Livable Downtown Initiative
Livable City’s Livable Downtown Initiative seeks to make Downtown San Francisco a more vital, sustainable, and livable place. It has been over twenty years since the city’s landmark Downtown Plan was adopted. The Downtown plan set out to create a vital downtown office and shopping district oriented to walking and public transit. The vision of…
A Brief History of Parking in San Francisco
1955: San Francisco established its first residential parking space requirements of one space for each newly created dwelling unit. 1960: Revisions to the Planning Code were adopted which continued the residential requirement but allowed one of the required spaces to be a tandem space, and added requirements for commercial and industrial off street parking and…
Converting Garages in San Francisco
In a city where housing is increasingly scarce and expensive, and where commercial rents are skyrocketing, converting garage spaces to new housing and storefronts can help make space for residents and neighborhood-serving small businesses. Converting garages can also improve neighborhood livability by restoring features like front gardens, green backyards, front porches, storefronts, building lobbies, street trees, and even…
New Accessory Dwelling Units Could be Allowed in More SF Neighborhoods
Livable City has long championed legalizing the addition of new apartments, known as accessory dwelling units or in-law units, to existing buildings. As we explained back in December: Adding housing to existing buildings is great way to add housing to neighborhoods while preserving their character and history. Adding housing to existing buildings is greener – the energy…
Livable City’s Action Plan for Housing Marks a Year of Successes
Last December, Livable City put forward our Action Plan for Housing, a set of complementary strategies for making San Francisco a more livable, sustainable, and affordable city. We aimed to address San Francisco’s unprecedented housing crisis by putting forward a set of strategies for preserving existing housing and protecting tenants, while increasing the supply of housing that is…
Quartet of Housing Measures Will Preserve, Improve, and Increase SF Housing
In the past six months, four housing ordinances championed by Livable City were passed into law. Together, these ordinances will preserve tens of thousands of existing housing units, permitting improvements while strengthening tenant protections, and will permit new units in the Castro neighborhoods. Two ordinances went into effect last week – one creating a path to legalization…
In-law Legislation Gets Signed into Law
On April 17, Mayor Ed Lee signed two ordinances legalizing in-law units in San Francisco – Supervisor Chiu’s ordinance that legalizes existing units built without permits (aka illegal in-laws), and Supervisor Wiener’s ordinance permitting new in-law units in the Castro neighborhood. These ordinances are important elements of Livable City’s Action Plan for Housing.
Preserve Existing Rental Housing
This post appeared in the SF Bay Guardian in January 14. San Francisco’s housing affordability crisis has become the main threat to the livability of the city for hundreds of thousands of residents. One glimmer of hope came last month, as the Board of Supervisors reformed decades-old laws that permit, and often encourage, the loss…
SF Supervisors Approve Ordinances Protecting Residential Units
A pair of ordinances, one strengthening the Planning Code’s provisions for conversion, demolition, and merger of residential units, and the other permitting improvement and enlargement of some existing units, were unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in December. The ordinances, were based on Livable City proposals, were sponsored by Supervisor John Avalos. The Housing Element…
Livable City’s Action Plan for Housing
Housing affordability is a crisis in San Francisco. Livable City’s Action Plan for Housing includes strategies for making San Francisco a more livable, sustainable, and affordable city. Livable City has made progress on these housing strategies over the past decade, and has a number of legislative and policy initiatives currently underway. Five ordinances based on Livable…
