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.

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.

California has set a goal for San Francisco to build 82,069 new homes by 2031. Doing so will mean changing restrictive zoning policies that are currently hindering sufficient housing construction and keeping historic patterns of segregation in place. If the city fails to update its zoning, it risks losing state funding and local control over housing development. SPUR provides a primer on the state’s housing element law and what it means for San Francisco.

The 2024 state legislative year ended with a number of big wins for SPUR and our partners in affordable housing and transportation advocacy. Governor Newsom signed hundreds of bills into law, including six pieces of SPUR-sponsored legislation that will make housing faster and easier to build, support development of interim housing for unhoused people, and make dangerous roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.