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"content": "\u003cp>San José leaders are considering a plan to spread future shelters for people experiencing homelessness across the city, in response to complaints from some residents about the concentration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072999/tiny-homes-big-ambitions-matt-mahans-run-for-governor-spotlights-his-shelter-strategy\">interim housing\u003c/a> in Downtown and South San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15287745&GUID=E76CE262-AB90-4E36-B09E-1A3079B0EB10\">proposal\u003c/a>, unanimously approved Wednesday by the city council’s Rules and Open Government Committee, directs San José’s city manager to craft a policy to “decrease clustering” of future Emergency Interim Housing developments, typically communities of tiny homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The call for geographic equity mirrors a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050263/a-new-san-francisco-plan-would-spread-out-homeless-shelters-more-evenly\">similar push\u003c/a> in San Francisco, which enacted a policy last year to limit new shelter construction in certain neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José recently completed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072666/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-wants-to-be-governor-heres-a-look-into-his-signature-homelessness-program\">rapid expansion\u003c/a> of temporary shelter, opening nearly 2,200 shelter spots across nearly two dozen tiny home villages, converted motels and RV parking lots. But even after the ambitious buildout, many neighborhoods — including upscale West San José and Evergreen — have no shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a staff memo, while previous city councils have approved policies referencing “equitable distribution” of shelters, the idea has never been codified into law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076281\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/250529-SJArrestShelterVote-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/250529-SJArrestShelterVote-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/250529-SJArrestShelterVote-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/250529-SJArrestShelterVote-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Via del Oro interim housing community in San José on May 29, 2025, developed by DignityMoves in partnership with the city. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Issa Ajlouny, who leads a neighborhood advisory committee for an interim housing site in South San José, said he pushed the council to consider a siting policy after reading a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059460/bay-area-cities-expand-homeless-shelters-winning-over-neighbors-is-the-hard-part\">KQED story\u003c/a> on the topic. Ajlouny and other supporters argue it is unfair that some neighborhoods aren’t part of a solution to a citywide problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just common sense,” Ajlouny said in an interview. “It keeps the integrity of what the city of San José officials have stated they were going to do, and it’s just the fair thing to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It remains to be seen whether the San José policy will require shelter in new neighborhoods — or simply restrict additional temporary housing near existing sites.[aside postID=news_12075812 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260202-SuperBowlOpeningNight-08-BL_qed.jpg']While the expansion of shelter into new parts of the city could garner neighborhood opposition, homeless advocates fear geographic equity plans implicitly promote the idea that shelters are a “burden” on local communities. Mayors, including Daniel Lurie in San Francisco and Matt Mahan in San José, have warned that such ordinances slow the process of bringing people indoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059460/bay-area-cities-expand-homeless-shelters-winning-over-neighbors-is-the-hard-part\">interview\u003c/a> last year, Mahan said a restriction on new shelter in South San José would have prevented the city from opening Via del Oro, a tiny home development on land donated by a private developer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you create a straitjacket through policy, you start missing opportunities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Supervisor Bilal Mahmood first introduced San Francisco’s policy, it mandated a new temporary housing or behavioral health care facility in each supervisorial district by mid-2026. But after opposition from Lurie, the bill was amended to only \u003ca href=\"https://sfbos.org/sites/default/files/o0172-25.pdf\">restrict new shelters\u003c/a> in neighborhoods where the number of existing beds exceeds the number of unhoused residents — and even that restriction can be paused by a board vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers continue building units at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The interim housing site is expected to house up to 200 people. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In San José, the opening of new shelters could be years away. A construction sprint that added 1,000 beds in 2025 finished last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Wednesday’s hearing, Councilmember Domingo Candelas questioned whether a siting policy is worth staff time now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I also want to be realistic given the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075812/mahan-calls-for-belt-tightening-in-san-jose-budget-plan\">$56 million deficit\u003c/a> that we are facing and the reality that the administration on numerous occasions has come back and said we are not in expansion mode at all whatsoever,” Candelas said at Wednesday’s meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Vice Mayor Pam Foley, who co-authored the proposal, argued it’s not too early for the city to think about its next phase of shelter construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unsheltered homelessness in San José decreased by 10% between 2023 and 2025, but last year’s point-in-time count found nearly 4,000 people were still without shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The interior of a finished tiny home is seen through an open doorway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. Each unit includes a bed, storage space and basic furnishings for residents transitioning out of homelessness. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’ve already said as a council that we’re not moving forward with any more EIH [Emergency Interim Housing] at the time,” Foley said. “The idea is in the future, when we do make that decision, that we look at districts that do not have EIHs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lori Katcher, a resident who spoke at the meeting on behalf of the civil rights group Standing Up for Racial Justice, said the policy could be especially valuable for people who fall into homelessness in neighborhoods without existing shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that homelessness can befall anyone in any part of our city, and to have safe places for folks to go wherever they are living, near to where they are living, is very important,” Katcher said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A city committee approved a proposal that aims to spread future interim housing sites across the city. San Francisco enacted a similar law last year. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San José leaders are considering a plan to spread future shelters for people experiencing homelessness across the city, in response to complaints from some residents about the concentration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072999/tiny-homes-big-ambitions-matt-mahans-run-for-governor-spotlights-his-shelter-strategy\">interim housing\u003c/a> in Downtown and South San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15287745&GUID=E76CE262-AB90-4E36-B09E-1A3079B0EB10\">proposal\u003c/a>, unanimously approved Wednesday by the city council’s Rules and Open Government Committee, directs San José’s city manager to craft a policy to “decrease clustering” of future Emergency Interim Housing developments, typically communities of tiny homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The call for geographic equity mirrors a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050263/a-new-san-francisco-plan-would-spread-out-homeless-shelters-more-evenly\">similar push\u003c/a> in San Francisco, which enacted a policy last year to limit new shelter construction in certain neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José recently completed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072666/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-wants-to-be-governor-heres-a-look-into-his-signature-homelessness-program\">rapid expansion\u003c/a> of temporary shelter, opening nearly 2,200 shelter spots across nearly two dozen tiny home villages, converted motels and RV parking lots. But even after the ambitious buildout, many neighborhoods — including upscale West San José and Evergreen — have no shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a staff memo, while previous city councils have approved policies referencing “equitable distribution” of shelters, the idea has never been codified into law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076281\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/250529-SJArrestShelterVote-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/250529-SJArrestShelterVote-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/250529-SJArrestShelterVote-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/250529-SJArrestShelterVote-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Via del Oro interim housing community in San José on May 29, 2025, developed by DignityMoves in partnership with the city. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Issa Ajlouny, who leads a neighborhood advisory committee for an interim housing site in South San José, said he pushed the council to consider a siting policy after reading a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059460/bay-area-cities-expand-homeless-shelters-winning-over-neighbors-is-the-hard-part\">KQED story\u003c/a> on the topic. Ajlouny and other supporters argue it is unfair that some neighborhoods aren’t part of a solution to a citywide problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just common sense,” Ajlouny said in an interview. “It keeps the integrity of what the city of San José officials have stated they were going to do, and it’s just the fair thing to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It remains to be seen whether the San José policy will require shelter in new neighborhoods — or simply restrict additional temporary housing near existing sites.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While the expansion of shelter into new parts of the city could garner neighborhood opposition, homeless advocates fear geographic equity plans implicitly promote the idea that shelters are a “burden” on local communities. Mayors, including Daniel Lurie in San Francisco and Matt Mahan in San José, have warned that such ordinances slow the process of bringing people indoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059460/bay-area-cities-expand-homeless-shelters-winning-over-neighbors-is-the-hard-part\">interview\u003c/a> last year, Mahan said a restriction on new shelter in South San José would have prevented the city from opening Via del Oro, a tiny home development on land donated by a private developer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you create a straitjacket through policy, you start missing opportunities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Supervisor Bilal Mahmood first introduced San Francisco’s policy, it mandated a new temporary housing or behavioral health care facility in each supervisorial district by mid-2026. But after opposition from Lurie, the bill was amended to only \u003ca href=\"https://sfbos.org/sites/default/files/o0172-25.pdf\">restrict new shelters\u003c/a> in neighborhoods where the number of existing beds exceeds the number of unhoused residents — and even that restriction can be paused by a board vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers continue building units at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The interim housing site is expected to house up to 200 people. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In San José, the opening of new shelters could be years away. A construction sprint that added 1,000 beds in 2025 finished last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Wednesday’s hearing, Councilmember Domingo Candelas questioned whether a siting policy is worth staff time now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I also want to be realistic given the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075812/mahan-calls-for-belt-tightening-in-san-jose-budget-plan\">$56 million deficit\u003c/a> that we are facing and the reality that the administration on numerous occasions has come back and said we are not in expansion mode at all whatsoever,” Candelas said at Wednesday’s meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Vice Mayor Pam Foley, who co-authored the proposal, argued it’s not too early for the city to think about its next phase of shelter construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unsheltered homelessness in San José decreased by 10% between 2023 and 2025, but last year’s point-in-time count found nearly 4,000 people were still without shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The interior of a finished tiny home is seen through an open doorway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. Each unit includes a bed, storage space and basic furnishings for residents transitioning out of homelessness. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’ve already said as a council that we’re not moving forward with any more EIH [Emergency Interim Housing] at the time,” Foley said. “The idea is in the future, when we do make that decision, that we look at districts that do not have EIHs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lori Katcher, a resident who spoke at the meeting on behalf of the civil rights group Standing Up for Racial Justice, said the policy could be especially valuable for people who fall into homelessness in neighborhoods without existing shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that homelessness can befall anyone in any part of our city, and to have safe places for folks to go wherever they are living, near to where they are living, is very important,” Katcher said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "campbell-fast-tracks-townhome-development-first-in-state",
"title": "Campbell Fast-tracks Townhome Development, First in State",
"publishDate": 1772895602,
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"headTitle": "Campbell Fast-tracks Townhome Development, First in State | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A Campbell townhome complex that broke ground on Friday tests \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970993/these-new-california-housing-laws-are-going-into-effect-in-2024\">a 2023 state law\u003c/a> designed to fast-track small-scale homeownership opportunities for middle-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The six-unit Mercury Lane Townhomes, located at 300 Redding Road in Campbell, is believed to be the first construction under \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB684\">SB 684\u003c/a>, a state law known as California’s Starter Home Revitalization Act, state Sen. Anna Caballero said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SB 684 streamlines permitting for qualified projects that have two to ten units, like Mercury Lane, bypassing the public hearings and environmental reviews typically required for a new development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Units are expected to be completed in early 2027 with projected prices starting at around $1.15 million — well below the median home price in Campbell, which exceeds $1.8 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s event represents progress, partnership and practical solutions to California’s housing shortage,” said Caballero, who authored the bill, at the Friday groundbreaking ceremony. “Proof that smart policy can translate into real homes for real families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075717\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075717\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The lot at 300 Redding Road in Campbell, where the Mercury Lane Townhomes will be built. Construction broke ground on Friday, March 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of AlphaX RE Capital)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nolan Gray, California YIMBY’s senior director of legislation and research, said the bill was designed to mitigate the lengthy approval process that otherwise \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965492/san-francisco-takes-forever-to-approve-new-housing-california-officials-are-forcing-change\">slows down\u003c/a> construction across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985468/map-what-you-need-to-earn-to-afford-a-median-priced-home-in-your-county-in-california\">Homeownership in California\u003c/a> has become increasingly out of reach, as the state holds the second-lowest homeownership rate in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s median home price is roughly eight times higher than the state’s median household income. Homeownership has skewed older, with younger buyers often banking on inherited wealth or property to get a foothold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You essentially need intergenerational wealth to become a homeowner, or you have to sort of morbidly wait for your parents to pass away and inherit their home,” said Gray.[aside postID=news_12075043 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg']“This is not how we’re going to build the next generation of middle-class California families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under standard permitting, projects can face months or years of discretionary review, environmental analysis and potential litigation, Gray said. SB 684 created what is known as ministerial review — meaning if a project meets the legal requirements, it must be approved within 60 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s impossible to scale housing production as long as you have these sorts of delays,” Gray said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campbell Mayor Daniel Furtado said projects like Mercury Lane are precisely what the city needs. Campbell, a city of about 47,000 in Santa Clara County, already has roughly equal shares of single-family and multi-family housing. Campbell is the first city in Santa Clara County with a state-certified housing plan and a pro-housing designation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project’s developer, AlphaX RE Capital, is a Silicon Valley firm that has used new state housing laws to build more than 500 units. In this case, the company submitted its application under SB 684 in January 2025 and received approval eight months later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ruby Huo, a director at the firm, said the streamlined process led to a viable project that would have otherwise been financially unworkable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075718\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075718\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Stephanie-Yi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Stephanie-Yi.