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School of Business and Management2130 Fulton StreetSan Francisco, CA94117-1080www.usfca.eduEducating Minds and Heartsto Change the World

ENTERPRISE HOUSINGFORSAN FRANCISCOTHE FUTURE OF HOME-BASED FAMILY BUSINESSESDaniel AdamsWith contributions from:Allyson CoyneSherry AhrentzenMason KirbyJoseph H. AstrachanLuigi LucacciniPatricia HarrisFernando MartiJohn KingRose McNultyDean MacrisEugene MuscatSeth WachtelMeredith WaltersAsian Neighborhood DesignandSchool of Business and ManagementUniversity of San Francisco2007

CONTRIBUTORSSherry Ahrentzen, Ph.D. is Associate Director for Research of the StardustCenter for Affordable Homes and the Family, Arizona State University, and Professorof Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.Joseph H. Astrachan, Ph.D. holds the Wachovia Eminent Scholar Chair ofFamily Business at the Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State Universityand directs the Cox Family Enterprise Center. He is the editor of Family Business Review.Patricia Harris is Executive Director/CEO of The Edge Connection, a communitycapacity-building organization working in partnership with the Coles College of Business,Kennesaw State University.John King is Urban Design Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.Dean Macris is the Planning Director for San Francisco.

ENTERPRISE HOUSINGFORSAN FRANCISCOTHE FUTURE OF HOME-BASED FAMILY BUSINESSESEnterprise Housing Team:Daniel Adams Frederick P. Rose Architectural Fellow, ANDAllyson Coyne Third Year Law, USF School of LawMason Kirby ArchitectLuigi Lucaccini Research Associate, USF Family Business CenterFernando Marti Project Architect, ANDRose McNulty Principal Architect, ANDEugene Muscat Senior Associate Dean, USF School of Business and ManagementSeth Wachtel Director, USF Architecture and Community Design ProgramMeredith Walters McLaren Research Fellow, USF School of Business and ManagementAsian Neighborhood DesignandSchool of Business and ManagementUniversity of San Francisco2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS1WORKING AT HOMEIS A FACT OF LIFEp12AN OVERVIEWp73THE BENEFITS OFWORKING AT HOMEp21

4DESIGNS FORSAN EDGMENTSp63 65 67

FOREWARD: The Challenge We Face as a CityJohn KingSan Francisco, to its detriment, too often is a city where absolutismOne side wants every block maxed out to its highest use.reigns. People want things to be a certain way, their finely detailedThe other wants nothing at all, unless it is socially pureutopian way, and they work overtime with ingenuity and stubborn-and politically irreproachable .ENTERPRISE HOUSINGness to make it happen—or to block the competing utopia of anotherivWhat gets lost in all the posturing are the facts of (local)interest group.life. San Francisco is a marvelously elastic city where only the land-If the above paragraph seems fuzzy, then think of a concretescape stays the same. Culturally, socially, economically, everythingexample: the endlessly acrimonious debate over housing. Instead ofelse is in unpredictable flux. This is a place that draws peopleall the interest groups and political sects working together to findeager to live life on their own terms, to bend rules and risk failureways to create as much good housing across the spectrum as possible,as they put down their stake. This is true of immigrant families andeach one is determined to impose its vision on the city. One extremetrust-fund radicals, affluent techies commuting to Silicon Valleymeasures success by the quantity of units produced—whether orand college grads who happily split rent four ways for a flat in anot they fill the need of anyone besides empty nesters dreamingneighborhood that would make their parents blanch.of pieds-á-terre—while the other opposes any proposal by privateThe city’s housing should be as flexible and open asdevelopers that doesn’t match their ideal of Life as it Ought to Beits culture. But as we all know, it isn’t. Theodd saga of live-work(why should anybody own a car, for instance?).lofts is a perfect example: they were encouraged in the 1980s as an

alternative for artists and craftspeople, especially in industrial areasThird Street corridor. What at first glance looks like a townhousewhere standard housing made no sense. Then the housing marketin fact is something more complex and inviting: the old-fashionedwent crazy even by San Francisco standards—and developersidea of living above the shop was reimagined in such a way thatturned the idealistic creed into a gaping loophole, shoehorningcould be arranged as commercial space that flows upstairs, withloft buildings wherever they could, often forcing out blue-collarapartments that could be leased out for income or pulled togetherbusinesses as a result. Now, live-work lofts are banned (officiallyto house large families—and with a little flex space left over forthere’s a moratorium dating back to 2001).who knows what.Which brings us in a roundabout way to this book aboutConventional developers would never come up with suchEnterprise Housing. It makes the case for housing policies rootedan approach, because it doesn’t fit their standard approach. Norin the needs of the people who San Francisco needs the most:would housing activists who focus on the needs of particularworking families of modest means. There might be two or threesegments of the population. But it’s a fascinating model of housinggenerations under one roof; there might be two or three adultsthat is waiting to be built—and that if it existed would probablytrying to earn money through home-based businesses. Childrenhelp retain families who might otherwise leave San Francisco.pass through at all hours.There are other ideas about Enterprise Housing in this book,The beauty of genuine live-work units is that they couldand other visions of what can be done to create attractive inclusiveallow families and neighborhoods to evolve. Done right, they couldhousing if there’s a genuine will to make it happen. Keep reading.serve almost as the urban equivalent of a village where peoplewatch out for each other, where communal space is plentiful andwhere success is gauged by what you create, not what you accumulate. A small-scale but telling example is contained here inthe scheme sketched out for a typical lot in the Bayview District’sv

