San Francisco officials push for ‘Domicity’ housing solution

Maybe San Francisco will always have Paris.

The answer to the crushing housing crisis in the city may lay in the City of Light, by turning single family homes into multi-family residential units with ground-floor retail space, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The model, known as Domicity, is already playing out in the Outer Sunset neighborhood, just blocks away from Ocean Beach, where the thriving Gus’s Community Market — with residential units above it — offers a European flair among the rows of beige single-family homes.

Inspired by that success, Supervisors Myrna Melgar and Joel Engardio introduced legislation that could pave the way for similar developments across the city.

Their vision involves ground-floor retail or community spaces, topped with multi-story housing that caters to diverse demographics, ranging from downsizing seniors to young couples and lower-income families, the outlet reported. 

An unlikely mentor, octogenarian retired architect Eugene Lew, is the driving force behind Domicity, which involves transforming single-family homes into small apartment buildings with community spaces on the ground floor and multiple stories of housing above. 

His design offers flexibility, allowing for different configurations to suit various needs. The ground floor can accommodate facilities like teen centers, daycares, senior centers, cafes, or markets, while the upper floors provide a range of apartments.

Lew envisions establishing a nonprofit called Domicity, which would purchase single-family homes from seniors looking to downsize. By utilizing pre-designed architectural plans, contractors could efficiently convert these properties into small apartment buildings, reducing costs. Seniors could then purchase ready-made Domicity apartments in their neighborhood, while their properties would be used to build more units, hopefully ensuring that families stay in San Francisco.

Melgar has proposed streamlining the process for converting homes into fourplexes, while Engardio supports Lew’s plan for taller buildings on corner lots. Their legislation would primarily apply to the west side of the city, as well as select areas in other districts that have the capacity to accommodate more housing. Despite resistance in the past, Westside homeowners are becoming more receptive to the idea, recognizing the benefits of Lew’s proposal.

Eugene Lew believes that Domicity has the potential to reduce housing costs by at least 10 percent, with the possibility of further savings in the future. Corey Smith, executive director of the Housing Action Coalition, shares this enthusiasm and plans to collaborate with Lew on the project. 

The goal is to create tens of thousands of housing units over the next decade by utilizing efficient construction methods.