During the pandemic, the idea came up almost as a joke in San Francisco. With all those empty offices vacated by employees, why not turn them into apartments for the homeless that are ubiquitous downtown, or for those tormented by the extravagance of rents?
Real estate professionals quickly overwhelmed the utopias. Transforming workspaces into places to live and socialize is more complicated – and expensive – than it seems. Where are the kitchens, the bathrooms, the miles of extra plumbing? Good intentions won’t get you far if the plumbing doesn’t follow.
Three years later, the idea is back in force. The pandemic is over, but the homeless are still there, as is the lack of affordable housing. And downtown San Francisco remains half empty. According to a survey by the Urban Displacement Project conducted by academic Karen Chapple, the ex-capital of triumphant technology came last out of 62 cities surveyed for resuming activities at the center at the end of 2022. Researchers measured traffic using mobile phone geolocation. San Francisco saw a 70% drop in activity compared to March 2020, or 150,000 fewer pedestrians.
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Under pressure from the community, which sees its finances collapsing (after a surplus of more than $100 million in 2021-2022 or 91 million euros, the next budget is announced with a deficit of $291 million), business leaders ordered mandatory returns to the office at least three days a week. But the employees drag themselves along: a third remains in telework. The wave of layoffs has increased feelings of abandonment: 20,000 tech jobs have disappeared in San Francisco and Silicon Valley since June 2022.
Heavy California bureaucracy
Before the pandemic, San Francisco had one of the lowest real estate vacancy rates in the country. Today it’s the other way around. Almost 30% of offices and 27% of commercial space are vacant. While the banks fret over who will pay off the mortgages, the solution seems to be in place: since we work from home, why not convert our old office into an apartment?
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On April 4, San Francisco Mayor London Breed proposed a plan to facilitate office-to-apartment conversions. The town planning code would be changed. The parking and green space requirements applicable to residential buildings would be suspended. An architecture firm commissioned by the municipality has already selected 12 buildings for a pilot conversion project that would bring 2,700 homes to the market. And other uses are being studied: the conversion of offices into laboratories for biotechnology, the only sector that is still growing, or even into student residences.
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