People gather on the sidewalk near a homeless encampment in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco on April 11, 2020. (U.S. District Court for Northern District of California via Bay City News)

A new bill authored by Assemblyman Matt Haney would prevent cities from stalling or killing the conversion of empty office space into housing in an effort to utilize the state’s emptying downtowns.

Assembly Bill 1532 would categorize office conversion projects as “by right” developments, relaxing the permitting and review process for housing projects by preventing a city or county from requiring certain permits to convert a vacant office into housing.

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Eli covers public health, transportation and state politics for the Bay City News Foundation, serves as the main editor of the Public Health and COVID-19 Information Hub and assists with Local News Matters' social media strategy. He has also previously covered local politics in San Diego County as well as college and professional sports across the Bay Area.