Housing

Our goal: Make it affordable to live here.

SPUR’s housing agenda:

• Zone for more housing—in the right locations.
• Invest in permanently affordable housing.
• Enable more housing to be affordable by design.
• Rethink parking requirements.
• Encourage secondary units.
• Get housing development fees right.

Read more from SPUR’s Agenda for Change

  • SPUR Report

    8 Ways to Make San Francisco More Affordable

    San Francisco is in the midst of an affordability crisis. Reversing the situation will require far-reaching changes to the city’s housing policies. But there are many things we can do at the local level to make San Francisco more affordable for the people who live here.

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  • SPUR Report

    Re-Envisioning the San Francisco Housing Authority

    The San Francisco Housing Authority has a budget short fall and lacks funding to meet its capital needs. SPUR offers recommendations to help the agency become financially sustainable over the long term.

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  • SPUR Report

    Affordable by Design

    Housing units that are affordable "by design" cost less to produce because they’re small, efficiently designed and don’t come with a parking space. Could this be a new way to produce middle-income housing without using public subsidy?

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  • SPUR Report

    A Housing Strategy for San Francisco

    San Francisco’s unique culture is threatened by the high cost of housing. Unless we do something, the city will lose its artists, its progressive politics, its immigrants and its young people. This second edition of our Housing Strategy for San Francisco updates the policy reports that define SPUR's housing agenda.

    Read More

Updates and Events

A New Pro-Housing Generation Says “Yes In My Back Yard”

News June 30, 2016
A growing collection of like-minded urbanists from around the country have jauntily adopted the label YIMBY or “Yes In My Back Yard.” YIMBYs tend to live in cities. And the thing they most want in their backyards is housing. Last week they met at YIMBY 2016, their first-ever international conference.

SPUR Supports Accessory Dwelling Units Across SF

Policy Letter June 23, 2016
SPUR supports making in-law units easier to create and appreciates legislation that would extend legalization of ADUs to all zoning districts that allow residential use.

What Is Oakland Doing About Its Housing Crisis?

News June 10, 2016
As housing prices continue to climb in Oakland and stories of displacement circulate, many are asking when the city is going to do something about the housing affordability crisis. Progress may look slow on the ground, but in fact the city has been making rapid progress on a number of fronts.

Go Big and Go Home: Why the Housing Bonus Program Is Good for SF

News June 7, 2016
On June 13, Mayor Lee and Supervisor Tang’s Affordable Housing Bonus Program heads to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee. The program has come under fire from both housing advocates and neighborhood opponents. Recently, Supervisors Mar and Peskin announced a competing proposal. But we still think the original plan is the way to go. Here’s why.

Governor Brown’s Solution to the Affordability Crisis: Allow New Housing “By Right”

News June 2, 2016
In May, Governor Jerry Brown proposed streamlining the approvals process for multi-family housing developments that are built in urbanized areas and include affordable housing. If the proposal passes, eligible housing projects would be approved “by right,” and not subject to local approval or review under CEQA. The governor's proposal is not a panacea, but it is a practical, modest step in the right direction .

SPUR Supports Governor Brown's "By-Right" Legislation

Policy Letter June 1, 2016
SPUR is pleased to offer support to Governor Brown’s proposed trailer legislation, “Streamlining Affordable Housing Approvals,” which would make mixed-income infill housing development as-of-right.

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