S.F. activists fought for affordable housing in the Mission. Now they're pumping the brakes

For years, activists in San Francisco's Mission District fiercely fought a plan to build hundreds of market-rate apartments at a high-profile site at 16th and Mission Street, dubbing it 'the Monster in the Mission' and arguing it would further gentrify the neighborhood. They lobbied for affordable housing on the site and won in 2022, when the city of San Francisco designated the land for affordable development.
But some of the same community organizations that fought for affordable homes are now pushing back against the very project they advocated for.
The city has chosen nonprofits Mission Housing and Mission Economic Development Agency to develop over 380 affordable homes at 1979 Mission St. — a project now called the 'Marvel in the Mission.'
Two neighborhood-based organizations — People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights, or PODER, and Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth, or HOMEY — help lead the Plaza 16 Coalition, an advocacy network first formed to oppose the original market-rate project proposed by developer Maximus Real Estate Partners in 2013.
But while they continue to say that the Mission District needs affordable housing development, advocates with PODER and HOMEY also argue that the project's developers have disregarded feedback and ignored questions during community engagement meetings.
Now, the organizations are backing concerns raised by parents at nearby Marshall Elementary School, who fear that the project will limit parking options, cast shadows onto the school playground and produce noise and air pollution during construction.
The conflict underscores how community groups are still trying to influence development in San Francisco, even as state laws severely limit their ability to delay or halt new homes. It comes as the Mission is starting to see an influx of new subsidized units.
Cristina Ortiz, a Marshall parent who advocated against the original market-rate development, told the Chronicle she's worried that street conditions and neighborhood safety will get worse when the project's first phase with 136 permanent supportive housing units for homeless people opens.
Ortiz said in Spanish that the neighborhood is already struggling with drugs and homelessness, and she's concerned that the first phase for homeless people could include those with addiction problems.
Neighborhoods generally do not see an increase in crime or other related challenges after supportive housing for the homeless opens in the area, but 'a lot of it hinges on the implementation,' said Ryan Finnigan, deputy director of research at U.C. Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
Finnigan explained that many projects have rapid crisis response systems to help prevent sites from becoming magnets for disturbances. Design features like community spaces allow residents to interact with neighbors, build support networks and reduce conflict, he added.
The first phase includes plans for a clinic providing mental health resources to residents, as well as on-site case management, said project spokesperson Chirag Bhakta, the director of community engagement at Mission Housing.
'We believe that housing with support services on-site is one of a myriad of solutions that we need to address the crisis on the streets and our overall housing crisis,' Bhakta said. 'No one likes to see what the current reality is on the streets of San Francisco, particularly on the 16th Street corridor. These are layered and complex issues that one housing development is not going to be able to solve.'
Plaza 16 and other community members raised concerns with the developers about the height of the second phase of the project, a 16-story building with 134 units of affordable family housing. They worry it would reduce sunlight, change the landscape of the neighborhood and set a precedent allowing for luxury high-rise development in the Mission, where the tallest building is roughly 10 stories.
But housing advocates say that the need for affordable homes is so acute that worries about changes to how a neighborhood looks should be secondary.
'When a 100% affordable housing project comes into the picture, this is the time to say yes,' said Brianna Morales, the community organizer at Housing Action Coalition.
Still, these community concerns seem unlikely to stall the progress of the development: The city planning commission has already approved Phase 1 of the project, which is slated to break ground in December.
Community meetings are likely not required for the project's three phases to gain approval thanks to changes in state law meant to speed up housing approvals, planning department spokesperson Anne Yalon. Despite that, the developers have held three community meetings on the project so far.
Previously projects could get caught up in years of community meetings and fights, dragging out timeliness and raising costs, which are already high. Since 2017, lawmakers have passed a variety of state policies that have streamlined approvals and limited appeals. The most recent legislation comes amid a state mandate requiring San Francisco to approve 82,000 housing units by 2031 — 46,000 of which must be affordable.
'The vast majority of San Francisco's affordable housing projects now pursue permit streamlining and the State Density Bonus Program,' Yalon explained. 'These tools offer faster, more predictable approvals, saving time and providing developers with much-needed certainty. Prior to these reforms, virtually all affordable projects were subject to discretionary review, creating delays and unpredictability.'
But this streamlined system often means less community input. In late May, the San Francisco Planning Commission approved the construction of a contentious 181-unit apartment complex at 2588 Mission St., the site of a 2015 fire that killed a tenant, injured six others and displaced 60 tenants and over two dozen businesses.
Project opponents, who call the proposal the 'la Muerte de la Misíon,' have argued how the complex — which plans to offer below-market rents for less than 10% of its units — will deepen income disparities and perpetuate gentrification in the neighborhood.
Both projects are marks of a changing housing landscape that some advocates say is reliant on developers to voluntarily engage with the community for input.
MEDA and Mission Housing organized a focus group in 2024, a general community information meeting in January of this year and two community engagement meetings in May and June, according to Bhakta. At the two latest meetings, attendees overwhelmingly approved in a nonbinding vote maximizing the number of units on site, which meant keeping the 16-story building.
HOMEY Executive Director Roberto Alfaro explained that he felt the voting process was 'disingenuous,' claiming that MEDA and Mission Housing primarily invited community members who they knew would support the project as-is.
Bhakta said that MEDA and Mission Housing promoted the events to their own lists and community members on the street, alongside other outreach methods.
Plaza 16 has raised a dozen demands to the developers, including to reduce the project height and to give Plaza more input at regular meetings — exactly the types of requests that state streamlining laws are trying to get away from.
None of these demands have resulted in changes to the developments, said PODER organizer Reina Tello, who added that during community engagement meetings — and in follow-up conversations — developers have left many neighbors' questions unanswered.
Several questions asked by community members did not relate to the size of the project, while others are part of ongoing discussions, Bhakta said. He noted that the development team plans to host future community meetings regarding the design of the project's second and third phase, while also continuing to meet with administrators, staff and parents at Marshall.
Representatives of the team have also scheduled a meeting with the Plaza 16 coalition for further discussion, Bhakta added.
But for Tello, the 'only path forward' and the 'only way to do any repair' is to pause the project, and not to move forward until community organizations can review everything.
'They've already held four community meetings,' Tello said, but 'what is the point of meeting if there is no substance to the meeting? What is the point of meeting if there are no results?'
Jane Natoli, the San Francisco organizing director at YIMBY Action, argues that 'there's a difference between the community being able to provide feedback and input, and the community having the final say.' (The executive director of YIMBY Action is married to the executive director of Mission Housing.)
For Bhakta, this project is a result of years of advocacy for affordable housing in the Mission.
'The Mission District has led the demands for affordable housing over the past few decades. We have faced the brunt of gentrification and displacement,' Bhakta noted. 'As part of that tradition, MEDA and Mission Housing, the neighborhood's two affordable housing developers, are doing what we can to meet the need.'

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