Model Places Illustration

Housing

We believe: Housing is a human right and should be affordable to everyone.

Our Goals

• Increase the supply of housing.

• Provide more affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents.

• Protect low-income communities of color from displacement.

Monte Vista Gardens apartments in San José

SPUR Report

Structured for Success

A key cause of California’s high housing costs is its decentralized and fragmented housing governance system. SPUR makes 11 recommendations to set California and the Bay Area on the path to produce the housing we need.
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Monte Vista Gardens apartments in San José

SPUR Report

Structured for Success

A key cause of California’s high housing costs is its decentralized and fragmented housing governance system. SPUR makes 11 recommendations to set California and the Bay Area on the path to produce the housing we need.
Read More
photo of balconies on an apartment building

Research

Losing Ground

SPUR examines how the Bay Area’s housing market has become shaped by scarcity and wide economic divides — not only among income groups but also among races and ethnicities.
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photo of balconies on an apartment building

Research

Losing Ground

SPUR examines how the Bay Area’s housing market has become shaped by scarcity and wide economic divides — not only among income groups but also among races and ethnicities.
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Apartment Building

Research

Housing the Middle

SPUR digs into the housing market’s failure to meet the needs of middle-income households. California can look to innovative programs across the country as models for how to address the state’s housing challenges.
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Apartment Building

Research

Housing the Middle

SPUR digs into the housing market’s failure to meet the needs of middle-income households. California can look to innovative programs across the country as models for how to address the state’s housing challenges.
Read More
Apartment Construction

Research

Planning by Ballot

SPUR has created the most up-to-date database of local land use ballot measures that impact housing production in California. Over the long term, measures that restrict infill housing can undermine housing affordability and have the potential to exacerbate racial segregation.
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Apartment Construction

Research

Planning by Ballot

SPUR has created the most up-to-date database of local land use ballot measures that impact housing production in California. Over the long term, measures that restrict infill housing can undermine housing affordability and have the potential to exacerbate racial segregation.
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Updates and Events

Office and residential towers in downtown San Francisco

San Francisco Implements SPUR’s Recommendations to Accelerate Office-to-Residential Conversions

News /
The City of San Francisco has implemented all six of SPUR’s recommendations to accelerate adaptive reuse projects. By converting obsolete office buildings into housing, the city will provide significant economic, social, and environmental benefits: more housing for workers, support for small businesses and cultural organizations, increased office space value, and greater property and sales tax revenues.

SPUR and Partners Urge Amendments to AB 306

Advocacy Letter /
Assembly Bill 306 intends to improve housing affordability and make it easier for Los Angeles residents to rebuild after the LA fires. However, as written the bill may do the opposite by restricting any changes to building codes over the next six years and killing efforts to improve the building code that would save consumers and builders money. With more careful reforms to state building code, California can meet both its building sustainability and resilience goals and its housing affordability goals.
Multifamily housing next to a BART station in Oakland

State Legislature’s Fast-Track Housing Package Includes 3 SPUR-Sponsored Bills

News /
The California State Legislature’s “Fast-Track Housing” package addresses the state’s housing crisis on multiple fronts. SPUR sponsored three of the package’s bills and is working on four other bills that would make it easier to build critically needed housing, including in transit-rich areas where increased density could boost transit use and help the state meet its climate goals.
Sujata Srivastava

How SF’s New Mayor Should Spend His Next 100 Days: Q&A With Sujata Srivastava

News /
Part of SPUR’s role is to articulate clear principles and goals for urban policymaking. As San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s administration passes the 100-day mark, SPUR offers a decision-making framework to help the new mayor and his administration set priorities and maintain momentum in the face of complex and evolving challenges.
A crane at the site of a multifamily apartment building under construction in a single-family neighborhood

Mayor Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan Is a Leap Forward for San Francisco Housing Policy

News /
Mayor Lurie’s recently proposed Family Zoning Plan increases the likelihood that San Francisco will meet its state-set goal to build 82,069 new homes. The plan would remove regulatory obstacles to building dense multifamily housing in most neighborhoods and create new opportunities to build housing near schools, businesses, and transit. Critically, it would remedy historic patterns of segregation by dismantling hallmarks of exclusionary zoning in the city’s northern and western neighborhoods.
cover of brief with title in white text on red background

The Next 100 Days

Policy Brief /
San Francisco’s new mayor has made significant strides in his first 100 days in office. To maintain the momentum for change, the Lurie administration will need to set priorities in a time of many competing needs. SPUR’s new brief offers a framework for developing policies to streamline government operations, revitalize downtown, create more housing, support transit, prepare for climate hazards and earthquakes, and reduce fossil fuel use.
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