Newsom’s office targets San Francisco in first-ever housing policy investigation

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is launching an unprecedented investigation into San Francisco’s housing policies, hoping to get to the bottom of why it takes longer there than anywhere else in the state to approve desperately needed homes.

The investigation, announced Tuesday, is aimed at making it quicker and easier to build housing in the city as the state continues to look for ways to mitigate the shortage of affordable housing.

It’s the first time the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development has opened such an investigation, which experts say speaks to just how bad things are in San Francisco. It takes longer there than anywhere else in the state for developers to get their projects entitled and permitted, according to HCD. San Francisco also has among the state’s highest housing and construction costs, and it has generated more complaints than any other community.

“It’s an indicator of just how far out of the mainstream the San Francisco approval process has become,” said Matt Regan, senior vice president of public policy for the Bay Area Council. “Just burdensome and arcane and rife with opportunities to litigate, and rife with opportunities to delay and stop (projects).”

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the investigation is needed.

“I welcome this review and look forward to cooperating with the state to implement solutions needed to get rid of barriers and bureaucracy that stand in the way of building new housing,” she said in a tweet. “For years, San Francisco has made it too hard to approve and build new homes. That must change.”

It takes an average of 450 days for a project in San Francisco to receive preliminary approval (known as an entitlement), and then another 525 days to get permitted, according to HCD. By that time, many developers are forced to scrap the project because construction costs have risen and the development no longer is financially feasible, Regan said.

San Francisco was far slower than Pittsburg, the next-slowest city, which took an average of 436 days to grant building permits.

The investigation into why that is will be spearheaded by HCD’s new Housing Accountability Unit, which launched last year as part of Newsom’s effort to force cities to take responsibility for creating more housing.

“We are deeply concerned about processes and political decision-making in San Francisco that delay and impede the creation of housing and want to understand why this is the case,” HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez said in a news release. “We will be working with the city to identify and clear roadblocks to construction of all types of housing, and when we find policies and practices that violate or evade state housing law, we will pursue those violations together with the attorney general’s office. We expect the cooperation of San Francisco in this effort.”

HCD will be investigating over the next nine months “and beyond,” according to the news release. And the state will work with San Francisco to secure “legally enforceable” commitments that will boost housing development.

San Francisco and other cities throughout the Bay Area are working on updating their housing plans as required by the state. On Monday, HCD informed San Francisco that its proposed plan did not meet state requirements. Now the city must submit a new plan by January 31.

Between 2023 and 2030, San Francisco is required to plan for 82,069 new units of housing.

Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, applauded Newsom’s crackdown.

“For far too long, San Francisco has flouted state housing laws and made it difficult or impossible to build the housing we need,” he said in a statement. “It’s time for San Francisco to follow state law and create a system that actually prioritizes building enough housing.”