San Francisco’s permitting reform seeks an end to building project ‘death by a thousand cuts’

Dive Transient:

• San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie unveiled a legislative package containing sweeping allowing adjustments for the town, the most recent within the mayor’s ongoing PermitSF plan to take away limitations and streamline San Francisco’s allowing course of.
• The adjustments would scale back allowing charges for growth tasks of $100 million or extra and remove a requirement to satisfy with metropolis workers forward of submitting a allow software for bigger developments. The adjustments additionally add flexibility for the way the town’s historic buildings can be utilized and make it simpler so as to add accent dwelling models, typically seen as a method to enhance housing availability.
• “We’re persevering with to push commonsense reforms that present significant profit to on a regular basis San Franciscans in addition to construct a greater basis for a brand new wave of building exercise we hope to see in San Francisco,” Director of Present Planning at San Francisco Planning Liz Watty mentioned in a press release.

Dive Perception:

Since a spike of recent building exercise in 2020, new housing building in San Francisco has been in a free fall. In 2024, the town elevated its housing inventory by 1,597 models, 30% lower than in 2023 and 56% decrease than the 10-year common.

The town ranked second in a current Shopper Affairs evaluation of cities that require the very best income to afford a home, at $386,359.

To assist spur growth, Lurie has taken intention at San Francisco’s allowing course of, which he described as “death by a thousand cuts.”

“We’re eliminating the nonsense and specializing in frequent sense,” Lurie said.

PermitSF course of adjustments carried out up to now have included increasing allow heart service hours and launching a single webpage for allowing info.