Sup. Preston Calls on State to Develop 100% Affordable Housing on DMV Site

SAN FRANCISCO — As San Francisco grapples with how to meet dramatically increased affordable housing production targets set by the state, Supervisor Dean Preston is calling on California officials to make use of what he calls the “perfect opportunity site for affordable housing” – the large surface level parking lot at the DMV field office.

“It’s a massive, state-owned property, with a mostly-unused parking lot,” Preston said. “If we’re serious about hitting our affordable housing goals, developing the DMV site for large-scale, permanently affordable housing is a no-brainer.”

Preston is introducing a resolution today urging the State of California to prioritize affordable housing on the site, specifically calling on the Department of Motor Vehicles to work with state and local elected leaders to make a permanently-affordable project happen.

The call to action coincides with a Board of Supervisors hearing on the new Housing Element, a state program that requires localities to increase housing production, particularly affordable housing, to continue to receive state funding. In order to comply, San Francisco must allow for the production of 82,069 new units of housing, 46,598 of which (57%) must be affordable to low- to moderate-income San Franciscans by 2031.

“We welcome the ambitious affordable housing targets set in the Housing Element,” said Preston. “But the state needs to do more than just demand streamlining market rate production to get there. We need partnership from the state to maximize every opportunity for affordable housing, and the DMV site is the perfect starting point.”

In 2008, the California Department of Motor Vehicles issued a Request for Proposals to develop affordable housing on the DMV site. Although local developer Build Inc. won the bid, they were unable to move forward with the mixed-use project, according to state officials.

The DMV site is in a transit-rich area, with access to multiple Muni bus lines, including the 6-Haight/Parnassus, 7-Haight/Noriega, 21-Hayes, 24-Divisadero, 33-Ashbury/18th Street, 43-Masonic, and others. With a lot area size of 98,061 square feet, the DMV site is one the few large-scale sites suitable for housing in the geographic center of San Francisco, and would serve as a critical site for the pursuit of geographic equity in the production of affordable housing citywide. Additionally, as state-owned property, the site provides a cost-effective opportunity for large-scale affordable housing development without the upfront cost to the city to acquire the land.

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