As part of a review of its General Plan, the City of San José is looking for ways to encourage “missing middle” housing options like fourplexes and courtyard apartments to help address its housing affordability crisis. This is an opportunity to start legalizing small-scale multifamily homes citywide, particularly in exclusive, high-resource neighborhoods. Over time, the addition of thousands of such homes can meaningfully expand supply, reduce housing costs, and improve mobility within the housing market.

Last week Governor Newsom authorized a loan that will prevent deep transit service cuts on BART, Muni, Caltrain, and AC Transit for the next several months. SPUR fought hard for this funding. We are deeply grateful to the Newsom Administration and the state legislature for bringing their commitment and creativity to help the Bay Area thrive. But the work isn’t finished — it’s now up to the region’s voters to finish the job by passing two ballot measures this fall.

Digital tools are transforming building planning and permitting — and offering an opportunity to address California’s housing crisis. Remote virtual inspections using video and other digital technologies can lower costs and reduce inspection backlogs for many simple home projects without compromising code compliance. By accelerating resilience-focused retrofits, clean energy permitting, and accessory dwelling unit construction, such inspections could reshape California’s housing landscape.

The City of San Francisco is currently examining its affordable housing policies and their impact on the market for building new housing. SPUR asked Leigh Lutenski, the city’s director of Joint Development, about her division’s work supporting the city on its affordable housing obligations. She emphasized the need for policies that balance affordability goals with economic feasibility, in part by providing greater certainty to housing developers about affordability requirements.

As downtown San Francisco grapples with an oversupply of commercial space and anemic street activity, the city’s leaders have an opportunity to reimagine the area to create more housing, boost entrepreneurship, and nurture the arts. In a new brief, SPUR proposes establishing a quasi-public entity to plan and deliver capital projects, negotiate real estate deals, and provide public financing. We asked SPUR’s Sujata Srivastava how the envisioned authority could tackle downtown’s challenges.