Residents filed a civil rights complaint, alleging the city treats western SoMa as a “containment zone” for poverty despite recent legislation, and they’re asking the state to decertify Lurie's upzoning plan, arguing its use of “industrial” zoning restricts housing and concentrates services.
New legislation introduced by Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, which took effect in January, aims to redistribute homelessness and mental health services across San Francisco. The policy directs shelter funding toward neighborhoods with fewer existing beds relative to need — largely higher-income areas on the west side — and adds extra review requirements for new shelters in the Tenderloin and SoMa.
Last week, the SOMA West Neighborhood Association filed a civil rights complaint against the city, arguing that despite the new legislation, the city is still treating the neighborhood as a “containment zone” for poverty.
According to KRON4, the complaint cites disparities including a higher amount of shelter beds, longer police response times, and a lower tree canopy compared to citywide averages. As the Chronicle reports, the complaint seeks to decertify Lurie’s upzoning plan, alleging that zoning rules and policy decisions have concentrated shelters and supportive services in SoMa while limiting housing development.
The filing argues that the city uses zoning designations to restrict housing in SoMa, including “industrial” classifications tied to proposed exemptions under Senate Bill 79, which goes into effect in July. The association says those same parcels are being treated inconsistently — blocked from mixed-income housing while still used for shelters and 100% affordable projects.
“San Francisco is deliberately operating a dual housing system,” said the association's board. “The law is clear: it is illegal to block affordable housing and services in wealthy neighborhoods, and it is equally illegal for the City to concentrate them all in disadvantaged neighborhoods.”
As NBC Bay Area notese, the city is also planning to launch the pilot RESET Center in SoMa, where people who are publicly intoxicated could be temporarily held instead of being taken to jail or the hospital, which residents argue would deepen the current imbalance. (This is the same sobering facility that is at the center of the current drama around Supervisor Jackie Fielder's office.)
“Geographic equity is a state civil rights mandate, and SOMA cannot remain a permanent catch-all while the City shields wealthy, well-resourced neighborhoods from doing their fair share,” said association member Shaun Aukland, who reportedly wrote the complaint, speaking to NBC Bay Area.
The neighborhood association is asking state housing officials to revoke San Francisco’s approved “Family Zoning plan,” the blueprint for roughly 82,000 new homes by 2031, and activate the state’s “builder’s remedy,” which would override local zoning and allow higher-density projects with affordable units — giving developers carte blanche, essentially, over city design reviews and more.
The complaint also asks the state Attorney General’s Housing Justice Team to impose maximum civil penalties until the city changes its approach to housing and shelter distribution.
“We want more people to come live in our neighborhood, and we want economic revival,” said Aukland.
Related: Lurie’s ‘Family Zoning’ Plan Approved by Board of Supervisors, Handing Lurie Major Political Win
Image: SOMA West Neighbors
