On November 10, the Planning Department released what it is calling its final draft of the 2022 housing element—an eight-year plan that says how the city will accommodate new housing. It is a plan with major problems.

At SF YIMBY, we are alarmed. City officials have shrugged off crucial feedback from the State of California to keep the Board of Supervisors happy. They are playing chicken with hundreds of millions of dollars in affordable housing and transit grant funds.

In August, California requested that San Francisco make several changes to the plan to make the city accountable and to reduce costs for projects based on a review of barriers which keep housing from being built. The City apparently thinks it can skate by without listening. At the November 3rd Planning Commission hearing, planning officials said they are only "studying" changes to suggest later. And at a November 15 hearing of the Board of Supervisors, the Planning Department emphasized that local rules are halting housing projects—but they did not put in any accountability mechanisms in the housing element.

Now is the time to tell the city that this is unacceptable. We cannot afford to let city officials gamble with affordable housing grant money.

And if you can attend the hearing on Thursday, November 17, please give public comment by calling phone number 415-655-0001, and using access code 2483 947 6260. You can find the meeting agenda here.