San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily
San Francisco’s Reform Backlog: Cops, Permits, Housing, Ethics
Monday, June 22, 2026 · 10 min
San Francisco City Hall’s reform backlog runs through SFPD staffing, small-business permitting, state housing oversight, and public-integrity fixes — the same question in four forms: can the city turn process-heavy government into measurable results?
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Show notes
San Francisco City Hall’s reform backlog runs through SFPD staffing, small-business permitting, state housing oversight, and public-integrity fixes — the same question in four forms: can the city turn process-heavy government into measurable results?
In this episode
- [PDF] Staffing Analysis of the San Francisco Police Department 2025 — City & County of San Francisco Police Department
fNIU Staffing Analysis of the San Francisco Police Department 2025 June 30, 2025 City & County of San Francisco Police Department 2 SFPD Staffing Analysis About this report In November 2020, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, amending the City Charter to remove the previously established Police staffing baseline and requiring the Police Department to submit a report and recommendation…
- Step Back — When people say San Francisco needs to make it easier to open a small business, what does that actually mean in practice — what has to happen between signing a lease and opening the doors, and where do delays usually come from?
Background sources
- S.F. relaxes parts of permitting process for restaurants — St. John Barned-Smith
- Daniel Lurie’s plan to overhaul key part of SF red tape faces test — J.D. Morris
- 5 takeaways from The Standard’s investigation into Lurie’s permit project — Sfstandard
- AB 671 aims to streamline building permits for California restaurants — Elena Kadvany
- These SF neighborhoods are rejecting city plan to speed permitting — Aldo Toledo
- SF supervisors consider extending First Year Free program | Business | sfexaminer.com — James Salazar | Examiner staff writer
- [PDF] San Francisco Housing Policy and Practice Review — California Department of Housing and Community Development
San Francisco Housing Policy and Practice Review California Department of Housing and Community Development Housing Policy Development Division Released October 2023 Table of Contents Introduction ..............................................................1 Statutory Authority for this Review ..........................1 Why Review San Francisco? ...................................2…
“> The City’s failure to implement the Required Actions will result in HCD initiating the process to revoke housing element compliance. Various consequences may apply if the City does not have a housing element in compliance with Housing Element Law, including ineligibility or…” — Hacker News (3 pts thread)
Our take: The block quote is doing all the work, but it points to the real leverage: HCD’s threat is not a scolding; it is funding, courts, and local land-use authority on the line.
- [PDF] Public Integrity Review: Report Recommendations and Actions — SF Environment
Public Integrity Review: Report Recommendations and Actions Tyrone Jue, Acting Director Controller's Report (Link) Assessment Recommendations 1. The Commission on the Environment should ensure that SF Environment establishes a strong, ethical tone at the top, modeling the importance of compliance with ethics laws. 2. Policymakers should revise the refuse rate-setting process and procedures to…