San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily
SF Targets Shadow Delays as Reform Meets Hard Numbers
Friday, May 15, 2026 · 8 min
San Francisco’s reform agenda is getting more concrete: Mahmood wants to strip shadow appeals from housing fights, the city is touting a 15-year low in unsheltered homelessness, and the controller’s economist warns Prop. D could push more businesses out.
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Show notes
San Francisco’s reform agenda is getting more concrete: Mahmood wants to strip shadow appeals from housing fights, the city is touting a 15-year low in unsheltered homelessness, and the controller’s economist warns Prop. D could push more businesses out.
In this episode
- Casting shade on shadows: S.F. supervisor seeks to bar using shadows to block new housing | News Pub — News Pub
Casting shade on shadows: S.F. supervisor seeks to bar using shadows to block new housing | News Pub Connect with us Shadows cast by tall and not-so-tall buildings alike have long been used to block housing in San Francisco, and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood wants it to end. The District 5 legislator is announcing a law on Thursday that would eliminate the ability for people to say shadows cast by…
- Step Back — San Francisco keeps announcing housing reforms, but what actually has to happen between changing a zoning rule and getting new apartments built—and where do projects most often get delayed, downsized, or killed?
Background sources
- S.F. lagged behind other big cities in getting housing permitted — J.K. Dineen
- S.F. wants to stop housing projects from being blocked over shadows — J.K. Dineen
- San Francisco stalled megaprojects would bring 20k homes to market — Roland Li
- One of the Slowest US Cities to Build, San Francisco Is Accelerating ... — Kqed
- This loophole stalled an S.F. affordable housing project for months — Alyce McFadden
- SF sees drop in unsheltered homelessness, reports 15-year low from most recent count — ABC7 San Francisco
San Francisco sees drop in unsheltered homelessness, reports 15-year low from most recent Point-in-Time count - ABC7 San Francisco # SF sees drop in unsheltered homelessness, reports 15-year low from most recent count Thursday, May 14, 2026 7:27PM SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city is seeing a significant decline in unsheltered homelessness, citing preliminary…
- SF's economist: Prop. D Overpaid Executive Tax hike ups risk | Politics | sfexaminer.com — San Francisco Examiner
SF's economist: Prop. D Overpaid Executive Tax hike ups risk | Politics | sfexaminer.com You are the owner of this article. Edit Article Add New Article You have permission to edit this article. Share This Report says ballot measure to raise Overpaid Executive Tax is risky when evidence shows businesses have cut their presences in The City"/> San Francisco Chief Economist Ted Egan — seen in…