"convert" it to be habitable is the key message here.

Is far more difficult than scratch building.

The housing opportunity in SF is in all the vacant and underutilized space in the Sunset. Downtown offices do not have the egress, plumbing, ventilation, electricity, or telecomm capacity to be economically converted to dwellings in anything other than a makeshift, emergency fashion.

There's plenty of warehouse office space in SOMA that could meet residential coding requirements. I think most people in this thread are imagining converting high-rise open plans, like Salesforce tower - but most offices in SOMA are actually in warehouse space that's easier to convert. That's why I linked an example of live/work lofts.

Which isn't to say we shouldn't utilize outer Sunset space too! There's already great public transport to the SOMA area though.

It's a shame to let commercial real estate rot in forbearance, when it's surrounded by the infrastructure needed for excellent city living.

Why not both? Let the market figure it out, just make the zoning permissive enough to allow the opportunity.