The trouble to save lots of San Francisco’s dwindling laundromats

A new law proposed by San Francisco supervisor Aaron Peskin on Tuesday aims to prevent laundromat closings, which Peskin said has declined significantly in the city over the past decade.

During Tuesday’s board meeting, Peskin said the closure of laundromats, which mainly serve low-income people in densely populated neighborhoods, “is undoubtedly a social and racial issue.”

Citing data from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, one in three laundromats in the city has closed its doors in the past decade, with only 204 laundromats left, compared with 288 in 2013.

“It’s an issue that affects seniors and people with disabilities and everyone in the neighborhood who doesn’t have access to an on-site washer and dryer,” he said. “The steep decline in the number of laundromats in the city is something we should take note of and be concerned about.”

In order for another company to take over a laundromat or dry cleaning, the proposed law would require the city’s planning committee first to hold a public hearing to determine whether replacing the laundromat with another use is necessary and desirable.

Legislation would also require landlords to replace washing machines and dryers in residential buildings when they are removed to create an additional housing unit.

Peskin says his office has been working on the bill for a year and has found neighborhoods like Tenderloin, Lower Nob Hill, Mission District, and Chinatown to have the highest concentration of laundromats in the city.

“Laundromats are a profitable business, but that doesn’t mean they can always compete for rents with high-volume businesses and tourism-oriented businesses from bubbles. Tons of Bubbles has three locations across town.

“My customers live in neighborhoods where it is necessary for their daily life to have important services within walking distance. A laundromat fits that need, ”she said.

Planning Commissioner Deland Chan supports the bill.

“From a city-wide perspective, laundromats tend to be concentrated in apartment buildings and apartment buildings, and they disproportionately serve color communities,” she said. “That is a needs-based service and part of the social infrastructure of our city.”

Peskin’s office expects to hold a hearing in the Board’s Land Use and Transportation Committee on the matter sometime in September.