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We strive to bring cities the social equity, economy, and vibrancy they deserve. Our consultants have an in-depth knowledge on what makes a city functional and enjoyable and different methods to achieve goals. As consultants, we work closely with the community themselves to understand their needs and desires and ensure the city plan helps achieve the residents' vision of their perfect city.

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We have seen South San Francisco grow in many sectors over the years. Between 2013 and 2019, employment opportunities grew 16%, and 65% of women in the city are employed. Moreover, 69% of the population 18+ employed. While there is noted growth in jobs there is a lack of affordable housing.

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Rising Housing Prices from 1998-2022

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From the Office of the City Manager, hillside landmark in South San Francisco. https://www.ssf.net/departments/city-manager/-arch-1

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3.17% growth in employment

65% of women are employed

69% of 18+ is employed

The City of South San Francisco was awarded the 2020 National League of Cities (NLC) Cultural Diversity Award!

City Planners have grown awareness of hate crimes and injustices for the Asian-American and African American Community. As a community, there is an increased amount of political participation to demand justice and social equity, and this has been amplified following the George Floyd protests in 2020.

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South San Francisco housing prices have increased exponentially over the past 20 years. Today, the average price of a home is about $1.3 million. For rent, a simple 1 bedroom apartment can run about $2,700. As seen on the graphs on the right, many of the employees living in the area do not meet the salary needed to afford an apartment and there are large gaps in supply vs demand for units.

In 2018, the median sale price for a home in South San Francisco was $980,000. That price is only affordable to households earning roughly $225,000 a year, assuming a 20 percent down payment, and no credit card, car loan, and student loan debt. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $3,390 in South San Francisco in 2019.

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Housing costs and its affect on the working class

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Housing costs and its affect on the working class

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The homes currently being built and sold are far out of reach for most of the county’s residents. Often, stories are told in City Council hearings throughout San Mateo County about nurses and doctors who are unable to find homes they can afford to buy, despite making more than the median income.

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Because of high costs, we see more of the homes in the area increase their person per household. From 2000 till now, we seen people per households increase by nearly 11%.

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Mr. Sheng (left) addresses the crowd of Southwood after City Manager McClung (right) records the results of the vote. The board displays the final tally; 174 out of 202 residents objected to the Sheng family moving into Southwood. Courtesy of San Mateo County Historical Association Collection (SMCHA 2017.54).

"In 1952,  Sing and Grace Sheng, a Chinese American couple living in San Francisco’s Chinatown district, decided to move out of the crowded apartment they shared with their extended family and find a place of their own. Since Mr. Sheng worked as a mechanic for Pan American Airways at the San Francisco airport, they looked for a home near his work in San Mateo County. They found a house in Southwood, a subdivision of South San Francisco, and signed a purchase agreement for $12,300. When white neighbors learned that a Chinese American family planned to move to Southwood, they protested the purchase. The South San Francisco city manager, Emmons McClung, also a Southwood homeowner, orchestrated a community meeting in which Mr. Sheng was confronted by 75 white homeowners opposed to his family moving into their neighborhood. They conveyed to Mr. Sheng that they had “no personal animosity toward him,” but feared that their property values would decrease if the neighborhood lost its status as “restricted”—or, for whites only."
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/rootsraceplace

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The California Constitutional Convention laid the foundation for exclusion and dispossession under US law when delegates denied California Indians the right to vote. Following this decision and a series of new laws, legislators slowly denied California Indians citizenship. In the 1850s, under threat of violence, at least 119 California tribes became landless due to their citizenship status and were forced to surrender the vast majority of their land. This legal exclusion of California Indians was a crucial enabler of mass murder. Under US rule, California’s Native American population fell by nearly 90 percent, from 150,000 in 1846 to 16,277 in 1880.
Today, we see the many cities that have taken over indigenous land.

https://belonging.berkeley.edu/rootsraceplace/originsofexclusion

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To combat the issue of police brutality against Hispanics and African Americans, the city has adopted the Eight Can Wait Campaign initiatives. This includes de-escalation methods, banning vicious combat styles, and comprehensive reports of police activity to increase transparency.

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Moreover, the city has adopted principles to support the community's desires. This includes recognizing systemic racism and social inequities by acknowledging how inequities impact residents, recognizing historic trauma, and engaging multiple sectors to identify solutions. This is followed by supporting learning and innovation, promoting transparency, and focusing on action and systems change.

To change the framework of planning policies in South San Francisco, they plan to use programs, policies, practice, approach, and culture as a catalyst to address racial and social inequities.

