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Heat pumps can heat and cool buildings, reduce greenhouse gasses, and improve indoor and outdoor air quality. So why aren’t they more common in California? A web of complex requirements, restrictive zoning and planning codes, excessive documentation requirements, and high fees have hindered adoption. SPUR’s Sam Fishman explains current permitting headaches and walks us through how to smooth the way to a gas-free future for buildings.

���ϴ�����supported a recent Berkeley ordinance that motivates investments in zero-emissions home retrofits by taking advantage of home sales to require energy upgrades. Berkeley’s time-of-sale approach balances consistent investment with flexible compliance pathways for retrofits. It’s just one approach cities can take to expand their decarbonization toolboxes.

San Francisco faces an unprecedented fiscal crisis as rising costs and stagnant revenues drive a growing structural deficit. With a projected $1.47 billion deficit by FY 2029–30, city leaders must now make tough choices, including cutting costs, redefining core services, improving budget management, and updating the city charter. The third article in our series looks at structural solutions that can help the city avoid future instability and ensure a sustainable fiscal future.

SPUR’s exhibition Watermarks: Postcards from the Future invited attendees to approach the challenges of inland and coastal flooding from a perspective of opportunity rather than distress and uncertainty. The exhibition and related events were inspired by three SF Climate Week questions: What if we reframe our relationship with water as one of coexistence rather than control? What if adaptation projects could both revive natural ecosystems and improve public access to the waterfront? What if adaptation needs also create space for community empowerment and equitable action?

A city’s budget reflects its priorities and values — and choices made over the years. San Francisco’s $15.9 billion budget for 2024–25 is increasingly constrained, with only 18% of funds remaining truly discretionary due to legal mandates, voter-approved set-asides, and other restrictions. Key revenue sources have become more volatile since COVID, and rising costs leave limited flexibility to adapt to changing fiscal conditions. In this article, we take a deep dive into the city’s revenues and expenditures.

The California State Legislature’s “Fast-Track Housing” package addresses the state’s housing crisis on multiple fronts. ���ϴ�����sponsored three of the package’s bills and is working on four other bills that would make it easier to build critically needed housing, including in transit-rich areas where increased density could boost transit use and help the state meet its climate goals.

Meeting San Francisco’s many challenges, from accelerating housing production to revitalizing downtown and improving transportation operations, hinges on a lasting fix for the city’s structural budget deficit. As city leaders work to address a projected budget shortfall of $817 million for fiscal years 2025–2026 and a nearly $1 billion deficit for fiscal years 2027–2028, they must grapple with voter-approved spending mandates and a budget process that limits their options.

Part of SPUR’s role is to articulate clear principles and goals for urban policymaking. As San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s administration passes the 100-day mark, ���ϴ�����offers a decision-making framework to help the new mayor and his administration set priorities and maintain momentum in the face of complex and evolving challenges.

Mayor Lurie’s recently proposed Family Zoning Plan increases the likelihood that San Francisco will meet its state-set goal to build 82,069 new homes. The plan would remove regulatory obstacles to building dense multifamily housing in most neighborhoods and create new opportunities to build housing near schools, businesses, and transit. Critically, it would remedy historic patterns of segregation by dismantling hallmarks of exclusionary zoning in the city’s northern and western neighborhoods.

On May 1, Oakland’s interim mayor will roll out the city’s proposed 2025–2027 budget, which will look to address a $280 million projected deficit over the next two years. As Oakland navigates this moment of leadership transition, policymakers, administrators, employee unions, and community must work together to find creative ways to reduce spending and grow revenues. Although the structural budget deficit cannot be closed in this budget cycle, the city can pass a balanced budget that commits to sound financial practices, lays the foundation for reforms to Oakland’s governance structure, and builds the city’s capacity to grow economic prosperity for all Oaklanders.

Procuring goods and services is a critical facet of San Francisco’s operations, totaling more than a third of the city’s annual budget. Although the system aims to enhance service delivery and foster sustainable practices, its web of regulations results in a process that takes months or even years, limits competition, and increases costs for public goods and services. We talked to SPUR’s Nicole Neditch about how San Francisco can make its procurement system more effective, equitable, and responsive to community needs.

Drastic cuts in the Bay Area’s transit services are all but guaranteed absent a regional transit funding measure. Senate Bill 63 would authorize several counties to place a tax measure on the November 2026 ballot in an effort to avoid such cuts. ���ϴ�����strongly supports the bill because it represents a practical and politically realistic framework to keep the region’s largest transit operators from going over a fiscal cliff.

Getting gas heating out of homes is a big part of meeting the climate challenge. But doing so means ensuring that those with the least means and greatest pollution burdens are not left behind in the transition to clean heating. Cost support, technical support, educational resources, and community engagement can make the transition equitable.

California has set a goal for San Francisco to build 82,069 new homes by 2031. Doing so will mean changing restrictive zoning policies that are currently hindering sufficient housing construction and keeping historic patterns of segregation in place. If the city fails to update its zoning, it risks losing state funding and local control over housing development. ���ϴ�����provides a primer on the state’s housing element law and what it means for San Francisco.

On April 15, Oaklanders will vote on a proposed measure to raise the city’s sales tax from 10.25% to 10.75%, potentially generating an additional $29.98 million in net annual revenue for the city’s General Fund over 10 years. While Measure A is a regressive tax that will not solve Oakland’s structural deficit on its own, ���ϴ�����believes this additional revenue source will help prevent fiscal insolvency and protect against further reductions in public safety services.