“I am your neighbor. Why do you not want me, and people like me, to be welcome in your community?”
Those are the words of YIMBY Action executive director Laura Foote Clark as she testified at a San Francisco Planning Commission meeting last week about proposed rule changes for in-law apartments and backyard cottages.
Clark apparently holds the radical belief that bedrooms for people are more important than bedrooms for cars. Madness! Check it out (and give it a minute for the two previous commenters who set up the context):
Last summer San Francisco passed legislation permitting accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in most of the city. Then in January the state of California enacted a law that requires local municipalities to allow ADUs in all single-family zones. San Francisco is currently debating proposals to liberalize its ADU rules and bring them into alignment with the state law.
San Francisco desperately needs more homes of all kinds to quell a massive shortage that has sent prices into the stratosphere. In-law apartments and backyard cottages are a gentle way to add new homes to existing neighborhoods with little impact on communities, yet they still face heated opposition from some residents. Clark’s passionate testimony captures the frustration of those who see the disconnect, as she put it: “Livability is really a fundamental question here. Where are we going to live?”
