Published on July 3, 2024, 1:08 am

Real news emanating from San Francisco reveals that local democrats opposing new builds were dealt a blow when the state declared the city’s housing permit goals for 2023 unfulfilled. This verdict resulted in triggering a controversial law which led to fast-tracking approvals of new Construction projects.

In-line with this decision, SB 423, a California legislation was activated due to San Francisco’s slow approval of fresh developments. The law will now pave the way for numerous new housing constructions to sidestep extensive environmental evaluations thus bypassing local bureaucrats and green-lighted without requiring the nod from city’s planning commission.

Two significant democratic administrators – London Breed, Mayor of San Francisco and Governor Gavin Newsom of California are openly backing this move aimed at expediting housing approvals. However, there has been resistance from certain quarters as the all-Democrat San Francisco Board of Supervisors who would be losing their scrutiny privileges over certain projects have voiced hostile reactions towards SB 423.

Corey Smith, Executive Director of Housing Action Coalition expressed optimism about these developments stating that such an improvement would increase housing production in the city by eliminating risk from approval procedures and stepping away from political interference. Smith further pointed out that this assurance might encourage developers who had previously shown reluctance due to city’s complex permitting system for constructing new buildings.

San Francisco had been put under obligation by California to authorize 82,000 new housing units between 2023 and 2031 but unfortunately only approved a meager count of 3,039 homes within the last year and half.

San Francisco’s historical disinclination towards building new accommodation mixed with its concentrated population of high-earning tech professionals instigated market scenarios where demand heavily outweighed supply—escalating prices on real estate. This imbalance also played catalyst for many residents leaving California due to prohibitive living costs with high expenses on accommodation being cited as primary reason behind residents considering moving out per data from a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California in 2023.

In an attempt to relieve the state’s housing crunch, Governor Newsom, a firm believer in SB 423 had earlier committed, in his 2017 pledge, to build 3.5 million fresh homes by 2035. But data indicates that from his tenure commencement in 2019 till beginning of 2024, the net count of housing supply has only approximately increased by about 600,000 units.

Aaron Peskin, President of San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a Democrat mayor candidate showed dissent against many new building projects which SB 423 was designed to expedite. Reports suggest he pushed for legal action against California over this law early this year. This public official also seemed to have differing views with current Mayor Breed over approval for increased residential density within specific city zones.

Interestingly almost seventy-five percent of ongoing construction projects within San Francisco meet criteria to have fast-tracked approvals as per trusted news sources.

Corey Smith viewed these developments favorably stating that the overall process might not be instantaneous but as rules are more widely understood and economic conditions improve it would present significant changes for development community facing difficulties constructing in San Francisco.

A request for comments on these latest developments were made to both Mayor Breed and Governor Newsom as well as Aaron Peskin but they remain yet unanswered.

Bringing such real news about housing production reforms based on Christian worldview stresses on importance of trusted information distribution regarding housing policies which can deeply impact our societies and shape our neighborhoods positively.