Sup. Preston Letter re 100% Affordable Housing at DMV San Francisco Field Office
August 4, 2023
Ana M. Lasso
Director, Department of General Services
707 3rd Street
West Sacramento, California 95605
Email: ana.lasso@dgs.ca.gov
Steve Gordon
Director, Department of Motor Vehicles
2415 1st Ave., Mail Station F101
Sacramento, CA 95818-2606
Email: steve.gordon@dmv.ca.gov
Assemblymember Phil Ting
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0019
Email: Assemblymember.Ting@assembly.ca.gov
RE: 100% Affordable Housing at DMV San Francisco Field Office
Dear Director Lasso, Director Gordon, and Assemblymember Ting:
I am writing to follow up regarding the DMV Field Office site on Fell Street. We continue to believe this site presents an excellent opportunity for affordable housing on state owned land. Since our meeting on this in March, we have continued to hear from nearby residents, small businesses, and neighborhood groups who are excited at the prospect of an affordable housing development at this location.
We are grateful for the collaboration with all of you over the last few months. We appreciate the quick issuance of the RFI, and are encouraged that there were so many who responded to the RFI expressing interest in developing housing here.
One prototype that did not come up in our discussion about the LOI responses in March was high density affordable housing. The 100% affordable proposals that were mentioned in our conversation were for 125 - 150 units, in contrast to market rate proposals that were for 500 or more units. In the weeks that followed our meeting, we have heard from a prominent local nonprofit affordable housing developer who reported submitting a proposal for 480 units of 100% affordable housing on site, as well as another that submitted a high density, 100% affordable proposal on a small portion of the site. This is a scale of affordable housing not seen in this part of San Francisco in decades. I support it, and believe it is essential if we are going to meet our affordable housing goals under the recently adopted Housing Element.
I note that the Board of Supervisors resolution, passed unanimously on January 24, 2023 stated: ”That the Board of Supervisors urges the State of California, including the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of General Services, to prioritize the development of 100% affordable housing on the [DMV] site.”
This is consistent with community sentiment. I’m proud that this neighborhood, in a transit friendly part of my district, is strongly supportive of affordable housing. We are confident that the community would strongly support affordable housing here, even at a scale higher than surrounding buildings, as is proposed.
I welcome our Housing Element’s new ambitious targets for affordable housing – more than 46,000 units in the next eight years. I believe developing the DMV site for large-scale, permanently affordable housing would be an important step toward achieving those goals.
I look forward to continuing to work with you on this. I know it is essential from DMV’s perspective to move forward expeditiously, and I’m hopeful we can focus further discussions and any RFP on this type of development – high density, 100% affordable – at the site.
Thank you again for your partnership on this.
Sincerely,
Dean Preston
Supervisor, District 5