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Stephanie-Yi-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Stephanie-Yi-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephanie Yi, founder and CEO of AlphaX RE Capital, speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for Mercury Lane Townhomes in Campbell on Friday, March 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of AlphaX RE Capital)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Huo said the streamlined review process helped the developer and builder reduce the holding and financing costs. Each unit will range from roughly 1,400 to nearly 2,000 square feet, with floor plans offering three or four bedrooms and two-car garages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AlphaX said that midway through construction, it plans to open an interest list for buyers, with a focus on younger families and first-time buyers. Huo said the firm is already using the same state law as it works on about 20 similar projects across the Bay Area, including four additional developments in Campbell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California YIMBY’s Muhammad Alameldin noted that while 60-day approval is a meaningful step forward, housing advocates would like to see more aggressive policy changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our goal here is for homes to be approved within 24 hours, just like it is in many other states,” he said. “This is a good start, but we’re in a housing crisis, and we’re treating it like a crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A Campbell townhome complex that broke ground on Friday tests \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970993/these-new-california-housing-laws-are-going-into-effect-in-2024\">a 2023 state law\u003c/a> designed to fast-track small-scale homeownership opportunities for middle-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The six-unit Mercury Lane Townhomes, located at 300 Redding Road in Campbell, is believed to be the first construction under \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB684\">SB 684\u003c/a>, a state law known as California’s Starter Home Revitalization Act, state Sen. Anna Caballero said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SB 684 streamlines permitting for qualified projects that have two to ten units, like Mercury Lane, bypassing the public hearings and environmental reviews typically required for a new development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Units are expected to be completed in early 2027 with projected prices starting at around $1.15 million — well below the median home price in Campbell, which exceeds $1.8 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s event represents progress, partnership and practical solutions to California’s housing shortage,” said Caballero, who authored the bill, at the Friday groundbreaking ceremony. “Proof that smart policy can translate into real homes for real families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075717\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075717\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Site-Aerial-Photo-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The lot at 300 Redding Road in Campbell, where the Mercury Lane Townhomes will be built. Construction broke ground on Friday, March 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of AlphaX RE Capital)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nolan Gray, California YIMBY’s senior director of legislation and research, said the bill was designed to mitigate the lengthy approval process that otherwise \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965492/san-francisco-takes-forever-to-approve-new-housing-california-officials-are-forcing-change\">slows down\u003c/a> construction across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985468/map-what-you-need-to-earn-to-afford-a-median-priced-home-in-your-county-in-california\">Homeownership in California\u003c/a> has become increasingly out of reach, as the state holds the second-lowest homeownership rate in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s median home price is roughly eight times higher than the state’s median household income. Homeownership has skewed older, with younger buyers often banking on inherited wealth or property to get a foothold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You essentially need intergenerational wealth to become a homeowner, or you have to sort of morbidly wait for your parents to pass away and inherit their home,” said Gray.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“This is not how we’re going to build the next generation of middle-class California families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under standard permitting, projects can face months or years of discretionary review, environmental analysis and potential litigation, Gray said. SB 684 created what is known as ministerial review — meaning if a project meets the legal requirements, it must be approved within 60 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s impossible to scale housing production as long as you have these sorts of delays,” Gray said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campbell Mayor Daniel Furtado said projects like Mercury Lane are precisely what the city needs. Campbell, a city of about 47,000 in Santa Clara County, already has roughly equal shares of single-family and multi-family housing. Campbell is the first city in Santa Clara County with a state-certified housing plan and a pro-housing designation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project’s developer, AlphaX RE Capital, is a Silicon Valley firm that has used new state housing laws to build more than 500 units. In this case, the company submitted its application under SB 684 in January 2025 and received approval eight months later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ruby Huo, a director at the firm, said the streamlined process led to a viable project that would have otherwise been financially unworkable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075718\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075718\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Stephanie-Yi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Stephanie-Yi.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Stephanie-Yi-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/Stephanie-Yi-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephanie Yi, founder and CEO of AlphaX RE Capital, speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for Mercury Lane Townhomes in Campbell on Friday, March 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of AlphaX RE Capital)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Huo said the streamlined review process helped the developer and builder reduce the holding and financing costs. Each unit will range from roughly 1,400 to nearly 2,000 square feet, with floor plans offering three or four bedrooms and two-car garages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AlphaX said that midway through construction, it plans to open an interest list for buyers, with a focus on younger families and first-time buyers. Huo said the firm is already using the same state law as it works on about 20 similar projects across the Bay Area, including four additional developments in Campbell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California YIMBY’s Muhammad Alameldin noted that while 60-day approval is a meaningful step forward, housing advocates would like to see more aggressive policy changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our goal here is for homes to be approved within 24 hours, just like it is in many other states,” he said. “This is a good start, but we’re in a housing crisis, and we’re treating it like a crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "one-of-the-slowest-us-cities-to-build-san-francisco-is-accelerating-housing-permits",
"title": "One of the Slowest US Cities to Build, San Francisco Is Accelerating Housing Permits",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055982/supervisors-proposal-seeks-to-address-housing-death-spiral-in-san-francisco\">infamously slow\u003c/a> building permitting process may be getting faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A city study published Thursday found that between January 2024 and August 2025, the timeline on permit approvals for new housing in San Francisco was cut by half — from an average of 605 days down to around 280 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And permit applications that were filed within that 19-month window had even shorter turnaround times, at 114 days on average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco has addressed much of the “low-hanging fruit” to speed up its operation over the last two years, said San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who commissioned the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he said the city still has a backlog of years-old permit applications, and tens of thousands of entitled units without approval to build — issues he said could require a ballot measure to fix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re also now getting to this point where, despite all of those changes, we’re still the slowest city to build,” he said. “We have to now take a stab at the harder problems, including Charter reform, to enable us to be able to make those changes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, city leaders have lambasted San Francisco’s permitting process as disjointed and archaic. And a state-commissioned report published in 2022 found that San Francisco was the slowest California jurisdiction to approve permit applications for housing projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051931\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051931\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Bilal Mahmood speaks at an event celebrating the creation of a union by the workers at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation at Boeddeker Park in San Francisco on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2024, Mahmood campaigned on cutting red tape that made development in the city challenging — including a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055982/supervisors-proposal-seeks-to-address-housing-death-spiral-in-san-francisco\">still-vacant former car wash\u003c/a> lot in his district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Daniel Lurie has also focused on improving the city’s buildability, launching his landmark ‘PermitSF’ initiative to centralize the application process last year. In February, his office introduced an online portal that allows people to apply for certain types of permits. The state also passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965492/san-francisco-takes-forever-to-approve-new-housing-california-officials-are-forcing-change\">new laws in 2023\u003c/a> aimed at expediting the application review process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While a marked improvement, Mahmood said the process still takes significantly longer than other cities analyzed in the report — including San Diego, where permitting approvals took an average of 134 days, and Austin, Texas, where the same process spanned just 91 days.[aside postID=news_12075043 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg']“Yes, we’re getting faster at the ones we’re approving, but there’s still a lot that aren’t even approved,” he said. Mahmood said that the report’s timeline is based on about 740 permits approved in that time, but there’s a backlog of more than 1,300 applications that haven’t yet been issued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of those pending applications have been in the pipeline since 2017 — as of Oct. 29, the average number of days that those permits had been awaiting approval was 1,489 days, or more than four years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also needs to allow for more than 80,000 new housing units by 2031, in line with the state’s mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the report, five city departments are involved in approving a permit application, with no single point of contact that oversees applications all the way from filing to permit issuance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, one or more departments start their review process later than others, the report said, causing delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood said it can also be complicated for developers to communicate with the many departments and fulfill requests of each of their reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the ways he’s proposed to ease these problems is by consolidating the number of departments involved in the process. In January, Lurie announced plans to merge the Planning Department, the Department of Building Inspection and Permit Center, an effort he said would “mean better coordination, time and cost savings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11965531\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11965531 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The TransAmerica Pyramid peeks out behind wooden walls as workers construct two affordable housing developments in San Francisco in February 2020. \u003ccite>(Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But to achieve that goal, Mahmood said, voters would need to approve reforms to the city’s charter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the charter outlines each department’s responsibilities. Mahmood said the ballot measure he’s considering would move those department responsibilities into the city’s administrative code, giving the Mayor and Board of Supervisors flexibility to restructure the departments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That will help to fully realize that vision that the Mayor’s already announced,” he told KQED. Lurie and Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman also \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news-mayor-lurie-president-mandelman-launch-effort-to-reform-bloated-outdated-city-charter-improve-services-for-san-franciscans\">launched plans in December\u003c/a> to reform the city’s charter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If he chooses to do so, Mahmood will have until June to submit a proposed ordinance, with the support of at least four members of the Board of Supervisors or the Mayor’s office, in time for the November election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055982/supervisors-proposal-seeks-to-address-housing-death-spiral-in-san-francisco\">infamously slow\u003c/a> building permitting process may be getting faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A city study published Thursday found that between January 2024 and August 2025, the timeline on permit approvals for new housing in San Francisco was cut by half — from an average of 605 days down to around 280 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And permit applications that were filed within that 19-month window had even shorter turnaround times, at 114 days on average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco has addressed much of the “low-hanging fruit” to speed up its operation over the last two years, said San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who commissioned the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he said the city still has a backlog of years-old permit applications, and tens of thousands of entitled units without approval to build — issues he said could require a ballot measure to fix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re also now getting to this point where, despite all of those changes, we’re still the slowest city to build,” he said. “We have to now take a stab at the harder problems, including Charter reform, to enable us to be able to make those changes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, city leaders have lambasted San Francisco’s permitting process as disjointed and archaic. And a state-commissioned report published in 2022 found that San Francisco was the slowest California jurisdiction to approve permit applications for housing projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051931\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051931\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250812-TNDC-UNION-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Bilal Mahmood speaks at an event celebrating the creation of a union by the workers at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation at Boeddeker Park in San Francisco on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2024, Mahmood campaigned on cutting red tape that made development in the city challenging — including a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055982/supervisors-proposal-seeks-to-address-housing-death-spiral-in-san-francisco\">still-vacant former car wash\u003c/a> lot in his district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Daniel Lurie has also focused on improving the city’s buildability, launching his landmark ‘PermitSF’ initiative to centralize the application process last year. In February, his office introduced an online portal that allows people to apply for certain types of permits. The state also passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965492/san-francisco-takes-forever-to-approve-new-housing-california-officials-are-forcing-change\">new laws in 2023\u003c/a> aimed at expediting the application review process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While a marked improvement, Mahmood said the process still takes significantly longer than other cities analyzed in the report — including San Diego, where permitting approvals took an average of 134 days, and Austin, Texas, where the same process spanned just 91 days.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Yes, we’re getting faster at the ones we’re approving, but there’s still a lot that aren’t even approved,” he said. Mahmood said that the report’s timeline is based on about 740 permits approved in that time, but there’s a backlog of more than 1,300 applications that haven’t yet been issued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of those pending applications have been in the pipeline since 2017 — as of Oct. 29, the average number of days that those permits had been awaiting approval was 1,489 days, or more than four years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also needs to allow for more than 80,000 new housing units by 2031, in line with the state’s mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the report, five city departments are involved in approving a permit application, with no single point of contact that oversees applications all the way from filing to permit issuance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, one or more departments start their review process later than others, the report said, causing delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood said it can also be complicated for developers to communicate with the many departments and fulfill requests of each of their reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the ways he’s proposed to ease these problems is by consolidating the number of departments involved in the process. In January, Lurie announced plans to merge the Planning Department, the Department of Building Inspection and Permit Center, an effort he said would “mean better coordination, time and cost savings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11965531\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11965531 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/GettyImages-1282775801-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The TransAmerica Pyramid peeks out behind wooden walls as workers construct two affordable housing developments in San Francisco in February 2020. \u003ccite>(Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But to achieve that goal, Mahmood said, voters would need to approve reforms to the city’s charter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the charter outlines each department’s responsibilities. Mahmood said the ballot measure he’s considering would move those department responsibilities into the city’s administrative code, giving the Mayor and Board of Supervisors flexibility to restructure the departments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That will help to fully realize that vision that the Mayor’s already announced,” he told KQED. Lurie and Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman also \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news-mayor-lurie-president-mandelman-launch-effort-to-reform-bloated-outdated-city-charter-improve-services-for-san-franciscans\">launched plans in December\u003c/a> to reform the city’s charter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If he chooses to do so, Mahmood will have until June to submit a proposed ordinance, with the support of at least four members of the Board of Supervisors or the Mayor’s office, in time for the November election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "how-south-san-francisco-became-the-birthplace-of-biotechnology",
