2023 Japantown Cultural Heritage, Housing & Sustainability Strategy (CHHESS) Report
The Japantown Cultural Heritage and Economic Sustainability Strategy (JCHESS) report, was the result of three years of town-hall community meetings culminating in a 5-year economic preservation and development plan officially endorsed in 2018 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, and Historic Preservation Commission.
The organizing City Agency, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, adopted the format of the JCHESS as a long-range strategy planning tool for all Cultural Districts and the basis of which all funding and programing are based.
A city requirement is to complete a Cultural History Housing Economic Sustainability Strategy (CHHESS) Report within a year of designation. The Japantown Cultural District (JCD) CHHESS Report builds on the Japantown Cultural Heritage & Economic Sustainability Strategy (JCHESS), a vision planning document developed by the community in partnership with City agencies and adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2013.
There are six focus areas address in the CHHESS Plan:
Cultural Heritage and Sustainability
Tenant Protections
Arts and Culture
Economic and Workforce Development
Land Use/Environmental Resilience
Cultural Competency