SEC. 202.10. LIMITATION ON INTERMEDIATE LENGTH OCCUPANCIES.

(a) Purpose. To encourage the use of Dwelling Units for long-term occupancy by permanent San Francisco residents with initial terms of occupancy of at least one year, the following provisions shall apply to Intermediate Length Occupancy units.

(b) Controls.

(1) Permitting. Intermediate Length Occupancy units shall be permitted as follows:

(A) Any application to establish an Intermediate Length Occupancy Use Characteristic shall:

(i) Specifically identify the unit proposed to be permitted as an Intermediate Length Occupancy unit; and

(ii) Include a proof to the Department’s satisfaction that the proposed Intermediate Length Occupancy unit is located within a building that has no outstanding Notice of Violations.

(B) Additional requirements for specific buildings sizes:

(i) Intermediate Length Occupancy units are prohibited in buildings with three or fewer Dwelling Units.

(ii) For buildings with four to nine Dwelling Units, requests to authorize the establishment of an Intermediate Length Occupancy Use Characteristic shall be principally permitted, provided that no more than 25% of the Dwelling Units in the building may be permitted as Intermediate Length Occupancy units.

(iii) For buildings with 10 or more Dwelling Units, Intermediate Length Occupancy units shall be prohibited, unless authorized pursuant to a conditional use authorization, provided that the Planning Commission shall find, in addition to compliance with the criteria of Section 303, that the following criteria are met:

a. No more than 20% of the Dwelling Units in the building may be permitted as Intermediate Length Occupancy units.

b. That not less than two thirds of the total allowable Intermediate Length Occupancy units be in the downtown core, with the policy goal of keeping such uses near corresponding hotel and tourism districts, and job centers.

c. That not more than one third of the total allowable Intermediate Length Occupancy units be permitted in Census Tracts in sensitive communities, as defined by the UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project Sensitive Communities map.

(2) Maximum Amount. No more than 1,000 Intermediate Length Occupancy units shall be permitted in the City.

(3) Exceptions. The requirements of this Section 202.10 shall not apply to:

(A) Any Dwelling Unit that is defined as Student Housing in Section 102;

(B) A Residential Hotel unit subject to the provisions of Administrative Code Chapter 41; or

(C) An organization with tax-exempt status under 26 United States Code Sections [1 ] 501(c)(3) providing access to the unit in furtherance of its primary mission to provide housing, provided that any organization that provides a Dwelling Unit offered for occupancy by a natural person for an initial stay, whether through lease, subscription, license, or otherwise, for a duration of greater than 30 consecutive days but less than one year must comply with the reporting requirements in subsection (d).

(4) Ineligible units. The following shall not be eligible to be permitted as Intermediate Length Occupancy units:

(A) Dwelling Units that are subject to the City’s Inclusionary Affordable Housing Program set forth in Sections 415.1. et seq., or otherwise designated as below market rate or income-restricted under City, state, or federal law;

(B) Dwelling Units that are subject to the rent increase limitations in Administrative Code Section 37.3 shall not be eligible to be Intermediate Length Occupancy units.

(1) Abandonment. Any Dwelling Unit permitted as an Intermediate Length Occupancy unit pursuant to this subsection (b) may be offered for an initial term of occupancy of one year or greater without losing the Use Characteristic, provided that the Use Characteristic shall be considered abandoned if discontinued or otherwise abandoned for the time periods specified in Article 1.7.

(2) Compliance Schedule. Within six months of the Effective Date of this ordinance in Board File No. 191075, the Department shall develop and publish procedures for evaluating requests to establish Intermediate Length Occupancy units. The owner or operator of each Intermediate Length Occupancy unit must submit a complete application within 24 months of the Effective Date of this ordinance in Board File No. 191075.

(d) Annual Reports. No later than March 1 of each year, the owner or operator of each Intermediate Length Occupancy unit shall submit to the Department an Annual Unit Usage Report for the prior calendar year containing the following information:

(1) The address and location of the Intermediate Length Occupancy unit.

(2) The number of times the unit was occupied by a natural person for an initial stay, whether through lease, subscription, license, or otherwise, for a duration of greater than 30 consecutive days but less than one year, including the duration and dates of each of those stays.

(3) The average duration of each stay.

(4) The average vacancy between each stay.

(5) The nature of the services, if any, that are provided to occupants of the Intermediate Length Occupancy units, including furnishings, or other amenities, and whether there has been an increase or decrease in the services since the last report.

(Added by Ord. 78-20, File No. 191075, App. 5/22/2020, Eff. 6/22/2020)

CODIFICATION NOTE

1. So in Ord. 78-20.