"title": "How South San Francisco Became the Birthplace of Biotechnology",
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"headTitle": "How South San Francisco Became the Birthplace of Biotechnology | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long before sleek \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11933882/beyond-vaccines-biotech-is-booming-in-the-bay-area-despite-a-cooling-economy\">biotech campuses\u003c/a> and venture capital arrived, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/south-san-francisco\">South San Francisco\u003c/a> had a very different identity. For much of the 20th century, it absorbed the Bay Area’s mess — industries that were noisy, dirty, politically inconvenient, or simply unwanted elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slaughterhouses. Steel mills. Shipyards. Freight terminals. Businesses that needed elbow room and cheap land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1923, the city declared its role in giant white letters on a hillside above town: “South San Francisco The Industrial City.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“South San Francisco, like Emeryville, were industrial suburbs,” said Richard Walker, a professor emeritus of economic and urban geography at the University of California, Berkeley. “These were set up expressly to shelter industry from taxes, from protest, from labor, and they worked very effectively.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Town councils limited housing, zoned big swaths for heavy industry, and kept taxes and rules light. The idea was to park loud, polluting businesses far from residential neighborhoods — and make them easy to operate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075369\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075369\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1473\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED-1536x1131.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aerial view of South San Francisco’s Sign Hill, circa 1930. \u003ccite>(Courtesy South San Francisco Public Library Local History Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beyond town borders, the Bay Area as a whole was comfortable with risk and experimentation, a mindset that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You had a lot of young people, a lot of skilled workers, and a lot of capital,” Walker said of the Bay Area. “So this was an intellectual center, an industrial center, a capitalist center because of Bank of America.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A risk-tolerant region meets a risky science\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Those conditions mattered when a new science arrived in the 1970s. Biotechnology required not just smart people and money, but a tolerance for uncertainty and perceived risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists were learning how to cut and paste genes — editing code, but for living things. The technique, called recombinant DNA, made it possible to insert genetic instructions into bacteria and harness them to manufacture human hormones and medicines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early days, that power was both thrilling and unsettling. Scientists worried that engineered microbes could behave unpredictably — escape the lab, spread through air or water, or create entirely new biological risks they didn’t yet know how to contain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The concerns were serious enough that, in 1975, many molecular biologists took an extraordinary step: they voluntarily halted their own research. About 150 scientists gathered at an oceanside retreat in Pacific Grove called Asilomar. For four days, they debated the dangers, negotiated boundaries, and ultimately agreed on a set of guidelines for conducting recombinant DNA research safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Public backlash\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>But then the public learned about what was happening inside labs. To some, tinkering with DNA felt apocalyptic because scientists might create new life they couldn’t control. News headlines leaned into worst-case scenarios: superbugs and lab accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the era of the Andromeda Strain,” said Robin Wolfe Scheffler, historian of biology and medicine at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[aside postID=news_12074947 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00252_TV-KQED.jpg']Trust in science and government was low. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11861810/no-the-tuskegee-study-is-not-the-top-reason-some-black-americans-question-the-covid-19-vaccine\">Tuskegee syphilis study\u003c/a> had recently been exposed, revealing profound abuses. Americans were reckoning with the health impacts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11617827/this-vietnam-paratrooper-was-exposed-to-agent-orange-today-he-lives-with-parkinsons\">Agent Orange\u003c/a>. Nuclear anxiety lingered after the meltdown at \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/three/\">Three Mile Island\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backlash spread quickly. Cities began debating whether they should regulate or ban genetic engineering. In Cambridge, Mass., officials considered outlawing it altogether. In Berkeley and San Francisco, protesters marched, chanting slogans like, “We will not be cloned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For researchers hoping to commercialize their discoveries, this created a bottleneck. Biotech startups needed large laboratories, sewer hookups, industrial equipment, and stable local rules. They needed places without residential neighbors ready to revolt. A place like South San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Proof of concept\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By the mid-1970s, South San Francisco’s leaders were actively searching for a new economic base. The steel mills were mostly gone. Meatpacking was shrinking. Shipping was slowing. When a young venture capitalist named Bob Swanson arrived with an idea that scared much of the country, they didn’t recoil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swanson was newly laid off from a venture capital firm and living in San Francisco, broke and uncertain about his future. Convinced biotechnology was poised to take off, he cold-called a scruffy, long-haired biochemist named Herbert Boyer at the University of California, San Francisco, who agreed to a 20-minute meeting on a Friday afternoon. The casual meeting was so successful that they decided to pool $1,000 and start a new company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074375\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Genentech headquarters at 1 DNA Way in South San Francisco on Feb. 23, 2026. South San Francisco was historically an industrial area, housing shipyards, slaughterhouses and a steel mill. Now it’s a biotech hub. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Swanson floated the name Herbob — for Herb and Bob. Boyer vetoed it and suggested Genentech, short for Genetic Engineering and Technology. More marketable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They couldn’t afford office space in San Francisco. Plus, keeping a private company inside UCSF’s public labs raised thorny questions about who owned the science. (Those tensions would later surface in a long-running patent dispute between UCSF and Genentech tied to some of the earliest recombinant DNA research, \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/1999/11/genentech-pays-off-ucsf/\">a case\u003c/a> the two sides settled in 1999.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They landed in South San Francisco. Genentech’s first office sat off East Grand Avenue, next door to a pornography studio. There were few residents to complain, and plenty of industrial space suitable for fermentation tanks and pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the national debate over genetic engineering raged, Genentech’s scientists worked quietly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1977, they produced the first synthetic human insulin using genetically engineered bacteria, a breakthrough that transformed diabetes care and proved biotechnology could work at scale. Until then, people with diabetes relied on insulin extracted from cows and pigs: lifesaving, but imperfect. Genentech’s insulin was identical to the human version.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The success triggered a cascade. Former Genentech scientists founded new companies nearby to develop drugs for HIV and cancer. Warehouses filled. A cluster emerged. Today, South San Francisco is one of the most valuable square miles in American science, with more than 250 biotechnology companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Hey everyone. I’m Olivia Allen-Price, and this is Bay Curious.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today we head to South San Francisco. You pass it when you’re driving north from the airport along Highway 101– there are giant white letters carved into a hillside. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They read: “The Industrial City.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Faris Alikhan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It used to be meatpacking plants and steel foundries.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Faris Alikhan grew up in South San Francisco, went to high school there — and about half his graduating class went on to work in biotech. His mom did too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Faris Alikhan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why did it become this hub of biotechnology? People move here from all around the world to work in that one industry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Biotechnology is a process. Scientists take a living cell, like yeast or bacteria, and program them to make medicine. They grow those cells in massive tanks — like a brewery — and harvest what the cells produce to make vaccines, antibiotics, and cancer treatments. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today, there are more than 250 biotech companies in South San Francisco, including Genentech. Faris wondered why \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">South San Francisco\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and not closer to an educational hub, like Stanford or Berkeley? How and why did this stretch of waterfront become the birthplace of biotechnology? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Turns out he’s not alone in wondering this. Today’s question won a public voting round on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BayCurious.org\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED health correspondent Lesley McClurg headed to South San Francisco to find out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> When you drive down DNA way in South San Francisco it’s a little like a science fiction set. Shuttle buses glide between glass towers. Doctoral students sip matcha with CEOs. Researchers slip in workouts between experiments. Every amenity is available inside a self-contained city. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Low rumble of a freight train\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But 100 years ago this stretch of land was nicknamed the smokestack capital of the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Peninsula\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peninsula\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">… Freight terminals. Shipyards. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cb>Archival clip:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> By July 1944 nearly 16,000 men and women were employed in the shipyards all playing a role in the country’s victory.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a dirty, loud, industrial area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> South San Francisco, like Emeryville, they were industrial suburbs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Richard Walker is a professor emeritus of economic and urban geography at UC Berkeley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> These were these were set up expressly to shelter industry from taxes, from protest, from labor and they worked very effectively. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the early and mid-20th century, local governments actively steered factories, warehouses, and refineries into these fringe cities. Town councils zoned big swaths of land for heavy industry. They limited housing, and kept taxes and rules light. The idea was to park the loud, dirty stuff far from residential neighborhoods — and make it easy for companies to operate. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond the town’s borders, Walker says the Bay Area as a region was also unusually comfortable with risk and experimentation, a mindset that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You had a lot of young people, a lot of skilled workers, and a lot of capital. So this was an intellectual center, an industrial center, a capitalist center because of Bank of America, lots of capital available through San Francisco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of that mattered when a new science came along in the 70s. Biotech needed smart people and money — AND it needed places willing to tolerate risk. And that’s where South San Francisco stood apart. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robin Wolfe Scheffler is a historian of biology and medicine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> A community that was very used to dealing with potentially hazardous or unpleasant and industrial neighbors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And those industries were already in flux. The steel mills were mostly gone. Meatpacking was shrinking. Shipping was slowing. South San Francisco had space, infrastructure that was up for grabs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For people seeking to work with recombinant DNA in the late 1970s, that was actually perfect. Because many of the cities next to academic centers of molecular biology research were very concerned about its potential health hazards.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Genetic research was controversial. And in some cities, like Berkely or Palo Alto, very unwelcome.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NewsHour clip:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The hottest scientific controversy since man learned to split the atom is now raging over a new branch of biology called genetic engineering. This tampering with the most basic ingredients of life raises moral and ethical problems as grave as nuclear fission did.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scientists had just learned how to cut and paste genes — kind of like editing code, but for living things. This technique, called recombinant DNA, allows researchers to use special enzymes to slip pieces of genetic material into bacteria. Suddenly it seemed possible to rewrite the instructions inside living things. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was both exciting and terrifying. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NewsHour clip: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It might be a new drug of tremendous value in fighting disease, or it might be a new virus terribly dangerous to man. Some scientists want the research banned, and a large number want it controlled. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even molecular biologists were spooked by the possibilities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The scientific community was divided over how hazardous this potential technique was.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were so worried that they called a halt to their own work – and decided to convene a meeting. In 1975, about 150 scientists gathered in California at an oceanside retreat in Pacific Grove called Asilomar. For four days they argued, negotiated, and finally agreed on a set of guidelines for doing recombinant DNA research safely.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But then the public learned about what was happening inside labs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the era of the Andromeda strain, this is the era of Three Mile Island, this is a a moment when overall there’s a huge amount of social concern over the impact of technology and science on the environment. and trust in the institutions of science and technology to regulate themselves is at a low ebb.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Americans had learned that the government had secretly let Black men suffer and die in the Tuskegee syphilis study. They were also just beginning to reckon with the health fallout of Agent Orange from the Vietnam War. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To some, tinkering with DNA felt apocalyptic. People worried engineered bacteria could escape the lab — through the air, water, or sewers — and make people sick. Others feared scientists were crossing an ethical line, creating new life they couldn’t control. Headlines leaned into worst-case scenarios: superbugs and lab accidents.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By 1975, there is a national conversation about what regulations should be placed on the use of recombinant DNA technology, and individual municipalities begin to consider whether or not they can regulate it as well. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Cambridge, Massachusetts, city officials considered banning the new technology altogether. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>News clip: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The debate over the new experiments has filled over into the streets. “We science for the people are here to try to bring the issues of this controversy to the public. To the people. Because the people are at risk and will benefit from the experiments that are being done with recombinant DNA.