Pro-housing Democrats scored a victory on Friday when state officials declared the city of San Francisco was behind on its 2023 housing permitting goals, allowing legislation to speed up approvals of new homes that some of the city's Democratic lawmakers opposed to go into effect, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Delays in approving new projects in the city sparked the state bill, SB 423, which would allow many new residential construction projects to avoid extensive environmental reviews and move forward without approval from city Planning Commission bureaucrats. California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, and Mayor London Breed support streamlining housing approvals, but the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which would lose its power to scrutinize some developments, has been more hostile to SB 423.

“Ultimately, taking the risk out of the permitting process and not having to jump through political hoops to get housing approved will be a huge positive for housing construction in the city,” Corey Smith, executive director of the Housing Action Coalition, told the Chronicle, noting that in the past developers have been hesitant to invest in San Francisco because of the city's complicated permitting process for new housing. (Related article: California has Audit reveals how much homeless programs are costing

California required San Francisco to approve 82,000 new housing units between 2023 and 2031, but the city has approved just 3,039 units in the past 18 months. according to To the Chronicle.

San Francisco has historically been reluctant to build new housing, which, combined with its population of highly paid tech workers, has created a market where demand far outstrips supply and home prices are soaring. according to According to the Chronicle, California's high cost of living is a major factor in people leaving the Golden State, with 45% of Californians saying the cost of living is high in a 2023 survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. vote Rising housing costs are having them seriously consider moving somewhere else.

Newsom, Supporter Newsom, the legislator behind SB 423, sought to address the state's housing shortage in 2017 by promising to build 3.5 million new homes by 2035. But between taking office as governor in 2019 and the beginning of 2024, California's net housing supply has increased by just 600,000 units.

San Francisco City Council Speaker Aaron Peskin, a Democrat who is also running for mayor, opposes many of the new housing projects that SB 423 fast-tracks and is pressuring city lawyers to sue the state of California in January, The Chronicle reported. reportPeskin is Collided This put him at odds with Mayor Breed, who wants to increase housing density in some parts of the city.

About three-quarters of San Francisco's current housing projects would be subject to the simplified approvals, according to the Chronicle.

“There's a lot of PTSD in the development industry about what it takes to actually build in San Francisco,” Smith told the Chronicle. “It's not going to suddenly be successful, but once the economy recovers and the rules become more widely known, that will change.”

Peskin, the California governor's office and the San Francisco mayor's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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