Board committee fixes clerical error, sends hotel interim-housing ordinance to full board

The Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously June 16 to forward to the full board an ordinance that would allow certain tourist hotels and motels to serve as interim housing without abandoning a property's hotel use classification and to permit reestablishment of hotel use at specified shelter-in-place hotels.

The move came after committee members corrected a clerical error in the item and rescinded an earlier vote. Chair Supervisor Mirna Melgar made the motion to forward the ordinance as a committee report after public comment on the item concluded. When a minor lot number in the ordinance text was discovered to be incorrect, the committee voted to rescind the prior approval, amend the ordinance (correcting the lot number from 101 to 010), and then vote again to forward the item to the full Board. The corrected motion passed on a 3‑0 roll call (Vice Chair Cheyenne Chen — yes; Member Bilal Mahmood — yes; Chair Melgar — yes).

Why it matters: The ordinance would change both the Planning Code and the Building Code so that short-term use of certain hotel properties as interim housing does not automatically alter the long-term zoning or occupancy classification of those structures. Proponents said the change would preserve the option to restore traditional hotel operations when shelter-in-place uses end while allowing the city to use hotel rooms for emergency or interim shelter needs.

What the committee did and said: The item was placed on the committee agenda as a potential committee report. There were no public commenters for the item when the committee opened public comment. After the clerk confirmed no speakers, Chair Melgar moved to send the item to the full board with a positive recommendation. A clerical error in the ordinance’s lot number was later identified; the committee rescinded the initial vote, adopted the clerical correction as an amendment, and again passed the committee report recommendation 3‑0.

Next steps: The ordinance, as amended by the committee to correct the lot number, will be transmitted to the full board for consideration at its next available meeting.

Votes and procedural actions recorded in the committee: - Motion: Recommend ordinance as a committee report (initial motion). Maker: Chair Mirna Melgar. Vote: Chen — aye; Mahmood — aye; Melgar — aye. Outcome: Passed (later rescinded due to clerical error). - Motion: Rescind prior motion to forward (to allow correction). Maker: Chair Mirna Melgar. Vote: Chen — aye; Mahmood — aye; Melgar — aye. Outcome: Passed. - Motion: Amend ordinance (correct lot number on page 8, line 3 from '101' to '010') and forward as amended. Maker: Chair Mirna Melgar. Vote: Chen — aye; Mahmood — aye; Melgar — aye. Outcome: Passed and item forwarded to full board.

Authorities mentioned in the committee report and ordinance text include amendments to the San Francisco Planning Code and the San Francisco Building Code; the committee relied on those local codes to authorize interim housing without changing an occupancy classification.