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The same was true in San Francisco and Berkeley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People marching down the street chanting, we will not be cloned. And so this is a concern for anybody seeking to move outside of an academic laboratory to set up a fledgling biotechnology company because these companies need laboratories, they need space to work. They want to connect to sewers, they want to have the assurance that they’re going to be able to sort of operate on a stable basis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cue South San Francisco. It’s a community that was very used to dealing with potentially hazardous or unpleasant products. Plus, the 1970s were a time of deindustrialization and so…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city leaders were very concerned to find a new economic base.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So when a young venture capitalist came knocking with an idea that could revive South San Francisco – city leaders welcomed him.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music starts\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> When we return – a behemoth is born. Stay with us.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sponsor message\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the 1970s, South San Francisco leaders were concerned about the dwindling industries that propped up its tax base. Little did they know the next big thing was waiting at their doorstep. KQED’s Lesley McClurg.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the time Bob Swanson was an unemployed MIT graduate living in San Francisco. He’d just been laid off by the venture capital firm Kleiner and Perkins. According to his wife Judy he was living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Judy Swanson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He had no extra money, and he was really scared that what am I going to do next? I don’t want to be a failure in life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He started reading about biotechnology. And was quickly convinced this was the moment it could take off. So, he called a scruffy long haired biochemist named Herb Boyer at UCSF, who agreed to a 20 minute meeting on a Friday afternoon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Judy Swanson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bob showed up in his you know three piece vests outfit and and they hit it off. They decided to go get a beer afterwards. So the two of them decided to put what money they had which was five hundred dollars each to create a company.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bob wanted to call it Herbob. For Herb and Bob. Herb thought that was a terrible idea. His suggestion was Genentech for Genetic Engineering and Technology. They couldn’t afford office space in San Francisco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And keeping a private company inside UCSF’s public labs raised thorny questions about who owned the science. Those tensions would later surface in a long-running patent dispute between UCSF and Genentech tied to some of the earliest recombinant DNA research, a case the two sides settled in 1999. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Long before the lawyers got involved, Bob looked south of the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Judy Swanson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He rented the most inexpensive office space that he could rent, which was in South San Francisco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The offices were in a nondescript building off East Grand Avenue.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Judy Swanson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">South San Francisco was nothing then really, and they were welcoming, you know, of any idea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Genentech’s new office was next door to a pornography studio. Because there were so few residential areas – nobody griped about what was in their backyard. And most importantly — there were plenty of empty warehouses large enough to handle vats, pipes, and fermentation columns that are key to biotechnology.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, as the nation argued over the risks of genetic engineering. Scientists at Genentech were quietly at work in South San Francisco, on the verge of transforming diabetes care.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NBC News clip from 1977: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scientists around the country today were paying close attention to reports from California that genetic engineering in a laboratory may be able to produce an insulin gene that could have all kinds of effects.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Until then, people with diabetes relied on insulin taken from cow and pig pancreases. It kept them alive, but it wasn’t an exact match for human insulin and could trigger immune reactions. Genentech made the first synthetic human insulin — identical to what our bodies produce, using genetically engineered bacteria. Production began in 1978. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cb>NBC News, 1977:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Genetic engineering has become big business\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Within a decade, companies founded by former Genentech scientists began filling nearby warehouses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cb>NBC News, 1977: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">nd entirely new firms have emerged solely devoted to genetic engineering.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> A cluster formed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And over time, South San Francisco became one of the most valuable square miles in American science.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the years that followed, work done here led to HIV drugs that changed the course of the AIDS epidemic. And cancer treatments were developed that are now standard care.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While much of the country hesitated, South San Francisco made room. What had been noisy, polluted, and overlooked proved well suited for a risky new science — one that grew into a multibillion-dollar industry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was KQED Health Correspondent Lesley McClurg. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This question was part of a Bay Curious voting round. Did you know we have a new one up on our website every month? This month, here’s what’s up for consideration…\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Question 1: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why is there truly a taco truck on every corner in San Francisco and San Mateo?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Question 2: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why are there huge fans over the tunnels near the Golden Gate Bridge?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Question 3: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What’s the story with the abandoned cop car in front of the airport off of 101? Everyone knows no actual cop is in it, so what’s the scoop with leaving there?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Voting takes just a click — no registering or drama, I promise. Do it at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BayCurious.org\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. You can become a member today, and enjoy all sorts of nice benefits — the biggest one though. Those warm fuzzies you get knowing you support shows like ours. Thanks!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen-Price.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey, Katherine Monahan, and everyone on Team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long before sleek \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11933882/beyond-vaccines-biotech-is-booming-in-the-bay-area-despite-a-cooling-economy\">biotech campuses\u003c/a> and venture capital arrived, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/south-san-francisco\">South San Francisco\u003c/a> had a very different identity. For much of the 20th century, it absorbed the Bay Area’s mess — industries that were noisy, dirty, politically inconvenient, or simply unwanted elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slaughterhouses. Steel mills. Shipyards. Freight terminals. Businesses that needed elbow room and cheap land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1923, the city declared its role in giant white letters on a hillside above town: “South San Francisco The Industrial City.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“South San Francisco, like Emeryville, were industrial suburbs,” said Richard Walker, a professor emeritus of economic and urban geography at the University of California, Berkeley. “These were set up expressly to shelter industry from taxes, from protest, from labor, and they worked very effectively.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Town councils limited housing, zoned big swaths for heavy industry, and kept taxes and rules light. The idea was to park loud, polluting businesses far from residential neighborhoods — and make them easy to operate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075369\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075369\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1473\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260304-South-San-Francisco-Archival-01-KQED-1536x1131.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aerial view of South San Francisco’s Sign Hill, circa 1930. \u003ccite>(Courtesy South San Francisco Public Library Local History Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beyond town borders, the Bay Area as a whole was comfortable with risk and experimentation, a mindset that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You had a lot of young people, a lot of skilled workers, and a lot of capital,” Walker said of the Bay Area. “So this was an intellectual center, an industrial center, a capitalist center because of Bank of America.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A risk-tolerant region meets a risky science\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Those conditions mattered when a new science arrived in the 1970s. Biotechnology required not just smart people and money, but a tolerance for uncertainty and perceived risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists were learning how to cut and paste genes — editing code, but for living things. The technique, called recombinant DNA, made it possible to insert genetic instructions into bacteria and harness them to manufacture human hormones and medicines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early days, that power was both thrilling and unsettling. Scientists worried that engineered microbes could behave unpredictably — escape the lab, spread through air or water, or create entirely new biological risks they didn’t yet know how to contain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The concerns were serious enough that, in 1975, many molecular biologists took an extraordinary step: they voluntarily halted their own research. About 150 scientists gathered at an oceanside retreat in Pacific Grove called Asilomar. For four days, they debated the dangers, negotiated boundaries, and ultimately agreed on a set of guidelines for conducting recombinant DNA research safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Public backlash\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>But then the public learned about what was happening inside labs. To some, tinkering with DNA felt apocalyptic because scientists might create new life they couldn’t control. News headlines leaned into worst-case scenarios: superbugs and lab accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the era of the Andromeda Strain,” said Robin Wolfe Scheffler, historian of biology and medicine at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Trust in science and government was low. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11861810/no-the-tuskegee-study-is-not-the-top-reason-some-black-americans-question-the-covid-19-vaccine\">Tuskegee syphilis study\u003c/a> had recently been exposed, revealing profound abuses. Americans were reckoning with the health impacts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11617827/this-vietnam-paratrooper-was-exposed-to-agent-orange-today-he-lives-with-parkinsons\">Agent Orange\u003c/a>. Nuclear anxiety lingered after the meltdown at \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/three/\">Three Mile Island\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backlash spread quickly. Cities began debating whether they should regulate or ban genetic engineering. In Cambridge, Mass., officials considered outlawing it altogether. In Berkeley and San Francisco, protesters marched, chanting slogans like, “We will not be cloned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For researchers hoping to commercialize their discoveries, this created a bottleneck. Biotech startups needed large laboratories, sewer hookups, industrial equipment, and stable local rules. They needed places without residential neighbors ready to revolt. A place like South San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Proof of concept\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By the mid-1970s, South San Francisco’s leaders were actively searching for a new economic base. The steel mills were mostly gone. Meatpacking was shrinking. Shipping was slowing. When a young venture capitalist named Bob Swanson arrived with an idea that scared much of the country, they didn’t recoil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swanson was newly laid off from a venture capital firm and living in San Francisco, broke and uncertain about his future. Convinced biotechnology was poised to take off, he cold-called a scruffy, long-haired biochemist named Herbert Boyer at the University of California, San Francisco, who agreed to a 20-minute meeting on a Friday afternoon. The casual meeting was so successful that they decided to pool $1,000 and start a new company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074375\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SOUTHSF00325_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Genentech headquarters at 1 DNA Way in South San Francisco on Feb. 23, 2026. South San Francisco was historically an industrial area, housing shipyards, slaughterhouses and a steel mill. Now it’s a biotech hub. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Swanson floated the name Herbob — for Herb and Bob. Boyer vetoed it and suggested Genentech, short for Genetic Engineering and Technology. More marketable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They couldn’t afford office space in San Francisco. Plus, keeping a private company inside UCSF’s public labs raised thorny questions about who owned the science. (Those tensions would later surface in a long-running patent dispute between UCSF and Genentech tied to some of the earliest recombinant DNA research, \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/1999/11/genentech-pays-off-ucsf/\">a case\u003c/a> the two sides settled in 1999.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They landed in South San Francisco. Genentech’s first office sat off East Grand Avenue, next door to a pornography studio. There were few residents to complain, and plenty of industrial space suitable for fermentation tanks and pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the national debate over genetic engineering raged, Genentech’s scientists worked quietly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1977, they produced the first synthetic human insulin using genetically engineered bacteria, a breakthrough that transformed diabetes care and proved biotechnology could work at scale. Until then, people with diabetes relied on insulin extracted from cows and pigs: lifesaving, but imperfect. Genentech’s insulin was identical to the human version.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The success triggered a cascade. Former Genentech scientists founded new companies nearby to develop drugs for HIV and cancer. Warehouses filled. A cluster emerged. Today, South San Francisco is one of the most valuable square miles in American science, with more than 250 biotechnology companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Hey everyone. I’m Olivia Allen-Price, and this is Bay Curious.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today we head to South San Francisco. You pass it when you’re driving north from the airport along Highway 101– there are giant white letters carved into a hillside. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They read: “The Industrial City.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Faris Alikhan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It used to be meatpacking plants and steel foundries.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Faris Alikhan grew up in South San Francisco, went to high school there — and about half his graduating class went on to work in biotech. His mom did too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Faris Alikhan: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why did it become this hub of biotechnology? People move here from all around the world to work in that one industry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Biotechnology is a process. Scientists take a living cell, like yeast or bacteria, and program them to make medicine. They grow those cells in massive tanks — like a brewery — and harvest what the cells produce to make vaccines, antibiotics, and cancer treatments. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today, there are more than 250 biotech companies in South San Francisco, including Genentech. Faris wondered why \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">South San Francisco\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and not closer to an educational hub, like Stanford or Berkeley? How and why did this stretch of waterfront become the birthplace of biotechnology? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Turns out he’s not alone in wondering this. Today’s question won a public voting round on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BayCurious.org\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED health correspondent Lesley McClurg headed to South San Francisco to find out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> When you drive down DNA way in South San Francisco it’s a little like a science fiction set. Shuttle buses glide between glass towers. Doctoral students sip matcha with CEOs. Researchers slip in workouts between experiments. Every amenity is available inside a self-contained city. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Low rumble of a freight train\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But 100 years ago this stretch of land was nicknamed the smokestack capital of the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Peninsula\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peninsula\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">… Freight terminals. Shipyards. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cb>Archival clip:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> By July 1944 nearly 16,000 men and women were employed in the shipyards all playing a role in the country’s victory.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a dirty, loud, industrial area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> South San Francisco, like Emeryville, they were industrial suburbs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Richard Walker is a professor emeritus of economic and urban geography at UC Berkeley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> These were these were set up expressly to shelter industry from taxes, from protest, from labor and they worked very effectively. