The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to overturn Mayor London Breed’s veto of legislation limiting housing heights.
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin authored the legislation limiting how high buildings in the Jackson Square Historic District and nearby neighborhoods can be built.
Peskin told the board it was “particularly depressing, and in my mind, unprofessional” that Breed did not discuss amendments before vetoing the legislation. He said that kind of compromise is a normal political convention in San Francisco.
“It is not the way government is supposed to work if we’re going to conduct ourselves maturely,” said Peskin, who is considering a run for mayor.
Should he jump into the mayor’s race, Peskin will likely argue he is successfully defending neighborhood character from moderate Democrats who would offer sweetheart deals to housing developers.
Catch up fast: A city law authored by Peskin last year allowed for more housing to be built downtown, but it inadvertently loosened height limits in the Jackson Square Historic District and the Northeast Waterfront Historic District. Peskin’s legislation to restore height restrictions in waterfront neighborhoods passed on March 5.
Breed vetoed it on March 14. In her veto letter to the supervisors, she cited San Francisco’s need to build taller and more dense developments to reach the state’s mandated goal of 82,000 new housing units by 2031.
A supermajority — eight out of 11 supervisors — voted to override her veto.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman was among the lawmakers upholding Peskin’s legislation.
“I have not agreed with President Peskin on everything that has come before this board. I have not even agreed with Peskin on several of the land use and housing items that came before the board,” he said. “But on this one, on the merits, he is correct. The opposition to this is pure politics.”
The opposing view: Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Joel Engardio and Myrna Melgar voted against rejecting Breed’s veto.
Dorsey said the legislation would allow more neighborhoods to claim historic exemptions, making it more difficult for the city to meet its production goals.
“Taller buildings won’t hurt our city, but exclusionary zoning will,” he said.
In a statement, Breed said the veto is a setback to making housing more affordable.
“There are those who say they want to see change, and yet when the proposals come, they will say, ‘Not here, not this way,’” she said. “But we will never address our housing shortage without bold and sustained action — and real solutions.”
What we are watching: Breed and Peskin are in clear opposition on how San Francisco should solve its ongoing housing crisis. Breed is aligned with state Sen. Scott Wiener, who favors unrestricted housing development across the city. Peskin favors the housing policies of San Francisco’s progressive Democrats, who prioritize existing tenants and neighborhood character when deciding where to build.
In a statement, Wiener called the vote a “black eye” for San Francisco amid its “debilitating housing crisis.”
“Today’s vote by the Board of Supervisors sends exactly the wrong message on housing. It’s deeply disappointing,” he said. “I’m grateful to Mayor Breed for vetoing the bad legislation — her leadership on housing has been extraordinary.”
In her State of the City speech earlier this month, breed promised to veto any “anti-housing” legislation. She can now tell voters on the campaign trail that she is keeping that promise, even if she was overruled.
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