The Limitations Of Infill Development In The Bay Area

A home builder points to the "no-growth, anti-housing environmental alliance" that restricts greenfield development as the primary reason the Bay Area is unable to house its growing population.

2 minute read

October 22, 2007, 1:00 PM PDT

By Irvin Dawid


"The Association of Bay Area Governments projects that the nine-county Bay Area region will add nearly 1.5 million residents by 2030. The question is: How and where is the Bay Area going to house its additional 1.5 million residents?"

To date, only one of the nine counties has kept pace with population and job growth, and "not one county met the needs of its moderate- and lower-income residents, and only six of the Bay Area's 101 cities did so."

"The real reason (the area) has failed to produce sufficient housing to accommodate its growing populations is because the Bay Area, with its excessive land-use regulations, is arguably the nation's least hospitable region in which to build housing.

Indeed, the past 30 years of no-growth, anti-housing activism, led by Bay Area environmental groups, has resulted in counties and cities designating more than 1 million acres of land as permanent open space - perhaps more than any other metropolitan area in the world.

Yet the no-growth, anti-housing environmental alliance continues to agitate for even further land-use restrictions, arguing that the Bay Area is 'built out'."

"Bay Area environmental groups argue that most of the home building and development that occurs between now and 2030 ought to be confined to the 16 percent of the region's land area that already is developed.

They suggest that most of 1.5 million additional residents expected in the Bay Area over the next quarter century can be accommodated by smaller-scale, infill housing development."

"If housing were built on every single one of these infill parcels they would yield only a quarter of the new housing needed to keep pace with population growth. So even under the most optimistic scenario, three-quarters of the Bay Area's future housing need is going to have to come from green field development."

"Bay Area environmentalists refuse to accept this reality. A consortium of local environmental groups actually proposes that the region add an additional 1 million acres of land to the inventory of permanent space over the next three decades - about the same time the Bay Area will be adding those 1.5 million new residents."

Thanks to Steve Levy

Sunday, October 21, 2007 in The San Francisco Chronicle

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Wastewater pouring out from a pipe.

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage

Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

April 13, 2025 - Inside Climate News

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

April 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Black and white photos of camp made up of small 'earthquake shacks' in Dolores Park in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees

More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

April 15, 2025 - Charles F. Bloszies

Ken Jennings stands in front of Snohomish County Community Transit bus.

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series

The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

1 hour ago - Streetsblog USA

Close-up on BLM sign on Continental Divide Trail in Rawlins, Wyoming.

BLM To Rescind Public Lands Rule

The change will downgrade conservation, once again putting federal land at risk for mining and other extractive uses.

3 hours ago - Public Domain

Calvary Street bridge over freeway in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Indy Neighborhood Group Builds Temporary Multi-Use Path

Community members, aided in part by funding from the city, repurposed a vehicle lane to create a protected bike and pedestrian path for the summer season.

5 hours ago - Smart Cities Dive