San Francisco Speeds Up Housing Permitting But Still Lags Behind Other Cities

New report shows city has made progress but still takes much longer to issue building permits compared to other major metros

Published on Mar. 6, 2026

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A new report from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Budget and Legislative Analyst found that while the city has made progress in streamlining its housing permitting process, it still takes much longer to issue building permits compared to other major U.S. cities. The median time to obtain a building permit in San Francisco was 280 days, three times longer than Austin and more than twice as long as Washington D.C. and Seattle. However, the report also showed that recent reforms like the Permit SF initiative have helped reduce permitting times for projects submitted after January 2024 to a median of 114 days.

Why it matters

San Francisco's lengthy housing permitting process has been a major obstacle to the city meeting its state-mandated housing production goals. The report highlights the need for further reforms, including potential charter changes, to consolidate and streamline the city's various permitting departments and functions.

The details

The report analyzed housing permitting data from January 2024 to August 2025 and found that most projects in San Francisco went through at least three rounds of review involving multiple city departments. This contributed to the lengthy 280-day median processing time, compared to 91 days in Austin, 93 days in Washington D.C., and 133 days in Seattle. However, the report also showed that recent reforms like the Permit SF initiative have helped reduce permitting times for newer projects, with a median of 114 days for applications submitted after January 2024.

  • The report analyzed housing permitting data from January 1, 2024 to August 12, 2025.
  • The Permit SF initiative was introduced by Mayor Daniel Lurie and former Mayor London Breed.

The players

Bilal Mahmood

Supervisor who requested the report from the Board of Supervisors' Budget and Legislative Analyst.

Daniel Lurie

Current Mayor of San Francisco who introduced the Permit SF initiative to streamline the housing permitting process.

London Breed

Former Mayor of San Francisco who collaborated with Lurie on the Permit SF initiative.

Rafael Mandelman

Board President who is working with Mahmood on potential charter reform measures to further improve the housing permitting process.

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What they’re saying

“It shows that Permit SF has actually made measured improvement over the last two years to hasten the time to building permit issuance.”

— Bilal Mahmood, Supervisor (sfchronicle.com)

“Now we need to move to the complex problems like charter reform.”

— Bilal Mahmood, Supervisor (sfchronicle.com)

What’s next

Supervisor Mahmood is working with Board President Rafael Mandelman to incorporate recommendations from a charter-reform working group into measures for the November ballot, with the goal of further streamlining the city's housing permitting process.

The takeaway

While San Francisco has made progress in speeding up its housing permitting process through initiatives like Permit SF, the city still lags significantly behind other major metros and needs to pursue more comprehensive reforms, including potential charter changes, to meet its ambitious housing production goals.