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the early and mid-20th century, local governments actively steered factories, warehouses, and refineries into these fringe cities. Town councils zoned big swaths of land for heavy industry. They limited housing, and kept taxes and rules light. The idea was to park the loud, dirty stuff far from residential neighborhoods — and make it easy for companies to operate. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond the town’s borders, Walker says the Bay Area as a region was also unusually comfortable with risk and experimentation, a mindset that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Richard Walker: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You had a lot of young people, a lot of skilled workers, and a lot of capital. So this was an intellectual center, an industrial center, a capitalist center because of Bank of America, lots of capital available through San Francisco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of that mattered when a new science came along in the 70s. Biotech needed smart people and money — AND it needed places willing to tolerate risk. And that’s where South San Francisco stood apart. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robin Wolfe Scheffler is a historian of biology and medicine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> A community that was very used to dealing with potentially hazardous or unpleasant and industrial neighbors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And those industries were already in flux. The steel mills were mostly gone. Meatpacking was shrinking. Shipping was slowing. South San Francisco had space, infrastructure that was up for grabs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For people seeking to work with recombinant DNA in the late 1970s, that was actually perfect. Because many of the cities next to academic centers of molecular biology research were very concerned about its potential health hazards.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Genetic research was controversial. And in some cities, like Berkely or Palo Alto, very unwelcome.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NewsHour clip:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The hottest scientific controversy since man learned to split the atom is now raging over a new branch of biology called genetic engineering. This tampering with the most basic ingredients of life raises moral and ethical problems as grave as nuclear fission did.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scientists had just learned how to cut and paste genes — kind of like editing code, but for living things. This technique, called recombinant DNA, allows researchers to use special enzymes to slip pieces of genetic material into bacteria. Suddenly it seemed possible to rewrite the instructions inside living things. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was both exciting and terrifying. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NewsHour clip: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It might be a new drug of tremendous value in fighting disease, or it might be a new virus terribly dangerous to man. Some scientists want the research banned, and a large number want it controlled. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even molecular biologists were spooked by the possibilities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The scientific community was divided over how hazardous this potential technique was.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were so worried that they called a halt to their own work – and decided to convene a meeting. In 1975, about 150 scientists gathered in California at an oceanside retreat in Pacific Grove called Asilomar. For four days they argued, negotiated, and finally agreed on a set of guidelines for doing recombinant DNA research safely.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But then the public learned about what was happening inside labs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the era of the Andromeda strain, this is the era of Three Mile Island, this is a a moment when overall there’s a huge amount of social concern over the impact of technology and science on the environment. and trust in the institutions of science and technology to regulate themselves is at a low ebb.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Americans had learned that the government had secretly let Black men suffer and die in the Tuskegee syphilis study. They were also just beginning to reckon with the health fallout of Agent Orange from the Vietnam War. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To some, tinkering with DNA felt apocalyptic. People worried engineered bacteria could escape the lab — through the air, water, or sewers — and make people sick. Others feared scientists were crossing an ethical line, creating new life they couldn’t control. Headlines leaned into worst-case scenarios: superbugs and lab accidents.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By 1975, there is a national conversation about what regulations should be placed on the use of recombinant DNA technology, and individual municipalities begin to consider whether or not they can regulate it as well. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Cambridge, Massachusetts, city officials considered banning the new technology altogether. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>News clip: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The debate over the new experiments has filled over into the streets. “We science for the people are here to try to bring the issues of this controversy to the public. To the people. Because the people are at risk and will benefit from the experiments that are being done with recombinant DNA.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The same was true in San Francisco and Berkeley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People marching down the street chanting, we will not be cloned. And so this is a concern for anybody seeking to move outside of an academic laboratory to set up a fledgling biotechnology company because these companies need laboratories, they need space to work. They want to connect to sewers, they want to have the assurance that they’re going to be able to sort of operate on a stable basis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cue South San Francisco. It’s a community that was very used to dealing with potentially hazardous or unpleasant products. Plus, the 1970s were a time of deindustrialization and so…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Robin Wolfe Scheffler: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city leaders were very concerned to find a new economic base.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So when a young venture capitalist came knocking with an idea that could revive South San Francisco – city leaders welcomed him.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Music starts\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> When we return – a behemoth is born. Stay with us.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sponsor message\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the 1970s, South San Francisco leaders were concerned about the dwindling industries that propped up its tax base. Little did they know the next big thing was waiting at their doorstep. KQED’s Lesley McClurg.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the time Bob Swanson was an unemployed MIT graduate living in San Francisco. He’d just been laid off by the venture capital firm Kleiner and Perkins. According to his wife Judy he was living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Judy Swanson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He had no extra money, and he was really scared that what am I going to do next? I don’t want to be a failure in life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He started reading about biotechnology. And was quickly convinced this was the moment it could take off. So, he called a scruffy long haired biochemist named Herb Boyer at UCSF, who agreed to a 20 minute meeting on a Friday afternoon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Judy Swanson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bob showed up in his you know three piece vests outfit and and they hit it off. They decided to go get a beer afterwards. So the two of them decided to put what money they had which was five hundred dollars each to create a company.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bob wanted to call it Herbob. For Herb and Bob. Herb thought that was a terrible idea. His suggestion was Genentech for Genetic Engineering and Technology. They couldn’t afford office space in San Francisco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And keeping a private company inside UCSF’s public labs raised thorny questions about who owned the science. Those tensions would later surface in a long-running patent dispute between UCSF and Genentech tied to some of the earliest recombinant DNA research, a case the two sides settled in 1999. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Long before the lawyers got involved, Bob looked south of the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Judy Swanson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He rented the most inexpensive office space that he could rent, which was in South San Francisco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The offices were in a nondescript building off East Grand Avenue.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Judy Swanson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">South San Francisco was nothing then really, and they were welcoming, you know, of any idea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Genentech’s new office was next door to a pornography studio. Because there were so few residential areas – nobody griped about what was in their backyard. And most importantly — there were plenty of empty warehouses large enough to handle vats, pipes, and fermentation columns that are key to biotechnology.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, as the nation argued over the risks of genetic engineering. Scientists at Genentech were quietly at work in South San Francisco, on the verge of transforming diabetes care.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NBC News clip from 1977: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scientists around the country today were paying close attention to reports from California that genetic engineering in a laboratory may be able to produce an insulin gene that could have all kinds of effects.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Until then, people with diabetes relied on insulin taken from cow and pig pancreases. It kept them alive, but it wasn’t an exact match for human insulin and could trigger immune reactions. Genentech made the first synthetic human insulin — identical to what our bodies produce, using genetically engineered bacteria. Production began in 1978. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cb>NBC News, 1977:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Genetic engineering has become big business\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Within a decade, companies founded by former Genentech scientists began filling nearby warehouses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cb>NBC News, 1977: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">nd entirely new firms have emerged solely devoted to genetic engineering.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lesley McClurg:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> A cluster formed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And over time, South San Francisco became one of the most valuable square miles in American science.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the years that followed, work done here led to HIV drugs that changed the course of the AIDS epidemic. And cancer treatments were developed that are now standard care.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While much of the country hesitated, South San Francisco made room. What had been noisy, polluted, and overlooked proved well suited for a risky new science — one that grew into a multibillion-dollar industry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was KQED Health Correspondent Lesley McClurg. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This question was part of a Bay Curious voting round. Did you know we have a new one up on our website every month? This month, here’s what’s up for consideration…\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Question 1: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why is there truly a taco truck on every corner in San Francisco and San Mateo?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Question 2: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why are there huge fans over the tunnels near the Golden Gate Bridge?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Question 3: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What’s the story with the abandoned cop car in front of the airport off of 101? Everyone knows no actual cop is in it, so what’s the scoop with leaving there?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Voting takes just a click — no registering or drama, I promise. Do it at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">BayCurious.org\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. You can become a member today, and enjoy all sorts of nice benefits — the biggest one though. Those warm fuzzies you get knowing you support shows like ours. Thanks!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen-Price.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey, Katherine Monahan, and everyone on Team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As the cost of living continues to pinch Californians, state lawmakers have a new focus: bringing down the cost of housing construction to get more homes built quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their solution, so far, is to industrialize the building process by facilitating prefab, modular and manufactured housing. Earlier this year, a group of California lawmakers \u003ca href=\"https://committees.assembly.ca.gov/selectcommitteeonhousingconstructioninnovation/hearings/all-hearings\">held a series of hearings\u003c/a> as part of the Select Committee on Housing Construction Innovation to understand what barriers stand in the way of scaling up factory-built construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes after lawmakers last year passed a series of bills that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046558/california-lawmakers-approve-major-overhaul-of-landmark-environmental-law\">streamlined environmental reviews\u003c/a> for housing developments and transformed the way \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042670/controversial-housing-near-transit-bill-advances-to-next-stop-in-legislature\">housing is built near transit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A key piece of making housing more affordable is bringing down the cost of construction,” Committee Chair and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Berkeley, said in a statement to KQED. “Factory-built housing is not a silver bullet, but it can be part of the solution to our housing crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PathwaystoScaleInnovativeConstruction2026.pdf\">report, published Monday\u003c/a>, from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, found factory-built housing, also known as prefab and manufactured housing, could cut costs by up to 20% and slash building timelines in half — a key innovation needed to ramp up construction and meet the state’s goal of building \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/05/14/governor-newsom-unveils-proposal-to-cut-red-tape-and-fast-track-housing-and-development/\">2.5 million homes by 2030\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075106\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075106\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Factory OS employee works on the assembly process of modular homes at the Vallejo warehouse on Aug. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, these projects face big hurdles in securing financing and overcoming a patchwork of regulatory approvals that can vary by jurisdiction. Following the committee’s Construction Innovation hearings, state lawmakers now plan to introduce their own package of bills aiming to streamline the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those efforts will dovetail with legislation at the federal level, where lawmakers are also trying to solve the nation’s growing housing affordability crisis, caused in part by a construction slump. Federal legislators are currently working on \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48732\">two \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48849\">separate\u003c/a> bill packages taking aim at red tape and outdated safety standards, which lawmakers on both sides of the aisle argue have prevented factories from churning out housing for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while there has historically been resistance from unions to factory-built housing, there is a growing recognition of the benefits to workers. Jeremy Smith, deputy legislative director for the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, said during a committee hearing that while the trades \u003ca href=\"https://committees.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/transcipt-select-committee-on-housing-construction-innovation-hearing-2-january-14-2026.pdf\">prefer on-site construction methods\u003c/a>, modular-built housing “provides a solution to building — to actually building — more housing for people of all income levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He pointed to Fullstack Modular, a construction company with a factory in Carson, California, which employs about 200 unionized workers to construct modular homes. He said working in a factory, as opposed to commuting long hours to job sites, benefits employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of the consistent work hours and the factory location within the community, trades workers and more craftspeople are able to consider the trades and still accommodate childcare and other life needs,” he said. “Workers who have not secured reliable transportation, for example, can more easily get to the stationary location of the Carson factory, making their transition into the building trades easier.”