neighborhoods.

3) Generating deed-restricted affordable housing through inclusionary requirements – New housing projects with 10 or more units are subject to San Francisco’s inclusionary housing requirements, which mandate that at least 15% of the units be affordable, or, alternatively, developers can pay a fee. These fees help fund the construction of 100% affordable housing elsewhere. The Family Zoning Plan’s proposed Local Program would allow projects that pay the inclusionary fee to qualify for the zoning incentives, something not permitted under the state density bonus program. In addition, San Francisco voters approved Proposition A in 2024, which will provide $300 million in new funding for affordable housing, some of which will directly support development in rezoning areas.

4) Unlocking sites for 100% affordable housing development – The rezoning will reduce key regulatory barriers and expand the number of sites that are viable for 100% affordable multifamily housing—especially on larger parcels of 8,000-10,000 square feet or more, which are typically needed for developments of 100 to 130 units. By making these sites more feasible, the plan directly supports the city’s ability to build deeply affordable homes at scale.

The City is working to enhance existing robust tenant protections, help safeguard against displacement, and boost housing stability. Key tenant protections that will continue to apply include the following:

1. Rent Control

• Applies to most multi-family buildings built before June 1979
• Limits annual rent increases and provides eviction protections
• Remains in effect regardless of zoning changes

2. Just Cause Eviction Protections

• Applies to most tenants after 12 months of occupancy, including those in newer buildings. Landlords can only evict tenants for specific, legally defined “just causes,” such as non-payment of rent or owner move-in.

3. Ellis Act and Owner Move-In Regulations

• If a landlord seeks to withdraw a unit from the rental market under the Ellis Act or move in themselves, they must follow strict notification, relocation, and timing rules.
• Additional protections exist for vulnerable tenants (e.g. seniors, people with disabilities).

4. Right of Return

• State law (SB330) Bans the demolition of affordable or rent-controlled units unless developers replace them, provide relocation assistance, and offer displaced tenants the first right of return at the same rent.

5. Inclusionary Housing

• Individuals who have been displaced from their prior housing in the City are eligible for priority access to Inclusionary Affordable Housing units that have been built as a requirement of larger new housing projects.

As the rezoning moves through the adoption process, it will continue to be discussed at hearings at the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors; each of these venues is open to the public and provides the opportunity for participation and comment.

Sign up here to receive updates, as well as notifications about how to get involved.

Yes! The feedback the City receives has – and will continue to – directly inform zoning proposals. Over the last several years of outreach, San Franciscans shared perspectives from across the spectrum along with personal stories and experiences that continue to resonate with many community members and decision makers.

For a detailed overview of how feedback has shaped the process to date, please review Phase 1 and Phase 2 Community Engagement Summary and watch one-on-one interviews with community members.