1 WORKING AT HOME IS A FACT OFENTERPRISE HOUSINGLIFE

More and more Americans are working athome, and San Francisco is leading the way.In 2004, the home was the primary or full-time work place for nearly30,000 San Franciscans or 8% of the city’s workforce, many of whomare self-employed individuals operating their own businesses.1 Thisfigure is double the national average and growing faster locally thanit is nationally.2The national increase in home-based work is particularly noteworthy since it reverses the decline seen in the mid-20th century whenpeople migrated from farm-based work to urban employment, andhome-based professionals joined group practices and corporations.3Some of the obvious factors behind this national increaseare corporate downsizing and commuting challenges. The changingcomposition of U.S. households and the economic pressures on lowincome families to make ends meet certainly contribute. As do newtechnologies that support geographically dispersed businesses andmake working from home feasible and attractive.1

F i g ure 117percenta g e of S elfE mployed in W ork F orceSan FranciscoLos AngelesCaliforniaUnited States15131197In San Francisco, however, an additional factor seems to be at work.San Francisco is well-recognized as a haven for entrepreneurs,New York CityChicagodefined here as the self-employed. New ideas and new enterprisesthrive in the intellectual and cultural richness found locally, andWE believe there is a clear link between San Francisco’s entrepreneurial climate and its high level of home-based work andbusiness.Support for this interpretation comes from the CensusBureau’s 2004 American Community Survey which shows thatself-employed individuals (incorporated and unincorporated)make up about 15% of the civilian work force in San Francisco,based activity is striking, but perhaps not surprising, since abouthalf of self-employed persons are believed to work at home.452and 2 between the high local rates of self-employment and home-PercentageENTERPRISE HOUSINGcompared to about 9% nationally. The parallel seen in Figures 120002001200220032004

Figure 28percentage of work forceworking primarily at homeSan FranciscoLos AngelesCaliforniaUnited StatesNew York City7ChicagoFor many of the self-employed, being able to operate from6home is a key to success. Economist Henry Beale, author of a2004 report on home-based business for the Small BusinessAdministration, describes the central role played by the homein supporting entrepreneurial ventures:5“Home-based businesses, which make up roughly half of all U.S.businesses, are of particular interest because of their potentialas a wellspring of economic activity. Homes are, in effect, do-ityourself business incubators, which collectively provide start-ups4with an entry point into the business world.At least in some industries, the home is a natural placeto start up a new business. The home is particularly conduciveto a small-scale business “on the side”—whether one’s principaloccupation is out-of-the-home employment or in-the-home parenting.3PercentageSmall home-based businesses are also a fertile environment fortrying out new ideas—software development and mail-order retailbeing two examples. At the other end of the spectrum are2200020012002200320043

“entrepreneurial” home-based businesses. Phillips5 has characterizedIn a later section you will find four examples of Enterprise Housing,these businesses as providing the principal income for the owner,designs developed for selected San Francisco neighborhoods at anhaving employees, and having relatively high sales. These home-open charrette held at the San Francisco AIA in 2004. As you perusebased businesses are poised—if the owner so desires—to grow andthese designs and the preceding material on this topic, we believe6you will come to appreciate the potential of Enterprise Housing forcontinue growing so that they eventually move out of the home.”the individuals, families, and neighborhoods of San Francisco asNationally the move toward self-employment and homebased work has led city planning professionals and interestedcitizens to ponder how best to support and encourage working athome. Many are realizing that housing designed to accommodateliving and working in the same space—Enterprise Housing—willENTERPRISE HOUSINGincrease the efficiency and comfort of home-based workers, there-4fore increasing the feasibility of working at home.We are excited to spread the word about Enterprise Housing.We believe that it is an idea whose time has come. With this publication, we hope to increase the understanding of what it is and how itcan improve San Francisco and its neighborhoods.fully as we do.

NOTES5

2 ENTERPRISE HOUSINGANOVERVIEW

E N T E R P R I S E H O U S I N G REFERS TO:The use of a residence to generate income from a homebased business or through work done for another.We prefer this term to the alternatives of live-work, work-live,mixed-use housing, or hybrid housing, because it emphasizes thefirst use—supporting businesses operated from home. Consistentwith this emphasis, the discussion throughout is framed in termsof home-based entreprenuers and their businesses, although itfrequently applies to all home-based workers.Conceptually, Enterprise Housing ranges from the mostinformal live-work situation, such as the conversion of a bedroomcorner into a temporary office, to the most formalized and highlystructured program, such as the large-scale, planned live-workcommunity under long-term development in East Clayton nearVancouver, Canada. 17