[aside postID=news_12068746 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg']Factory-built housing is not necessarily new in California. For years, a number of construction firms have offered modular housing or prefabricated units, which can be manufactured miles away and assembled on site. But many of those firms have \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/27/prefab-home-builder-veev-reportedly-shutting-down-after-reaching-unicorn-status-last-year/\">failed to scale up\u003c/a> and have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-modular-home-manufacturer-to-close-laying-off-all-employees/\">shuttered\u003c/a> their factories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Boyd, chief strategy officer for Terner Labs, a nonprofit incubator program connected to the Terner Center, said the construction industry hasn’t changed in decades and neither have the laws or financing systems surrounding it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The construction industry has worked the way it’s worked for 100 years,” she said. “And there are many different silos. Every player has their own little piece of the puzzle on how you put a house together or an apartment together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But industrialized construction consolidates that system into one factory, and that, in turn, runs up against regulatory and financing norms, which makes it difficult for new types of construction to successfully enter — and stay — in the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to regulations, the Terner Center’s report details inconsistencies between local governments’ building codes as one barrier to be removed. Although the state has adopted a set of standards for housing built in factories, local governments still require certain plan reviews and inspections, which can change a standardized product into a bespoke project for each city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the finance side, banks and insurance agencies have funded traditional site-built housing for decades, so they understand the risks involved. But factory-built construction has yet to meet mainstream adoption, which means financial institutions have less data and experience to gauge risk. That makes it harder to access capital needed to get projects off the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075099\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory OS employees work on different parts of the assembly process of modular homes at the Vallejo warehouse on Aug. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Boyd said that because developers sometimes have trouble finding financing, it means deals can fall through, resulting in holes in the factories’ production pipeline. When that happens, she said, “They can’t sustain that because they have to pay the wages, and so they close.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she argues that the state could work to assume some of the risk of the transaction and stabilize the pipeline so those holes don’t exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the main policy areas that we uncovered is a role potentially for the state in helping hold some of that risk, so we’re not really asking these developers to risk losing a lot of money or having the deal go upside down halfway through,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taken together, Boyd said, these proposed reforms, if implemented, could have the potential to jumpstart the industry, bringing down the cost of construction for builders, and hopefully, for homeowners too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A key piece of making housing more affordable is bringing down the cost of construction,” Committee Chair and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Berkeley, said in a statement to KQED. “Factory-built housing is not a silver bullet, but it can be part of the solution to our housing crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PathwaystoScaleInnovativeConstruction2026.pdf\">report, published Monday\u003c/a>, from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, found factory-built housing, also known as prefab and manufactured housing, could cut costs by up to 20% and slash building timelines in half — a key innovation needed to ramp up construction and meet the state’s goal of building \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/05/14/governor-newsom-unveils-proposal-to-cut-red-tape-and-fast-track-housing-and-development/\">2.5 million homes by 2030\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075106\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075106\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Factory OS employee works on the assembly process of modular homes at the Vallejo warehouse on Aug. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, these projects face big hurdles in securing financing and overcoming a patchwork of regulatory approvals that can vary by jurisdiction. Following the committee’s Construction Innovation hearings, state lawmakers now plan to introduce their own package of bills aiming to streamline the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those efforts will dovetail with legislation at the federal level, where lawmakers are also trying to solve the nation’s growing housing affordability crisis, caused in part by a construction slump. Federal legislators are currently working on \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48732\">two \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48849\">separate\u003c/a> bill packages taking aim at red tape and outdated safety standards, which lawmakers on both sides of the aisle argue have prevented factories from churning out housing for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while there has historically been resistance from unions to factory-built housing, there is a growing recognition of the benefits to workers. Jeremy Smith, deputy legislative director for the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, said during a committee hearing that while the trades \u003ca href=\"https://committees.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/transcipt-select-committee-on-housing-construction-innovation-hearing-2-january-14-2026.pdf\">prefer on-site construction methods\u003c/a>, modular-built housing “provides a solution to building — to actually building — more housing for people of all income levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He pointed to Fullstack Modular, a construction company with a factory in Carson, California, which employs about 200 unionized workers to construct modular homes. He said working in a factory, as opposed to commuting long hours to job sites, benefits employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of the consistent work hours and the factory location within the community, trades workers and more craftspeople are able to consider the trades and still accommodate childcare and other life needs,” he said. “Workers who have not secured reliable transportation, for example, can more easily get to the stationary location of the Carson factory, making their transition into the building trades easier.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Factory-built housing is not necessarily new in California. For years, a number of construction firms have offered modular housing or prefabricated units, which can be manufactured miles away and assembled on site. But many of those firms have \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/27/prefab-home-builder-veev-reportedly-shutting-down-after-reaching-unicorn-status-last-year/\">failed to scale up\u003c/a> and have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-modular-home-manufacturer-to-close-laying-off-all-employees/\">shuttered\u003c/a> their factories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Boyd, chief strategy officer for Terner Labs, a nonprofit incubator program connected to the Terner Center, said the construction industry hasn’t changed in decades and neither have the laws or financing systems surrounding it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The construction industry has worked the way it’s worked for 100 years,” she said. “And there are many different silos. Every player has their own little piece of the puzzle on how you put a house together or an apartment together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But industrialized construction consolidates that system into one factory, and that, in turn, runs up against regulatory and financing norms, which makes it difficult for new types of construction to successfully enter — and stay — in the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to regulations, the Terner Center’s report details inconsistencies between local governments’ building codes as one barrier to be removed. Although the state has adopted a set of standards for housing built in factories, local governments still require certain plan reviews and inspections, which can change a standardized product into a bespoke project for each city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the finance side, banks and insurance agencies have funded traditional site-built housing for decades, so they understand the risks involved. But factory-built construction has yet to meet mainstream adoption, which means financial institutions have less data and experience to gauge risk. That makes it harder to access capital needed to get projects off the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075099\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory OS employees work on different parts of the assembly process of modular homes at the Vallejo warehouse on Aug. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Boyd said that because developers sometimes have trouble finding financing, it means deals can fall through, resulting in holes in the factories’ production pipeline. When that happens, she said, “They can’t sustain that because they have to pay the wages, and so they close.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she argues that the state could work to assume some of the risk of the transaction and stabilize the pipeline so those holes don’t exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the main policy areas that we uncovered is a role potentially for the state in helping hold some of that risk, so we’re not really asking these developers to risk losing a lot of money or having the deal go upside down halfway through,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taken together, Boyd said, these proposed reforms, if implemented, could have the potential to jumpstart the industry, bringing down the cost of construction for builders, and hopefully, for homeowners too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "the-eccentric-personalities-behind-sunnyside-conservatory-a-120-year-old-garden-in-san-francisco",
"title": "The Eccentric Personalities Behind Sunnyside Conservatory, a 120-Year-Old Garden in San Francisco",
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"headTitle": "The Eccentric Personalities Behind Sunnyside Conservatory, a 120-Year-Old Garden in San Francisco | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco’s \u003c/a>Sunnyside neighborhood, just west of Glen Park, isn’t actually very sunny. In fact, it’s one of the foggier places in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of its main thoroughfares, Monterey Boulevard, carries drivers west towards tonier places like St. Francis Wood, passing many houses and apartment buildings along the way. But slow down a little, and you might catch a glimpse of a building that feels out of the ordinary in this residential place — Sunnyside Conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Set back from the street and tucked behind a wrought iron gate, the octagonal redwood building has two stories of windows surrounded by a lush garden of towering palms, ferns and flowering bushes. It’s beautiful and old-world feeling, a unique Victorian gem on an otherwise busy street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious listener Mary Balmana often uses Monterey Boulevard to get to her home in Mission Terrace. She’s seen the conservatory hundreds of times, but hasn’t noticed anyone going inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve passed it my whole life,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074410\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074410\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside resident and historian Amy O’Hair poses for a portrait at Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, she wants answers. What is the conservatory doing here in Sunnyside, who owns it and could she rent it out?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An inventor’s oasis\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Sunnyside Conservatory was built by William Augustus Merralls, a British inventor and eccentric. He bought a house along what is now Monterey Boulevard in 1897, when the area was mostly rural. Land was cheap, so he also bought up seven lots around his house and then set about making the grounds his own private oasis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He collected exotic plants, and he liked to have a place for them,” said Amy O’Hair, Sunnyside resident,\u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/\"> local historian\u003c/a> and author of the forthcoming book, \u003cem>History Walks in Sunnyside\u003c/em>. She’s currently writing a book about the conservatory’s history.[aside postID=news_12074121 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-ITALIANNORTHBEACH-06-BL-KQED.jpg']Merralls made his money designing and patenting mining equipment. He had more than 20 different patents, mostly for machines that helped extract ever smaller amounts of gold from rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He did well, but whatever he got he spent on his projects,” O’Hair said. “He had a restless mind, always wanting to invent new things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of his inventions were practical, others less so. He invented an automobile starter, a refrigerator and a “deep breathing developer,” a contraption for his wife, Temperance Laura, who was fascinated by alternative medicine. The details of how it actually worked have been lost to time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1902, he built the conservatory, a building beautifully crafted out of redwood in Victorian style. In addition to collecting exotic plants, Merralls also loved astronomy. He built himself an observatory on the back of his house. And he loved luxury items; his house had two grand pianos and a private bowling alley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He apparently didn’t need to live amongst his peers,” O’Hair said. “He was a very independent-minded man, and he was happy out here in his own enclave with all of his toys in the house and all of those plants out here in the conservatory and a wife he loved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his wife, Temperance Laura, lived in Sunnyside, enjoying their house and its grounds until 1914, when Merralls tragically died in a train accident while visiting a friend in Alameda. By that point, he had sunk all his money into various pursuits that hadn’t paid off, and when he died, Temperance Laura couldn’t afford to keep living on their estate in Sunnyside. The bank repossessed the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Second act as swindler’s hideout\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The property sat empty and neglected for three years before another odd couple, Ernest and Angele Van Beckh, came along and \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2023/07/18/the-king-of-the-clairvoyants-the-man-who-bought-the-sunnyside-conservatory/\">bought it in 1919\u003c/a>. Ernest Van Beckh was a con man, a member of the \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2023/07/18/the-king-of-the-clairvoyants-the-man-who-bought-the-sunnyside-conservatory/\">“Big Five” \u003c/a>whose exploits selling worthless mining shares to unsuspecting people and stealing their money were splashed across the newspapers in 1916.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the district attorney brought charges against Van Beckh, he got off when witnesses the prosecution had lined up to testify “just kind of went away,” as Amy put it. One went back to Montana. Another decided not to press charges. And Ernest avoided jail time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074414\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED-1536x1030.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside Conservatory circa 1975, when it had fallen into disrepair. Here, the east wing still stands, but it was later knocked down. \u003ccite>(Greg Gaar/San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They made millions of dollars in the 1910s,” O’Hair said. “And some of that money went towards buying this property. This was their hideout.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Van Beckhs would live here for decades. Ernest died in 1951, but Angele stayed on through the early ‘60s, although she too started to have money problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She slowly sold off all the property to a neighbor,” O’Hair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbors were friends who built their own house on the other side of the conservatory — what is now 234 Monterey Boulevard. While Angele was living there, the two families enjoyed the conservatory and its grounds as one shared yard. But when they moved away, the property lines became a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Saving the conservatory again and again\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1974, Angele’s friends sold their house at 234 Monterey Boulevard and the property with the conservatory on it to a man named Robert Anderson. He started delineating the different lots with an eye to \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2025/04/18/saving-sunnyside-conservatory/\">developing the property\u003c/a> further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, neighbors started getting interested in preserving the conservatory as a historic landmark. The \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysideassociation.org/\">Sunnyside Neighborhood Association\u003c/a> had just formed, and its members started researching the conservatory’s history with a goal to get it landmarked by the city.[aside postID=news_11958380 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/BlueHouse_Flickr.png']“They wanted to save it from demolition,” O’Hair said. After World War II, \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2025/12/07/sunnyside-upzoned/\">Sunnyside was rezoned \u003c/a>to allow for more apartment buildings, which started popping up along Monterey Boulevard throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s. “And they didn’t want to see this property go for apartment buildings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neighbors were successful in getting the \u003ca href=\"https://default.sfplanning.org/Preservation/bulletins/HistPres_Bulletin_09.PDF\">conservatory landmarked in 1975\u003c/a>, which theoretically should have preserved it. However, the owner, Robert Anderson, still managed to get a permit to demolish it. Neighbors had no idea about his plan until they spotted construction equipment at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was riding my bicycle along Monterey Boulevard,” neighbor \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v70K3B-inOg\">Greg Garr said in an interview with Amy O’Hair\u003c/a>. “I think I was going to City College at that time. And I passed by the Sunnyside Conservatory, and I saw heavy equipment in there. And part of the building had been removed. And I said, ‘What the heck? I mean, are they demolishing it?’ I knew it was a registered historic landmark.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called his representative and City Hall, clamoring to stop the demolition. Those efforts were successful, but the damage had been done. The structure was damaged, and almost all the windows had been knocked out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was an emergency now,” O’Hair said. “The city needed to buy the property. What good is a landmark if you don’t own the property under it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074238\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stock certificate of William Merralls, who built Sunnyside Conservatory, is shown by Amy O’Hair at Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1980, the city bought the land from Robert Anderson using the \u003ca href=\"https://generalplan.sfplanning.org/I3_Recreation_and_Open_Space.htm#:~:text=San%20Francisco%20values%20its%20recreation,the%20combination%20of%20the%20two.