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To create a better, more involved, community plan, the city reached out to members of the community to ask what they needed changed or seen in the plan. These comments included:

-Recognizing racial and social inequities

-Involving mental health experts in response to crisis

-Establish a community safety advisory board

-Providing racial and social equity oversight and accountability with a clearly communicated plan for action

-Providing support for educational opportunities

-Addressing the housing crisis

-Expanding economic opportunities

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Dana Sukarieh
Born and raised in Syria, Dana Sukarieh is a first-generation American immigrant who flee from war to complete her education in Urban planning in CalPoly Pomona. Dana works in a Landscape architecture firm to fulfill her interests in designing pools and magical backyards to deliver elegantly styled landscapes. After seeing the destruction of the war in her city, her dream was to pursue a career in Urban Designing in hopes to someday design equitable, beautiful and sustainable cities in the US and in her country.

Efrain Cruz Jr.
Born and raised in Fontana, California, Efrain Cruz Jr currently attends California State University Polytechnic, Pomona and is majoring in Urban and Regional Planning with an emphasis in Transportation and Infrastructure. Efrain currently works for C&F Concrete Incorporated in their panel layout department. His inspiration growing up was seeing the development of the newer cities such as Rancho Cucamonga and Eastvale. He is determined to help develop even more new cities in his career endeavors to inspire those after him.

Angie Diaz-Mejicanos
Born and raised in Los Angeles. Angie is a first generation college student majoring in Urban Planning with an emphasis on Community Development and Social Justice. Angie's main reason for getting involved in Community Development and Social Justice is to make sure the voices of the underrepresented are heard and valued in policy and planning.

Beauregard Davis
Beau was born in San Jose, California. He attends California State University Polytechnic, Pomona and is majoring in Urban and Regional Planning with an emphasis in Urban Design.  His main reason for getting involved in Urban Design is to address inequalities in urban environments and within city communities.

Kristan Lagman
Born and raised, Norwalk resident Kristan Lagman has grew up seeing her city change from a suburb and commuter town to a redeveloped entertainment center in the future. She has interned with Norwalk City Planners and helped residents and businesses with exterior design decisions per  code. Using this expertise, she has started her career in DTLA helping hospitality businesses navigate the complexities of building and health department plan check as she finishes her education at CPP. With that, she is hoping to one day use her experience and education to help design neighborhoods and districts in the Southbay/East LA area into fun, vibrant, and socially sound communities.

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And with residents unable to afford housing in the area, we see many of them at risk for displacement, more concentrated in the downtown area which has a vulnerable population, vulnerable housing stock, and a lot of market pressure.

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The new General Plan will address critical issues facing the city such as housing, transportation, sustainability and sea level rise, public services, parks and open space, economic development and social equity. All future development decisions must be consistent with the General Plan. Moving forward, each city newsletter issue will focus on a different element of the General Plan. This issue is dedicated to Housing, a key element of the new General Plan, including identifying areas for new housing development, policies for preservation of existing single-family neighborhoods and programs to support the community’s evolving housing needs. The General Plan will take a holistic approach to housing development opportunities, considering all factors including parks and open space, schools, public services, connecting transit, and the character and history of our City.

The Bay Area is in its 10th year of a boom, concentrated primarily in the tech sector, which generates about 50,000 new jobs per year. Those new, high salary jobs are concentrated primarily in San Francisco and the South Bay — but the impacts (in the form of increased housing costs and traffic) are felt in every Bay Area city, including South San Francisco. Since mid-2015, the price of housing in South City has increased 23 percent (for rentals) and 33 percent (for sale).

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There are limits to what any one city can do to combat this regional housing crisis, but the City of South San Francisco is committed to a comprehensive strategy to make housing more affordable for residents:

The City encourages the development of more housing located near transit stations.

New housing is required to include at least 15 percent affordable housing units.

During the past 30 years, the City has helped fund or approve over 1,000 units of affordable housing.

The City adopted a new law requiring all new biotech, office, hotel, retail, and other types of commercial development to pay a fee to fund affordable housing

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Indigenous people were not only displaced but subjected to exclusionary policies and practices in the bay area throughout the 19 th and 20 th century. This includes acts of violence to keep specific racial groups out of homes, restrictive covenants, racial zoning, and racist public housing policies.
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/rootsraceplace

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Although these cities are diverse they tend to contain some of the most racially segregated non-white neighborhoods in the Bay Area. The dark gray count as the highest groups segregated while light gray counts for low segregation.
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/racial-segregation-san-francisco-bay-area-part-1

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This maps shows segregated neighborhoods of SSF, while it also shows the demographics of people living in segregation.

