SF Housing Board Fast-Tracks Affordable Units on Market Street as City Scrambles to Meet 2030 Goals

San Francisco's Planning Commission approved an expedited development proposal on Monday that will convert a vacant office building near Powell Street into 340 affordable housing units, signalling a dramatic pivot in how city officials are tackling the region's housing crisis.

The decision represents one of the most aggressive moves in years to repurpose downtown commercial real estate—a growing trend as remote work has left swaths of Market Street's office stock underutilized. The building, located between Powell and Stockton Streets, had sat mostly empty since 2023, when its previous tenant relocated operations to Oakland.

"This is exactly what we need to see," said a spokesperson for the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition, which has long pushed for adaptive reuse policies. The project will deliver units at 60 to 80 percent of area median income, with the lowest tier renting at approximately $1,400 per month—well below the city's current average of $2,950 for a one-bedroom apartment.

The approval came after weeks of contentious negotiations between city planners, the developer, and neighborhood advocates. Concerns about parking, street-level retail space, and traffic impacts on an already congested corridor forced revisions to the original plan, including a reduction in vehicle parking spaces by 30 percent and a commitment to maintain ground-floor commercial tenancy.

The move reflects San Francisco's urgent need to expand its affordable housing stock. The city currently falls roughly 45,000 units short of meeting its state-mandated housing targets by 2030, according to data from the Association of Bay Area Governments. At the current construction rate, planners estimate the city will miss that deadline by at least three years.

This week's decision also comes as the Board of Supervisors prepares to vote on proposed zoning changes that would allow residential conversion of vacant office buildings citywide without lengthy environmental review processes—a measure that could unlock hundreds of additional units across the Financial District, South of Market, and the Tenderloin.

The Market Street project is expected to break ground in early 2027, with units becoming available by 2029. Similar adaptive reuse proposals are now in various stages of review along Van Ness Avenue and near the Civic Center, suggesting momentum may finally be building around San Francisco's long-stalled housing agenda.

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