The Facts

San Francisco completed just 405 new homes in the first half of 2026, reports Adam Brinklow at The Frisc.

The city’s April pipeline counted 74,888 proposed homes, but 37,577 were in long-term, multiphase developments and only 3,301 had reached the construction stage.

The Context

State housing regulators say San Francisco must build more than 82,000 homes by 2031, or over 10,000 per year, while facing some of California’s longest approval timelines.

Permits are not the only obstacle. The Controller found nearly every home type financially infeasible given current city rules under current market conditions. Mayor Lurie and the Board have since cut housing fees, including most development impact fees by 67%.

The GrowSF Take

Mayor Lurie and Supervisors Stephen Sherrill and Danny Sauter are right to attack the costs and delays that keep approved homes on paper. The recent fee cuts are a major start, but the housing math remains brutal.

After a decade whittling away at the bureaucratic barriers to housing, few remain truly insurmountable. But as uncertainty has declined, costs have risen, leaving even approved projects unable to break ground.