Segregated neighborhoods in SSF past and present are deeply connected stories of racial capitalism and racial disparities in wealth and access to opportunity. These neighborhoods are left vulnerable to gentrification and displacement that continues to this modern day.

According to researchers at Urban Habitat, new patterns of segregation have been developed from current processes of gentrification, resulting in disproportionate shifts of Black and Latino Population outside region's periphery as the core becomes more unaffordable.

https://belonging.berkeley.edu/racial-segregation-san-francisco-bay-area-part-1

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As we see in these maps segregation and diversity are not the same thing. Cities such as Oakland and SSF are highly segregated despite their diversity. A place can be diverse and segregated, or neither, or one but not the other.

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With these graphs you can see the density of race in each neighborhood. Downtown, we see a higher density of Hispanic and Latino residents than other areas of the city.  Simultaneously, we see that the downtown area is observed to be more disadvantaged than surrounding areas.

https://www.ssf.net/home/showpublisheddocument/24375/637653320054200000

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7% of South San Francisco residents live below the federal poverty line while some neighborhoods do not have any families in poverty.

Given the high cost of living in San Mateo County (SSF) the poverty level is typically approximately half (or less) than the income required for families to make ends meet and provide for basic needs meaning that many families are economically insecure.
This map shows that Black / African Americans and Hispanics are among the communities that suffer from poverty compared to Asian and White neighborhoods.
https://www.ssf.net/home/showpublisheddocument/24375/637653320054200000

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National and state data has consistently shown that Black and Latinx people are more likely to be arrested than white people for the same situations. For example, although white people use illegal drugs at similar and often higher rates than Black and Latinx people, Black and Latinx people are much more likely to be arrested and/or incarcerated for drug possession. Structural racism has also established a nationwide experience of Black people being stopped due to “driving while Black.”
We see that structural racism has caused impacts to different races in South San Francisco. Hispanics are more likely to get traffic citations or be arrested in comparison to other races. African Americans are more likely to be arrested than other ethnicities, with 17 percent of the arrests made while making up 2 percent of the population. This racial profiling proves that South San Francisco needs to do better at creating social justice and equity for ALL residents.

"Driving while black" according to the SSF website is a sardonic description of racial profiling of African-American motor vehicle drivers. It implies that a motorist may be stopped by a police officer largely because of racial bias rather than any apparent violation of traffic law.
https://www.ssf.net/home/showpublisheddocument/24375/637653320054200000

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With San Francisco's transformation to a sprawling, exclusive, high income community, is only the beginning of rising housing rents and pressuring low income communities to relocate to the outer suburbs.
San Francisco's past and present are deeply connected stories of racial capitalism, where racism is fundamental to the creation of profit and accumulation of wealth. Racial disparities in wealth and access to opportunity, left neighborhoods of color vulnerable to gentrification and displacement that continues to this modern day. According to researchers at Urban Habitat, new patterns of segregation have been developed from current processes of gentrification, resulting in disproportionate shifts of Black and Latino Population outside region's periphery as the core becomes more unaffordable.

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Fueled by the George Floyd Protests, South San Francisco has already implemented a social and equity plan to target the needs of the African American, Asian, and Hispanic community. Therefore, the South San Francisco Commission on Racial and Social Equity was born.

This commission included members with a deep understanding of the community, as well as city and community leaders. They listened to community members' needs and went to experts to ensure needs were met in innovative ways. They have implemented an action plan that includes actions to take immediately, actions to work on, and actions to be addressed in the future.

They broke this into 4 goals with several strategies.

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Racial Discrimination in Rental Agreements

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Racial Discrimination in Rental Agreements

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Hispanic and Black families are denied rental opportunities by landlords stating that they don’t wish to rent to single parents with children. According to a study held in South SF and Mateo county, it shows that African American and Mexican families received less returned calls, less advantageous terms and conditions, and higher quotes for rent than white families.

Because racial disparities in wealth have been continuous, a lack of affordable housing options works to exclude people of color, particularly African Americans.

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South San Francisco Social Justice Action Plan

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South San Francisco Social Justice Action Plan

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GOAL 1:
Ensure ongoing oversight and accountability to advance racial and social equity in South San Francisco

Strategy:
Respect and empower the dedicated staff position to institutionalize accountability, advance equity initiatives   and monitor equity-related outcomes throughout South San Francisco.

GOAL 2:
Ensure the safety of community members of color by eliminating racist practices and policies in the criminal justice  system

Strategy:
Create a community wellness and crisis response team for mental health crises, substance use, and   homelessness focused on conflict management, de-escalation and linking people to supportive services

GOAL 3:
Target resources and support to residents of color to reduce gaps created by structural inequities

Strategy:
Expand economic opportunities for people of color and other historically disenfranchised community member in   education, job opportunities, mortgage loans.

