After a two-decade push from an SF homeowner — one of the winners of Supervisor Wong’s “Dumb Law” contest — the city is moving to align ceiling-height rules with state standards, paving the way for residents to legalize rental units in their homes.At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meetin g, Supervisor Alan Wong honored local residents Katherine Roberts and Mike Nohr as winners of his recent "Dumb Law" contest out of more than 200 submissions, as the Chronicle reports.Roberts's and Nohr's entries both focused on San Francisco’s residential ceiling-height rules, which are six inches higher than state standards, making it difficult to legalize existing living spaces. Wong described the proposal on social media as a practical fix with citywide impact.  As SFist reported in March, the proposal would bring San Francisco’s requirements in line with California Residential Code, which sets a 7-foot minimum for habitable spaces like bedrooms. San Francisco’s current standard requires at least 7 feet, 6 inches. Wong said at a briefing last month that although seemingly minor, the change will benefit many homeowners who were previously prevented from legalizing their rental units, as KRON4 reported at the time. “That 6-inch difference may sound small,” Wong said. “But in practice, it can create a major barrier for homeowners trying to legalize existing in-law units, basement units and ADUs.”Roberts, who bought her three-story home in Cole Valley about 23 years ago, has spent years trying to legalize a lower-level unit that was converted by the previous owner without permits. “I’ve gone through every city agency that you can imagine, including all the way up to the board of supervisors, trying to get some kind of abeyance on this issue,” she told KRON4. “It’s just been absolutely impossible.”Bringing it up to current city standards would reportedly require extensive excavation and foundation work on a structure dating back to the early 1900s — a fix that could cost well over $1 million. Nohr, a Sunset resident, submitted a similar complaint tied to his own in-law unit, saying the cost of compliance has kept him from renting it out. He and others said the rules limit housing supply by making it too expensive for homeowners to legally rent out existing space, often due to costly structural upgrades.Supervisor Wong said he selected Roberts and Nohr because their submissions reflected practical, community-driven fixes to outdated rules, per the Chronicle, adding that the change could help unlock existing housing stock without new construction.Roberts said at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday that she hoped the city would finally move the issue forward after years of delay. Previously: District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong Launches Contest to Call Out 'Dumb' SF LawsImage: Alan Wong/Facebook ...read more read less