South San Francisco Housing Elements

South San Francisco Housing Element Update

The City of South San Francisco is currently updating its Housing Element, one of seven mandated elements of the City’s General Plan. This website provides information about the Housing Element update process including information on how to get involved. Over the coming months, this website will continue to be updated with current information about meetings and ultimately with a Public Review Draft of the proposed Housing Element.

By State law, the Housing Element update must be submitted to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) by June 30, 2009.

What is a Housing Element?

Housing Element law requires all local jurisdictions (cities and counties) to plan for existing and projected housing needs. This planning must include a review of existing regulations to assure that they do not unduly constrain housing development (a Constraints Analysis) and an analysis to assure that adequate sites exist with appropriate land use designations and zoning to accommodate projected housing need (an Adequate Sites Analysis).

As an outcome of this analysis, the Housing Element will make various recommendations, which may include changes to policies, land use designation, zoning and other regulations.

How Much Housing Is Needed in South San Francisco?

Local jurisdictions throughout the Bay Area region are expected to help remedy the region’s affordable housing deficit. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is the agency responsible for equitably allocating housing units to all Bay Area cities and counties. The 2007-2014 Regional Housing Needs Plan sets a need for 214,500 additional housing units in the Bay Area, with 15,738 of these units allocated to the jurisdictions in San Mateo County, including 1,635 allocated to the City of South San Francisco. This need is divided among various income groups as shown below.

While the City is not responsible for assuring that this number of units is built during the 2007 – 2014 planning period, it is responsible for using the Housing Element update process to establish a policy and regulatory framework that provides the opportunity for this number of new units to be built.