Committee extends interim zoning controls to slow loss of residential care facilities

Supervisor Mirna Melgar, chair of the Land Use and Transportation Committee, presided over a March 22, 2021, hearing that recommended extending interim zoning controls designed to slow the conversion and closure of residential care facilities.

Jacob Bintliff, staff to Supervisor Mandelmann, described the resolution as an extension and partial reversion of controls first imposed in October 2019. "The items before you today are a resolution to extend some existing interim zoning controls that require a conditional use authorization that would require a conditional use authorization for a proposed change of use away from a residential care facility," Bintliff said, summarizing the amendments and the intent to keep the controls in place while the city considers permanent code changes and broader interventions such as operating subsidies and property acquisition.

Susie Smith, deputy director for policy and planning at the Human Services Agency, presented updated data from the 2019 study supporting the controls. "Since 02/2012, the city has seen a 9% decline in assisted living beds," Smith said. She also reported a 5% decline in residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs), a 22% decline in adult residential facilities (ARFs), and an approximately 40% decrease in beds in small board‑and‑care homes. Smith noted recent closures in the Mission, Sunset and Ingleside and said modest gains have come from larger new facilities and expansions.

Aaron Star, manager of legislative affairs for the Planning Department, told the committee that the interim controls require conditional‑use authorization and four additional findings for conversions and that the Planning Commission recently considered a conversion application cited in the department report. Star said the commission approved that conversion in a split vote that turned largely on whether staff's recommended unit count should be required.

Nate Harrell of the National Union of Healthcare Workers offered public comment in support of the controls, saying they create a deterrent effect. "This policy has created additional protections that help to safeguard these beds," Harrell said.

Supervisor Dean Preston moved to adopt the staff amendments as presented; the clerk called the roll. Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Dean Preston and Mirna Melgar voted aye and the motion passed. Chair Melgar noted the city attorney had deemed the amendments substantive, so the amended legislation must return to committee on April 5, 2021, for further consideration.

The committee also voted to file the required six‑month report on the interim controls. The clerk recorded a three‑member unanimous vote to file the report.

Next steps: the committee will reconvene April 5, 2021, to consider the amended ordinance for recommendation to the full Board of Supervisors.