Applications in San Francisco

HOPE SF – Redevelopment of San Francisco’s Public Housing

HOPE SF is an initiative to rebuild San Francisco’s severely distressed public housing sites, while increasing affordable housing and ownership opportunities and transforming the sites into vibrant, thriving communities. Improving the health and welfare of existing residents and the quality of life in surrounding communities are explicit goals of the HOPE SF initiative.

To support the HOPE SF goal of improving resident and community health through rebuild planning and site design, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH) and HOPE SF developers to evaluate baseline neighborhood conditions affecting health at three HOPE SF project sites: Sunnydale, Potrero, and Westside Courts. Designed to complement other ongoing assessment and resident engagement activities, the SFDPH analysis primarily involved secondary data analysis of data from the Sustainable Communities Index (SCI; formerly known as the HDMT). 

Through the San Francisco Healthy Homes Project, SFDPH also partnered with the San Francisco Department of the Environment to conduct a baseline conditions assessment comparing the four HOPE SF public housing sites in Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood: Hunters View, Hunters Point A, Westbrook Apartments, and Alice Griffith, with the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood and the City. 

Since 2008, SFDPH has:

To read the summary or full report from the HOPE SF SCI Baseline Conditions Assessment, click here or here. To view the Baseline Conditions Assessment for the Healthy Homes Project, click here. 

Next Steps

SFDPH continues to communicate with MOH staff and the project development teams to identify other opportunities to collaborate and promote consideration of health within the HOPE SF development process. 

For more information about HOPE SF, visit the HOPE SF website.

Treasure Island Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning

The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) completed the Community Based Transportation Plan for a Walkable and Bikeable Treasure Island in April of 2009. Supported by funding from Caltrans, the plan outlines numerous recommendations for transportation infrastructure and policies for the development of San Francisco's newest neighborhood. The plan was informed by extensive outreach efforts over the past two years, including community workshops, bike tours, and interviews with stakeholders, public health evidence, best practices in environmental design for walking and bicycling and San Francisco’s own innovative health and urban planning assessment tools, including the Sustainable Communities Index (SCI).

The Treasure Island Community Transportation Plan will help ensure an active and healthy community and equitable access for residents, commuters and visitors on and to Treasure Island. SFDPH and SFBC continue to work with city agencies as part of the street design team and as a reviewer in the final development plans to incorporate outcomes from the community based planning process.

Click here to download the April 2009 Community Based Transportation Plan for a Walkable and Bikeable Treasure Island.  Click here for more information about the Treasure Island community planning process. 

Eastern Neighborhoods Area Plans - East SoMa, Mission, Showplace Square/Potrero Hill

The Eastern Neighborhoods Area Plans are long-range plans to comprehensively guide development in the Mission, East SoMa and Showplace Square/Potrero Hill neighborhoods. The Area Plans focus on issues such as the location of buildings, affordable housing, support for existing businesses, open space, urban design, and transportation and circulation. In December 2007, SFDPH released a draft report "Impacts on Community Health of Area Plans for the Mission, East SoMa, and Potrero Hill / Showplace Square: An Application of the Healthy Development Measurement Tool." The draft report evaluated the draft December 2007 Eastern Neighborhoods Area Plans using the SCI Indicators and the Healthy Development Checklist.

The Planning Department released revised Area Plans for the Mission, East SoMa and Showplace Square/Potrero Hill in April 2008. In response to changes reflected in these revised Area Plans, SFDPH is releasing a revised version of the December 2007 evaluation with an “Addendum” updating the report to account for more recent activity. The "October 2008 Final Report" replaces the "Draft for Public Review" released in December 2007. Please note that the findings of the initial evaluation (as reflected in the December 2007 report) were not altered to reflect changes in revised Area Plan policies and implementing actions. Rather than revise our initial evaluation findings, we are publishing the Addendum to the initial report to describe how our initial findings were altered based on changes to the Area Plans.

The Addendum to the October 2008 Final Report highlights SFDPH participation in the Eastern Neighborhoods Planning Process since December, and describes significant ways in which revised Area Plans released in April affect the findings of our initial evaluation. The October 2008 Final Report includes an assessment of health-related existing conditions and needs in the Eastern Neighborhoods, a list of Area Plan policies and implementing actions that are supportive of community health, an assessment of the Area Plans against Healthy Development Checklist development targets, and additional recommendations for policies and implementing actions to improve the Area Plans with respect to community health.

Click here to download the October 2008 Final Report "Impacts on Community Health of Area Plans for the Mission, East SoMa, and Potrero Hill / Showplace Square: An Application of the Healthy Development Measurement Tool*"

*Now known as the Sustainable Communities Index (SCI)

Executive Park Subarea Plan

With the release of the SCI (formerly known as the Healthy Development Measurement Tool, HDMT) in March of 2007, priority was next placed on applying the SCI to appropriate land use opportunities. The Executive Park Subarea Plan Health Impact Assessment summarizes the results from the first pilot application of San Francisco's Sustainable Communities Index to a land use development plan.

Bernal Heights Community Health Assessment

At the request of the Bernal Heights Preschool Committee, SFDPH conducted a Community Health Assessment of the Bernal Heights neighborhood using indicators and data from the SCI. This report is being used to inform decision-making related to the choice between three potential future locations of the Bernal Heights Preschool. Although the majority of data available in the SCI is not geographically specific enough to differentiate between the three potential locations under consideration, the data point to a strong need for childcare, investment in schools and parks, valuing of community and social interactions, and retention of racially and socioeconomically diverse communities in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. Click here to download the Community Health Assessment: Bernal Heights Preschool.

Western SoMa Community Plan and Citizens Planning Task Force

In 2006 the Board of Supervisors appointed a 22 member task force to develop an area plan for Western SoMa that promotes “neighborhood qualities and scale that maintain and enhance, rather than destroy, today's living, historic and sustainable neighborhood character of social, cultural and economic diversity, while integrating appropriate land use, transportation and design opportunities into equitable, evolving and complete neighborhoods.” As part of that resolution a SFDPH Environmental Health staff person was appointed as a member of the Task Force to provide guidance on how the Community Plan could best promote health and equity. Since then DPH has:

For more information on the Western SoMa Community Plan, go here.