GOAL 4:
Ensure local land use planning increases access to resources and opportunities for people of color and other   historically disenfranchised community members

Strategy:
Leverage available land assets to expand housing affordability to people of color and other historically   disenfranchised community members

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In 1962 a Berkeley teacher, Miss Frances Fletcher, presents statistics gathered by the National Real Estate Research Corporation on racial discrimination in San Francisco's rental housing market, which show that two-thirds of landlords refused to rent to African American tenants.
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/rootsraceplace

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South San Francisco has the unique opportunity to be inclusive and provide justice to all existing and future residents and visitors. Already, the city has addressed major issues in social justice and is progressing through housing costs, addressing racial inequity, and responding to the concerns of current residents.

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Population & Households

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South San Francisco had a population over 67,000 in 2017. With that, we seen the growing older adult population increase by 69% while the younger population has only increased by 1% since 1990.

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Income & Educational Attainment

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Of this population, the median income is about $92K but we can already see differences in expected income by race as seen in the graph on top. Most of the residents have some sort of advanced education which helps explain why median income is a lot larger in comparison to other cities as studied in Los Angeles County.

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Race & Ethnicity Over Time
We have seen this population change throughout the years. From 1990 until 2017, we have seen more Asian and Hispanic populations move in and the White population move out.

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Life Expectancy

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We see disparities in life expectancy. African American and Pacific Islanders in South San Francisco are more likely to live 9-10 years less in comparison to latinos, Asians, and Whites.

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The Housing Crisis is linked to racial disparities and gentrification.

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South San Francisco residents are resilient, despite disparities and issues that are happening now and throughout history. The city is focused on implementing change that addresses the residents’ needs.

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Average Rent in South San Francisco & Rent Prices by Neighborhood - RENTCafé. (2021). RentCafe. https://www.rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/ca/san-mateo-county/south-san-francisco/

California Public Utilities Commission. (2021). Disadvantaged Communities. California.Gov. https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/infrastructure/disadvantaged-communities

City Manager’s Office. (2019). Planning for the Future of South San Francisco. South San Francisco, We Proudly Remain the Industrial City, ₁₅, 1–7.

City of South San Francisco. (2021a). City of South San Francisco Zoning Search. City of South San Francisco Zoning Search. https://zoning.ssf.net

City of South San Francisco. (2021b). Eight Can’t Wait | City of South San Francisco. Eight Can’t Wait. https://www.ssf.net/departments/police/eight-can-t-wait

DataUSA. (2021). South San Francisco, CA. Data USA. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/south-san-francisco-ca/#economy

General Plan | City of South San Francisco. (2020). Shape SSF 2040 General Plan. https://www.ssf.net/departments/economic-community-development/planning-division/general-plan

Hu, C. (2015, September 21). San Francisco Neighborhoods: Where on Earth did that Name Come From? San Francisco Travel. https://www.sftravel.com/article/san-francisco-neighborhoods-where-earth-did-name-come

Mauri, N. (2019, October 2). Roots, Race, & Place | Othering & Belonging Institute. Othering & Belonging Institute. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/rootsraceplace

Mauri, N. (2021). Roots, Race, & Place | Othering & Belonging Institute. Othering & Belonging Institute. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/rootsraceplace

Menendian, S., & Gambhir, S. (2018, October 30). Racial Segregation in the San Francisco Bay Area, Part 1 | Othering & Belonging Institute. Othering & Belonging Institute. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/racial-segregation-san-francisco-bay-area-part-1

South San Francisco Commission on Racial & Social Equity. (2021a, July). South San Francisco Racial & Social Equity Commission Report. City Council. https://www.ssf.net/home/showpublisheddocument/24375/637653320054200000

South San Francisco Commission on Racial & Social Equity. (2021b, July). Year One Implementation. City Council. https://www.ssf.net/home/showpublisheddocument/24377/637653320576270000

South San Francisco Real Estate Market Trends, Home Prices. (2021, October 17). South San Francisco Real Estate Market Trends, Home Prices. https://julianalee.com/south-san-francisco/south-san-francisco-statistics.htm

The City of South San Francisco. (2019, October 30). Westborough sub-area meeting [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_SnUAA-43M

The City of South San Francisco. (2021, May 20). South San Francisco Commission on Racial and Social Equity, May 19, 2021. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmIYWSJDTj0

UDP & UC Berkeley. (2015). Urban Displacement San Francisco Map | Urban Displacement Project. Mapping Displacement, Gentrification, and Exclusion in the San Francisco Bay Area. https://www.urbandisplacement.org/map/sf