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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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 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

The Bay Area’s Housing Market: Where Will It Go Next?

News /
As rents and home values in San Francisco continue to explode, residents and policy makers are trying to make sense of what this means for the city. Is San Francisco an anomaly within the region or a prophecy of things to come? SPUR will co-host two forums on the housing market to explore some of this question and more.

Time to Make Room

Urbanist Article
Innovative design solutions can better accommodate the changing — and sometimes surprising — demographics in cities, including a rising number of single people. In New York, a third of all households are single people living alone. In San Francisco, it’s 38 percent. Why aren’t we designing housing for that demographic?

Re-Envisioning the San Francisco Housing Authority

Policy Brief
The San Francisco Housing Authority is in crisis. As a recent San Francisco legislative analyst and budget report notes, the agency had a budget short fall of $4 million in fiscal year 2011 and $2.6 million in 2012. Meanwhile, it does not have nearly enough funding to meet its capital needs. SPUR offers recommendations to help the agency become financially sustainable over the long term.

SPUR Comments on the Definition of "Significant Increase"

Advocacy Letter
Proposition C created a long-term source of funding for affordable housing, while also capping affordable housing fees. It was agreed that the fee cap could be lifted for those portions of area plans that received a significant increase in development potential. SPUR recommends three thresholds as standards for defining "significant."

New Challenges to Funding Affordable Housing in San Jose

News /
In January 2010, San Jose passed an inclusionary housing law to help do three things: address the city’s affordable housing needs, meet the state’s requirement for regional fair share housing and promote economic integration. But now a successful legal suit has thrown the future of this law into question.

Housing Trust Fund Heads to Voters in November

News /
After many months of work by SPUR and other housing advocates, the Housing Trust Fund, has made its way through San Francisco’s legislative process and been placed on the November ballot. We were very involved in crafting this measure, which would provide a permanent source of funding for affordable housing, encourage the creation of moderate-income housing and stimulate the production of market-rate housing. This…
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