Expanding Housing Choice
San Francisco Planning Department
Introduction
The ‘Expanding Housing Choice’ StoryMap is an interactive online platform that fosters community engagement, shares quotes and interviews from San Francisco residents about their housing experiences, and empowers individuals to express their housing preferences, needs, and concerns.
- Expanding Housing Choice is an effort led by the Planning Department to plan for tens of thousands of new housing units in the western and northern neighborhoods of the city, with a particular focus on affordable and multi-unit housing. It is a priority implementation action from the 2022 Housing Element and is also a key component of Mayor London Breed's Executive Directive on "Housing for All."
This StoryMap includes:
- An introductory video that describes a brief background and context around government policies that have contributed to our housing affordability crisis;
- Interviews and quotes with community stakeholders, illuminating the experiences of those disproportionately affected by discriminatory housing policies; and
- An interactive section where community members can share their housing stories and priorities with the Planning Department.
Disclaimer: The Expanding Housing Choice StoryMap is intended for general informational purposes only. The views expressed are solely those of the people being interviewed and contribute to the community input received throughout the project's engagement process. The interviews were conducted in the Summer of 2023.
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San Francisco's Land Use History
Community Stories
01 / 08
1
Marcella Ortiz, Electrician, Local 6
Bayview-Hunters Point
“The majority of tradesmen –plumbers, pipe-fitters, everybody - they’re commuting. Everybody is commuting.”
2
Angelo Wilson, Retired DPW Plumber
Western Addition
"You have to make a commitment to the people who work here, who run this city, who do labor here, that you provide housing for them. You have to create policies that are catered to working people and not investors."
3
Stephanie Jee, Dentist
Forest Hill
"I never knew that the reason why there weren't so many Asians out in the Sunset was because there was a law that Asians could not live there."
4
Ben Wong, Director, Wah Mei School
Sunset
"The people that are born and raised here, can't afford to live here."
5
Rocio Perez, Artist/Educator
Excelsior
"A lot of families that I work with are more marginalized communities [and] low-income, and I see multiple families living in one and two bedrooms."
6
Ming Tjong, Owner, Limetree
Richmond and Sunset
"If you don't have enough middle-class families live in the city, who is going to work in the city?"
7
Shayla Putnam, Educator
George Washington High School
"Being able to live in [the Richmond District] around the school would be fantastic. Because I would be emersed in the community my students are emersed in. And then I'll be able to really see what the neighborhood's needs are."
8
Jesicca Ho, Government and Community Affairs Director, NEMS
Sunset
"I think that while building more housing is defiantly part of the solution, I also do think that it's important to recognize the pricing of housing, and not everyone may have the privilege to purchase a home."
01 / 07
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