Home from the office: Bill would streamline conversions of vacant buildings into housing

AS MAJOR CITIES like San Jose and San Francisco struggle with emptied out downtowns after the pandemic pushed huge swaths of people to remote work, discussion of converting empty offices to housing is gaining traction.

The Office to Housing Conversion Act, or Assembly Bill 1532, would allow certain office buildings to be converted to housing across the state. Authored by Assemblyman Matt Haney of San Francisco, the bill aims to make those potential conversions — which can be expensive and tricky — cheaper and easier for developers, with the aim of bringing more life back to city centers. AB 1532 also aims to subsidize projects with up to $400 million in state funding outlined for such conversions by Gov. Gavin Newsom in his budget proposal, though how that would be spent is still in the works.