San Francisco Mayor Calls for Quicker Approvals for New Housing

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee urges the streamlining of housing approvals, hoping to build or renovate 5,000 units per year. "That would more than double the city's average annual production of around 1,900 units over the last 30 years," Roland Li reports for the  San Francisco Business Journal. Mayor Lee's directive states that it should take no more than six months to get approvals. "Currently, even small projects can take years for approvals," Li writes. Housing activists voiced their support for the move, but have also expressed concerns over whether or not the city can deliver on the directive.