In December 2025, a divided San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved, and Mayor Daniel Lurie signed, the much-anticipated Family Zoning Plan (the “Plan”), which aims to expand housing availability and affordability by (1) upzoning certain parts of the City and (2) providing a suite of tools and incentives to add housing to the City’s well-resourced neighborhoods. Since adopting the Plan, the City has been sued by two sets of organizations: one alleging that the City’s environmental review of the new Plan was insufficient, and another alleging that the Plan fails to adequately comply with commitments made by the City in its new Housing Element.
It is unclear how these lawsuits will be resolved. However, in the meantime, developers should be aware how the Plan redraws the City’s zoning map and presents new strategic choices for entitling housing projects in the City.
Context: The Housing Element Update
California’s Housing Element Law requires each city and county to plan to accommodate its fair share of the state’s housing need. This “fair share” is quantified through the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (“RHNA”) process, which now occurs on 8-year intervals and results in numeric RHNA allocations that each city and county must show they can reasonably accommodate.
Jurisdictions do so by adopting Housing Elements that, in general, include a sites inventory identifying parcels that, under existing zoning and realistic capacity assumptions, can accommodate the assigned RHNA across several income categories. Where a sites inventory does not contain adequate sites to satisfy the RHNA, the Housing Element must include a rezoning program that creates enough adequately zoned sites to satisfy the RHNA obligation.
When San Francisco adopted its latest Housing Element in January 2023, it included a proposed rezoning program to assist in satisfying its RHNA allocation of 82,069 units. The rezoning program was required because the City’s sites inventory estimated that the City would be short of sufficient sites to accommodate its RHNA by about 24,000 units. At the time, the City also noted that capacity was insufficient to satisfy certain additional requirements under the Housing Element Law referred to as “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” requirements and was also substantially less than the minimum 25% target for building new, permanently affordable housing in the City’s well-resourced neighborhoods.
The Family Zoning Plan’s Geography: Housing Opportunity Areas
The Plan is a result of the City’s commitment to satisfy this shortfall. It reflects the Housing Element’s goal of increasing mid-rise and small multi-family housing types in the City’s well-resourced neighborhoods by concentrating new capacity within designated Housing Opportunity Areas. In general, these areas are located on the western and northern portions of the City and are determined by the state to generally have higher incomes, better-performing public schools, and lower environmental pollution levels. For this reason, the Plan’s rezoning provisions are concentrated in these areas of the City.
The New Zoning Map: New Districts, Heights, and Bulk Limits
The new Zoning Map has made a number of changes designed to increase housing capacity.
First, it creates a new Residential Transit Oriented – Commercial (“RTO-C”) zone, which is a variant of the City’s existing Residential Transit Oriented zone. The new RTO-C zone permits form-based housing development and allows, but does not require, a range of non-residential uses on the ground floor.
Additionally, a number of properties are reclassified with a new “R-4” height and bulk district. A key feature of the new R-4 district is its designation of each affected parcel with two height designations: (i) a “base height” that is applicable to projects not utilizing the City’s new Housing Choice SF Program (described in detail below); and (ii) a “local program height” that is applicable only to projects opting to utilize the new Housing Choice SF Program.
New Local Density Bonus Option: Housing Choice SF Program
The higher heights on the new local program height map are achievable by participating in the new Housing Choice SF Program (the “HC-SF Program”), which is intended to be a parallel option to the State Density Bonus Law for unlocking additional density for qualifying projects. Importantly, projects utilizing the HC-SF Program must opt out of using State Density Bonus Law. Additionally, projects choosing to utilize the new HC-SF Program must also meet certain objective code requirements and design standards.
To qualify to use the HC-SF Program, projects must comply with certain eligibility criteria. They are as follows:
| Eligibility Criterion | Requirement |
| Zoning Requirement | The project must be located within the R-4 Height and Bulk District. |
| Project Uses | At least two-thirds of the new or converted square footage must be designated for residential uses, or, in the case of a conversion project, at least 50% of the new or converted square footage must be designated for residential uses and cannot expand the use by more than 25%. |
| Unit Mix Requirement for Projects Between 4-9 Units |
Projects with 4 dwelling units must include at least one unit with 2 or more bedrooms. Projects with between 5 and 9 units must include at least 25% of the units with 2 or more bedrooms, including at least one unit with 3 or more bedrooms. |
| Citywide Design & Preservation Design Standards | Project must comply with the Citywide Design Standards and the Preservation Design Standards, except where otherwise allowed to be modified through the Program’s Major Modification process. |
| State Density Bonus Law | Project may not utilize the State Density Bonus Law or any other state program providing density bonuses or waivers from local development standards. |
| Landmarks & Historic Resources | Project may not involve demolition of a structure that is: (i) designated as a landmark under Planning Code Article 10; (ii) listed as a contributor to an historic district in Planning Code Article 10; (iii) listed as a significant or contributory building under Planning Code Article 11; or (iv) listed on either the California Register of Historical Resources or the National Register of Historic Places. |
| Demolition of Dwelling Units | Project may not involve demolition, removal, or conversion of any existing dwelling units or tourist hotels. |
| Special Use Districts | Project may not be located within a Special Use District that implements an existing Development Agreement. |
In exchange for opting into the HC-SF Program, projects are entitled to a relaxed set of development standards, including the following:
| Development Standard | HC-SF Program Relaxed Standard |
