On May 6, 2024, a new San Francisco business tax initiative was filed in order to qualify for the November 2024 ballot. The purpose of the initiative is to remedy Covid-19’s major impact on the San Francisco economy, including remote work. According to the San Francisco Tax Collector’s website, the initiative was proposed by Controller Greg Wagner, former Controller Ben Rosenfield, Chief Economist Ted Egan, and San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros. San Francisco Leaders Support Business Tax Reform Proposal to Strengthen City Economy | San Francisco (sf.gov). The San Francisco Chronicle states the proposal was filed by two “business leaders”
On March 28, 2024, the Department of Housing and Community Development (“HCD”) issued a Letter of Technical Assistance[1] to the City of Compton that potentially creates a new complication to the approval of Builder’s Remedy projects. The Builder’s Remedy allows developments that meet certain affordability thresholds to bypass local zoning when a city or county is out of compliance with housing element requirements. As Reuben, Junius, and Rose partners Melinda Sarjapur and Matthew Visick explained in their April 24 update (State Law Could Overhaul “Builder’s Remedy”), some cities have pushed back on the validity of the Builder’s Remedy as a
On April 22, 2024, the Superior Court issued a decision in City of Redondo Beach et. all, vs. Rob Bonta, et. all. This case centered on the legality of SB 9, which the state legislature passed in 2021. The court held that the legislation was “not reasonably related to ensuring access to affordable housing nor narrowly tailored to avoid unnecessary interference with local government,” thus was in violation of the “home rule” doctrine prohibiting interference with municipal affairs [of charter cities]. At the crux of the argument was whether the legislature’s stated intent of SB 9 – “ensuring access to
Assemblymember Buffy Wicks has introduced Assembly Bill 1893 (“AB 1893”) to “modernize” the so-called “Builder’s Remedy” that allows projects with enough affordable units to bypass local zoning requirements when a city or county is out of compliance with Housing Element Law. This month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced his sponsorship of the bill. The Builder’s Remedy is part of the state’s Housing Accountability Act (“HAA”) that has been in effect for over 30 years. It prohibits local governments that haven’t met Housing Element deadlines from denying an application to build a housing project based on inconsistency with local zoning
Last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to override Mayor London Breed’s veto and passed legislation that will effectively downzone certain historic districts in the C-2 zoning district. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, this is the first time the Board has overturned Mayor London Breed’s veto. It also marks a reversal of the trend towards increasing density and eliminating numerical density limits in the City. In the C-2 zoning district, formed-based zoning currently applies east of or fronting Franklin Street/13th Street and north of Townsend Street, meaning that instead of numerical caps on the number of units, the density
The Mayor’s proposal to waive San Francisco’s Transfer Tax for certain converted residential space (“Measure C”) was approved by voters on March 5, according to the City of San Francisco’s official preliminary election results. We previously provided an overview of this measure that is aimed at encouraging conversion of office to residential use in the City on October 25, 2023. Generally, under the new law, up to the first 5,000,000 square feet of “Converted Residential Property” can be exempted from the City’s Transfer Tax. Conversions that involve demolition of nonresidential property to construct new residential property may also be considered
