Who We Are | What We Do | Staff | Executive Committee | Accomplishments | Bylaws | Associate Membership

Who We Are

We are very proud of our membership! As you can see below, SFHAC includes a broad range of organizations that have come together to support building more housing in San Francisco. Our bylaws require a balance between developers and their advocates and organizations that do not have a direct financial interest in housing development. As of February 2010, our members are:

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. AXIS Architecture + Design Barbary Coast Consulting Berg Davis Public Affairs Black Point Press Bridge Housing Corporation Build Inc. Carpenters Local 22 Cathedral Hill Plaza Catholic Charities CYO Center for Creative Land Recycling Charles F. Bloszies Architecture City CarShare Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass David Baker + Associates Emerald Fund ENGEO EVPA Fannie Mae Farella, Braun & Martel, LLP Forest City Development Forum Design Fritzi Realty GCA Strategies Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP Gladstone & Associates Glen Park Association Gould Evans Baum Thornely Architects Greenbelt Alliance Habitat for Humanity Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association Heller Manus Architects HKS Architects Jewish Family and Children Services Jewish Community Relations Council John Stewart Company KwanHenmi Architecture & Planning Laborers Local 261 Lennar Communities Livable City Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps LLP

Martin Building Company Mercy Housing California Mission Housing Development Corporation Nibbi Brothers General Contractors NorthPoint Public Affairs OpenHouse Panoramic Interests Pacific Gas and Electric Company Perkins + Will Pillsbury Planning Association of the Richmond The Prado Group Pyatok Architects Reuben & Junius LLP San Francisco Bicycle Coalition San Francisco Electrical Construction Industry San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council San Francisco Chamber of Commerce San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save Our Streets Skidmore Owings Merrill Architects Solomon E.T.C. Solomon Cordwell Buenz Spectrum Federal Credit Union Steinberg Architects Streetline Networks Sunset Heights Association of Responsible People (SHARP) United Educators of San Francisco Urban Housing Group UrbanGreen Devco Van Meter Williams Pollack LLP

Associate Members

Stephen Koch
Linda Sobuta

Associate Membership

Individuals are eligible for membership as non-voting Associate Members if they endorse the SFHAC mission and are not proprietors of firms eligible for membership as a Member organization. To sign up for Associate Membership in SFHAC, click here.

SFHAC is fortunate to have the support of the following in-kind contributions:

Greenbelt Alliance and Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

Back to top

Staff

Tim Colen has been SFHAC's Executive Director since August 2005. Prior to this, he spent many years as a part-time and full-time neighborhood activist, primarily on urban environmental and land use issues on the City’s west side. Mr. Colen was President for three years of the Greater West Portal Neighborhood Association, a 400-member group. He was also a founding member, and later Chair, of the Lake Merced Task Force, a 40-member umbrella coalition dedicated to restoration and maintenance of Lake Merced. In addition, Mr. Colen has worked extensively for many years in San Francisco political campaigns.

Mr. Colen is a geologist by training and spent 25 years working in project management with mining and environmental consulting firms. Much of this experience was international. He graduated with a BS in Earth Science from UC Santa Cruz, MS in Mining Engineering from Columbia University, and a Certificate in Hazardous Materials Management from UC Berkeley. He lives with his family in the West Portal district.

Julia Sullivan is SFHAC's Program Manager. Before joining SFHAC, she worked on various political and environmental advocacy campaigns and did policy research work. She graduated with a BA in Economics from UC Santa Cruz and has a Masters in Public Policy from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She sees housing as an important policy and social justice issue and is proud to be supporting SFHAC's mission. Julia spends time outside of work on her masters swim team and hiking throughout the Bay Area.

 

 

What We Do

Advocacy: The SFHAC advocates for changes to local land use and building policies in order to provide more housing opportunities for all San Franciscans and preserve existing affordable housing resources.

Endorsements. We publicly endorse and secure city approval of housing developments that meet our criteria.

Education and Outreach: SFHAC works with neighborhood associations and interest groups to identify common ground about the best way to provide housing. We participate in the planning process to speak up for the creative inclusion of new housing in neighborhood plans.

Back to top

Major Accomplishments

Endorsements. In our eight-plus years, SFHAC has endorsed over 40 residential projects, comprising over 6,000 units, a significant fraction of them below market rate.  We continue to thoughtfully review and forcefully support projects that meet our guidelines.

Eastern Neighborhoods.  The SFHAC is on the front lines in the City’s debate around the proposed re-zoning of San Francisco’s Eastern Neighborhoods.  This requires finding a sensible balance between our future needs for light industry and housing.  The SFHAC’s expertise and diverse membership makes it ideally suited to craft consensus solutions to this enormous, crucial policy area.

Inclusionary Housing. The SFHAC played a leading role in the recent legislative compromise for modifying the City’s inclusionary housing ordinance.  This was a complex, technical question that required finding a level that balanced continued production of affordable housing without curtailing overall residential construction.

Better Neighborhoods Program. Initiated and secured funding of over $3 million in funds for the City Planning Department's "Better Neighborhoods" Program, a participatory neighborhood planning effort that has produced comprehensive specific plans for three opportunity areas of the city, and is starting a fourth. See www.betterneighborhoods.org

Housing Over Retail.  The SFHAC continues to advocate for a City policy that will encourage systematic conversion of San Francisco’s many under-utilized retail sites, especially grocery stores, into vibrant mixed-use developments.  In December 2005, SFHAC co-hosted a housing-over-retail forum at City Hall and we are continuing to push for legislation.

University Housing.  In May 2006, SFHAC held two forums promoting new solutions to address the chronic shortage for housing students at the City’s numerous colleges and universities.  These meetings showcased exciting developments in student housing outside San Francisco.

C-3 Parking.  The SFHAC worked to support a compromise for downtown parking regulations that would not harm residential development yet would add improvements for pedestrians and help reduce dependence on cars.

SFHAC Executive Committee

Chair: Paul Olsen-Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association

Vice-Chair: Dan Murphy-Urban GreenDevco

Treasurer: Steve Atkinson-Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps

Secretary: Trudi Loscotoff-Northpoint Public Affairs

Committee Chairs

Regulatory Chair: Steven Aiello Greenbelt Alliance

Enorsements Chair: George Williams-SPUR

Outreach Chair: Libby Smiley-Barbary Coast Consulting

At Large

Bert Hill-Livable City

Joe Olla-Nibbi Brothers General Contractors

 

 

 

 

 

Back to top