24 California Buildings News • November/December 2015
Multifamily Housing (Continued from page 22) housing stock.” For more detailed information, visit: www.uli.org San Francisco is ground-zero in unaffordable housing, and a textbook example of why regional housing planning and cooperation is necessary. But there are solutions. Jim Lazarus, who is senior vice president of public policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, says, “The housing crisis in the Bay Area is a product of geography and 40 years of downzoning and growth limitations. The things that make our quality of life so good; counties that touch either the ocean or the bay, thousands of acres of local, state or national parks, ridge line protections and other limits on where housing can be built, result in housing pressures that can’t be easily met during periods of strong economic growth. Until either the region embraces denser in-fill construction or high speed rail comes on line to bring a workforce quickly into the Bay Area from the Central Valley, the Bay Area will continue to have a housing affordability imbalance.” “For now, the economy continues to soar, but without new housing, the upward trend could taper off,” says California Apartment Association Communications Director Mike Nemeth. The state is adding new jobs, he says, “But apartment construction isn’t keeping pace, and that makes housing more scarce and pushes up rents. What happens when tech workers can’t find housing or can’t afford what’s left? The talent doesn’t come, the jobs move elsewhere and the economy suffers.” n
Modern apartment interiors offer many amenities in a compact space. Top photo: Getty Images. Lower photo: 888 San Mateo, a TCA Architects’ project.