Planning Commission backs Ellis Act housing preference, adds three‑year review

The San Francisco Planning Commission on Nov. 21 recommended approval of an ordinance that would give priority in some city affordable‑housing lotteries to tenants displaced under the state Ellis Act, voting unanimously to send the measure to the Board of Supervisors with a requirement that the program be reviewed after three years.

Planning staff described the proposal, introduced by Supervisor David Chu, as a targeted response to a sharp increase in Ellis Act withdrawals. Sophie Hayward of the Planning Department said the draft ordinance would give displaced tenants who lived in a unit at least 10 years (or five years for tenants with a life‑threatening illness) a temporary preference: six years of eligibility for new developments and three years for resale or rerental units as originally drafted, and up to 20 percent of units in a new development…