Mayor Daniel Lurie, San Francisco: Make Permitting Fast, Predictable, and Transparent

Daniel Lurie arrived at City Hall with a background in philanthropy and operations rather than traditional politics. Born and raised in San Francisco, he founded Tipping Point Community in 2005 and helped raise more than $500 million for anti-poverty initiatives spanning housing, education, and family support. His résumé also includes leading large, deadline-driven civic efforts, most notably serving as head of the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, an effort credited with generating over $240 million in regional economic impact and reinvesting proceeds into community programs.

That execution-first mindset is evident in PermitSF, Lurieʼs umbrella initiative to accelerate recovery by making the permitting process faster, more predictable, and more transparent. When approvals are slow or inconsistent, housing and small projects stall, costs compound, and neighborhoods see little visible progress. PermitSF is framed as the next chapter following the cityʼs Family Zoning push, with a focus on making it easier to build and remain in San Francisco.

The legislation targets three choke points that routinely drive up cost and uncertainty for 100% affordable housing and small residential projects. First, it removes planning-code barriers by allowing interim uses before construction, such as parking, pop-up retail, or community programming, so sites can generate revenue or serve neighborhoods while projects move through development. Second, it eliminates mandatory ground-floor commercial requirements for affordable housing, removing a common cost driver and giving nonprofits greater flexibility to design around actual community needs rather than rigid rules. Third, it addresses the death by a thousand cuts problem by eliminating public hearings and re-entitlement triggers for minor modifications, which can currently add up to four months to a project timeline.

A second set of reforms is deceptively important because it shifts who carries the operational burden. Instead of forcing each applicant through a multi-step street- tree permitting process, the package allows a choice: plant trees directly in front of the property or pay an in-lieu fee so the city can plant trees strategically where canopy coverage is most needed. The goal is shorter timelines for builders and more effective targeting for Public Works.

Finally, PermitSF is not only about legislation; it is about process engineering. The rollout includes near-term operational changes such as consolidating permit-center stations, introducing virtual site inspections to reduce back-and-forth on survey monument requirements, and launching a unified special-events permitting website to replace a maze of up to seven separate sites. Beginning in January, event organizers can also use city-approved site-plan templates for downtownʼs busiest corridors and entertainment zones, eliminating costly custom drawings and repeated resubmittals that often add months.

Together, the city frames these changes as part of a broader performance scoreboard. Since February 10, 18 PermitSF ordinances have been enacted or introduced and are already in effect, alongside performance metrics showing that 80% of permits are now issued within 30 days or fewer across departments.

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