A lawsuit was filed against the city and county of San Francisco on Thursday alleging that when the Board of Supervisors killed a major housing project, they violated state housing laws.
YIMBY Action, an inclusive housing network, filed the suit in San Francisco County Superior Court outlining multiple alleged violations that officials committed when the 469 Stevenson housing project was rejected.
The project, several years in the making, would have added 495 housing units to the city’s dire lack of available housing. The building would have been located in the city’s Theater District, according to the YIMBY Law website.
The building would have replaced a department store valet parking lot. In total, the 27-story residential building would have included "73 on-site below market rate and 45 off-site below market rate homes," according to the website.
The crux of the reason for rejecting the plan is the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), which was called into question as to "the project's potential gentrification effects, geotechnical effects, and impacts on historic resources," according to the site.
YIMBY Law alleges the Board of Supervisors violated CEQA, the Housing Accountability Act (HAA), the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, and the Permit Streamlining Act (PSA), according to a press release issued after the filing.
"California's severe housing shortage is driven in part, because cities historically have not complied with existing state housing laws," the statement read. "Housing projects are often derailed when zoning measures in specific areas contradict a city's general plan or local politicians deny projects arbitrarily."
This is not the only suit the organization has filed due to these issues.
"YIMBY Law is determined to see that local jurisdictions implement the laws we worked so hard to help pass," said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director of YIMBY Law in the release. "Today's filing is the third in a series against San Francisco and Los Angeles. It's time for accountability; there will be more to come if cities don’t comply."
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