More Pressure on Housing
The key impact of the CPHP on the City, especially on the Inner Sunset and Cole Valley neighborhoods, is the dramatic demand for additional affordable housing the expansion would create. Neighborhood residents were so concerned about that impact that the 1976 Space Ceiling specifically exempted housing from counting against the cap.
UCSF has been a major contributor to the affordable housing crisis and the expansion plan in the CPHP will only exacerbate the crisis. It has never built a significant number of housing units on the campus for its students, faculty, and staff. Many residents of the neighborhoods adjoining the Parnassus Heights campus are tenants who will see their rents increase substantially as a result of the increased housing demand and lack of additional supply.
In May 2019, the City released a study by Keyser Marston Associates analyzing the relationship between job growth and housing demand. Based on that study 1.5 million square feet of combined office, medical and research space will generate a demand for 2,850 housing units, 970 of which would need to be affordable. Since UCSF’s revised proposal was to add 2.04 million square feet, not 1.5 million, the demand for new housing is close to 4,000 units. UCSF's plan contemplates a mere 1000 units, only 134 of which are to be built in the near term. If UCSF were a private developer, it would have to set aside 18-20% of the units for affordable housing. UCSF's plan does not set aside any.
As a state agency, UCSF, is exempt from development fees, including fees for affordable housing, which must be paid by private developers. It is also exempt from property taxes, including taxes to pay for affordable housing bonds.
In the CPHP, UCSF has proposed to dramatically increase the demand for housing in the City but has not taken responsibility for building an adequate number of additional housing units to meet this demand. The inevitable result will be higher rents, more traffic and longer commutes.
UCSF’s secret plans to expand dramatically in Parnassus Heights