Ocean Beach's $3M Homes Are Losing the Great Highway

San Francisco is tearing out its own coastal highway on purpose. The Great Highway runs along Ocean Beach, past pastel houses worth two, three, sometimes four million dollars — and the city decided the Pacific had already won the argument. This is the story of how a city loses a road in stages: the storms of 2010 and 2023 that cut 40 feet off the bluff south of Sloat, the sewer tunnel and treatment plant buried underneath, the boulders labeled "temporary" fifteen years ago, the 2012 Ocean Beach Master Plan that told the city to stop fighting, and Proposition K — the 2024 vote that turned four lanes into Sunset Dunes park and got a sitting supervisor recalled five months later. We follow the real numbers and the real timeline, from the 1929 seawall to the buildings that already fell 15 miles south in Pacifica. The homeowners on the row are left with the view they paid for and a shrinking strip of sand between it and their living rooms — and one question nobody wants to answer: if the city was right to pull its own highway back from the water, what does that say about the houses across the pavement? 📌 Sources: SPUR Ocean Beach Master Plan, SF Public Works & SFPUC, California Coastal Commission filings, USGS, NOAA, and public reporting on the 2010/2023 storms, Prop K and the 2025 recall. 💬 Would you sign a 30-year loan on a house that faces the open Pacific? Tell me in the comments where you land — I read every one. 🔔 Subscribe to Ground Truth for a new investigation every week. Disclaimer: Educational and documentary content only, based on publicly available reporting, scientific studies and official records. Not legal, financial, insurance or real-estate advice. San Francisco is removing the Great Highway to combat coastal erosion, but what happens to the multi-million dollar homes nearby? This documentary tracks how the city decided the Pacific Ocean won the argument, moving from the 1929 seawall to the recent 2024 vote on Proposition K. We examine the timeline of storms that cut into the bluffs and the infrastructure buried beneath the sand, analyzing whether the city's approach to managed retreat sets a precedent for the future of the shoreline. As the city pulls back its infrastructure, the homeowners on the edge are left with a shrinking beach between their living rooms and the rising tide. We break down the real numbers behind San Francisco real estate, looking at historical data and official reports to understand if these expensive properties are truly safe from the encroaching sea. 📌 Sources: SPUR Ocean Beach Master Plan, SF Public Works & SFPUC, California Coastal Commission filings, USGS, NOAA, and public reporting on the 2010/2023 storms, Prop K and the 2025 recall. 💬 Would you sign a 30-year loan on a house that faces the open Pacific? Tell me in the comments where you land — I read every one. 🔔 Subscribe to Ground Truth for a new investigation every week.