Construction Maison

SAN FRANCISCO — A forum Thursday on the Bay Area’s egregious housing situation — the high prices, the scarcity of new construction — brought together academics, developers, real estate agents , government officials and housing advocates, all in the name of seeking creative solutions to the crisis. It was both a cry for help and a call to action. “They have their crazies. We need our crazies,” said panelist Laura Foote Clarke , executive director of YIMBY Action, which advocates for housing growth. Yes, that’s YIMBY, as in “Yes In My Backyard,” and the “they” she referred to was the other side — the many and often well-organized “Not In My Backyard” NIMBY opponents of housing development and densification in neighborhoods around the region. For more Bay Area housing affordability , home sales and other real estate news follow us on Flipboard. Held at LinkedIn San Francisco in front of an engaged audience of about 175 people, the forum was titled “California Housing Crisis : Examinin...

The good news: San Francisco will issue far more building permits than usual this year. But determining whether or not that amount of entitled construction is enough depends on your expectations. Real estate site Trulia ’s latest construction report took a creative approach to quantifying construction in 84 major cities and surrounding areas, comparing the projected level of new building by the end of 2017 to what it calls the “historical average.” That is to say, how many building permits the same cities issued on average since 1980. In the case of San Francisco (or more accurately, San Francisco and San Mateo County , which the report merges together for reasons having to do with the U.S. Census), the 35-plus year average comes out to 3,221 permits/year. This year’s projected total adds up to 4,571, amounting to almost 142 percent of the norm. That’s tenth in the nation, which has got to be considered a handy uptick at least. Andrew Zarivny On the other hand, it’s also a result un...

San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin has asked the city attorney to explore legislation to impose a vacancy tax on large property owners who leave residential and commercial buildings empty . During a supervisors meeting this month, Peskin said he continues to receive complaints about the impact of “ghost buildings” on neighborhoods. The problem is, nobody really knows how many vacant homes there are in the city and whether a vacancy tax would be legal or effective in freeing up much-needed housing. In an interview, Peskin cited a 28- unit apartment building at 1656 Powell St. that was vacated after a fire damaged some units in December 2013. It remains empty. The three-story building is in a prime North Beach location across from Washington Square Park . Four businesses on the building’s ground floor — a liquor store, a bar, a Thai restaurant and a seafood restaurant — are open, but the apartments above still have boarded-up windows and a littered lobby. Some work was done in the...