The California mandate and San Francisco’s housing debate

The labels, “NIMBY” and “YIMBY,” are all too familiar these days, but beyond the blunt edges of those characterizations lies an intricate policy debate on housing that will shape the future of California cities in profound ways. And ground zero is San Francisco.

Under a state housing plan passed in 2022 and subsequently modified too many times to easily summarize, California is mandating – under threat of severe penalties – that San Francisco add 82,069 units of new housing within eight years, as part of the state’s effort to address what is widely viewed as a housing shortage. In varying degrees, the same mandate applies to cities and towns everywhere in California, although, curiously, the law contains an amendment that makes San Francisco’s progress toward housing goals subject to an annual review while the rest of the state is audited every four years.