The HDMT articulates a vision for growth and development in San Francisco that can accommodate a wide range of plans and projects. While the HDMT can be used to evaluate those plans/projects against that vision for growth, SFDPH is not in a position to endorse specific development plans or projects. Use of the HDMT is meant to highlight the positive and negative impacts of a project/plan and its potential trade-offs, with the ultimate goal of recommending opportunities for improving that project/plan. We generally do not take positions on whether a project should be built, but rather seek to provide mitigations to make a project more “healthful.” For those constituencies interested in using the HDMT to evaluate a plan/project on their own, (please read Notification Requirements) such a review does not constitute a SFDPH stamp of approval.

We anticipate evaluating a number of plans/projects each year using the HDMT. These applications are generally focused to public sector plans/projects or plans/projects that have the potential to impact a wide range of San Francisco’s population. Our Case Studies illustrate the types of projects/plans we typically evaluate. Even in these instances when we ourselves evaluate a plan/project, we have not taken a public position on whether that plan/project should move forward. We have however, identified the benefits and burdens of those projects and made numerous recommendations for how they can be improved.