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Committee forwards amended inclusionary housing ordinance to full Board amid debate over 25% requirement
Summary
The Land Use and Transportation Committee approved amendments and voted to send an implementing inclusionary housing ordinance to the full Board with a 2–1 committee vote. Critics said setting a 25% rate without a feasibility study risks reducing overall housing production; supporters said amendments protect pipeline projects and will be guided by a forthcoming controller study.
The Land Use and Transportation Committee on May 3 advanced an amended implementing ordinance to carry out the 25% inclusionary target approved in the charter amendment, forwarding the measure to the full Board with a committee recommendation.
Supervisor Erin Peskin, who presented and read multiple technical and substantive amendments into the record, said the changes clarified fee limits, added litigation‑related deadline extensions, and preserved certain project‑specific approvals. Peskin also told the committee the ordinance and associated amendments had already helped produce roughly 200 units of affordable housing that otherwise would not have been built.
The ordinance implements a 25% inclusionary requirement for projects of 25 or more units established by the charter change. Supervisor Scott Wiener warned repeatedly that imposing a flat 25% requirement before a feasibility or nexus study is complete risks making some projects infeasible and could reduce overall housing production. "I will not be supporting this legislation today," Wiener said, saying the board should wait for the controller’s feasibility analysis before setting a permanent ongoing rate. Planning staff confirmed the department has not produced a feasibility projection and that the controller’s study is the appropriate vehicle to analyze tradeoffs.
Supporters including Peskin and other supervisors argued that the Board had already voted to place the charter amendment on the ballot and that the committee’s implementing ordinance mostly preserves the charter intent while protecting projects in the pipeline. Several amendments accepted by the committee limit how and when fees and off‑site unit requirements may apply and add language to preserve existing approvals for some projects.
The committee recorded two sets of amendment votes as passing unanimously on the floor; on the final roll call to forward the amended ordinance to the full Board, Supervisors Peskin and Malia Cohen recorded "Aye" and Supervisor Wiener recorded "No." The chair declared the ayes have it and the measure will proceed to the full Board with the committee's recommendation.
The committee session included multiple public commenters urging either stronger protections for neighborhoods and labor standards or urging clarity on post‑2016 rules. Several speakers urged the committee to ensure the forthcoming feasibility study captures local labor, construction and displacement effects before further permanent rate changes.
Next steps: The item will be considered by the full Board of Supervisors as an implementing ordinance with the committee’s recommended amendments; the controller’s feasibility study remains a key background document that supervisors said they expect to inform further Board action.
