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The right way to do this is to make sure that a small amount of money will be sufficient.

You want to redevelop a one story Sunset place into three stories? Meet the building codes and you are good to go. This would open up development to small contractors and small design/build architects. You wouldn't hire a city fixer + a lawyer + a pr person, you'd just hire an architect and a contractor. Each unit could be built much more cheaply.

Right now you could take a $1 million Sunset house and convert it into three $800,000 flats in a wood frame house. Developers would be DELIGHTED to do that.

The current system adds 5 years and a million dollars to each redevelopment. Developers don't want to build stuff for rich people, they want return on investment. They are as happy making 10% on affordable housing as making 10% on luxury housing.



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