\">Open Space Fund\u003c/a>. And for many years after, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association did its best to look after the building, but it fell into disrepair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All those years in the 90s when it had no glass, and you could climb right over [the fence], there was always graffiti and beer bottles,” O’Hair remembered. “And Rec and Park didn’t really take care of the grounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, it was another neighbor, \u003ca href=\"https://calhortsociety.org/2020/01/29/ted-kipping/\">Ted Kipping\u003c/a>, who tended the beautiful trees and plants William Merralls had planted all those years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One time, when I was talking to him, he said, ‘I spent $1,000 a month on water,’” O’Hair said. “I don’t know if it’s true. But he was very important to preserving some of the specialness of the grounds, for which I’m thankful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Renovating the conservatory\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1999, another neighborhood group formed — \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunnysideconservatory.org/about\">Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory\u003c/a>. They set ambitious fundraising goals and worked with San Francisco Rec and Park to execute a multimillion-dollar renovation of the building that would restore it to its original glory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the building was under renovation, yet another neighbor came forward with a piece of history to share. When the building and grounds were sold in 1974, and it looked like the old place might be demolished by Robert Anderson, this neighbor had saved the wooden spire from the top of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074241\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074241\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside Conservatory contains a sign indicating that it is a city landmark in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He kept it in his garage for 30 years, bringing it out and offering it to the builders as they renovated. Unfortunately, by then it was rotting, but the builders made an exact replica and covered it in copper. That spire sits on top of the building to this day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a community-led effort, top to bottom,” O’Hair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conservatory has since become a symbol for Sunnyside residents. It was the first campaign that brought neighbors together, fighting for something that makes their corner of San Francisco special and unique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Rec and Park now maintains the building and grounds, but \u003ca href=\"https://sfrecpark.org/665/Sunnyside-Conservatory\">they do rent it out\u003c/a>. Sunnyside neighborhood groups get a bit of a deal, but there have been plenty of weddings, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> If you’ve been listening to the show for a while you may have intuited by now, but San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is one of my absolute favorite places. I love all its nooks and crannies, the unique playgrounds, those long undulating pathways. But I’d argue the crown jewel of the park is the Conservatory of Flowers, partly because of the incredible and rare plants housed inside…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>News Clip: \u003c/strong>The rare corpse flower at the Conservatory of flowers is now open to view and smell.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Like the corpse flower, which only blooms for 48 hours every 3-5 years! And stands more than 6 feet tall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Conservatory of Flowers is also renowned for its architecture. A Victorian glass building – delicate, intricate – topped with a stately domed roof. It’s like nothing else in the city! Or so I thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out San Francisco has \u003cem>another\u003c/em> conservatory across town near Glen Park. It’s much smaller, only a quarter the size, but still lovely. I’m talking about Sunnyside Conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Balmana: \u003c/strong>My name is Mary Balmana. I live in the Mission Terrace area of San Francisco, and I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve passed it my whole life, basically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Mary drives by Sunnyside Conservatory on Monterey Boulevard often, but never sees anyone going in or out. She wants to know its history – and how such a curious building ended up in what is otherwise a very residential area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz is here to tell us all about it. Hi, Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Hi Olivia\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Maybe you could start by just painting a picture of the conservatory as it looks now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The Sunnyside Conservatory is set back from the street a little ways and is surrounded by a lush garden with huge palm trees, ferns and beautiful flowering bushes. It kind of feels like a cloud forest right in the middle of a residential neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What about the building itself?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The building is made of redwood and features a two story octagonal center that dominates the senses. Two levels of windows that let in beautiful amounts of light…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What kind of fabulous plants are inside? Anything to rival the corpse flower?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Sadly, this conservatory no longer has plants inside at all. It’s now used as an events space. But when it was first built in 1902, it was the pride of its owner – who was just the first of a line of quirky residents the property has had over its 100 or so years. Let’s meet some of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>It was built by an eccentric and unique man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Amy O’Hair runs the Sunnyside History Project and lives nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>He was an inventor, William Augustus Merralls, he moved here to Sunnyside when there was very little on Monterey Boulevard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Even though Sunnyside is part of San Francisco now, back then the area was rural. Picture a smattering of houses and dairy farms. Merralls bought a big house here in 1897 and then several adjoining plots of land over the next few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>He accumulated seven lots, and then built his conservatory in 1902. He collected exotic plants and he liked to have a place for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Merralls made his money engineering mining equipment — but his true heart’s desire was invention. Over the years he invented dozens of things, some useful stuff, and some less so. Amy actually met his great grandson, who had some of Merralls’ old papers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>I thought I’d show you some stuff. Things that belonged to William Merrill’s like his patents. So I have all the patents for things that he made. This is a stamp mill. That’s a thing that crushes rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>Look at those seals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Yes, they’re very fancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>This is a letter he wrote while he was in New York City raising money for the automobile starters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>Will you read a little bit of it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Darling, you should see the Merralls starter at work on that big engine. You would be tickled to pieces. It is a dandy. And when you come on for Thanksgiving, you shall be the first lady to ride in an automobile that has the only commercial, perfect self-starter in the world, and that one is a Merralls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>He’s like promoting himself to his wife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>To his wife, for God’s sake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The thing is, Merralls probably had his hand in one too many projects. He had a tendency to move on before things were finished and he was sued a number of times. By the time of his death in 1914, he was having money problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Mmm. Unfortunately, you can’t just create the thing, but you have to sell it too…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Yes, and unfortunately that meant that when he died, the bank repossessed the whole property, including the conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What happened to it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The house and its grounds sat empty for three years and then another couple bought it. The next in the line of curious owners…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>The name of this couple was Ernest and Angel Van Beck. They were very strange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Ernest Van Bech was essentially a scam artist. He made a boatload of money selling worthless mining bonds to people…basically swindling them out of their money. The district attorney even brought charges, but when the witnesses didn’t show up to testify, they had to let Ernest go. And he lived out his life on the property with the conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Ernest would not show his face. There were a lot of rumors about him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Kind of the Boo Radley of Sunnyside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> He really was. The neighborhood kids were all afraid of him. But after decades living in the house next to the conservatory he died in 1951. His wife, Angele, kept living there, but she needed money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>She slowly sold off all the property to a neighbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The neighbors were friends of hers. They built a house on the other side of the conservatory — the east wing of the building was actually in their backyard. At the time, that wasn’t a big deal because Angele and her friends basically shared the conservatory and its grounds like one big yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>But eventually Angele moved away and her friends sold their home – and they leave behind the conservatory, which now straddles two properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Is this foreshadowing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>This is foreshadowing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>We’ll find out what happened after this quick break.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sponsor message\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Alright, Katrina, you were telling us what happened to the conservatory after Angele Van Beck and her friends next door moved away and sold the property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The bulk of the conservatory and its grounds ended up in the hands of a man named Robert Anderson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>It’s 1975 by now, and there’s a lot of local interest in the conservatory as a historic structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>People who live nearby had grown attached to the conservatory. They view it as a symbol of the neighborhood. A group called the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association forms and they start researching the history of the conservatory in order to get it landmarked as a historic building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>They wanted to save it from demolition because in the 50s and 60s and 70s, along Monterey Boulevard, we’d had so many empty lots, and it was rezoned after the war, that apartment buildings were growing up all the way along it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The neighbors succeeded in getting the building landmarked, but that didn’t keep it safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>But then Robert Anderson decided he actually would build some apartment buildings and he got a permit to demolish the conservatory, which he attempted to do at the end of 1978. And it was only saved because of two people who had their eye on the conservatory. Greg Gaar is one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Garr: \u003c/strong>Well, I was riding my bicycle along Monterey Boulevard. I think I was going to City College at that time. And I passed by the Sunnyside Conservatory and I saw heavy equipment in there. And part of the building had been removed. And I said, what the heck? I mean, are they demolishing it? I knew it was a registered historic landmark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Greg Garr and other neighbors started frantically calling city hall and they got the demolition halted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>When they were done, the glass was knocked out of most of the windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> This seems like an impasse. Robert Anderson can’t knock the conservatory down and build anything new – but he owns it. So what happens?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Well, the city buys the land from him. But there wasn’t any money to renovate the building then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Sunnyside Neighborhood Association tried to get it renovated and they looked after it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>They scraped graffiti off the building and boarded up all the broken windows to keep rain out. But unfortunately the whole thing was falling into disrepair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point in the 1980s, the east wing of the conservatory – the part that crossed over onto another property – it gets knocked down, leaving the building looking kind of lopsided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>And it is a loss, because it’s no longer, it’s whole, whole self.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Wait, after saving it from being knocked down by the developer…part of it was still demolished?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Yes, sadly. Amy says the circumstances are a bit mysterious, but that eastern wing is in photos of the conservatory through early 1980 and then it’s just gone. If you go there now, there’s a fence right up against the main part of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Sounds like these neighbors really had to be vigilant to keep this thing from being torn down completely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> You know, they did their best. And there was a man who lived behind the conservatory…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Whose name was Ted Kipping. And he was a professional botanist, arborist, and plant collector, and photographer, speaker. Very ambitious, very dedicated. He took care of the grounds in the 90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The conservatory becomes something of a pet project for him. A very expensive one…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>One time, when I was talking to him, he said, I spent $1,000 a month on water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> How does it turn into the beautiful building it is today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>A group called the Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory forms in 1999 and spend about 10 years raising money and getting San Francisco Rec and Park on board. They did a big multimillion dollar renovation in the 2000s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reopening video clip: \u003c/strong>We’re here at the Sunnyside’s Conservatory that’s re-opening and this has been a long fought community effort to make this happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>There was a big party at the conservatory to celebrate its reopening in 2009. Then mayor Gavin Newsom was there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>In a hundred years they’ll be talking about, in 2009…\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Everyone was so excited that this neighborhood gem had been restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reopening video clip: \u003c/strong>Here’s the original spire. It was somewhere up there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>The conservatory has a spire?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Yes — the original 1902 building that William Merralls built had a redwood spire on top. And a neighbor kept that spire in his garage for 30 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>This man volunteered this finial, redwood finial from the original building and said, well, here it is. You know, you can put it back on the new building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> And did they?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Well, by then it was fairly rotten. So, instead they made an exact replica, covered it in copper and that’s what’s now on top of the current building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> A bit of a cherry on top, if you will. So now the neighborhood has this pretty special place for everyone to enjoy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Not only that, but working to preserve the conservatory brought the community together\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Thanks for sharing this history with us, Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> My pleasure. And if you haven’t been to the Sunnyside Conservatory, you should really check it out!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> One thing I love about the Bay Area is that most neighborhoods have little gems like this one. They’re usually not things people would go out of their way to visit…but they do make each little corner of this area special. If you’ve got a spot near you that you’ve always wondered about, head on over to bay curious dot org and submit a question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re interested to know more about Sunnyside, Amy O’Hair has a book called \u003cem>History Walks of Sunnyside\u003c/em> coming out very soon. So keep your eyes peeled for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve been enjoying the double dose of Bay Curious we’ve been putting out this month, consider making a donation to KQED to support our work. Every little bit helps, just head over to KQED dot or slash donate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our show is produced by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen Price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco’s \u003c/a>Sunnyside neighborhood, just west of Glen Park, isn’t actually very sunny. In fact, it’s one of the foggier places in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of its main thoroughfares, Monterey Boulevard, carries drivers west towards tonier places like St. Francis Wood, passing many houses and apartment buildings along the way. But slow down a little, and you might catch a glimpse of a building that feels out of the ordinary in this residential place — Sunnyside Conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Set back from the street and tucked behind a wrought iron gate, the octagonal redwood building has two stories of windows surrounded by a lush garden of towering palms, ferns and flowering bushes. It’s beautiful and old-world feeling, a unique Victorian gem on an otherwise busy street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious listener Mary Balmana often uses Monterey Boulevard to get to her home in Mission Terrace. She’s seen the conservatory hundreds of times, but hasn’t noticed anyone going inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve passed it my whole life,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074410\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074410\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside resident and historian Amy O’Hair poses for a portrait at Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, she wants answers. What is the conservatory doing here in Sunnyside, who owns it and could she rent it out?