The SAFER Bay Project is a multi-benefit regional effort led by the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority to protect communities, critical infrastructure, and habitat along the San Mateo County shoreline from flooding and projected sea-level rise through integrated engineered and nature-based flood protection. SPUR, Nuestra Casa, and other partners have been following and participating in this effort for years. The Draft Environmental Impact Report was released for public comment in December and was due end of January. We identified areas for improvement in the project, focused on groundwater rise and contamination issues.

SPUR supports San Jose's proposed housing incentive programs, including the expansion of Downtown Residential Incentive Program, the Multifamily Housing Incentive Program extension, and updates to the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. We believe that these actions will unlock stalled housing developments, support housing production in Downtown San José, and deliver naturally occurring affordability for middle-income households without deep subsidies, relieving displacement pressures elsewhere in the city.

A broad coalition of environmental, health, labor, and building experts including SPUR urges the California Air Resources Board to strengthen its proposed Zero-Emission Space and Water Heater Standard, warning that the current draft falls short of California’s climate, air quality, equity, and affordability goals. Our letter calls for earlier and stricter limits on sales of polluting equipment aligned with the state’s Scoping Plan, more accurate treatment of equipment size and emissions, limits on credit multipliers, and stronger penalties for noncompliance. It also emphasizes the need for better data, streamlined permitting, workforce and consumer support, and targeted assistance for low-income households to ensure a faster, fairer transition to clean heating.

The Bay Area Air District, SPUR, and the Building Decarbonization Coalition Action Fund urge support for SB 222, the Heat Pump Access Act, which would modernize and standardize permitting to make heat pump installations faster and more affordable statewide. Inconsistent, costly, and slow local permitting is a major barrier to meeting California’s climate goals, driving up installation costs and sometimes pushing homeowners toward unpermitted work. SB 222 would streamline approvals, cap excessive local requirements, enable automated permitting, and protect consumers while still allowing jurisdictions to recover reasonable costs.

On the one-year anniversary of the Los Angeles fires, a new SPUR report examines the Bay Area’s vulnerability to fire risk. Responsibility for wildfire prevention in California is spread across multiple government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. Fire mitigation is undermined by fragmented coordination, short-term or insufficient funding, and weak alignment between local risk reduction efforts and the insurance market. SPUR recommends new governance structures for achieving community wildfire resilience.

Downtown San José is a walkable, transit-rich, culturally dynamic urban center. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s still grappling with low daytime foot traffic and high vacancies in office and commercial buildings. Filling empty ground-floor spaces is a critical first step in a long-term economic revitalization strategy. SPUR offers 13 recommendations to capitalize on the opportunity these spaces offer for local artists, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses.

San Francisco's 548-page city charter, expanded through amendments over time, is hindering effective governance and solutions for housing affordability, public safety, climate resilience, and other critical issues. The November 2026 election offers a chance to update it. Our policy brief proposes 10 changes that, if approved by voters, would empower city leadership, improve outcomes, access, and accountability, and create a more effective and responsive government.

The Port of Oakland, a SPUR business member since 2015, recently adopted a bold strategic plan for 2025–2030. From reducing emissions and modernizing infrastructure to fostering inclusive economic growth, the plan provides a blueprint to meet the challenges of the post-pandemic economy, climate change, and geopolitical uncertainty. We spoke with Executive Director Kristi McKenney about the priorities embedded in the new strategic roadmap.

Claudine Cheng is an attorney specializing in regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and land use in San Francisco. A community advocate and activist, she believes that one of the most powerful tools for city wellbeing is a strong arts and culture scene. We asked her about the role arts and culture initiatives play in a city’s health.

Meeting the challenge of sea level rise in the San Francisco Bay Area will require cities and counties to work together on adaptation efforts. Several promising local governance structures are already demonstrating how communities can work together on legally mandated subregional shoreline adaptation plans.

The downtown districts of San Francisco, San José, and Oakland all face high office vacancies and shuttered storefronts as hybrid workplaces and declining tourism lower the daytime population. As cities grapple with an oversupply of commercial spaces, leaders have an opportunity to revitalize downtowns in a way that creates more housing opportunities, enhances economic mobility through small-business ownership, invests in public infrastructure, and nurtures arts and culture organizations.

After decades of failure to build enough homes pushed prices to a crisis point, California policymakers and their constituents began to reconsider their resistance to new housing construction. Years of education and advocacy by SPUR and other housing supporters is now starting to turn the tide in favor of new housing.