San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors will soon vote on modifications to local housing laws that aim to increase the production of new housing. Most significantly, they will consider lowering city-imposed fees and taxes (known as “exactions”) on all new housing projects.

A newly-published analysis from the San Francisco Controller's Office shows that removing these exactions is the single most effective action SF can take right now to make it more financially feasible to build desperately needed housing for residents.  

While the usual anti-housing obstructionists will trot out their same tired talking points about “developer giveaways,” the math makes it abundantly clear that anything short of lifting all exactions will not lower costs enough to make it financially feasible to build new homes.

Currently, there are close to 40,000 new homes that the City has already approved but are no longer financially feasible to build because costs are too high. While some costs (e.g. lumber) are beyond the City’s control, the most significant cost-savings measure we have the ability to implement is lifting the exactions on both already-approved and newly-proposed housing projects.

This may not sound politically popular, but SF’s housing crisis has reached the point where there are no easy, feel-good options available to fix the fact that building homes in SF has become economically infeasible. Real leadership is about making the hard choices needed to solve hard problems, and being honest with residents about why they are in the public’s best interest.

Please take a minute to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors urging them to approve this data-driven measure to help jump start home building in San Francisco. Thank you!