Planning department: 2016 saw a record in housing production but gaps remain on affordability

San Francisco’s Planning Department told the Planning Commission on Dec. 21 that 2016 was a record year for housing production, with roughly 5,250 new units completed and a net addition of about 5,046 units to the city’s housing stock.

Teresa Ojeda, principal planner and manager of the information and analysis group, and staff analyst Suetha Ambadi presented the 2016 Housing Inventory, the department’s annual accounting of housing activity. The report showed 4,895 new construction units completed in 2016 and 208 units lost through demolition, legalization corrections and conversions. Affordable housing comprised about 16 percent of new units — roughly 802 units — and the number of affordable completions rose about 52 percent from 2015.

The presentation drew sustained discussion from commissioners and public speakers over whether current production meets the city’s needs and whom the new supply serves. Peter Cohen of the Council of Community Housing Organizations told the commission that while the entitlement and streamlining changes have created a clearer path for many projects, the city still lacks the sites and the public funds needed to produce housing for lower and middle incomes. “The issue is that a lot of what we’re building is working for some, but it’s not working for the full range,” Cohen said.

Commissioners pressed staff on the relationship between entitlements and actual construction, asking how many of the units approved in recent years have been built or are stalled at permit or financing stages. Planning Director John Rahaim said the city has approved approximately 50,000 units overall; of those, roughly 7,000 were under construction and 5,000–6,000 were at the Department of Building Inspection awaiting permits, while the rest remain in a mix of entitlement and phasing status. Large multi‑phase projects account for much of the pipeline that has not yet reached construction.

Members of the public and several commissioners focused on the “jobs‑housing fit” — the extent to which new housing serves the incomes of workers in the city — and on the regional context. Commissioners noted that many workers who hold jobs in San Francisco live elsewhere and commute, complicating simple comparisons of job growth to housing production.

Commissioners and speakers urged new measures to protect existing residents and accelerate production for lower‑ and middle‑income households. Ideas discussed included reclamation of unused entitlements, revocation hearings for developments that fail to build, small‑sites acquisition programs to preserve existing housing, and public banking as a financing tool. Several commissioners also urged the department to provide spatial analyses and entitlement‑to‑build timelines so the commission can better track pipeline performance.

The department said the full Housing Inventory report and the underlying data are available on the Planning Department and DataSF websites. The commission did not take a final action on the presentation; staff and commissioners said the report will inform work plans and future policy discussions.