San Francisco's need for housing for the homeless, rental housing and affordable housing for purchase far outstrips the available supply. Toronto shares many of the same problems.

Affordable "by design" units cost less to produce because they are small, efficiently designed and do not come with a parking space. Could this be a new way to produce middle-income housing without using public subsidy?

San Francisco is one of the world's great cities, not just because of its beauty but because of its culture. That culture is threatened directly by the high cost of housing. Unless we do something, we will lose our artists, our progressive politics, our immigrants and our young people. This second edition of our housing strategy updates the policy reports that define SPUR's housing agenda.

Uncertainty and delay are deadly to the efficient production of housing, both affordable and market-rate projects. Uncertainty in the approval process means more risk for developers, investors and lenders. And that translates directly to higher costs to developers for both equity and debt, leading to less housing being built and ultimately higher costs to housing consumers.

In this paper, we analyze the zoning regulations that make it difficult to build new housing in many parts of the city and make recommendations to increase land availability and density.

Parking spaces are expensive to build, especially where land values are high. If we can find a way to build less parking, we will see both reduced housing prices and more efficient use of urban land.