20,000 San Francisco Homes Stalled in Construction Pipeline

Over 20,000 approved housing units in San Francisco are stalled, reports Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Developers say, despite housing prices shooting up, there are major barriers killing projects. Rents are still below 2019 levels. At the same time, inflation, additional city fees, a shortage of construction materials and the Trump administration’s tariffs mean that building costs have shot up.

In 2024, only 1,453 homes in new builds were completed, compared to 5,000 new units in 2020. “Plans for only 2,541 new homes were filed in 2024, and the city is woefully behind its state-mandated housing goals that call for a call for 82,000 units permitted by 2031.”

The article details several megaprojects that have stalled, including over 5,000 units that were to be built in the Parkmerced complex and the 10,000+ homes slated for construction on the sites of the old Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Park. Some have stalled due to the complicated nature of the project — in Hunters Point, “The Cold War-era shipyard housed Navy ships that had been irradiated by nuclear weapons tests. Ships also included paint with radium, strontium and promethium to increase visibility at night — toxins that were later dumped in the neighborhood.” In others, opposition from neighbors or high construction costs have stalled progress.