| Quantitative Development Standards | Any quantitative development standard may be modified up to 15% except for the following: (i) the already-reduced development standards set forth for HC-SF Program projects (set forth below); (ii) the additional height, square footage, and other bonuses available to HC-SF projects containing certain defined uses, amenities, or other building features (discussed below); (iii) rear yard or lot coverage standards; (iv) standards ineligible for Major Modifications; and (v) maximum average floor plate requirements. |
| Density | Projects are not subject to lot-based (e.g., floor area ratio) density controls and may use form-based density. |
| Dwelling Unit Mix | The City’s general dwelling unit mix requirements will not apply, with the exception that projects between four and nine units must comply with the following: (i) projects with four units must contain at least one unit with two or more bedrooms; and (ii) for projects with between five and nine units, at least 25% of units must contain two or more bedrooms, including at least one unit with three or more bedrooms, with certain exceptions. |
| Height | Projects may utilize the maximum height limits shown on the new Local Program Heights map as opposed to those shown on the Base Program Heights map. These height limits can be substantially different. For example, parcels at the corner of Van Ness and Pacific have a Base Program Map height limit of 140 feet but have Local Program Map heights of 350 feet. |
| Inclusionary Housing |
Projects are subject to the City’s Inclusionary Ordinance, but projects electing to comply via off-site construction or land dedication must provide the required units or land within one half-mile of the project. Projects of 24 units or less also have the option of providing a 100% rent-controlled building instead of providing inclusionary units. |
| Height and Square Footage Bonuses for Including Community-Serving Uses |
Projects may elect to receive additional height up to 10 feet and bonus square footage for including specific uses: Up to 2 additional feet of building square footage for every square foot provided of community serving uses (e.g., childcare, legacy business, displaced business, grocery, laundromat, nonprofit office). Up to 1.5 additional feet of building square footage for every square foot provided of “micro-retail” spaces (measuring 100-1,000 square feet). |
| Ground Floor Setbacks on 19th Avenue | Projects with lot frontage on 19th Avenue may reduce otherwise-applicable setbacks if the project expands the publicly-available sidewalk into the subject property and the resulting overall sidewalk width is at least 15 feet. |
| Rear Yard Lot Coverage | Rear yard and lot coverage requirements may be relaxed, depending upon lot size and zoning designation. |
| Open Space | Reduced open space per dwelling unit required. |
| Dwelling Unit Exposure | Otherwise-applicable dwelling unit exposure requirements will not apply. |
| Non-Residential Use Size Limitations | Otherwise-applicable limits on nonresidential use size limits may be exceeded without conditional use authorization. |
| Maximum Dwelling Unit Size | Otherwise-applicable maximum dwelling unit size requirements will not apply. |
Additional relaxed standards apply to 100% affordable projects, as well as projects containing the following uses, amenities, or other building features: (i) micro-retail and/or community benefit uses; (ii) warm retail shells; (iii) family-friendly amenities, including an indoor common recreational room, a common shared kitchen, an overnight suite with a bedroom and kitchen, secured storage space, a bicycle parking storage area, or an in-home childcare unit; (iv) units with two or more bedrooms; (v) replacements of commercial space under certain circumstances; and (vi) certain projects proposing preservation of historic buildings.
Projects may also request modification of development standards not covered by the above menu of development standards by seeking a “Major Modification.” These requests are submitted to the Planning Commission and are discretionarily reviewed and approved if the Commission finds that the proposed modification achieves equal or superior design quality and the project would provide significant community benefit by producing housing near transit or otherwise promote the general welfare.
Ministerial Expedited Approval in the Housing Sustainability District
The Family Zoning Plan creates a new Housing Sustainability District which provides a streamlined, ministerial approval process for development of new residential and mixed-use projects that include on-site affordable housing. The new Housing Sustainability District includes all parcels within the new R-4 Height and Bulk District except those zoned RH or RM.
Projects located within the Housing Sustainability District must be reviewed and approved ministerially by Planning Department staff within 120 days of submittal. Projects seeking this approval must meet a detailed list of eligibility criteria, including being located within the Housing Sustainability District and within a zone where residential uses are principally permitted, having a residential density of between 50 and 1,000 units per acre, designating at least one-half of the project’s gross floor area for residential uses, and designating at least 10% of project dwelling units as affordable to very low or low income households.
More Incentives for Joint Development Projects on SFMTA Land
The Family Zoning Plan also creates a new, non-contiguous Special Use District encompassing SFMTA-owned parcels throughout the City. The new Special Use District permits development of market-rate and affordable housing on these parcels, consistent with SFMTA’s ambitious Joint Development Program. The result is a simplified entitlement pathway for joint development projects on SFMTA-owned parcels.
The new SFMTA Special Use District also sets forth specific use and development controls geared toward accommodating dense housing projects, including a simpler method for measuring building height, relaxed bulk and lot coverage requirements, and potential waiver of certain development impact fees.
The Plan’s Uncertain Future
Several groups have sued the City over its adoption of the Family Zoning Plan, arguing that the City’s environmental review of the Plan was insufficient. Other local housing groups have sued on grounds that the Family Zoning Plan does not create enough capacity for the City to meet its state-mandated RHNA.
Though the outcome of this litigation and its impact upon the adopted Family Zoning Plan remains uncertain, the Plan’s suite of benefits for housing development projects in key portions of the City are clear. Developers and other stakeholders would do well to understand the Plan’s contours so that they are well-positioned to act when the dust settles.