For 17 years, the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition (SFHAC) has advocated to improve housing options at all levels of affordability for San Franciscans, present and future. Our focus has traditionally been just on building more housing in our City. However, times have changed.
The need to take a regional approach to our housing and transportation challenges has become increasingly apparent. With spiraling housing rents that force middle-income residents out of their homes and highways clogged by commuters from areas as far as the Central Valley, the imperative to increase heights and density in urban centers and transit corridors is urgent. For the first time, SFHAC has gotten involved with a project outside the City, in the small town of Brisbane, just across the San Mateo County line. Read our letter of support.
The SFHAC is alarmed that the City of Brisbane is supporting a major development proposal that includes up to two million square feet of commercial and office space with zero housing. Reams of data and common sense tell us that this will make our problems worse. The jobs/housing imbalance in the Bay Area is one of the chief causes of our housing affordability and displacement crises. Brisbane wants to make it worse.
Take action before the September 29th City Council meeting and tell the City of Brisbane that we need more housing.
There is a competing proposal – the Brisbane Baylands project, sponsored by Universal Paragon Corporation (UPC), a SFHAC member. It proposes a mixed-use development that includes over 4,000 homes integrated with offices, hotels, retail and significant amounts of parks and open space. SFHAC reviewed this project last month and formally supports its objectives.
The Brisbane Baylands site is adjacent to Caltrain’s little-used Bayshore Station and envisions making it into a regional transit node that would link with other transit lines, including Muni and SamTrans. The Brisbane Baylands site is close to other nearby residential projects under development that would share this rail station: Schalge Lock, Executive Park and Candlestick Point. The UPC proposal aligns with standard best-practice urban planning guidelines and SFHAC’s values.
High density, transit-oriented, mixed-use development is a logical re-use of a site that is currently vacant former industrial land. This is a great place to build more housing!
For that to happen, you need to let the the City of Brisbane know that the region needs to include housing at the Baylands site. Send a custom message to their Mayor and City Council or use the template provided below. San Francisco’s residents have long said that other communities on the peninsula cities to do their fair share of building housing. It’s time to take action!
