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San Francisco

San Francisco identifies 147 public properties for housing review

San Francisco’s September 29 review identifies 147 public properties for further study as housing or other development, with existing services, financing and permissions still determining what can be built.

225 words · 2 min

San Francisco’s Budget and Legislative Analyst has identified 147 public properties across 15 departments or agencies for closer examination.

The September 29 inventory includes 36 vacant properties, 21 parking lots and seven garages, alongside working libraries, transit facilities, schools and other public buildings.

The opportunity is broader than finding an empty lot. A replacement building might combine homes with a library or another public service. Administrative offices could be consolidated to release a site. Selling or leasing surplus property could help finance housing elsewhere. Each approach needs an account of how existing services would continue and who would pay for the transition.

The report's list is preliminary. Inclusion does not establish that a property is available, suitable for housing or legally permitted to become housing. Zoning, historic preservation, environmental constraints, departmental needs and financing all require further review. Its authors also point to a separate 2025 analysis in which more than 12,600 affordable homes across 59 projects were already waiting for construction funding.

For residents, the useful next step is specific: open the property appendices, beginning on page 36, find a nearby address and read its current use, district and stated limitations. That gives a conversation about a local site a concrete starting point. The report recommends assigning an accountable city team to carry the wider review forward; it does not approve the individual projects.

Take it further

Find a site in your neighbourhood Public PDF; no registration or deadline. Appendices on pages 36–42 list addresses, districts and current uses. Read each appendix's limitations before treating a listed site as available for housing.

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Revised 4 October 2026. Reporting and visuals refined. Original source dates and prior checks retained.

Reporting sources

  1. San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst — September 29 property review

    Original 42-page report, dated September 29, 2026; read September 30. Inventory and limitations pp4–5; funding context p2; Otis Street assumptions pp27–28; policy recommendations pp34–35; property appendices pp36–42.

  2. San Francisco Chronicle — independent reporting on the review

    Published September 29. Corroborates the report's release, the 147-property inventory and the distinction between screening and feasible housing sites. The primary report supplies the numerical detail here.

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