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An inventor’s oasis\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Sunnyside Conservatory was built by William Augustus Merralls, a British inventor and eccentric. He bought a house along what is now Monterey Boulevard in 1897, when the area was mostly rural. Land was cheap, so he also bought up seven lots around his house and then set about making the grounds his own private oasis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He collected exotic plants, and he liked to have a place for them,” said Amy O’Hair, Sunnyside resident,\u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/\"> local historian\u003c/a> and author of the forthcoming book, \u003cem>History Walks in Sunnyside\u003c/em>. She’s currently writing a book about the conservatory’s history.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Merralls made his money designing and patenting mining equipment. He had more than 20 different patents, mostly for machines that helped extract ever smaller amounts of gold from rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He did well, but whatever he got he spent on his projects,” O’Hair said. “He had a restless mind, always wanting to invent new things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of his inventions were practical, others less so. He invented an automobile starter, a refrigerator and a “deep breathing developer,” a contraption for his wife, Temperance Laura, who was fascinated by alternative medicine. The details of how it actually worked have been lost to time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1902, he built the conservatory, a building beautifully crafted out of redwood in Victorian style. In addition to collecting exotic plants, Merralls also loved astronomy. He built himself an observatory on the back of his house. And he loved luxury items; his house had two grand pianos and a private bowling alley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He apparently didn’t need to live amongst his peers,” O’Hair said. “He was a very independent-minded man, and he was happy out here in his own enclave with all of his toys in the house and all of those plants out here in the conservatory and a wife he loved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his wife, Temperance Laura, lived in Sunnyside, enjoying their house and its grounds until 1914, when Merralls tragically died in a train accident while visiting a friend in Alameda. By that point, he had sunk all his money into various pursuits that hadn’t paid off, and when he died, Temperance Laura couldn’t afford to keep living on their estate in Sunnyside. The bank repossessed the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Second act as swindler’s hideout\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The property sat empty and neglected for three years before another odd couple, Ernest and Angele Van Beckh, came along and \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2023/07/18/the-king-of-the-clairvoyants-the-man-who-bought-the-sunnyside-conservatory/\">bought it in 1919\u003c/a>. Ernest Van Beckh was a con man, a member of the \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2023/07/18/the-king-of-the-clairvoyants-the-man-who-bought-the-sunnyside-conservatory/\">“Big Five” \u003c/a>whose exploits selling worthless mining shares to unsuspecting people and stealing their money were splashed across the newspapers in 1916.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the district attorney brought charges against Van Beckh, he got off when witnesses the prosecution had lined up to testify “just kind of went away,” as Amy put it. One went back to Montana. Another decided not to press charges. And Ernest avoided jail time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074414\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED-1536x1030.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside Conservatory circa 1975, when it had fallen into disrepair. Here, the east wing still stands, but it was later knocked down. \u003ccite>(Greg Gaar/San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They made millions of dollars in the 1910s,” O’Hair said. “And some of that money went towards buying this property. This was their hideout.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Van Beckhs would live here for decades. Ernest died in 1951, but Angele stayed on through the early ‘60s, although she too started to have money problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She slowly sold off all the property to a neighbor,” O’Hair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbors were friends who built their own house on the other side of the conservatory — what is now 234 Monterey Boulevard. While Angele was living there, the two families enjoyed the conservatory and its grounds as one shared yard. But when they moved away, the property lines became a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Saving the conservatory again and again\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1974, Angele’s friends sold their house at 234 Monterey Boulevard and the property with the conservatory on it to a man named Robert Anderson. He started delineating the different lots with an eye to \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2025/04/18/saving-sunnyside-conservatory/\">developing the property\u003c/a> further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, neighbors started getting interested in preserving the conservatory as a historic landmark. The \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysideassociation.org/\">Sunnyside Neighborhood Association\u003c/a> had just formed, and its members started researching the conservatory’s history with a goal to get it landmarked by the city.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“They wanted to save it from demolition,” O’Hair said. After World War II, \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2025/12/07/sunnyside-upzoned/\">Sunnyside was rezoned \u003c/a>to allow for more apartment buildings, which started popping up along Monterey Boulevard throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s. “And they didn’t want to see this property go for apartment buildings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neighbors were successful in getting the \u003ca href=\"https://default.sfplanning.org/Preservation/bulletins/HistPres_Bulletin_09.PDF\">conservatory landmarked in 1975\u003c/a>, which theoretically should have preserved it. However, the owner, Robert Anderson, still managed to get a permit to demolish it. Neighbors had no idea about his plan until they spotted construction equipment at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was riding my bicycle along Monterey Boulevard,” neighbor \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v70K3B-inOg\">Greg Garr said in an interview with Amy O’Hair\u003c/a>. “I think I was going to City College at that time. And I passed by the Sunnyside Conservatory, and I saw heavy equipment in there. And part of the building had been removed. And I said, ‘What the heck? I mean, are they demolishing it?’ I knew it was a registered historic landmark.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called his representative and City Hall, clamoring to stop the demolition. Those efforts were successful, but the damage had been done. The structure was damaged, and almost all the windows had been knocked out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was an emergency now,” O’Hair said. “The city needed to buy the property. What good is a landmark if you don’t own the property under it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074238\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stock certificate of William Merralls, who built Sunnyside Conservatory, is shown by Amy O’Hair at Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1980, the city bought the land from Robert Anderson using the \u003ca href=\"https://generalplan.sfplanning.org/I3_Recreation_and_Open_Space.htm#:~:text=San%20Francisco%20values%20its%20recreation,the%20combination%20of%20the%20two.\">Open Space Fund\u003c/a>. And for many years after, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association did its best to look after the building, but it fell into disrepair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All those years in the 90s when it had no glass, and you could climb right over [the fence], there was always graffiti and beer bottles,” O’Hair remembered. “And Rec and Park didn’t really take care of the grounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, it was another neighbor, \u003ca href=\"https://calhortsociety.org/2020/01/29/ted-kipping/\">Ted Kipping\u003c/a>, who tended the beautiful trees and plants William Merralls had planted all those years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One time, when I was talking to him, he said, ‘I spent $1,000 a month on water,’” O’Hair said. “I don’t know if it’s true. But he was very important to preserving some of the specialness of the grounds, for which I’m thankful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Renovating the conservatory\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1999, another neighborhood group formed — \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunnysideconservatory.org/about\">Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory\u003c/a>. They set ambitious fundraising goals and worked with San Francisco Rec and Park to execute a multimillion-dollar renovation of the building that would restore it to its original glory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the building was under renovation, yet another neighbor came forward with a piece of history to share. When the building and grounds were sold in 1974, and it looked like the old place might be demolished by Robert Anderson, this neighbor had saved the wooden spire from the top of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074241\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074241\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside Conservatory contains a sign indicating that it is a city landmark in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He kept it in his garage for 30 years, bringing it out and offering it to the builders as they renovated. Unfortunately, by then it was rotting, but the builders made an exact replica and covered it in copper. That spire sits on top of the building to this day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a community-led effort, top to bottom,” O’Hair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conservatory has since become a symbol for Sunnyside residents. It was the first campaign that brought neighbors together, fighting for something that makes their corner of San Francisco special and unique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Rec and Park now maintains the building and grounds, but \u003ca href=\"https://sfrecpark.org/665/Sunnyside-Conservatory\">they do rent it out\u003c/a>. Sunnyside neighborhood groups get a bit of a deal, but there have been plenty of weddings, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> If you’ve been listening to the show for a while you may have intuited by now, but San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is one of my absolute favorite places. I love all its nooks and crannies, the unique playgrounds, those long undulating pathways. But I’d argue the crown jewel of the park is the Conservatory of Flowers, partly because of the incredible and rare plants housed inside…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>News Clip: \u003c/strong>The rare corpse flower at the Conservatory of flowers is now open to view and smell.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Like the corpse flower, which only blooms for 48 hours every 3-5 years! And stands more than 6 feet tall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Conservatory of Flowers is also renowned for its architecture. A Victorian glass building – delicate, intricate – topped with a stately domed roof. It’s like nothing else in the city! Or so I thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out San Francisco has \u003cem>another\u003c/em> conservatory across town near Glen Park. It’s much smaller, only a quarter the size, but still lovely. I’m talking about Sunnyside Conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Balmana: \u003c/strong>My name is Mary Balmana. I live in the Mission Terrace area of San Francisco, and I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve passed it my whole life, basically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Mary drives by Sunnyside Conservatory on Monterey Boulevard often, but never sees anyone going in or out. She wants to know its history – and how such a curious building ended up in what is otherwise a very residential area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz is here to tell us all about it. Hi, Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Hi Olivia\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Maybe you could start by just painting a picture of the conservatory as it looks now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The Sunnyside Conservatory is set back from the street a little ways and is surrounded by a lush garden with huge palm trees, ferns and beautiful flowering bushes. It kind of feels like a cloud forest right in the middle of a residential neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What about the building itself?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The building is made of redwood and features a two story octagonal center that dominates the senses. Two levels of windows that let in beautiful amounts of light…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What kind of fabulous plants are inside? Anything to rival the corpse flower?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Sadly, this conservatory no longer has plants inside at all. It’s now used as an events space. But when it was first built in 1902, it was the pride of its owner – who was just the first of a line of quirky residents the property has had over its 100 or so years. Let’s meet some of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>It was built by an eccentric and unique man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Amy O’Hair runs the Sunnyside History Project and lives nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>He was an inventor, William Augustus Merralls, he moved here to Sunnyside when there was very little on Monterey Boulevard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Even though Sunnyside is part of San Francisco now, back then the area was rural. Picture a smattering of houses and dairy farms. Merralls bought a big house here in 1897 and then several adjoining plots of land over the next few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>He accumulated seven lots, and then built his conservatory in 1902. He collected exotic plants and he liked to have a place for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Merralls made his money engineering mining equipment — but his true heart’s desire was invention. Over the years he invented dozens of things, some useful stuff, and some less so. Amy actually met his great grandson, who had some of Merralls’ old papers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>I thought I’d show you some stuff. Things that belonged to William Merrill’s like his patents. So I have all the patents for things that he made. This is a stamp mill. That’s a thing that crushes rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>Look at those seals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Yes, they’re very fancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>This is a letter he wrote while he was in New York City raising money for the automobile starters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>Will you read a little bit of it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Darling, you should see the Merralls starter at work on that big engine. You would be tickled to pieces. It is a dandy. And when you come on for Thanksgiving, you shall be the first lady to ride in an automobile that has the only commercial, perfect self-starter in the world, and that one is a Merralls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>He’s like promoting himself to his wife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>To his wife, for God’s sake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The thing is, Merralls probably had his hand in one too many projects. He had a tendency to move on before things were finished and he was sued a number of times. By the time of his death in 1914, he was having money problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Mmm. Unfortunately, you can’t just create the thing, but you have to sell it too…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Yes, and unfortunately that meant that when he died, the bank repossessed the whole property, including the conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What happened to it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The house and its grounds sat empty for three years and then another couple bought it. The next in the line of curious owners…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>The name of this couple was Ernest and Angel Van Beck. They were very strange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Ernest Van Bech was essentially a scam artist. He made a boatload of money selling worthless mining bonds to people…basically swindling them out of their money. The district attorney even brought charges, but when the witnesses didn’t show up to testify, they had to let Ernest go. And he lived out his life on the property with the conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Ernest would not show his face. There were a lot of rumors about him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Kind of the Boo Radley of Sunnyside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> He really was. The neighborhood kids were all afraid of him. But after decades living in the house next to the conservatory he died in 1951. His wife, Angele, kept living there, but she needed money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>She slowly sold off all the property to a neighbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The neighbors were friends of hers. They built a house on the other side of the conservatory — the east wing of the building was actually in their backyard. At the time, that wasn’t a big deal because Angele and her friends basically shared the conservatory and its grounds like one big yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>But eventually Angele moved away and her friends sold their home – and they leave behind the conservatory, which now straddles two properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Is this foreshadowing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>This is foreshadowing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>We’ll find out what happened after this quick break.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sponsor message\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Alright, Katrina, you were telling us what happened to the conservatory after Angele Van Beck and her friends next door moved away and sold the property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The bulk of the conservatory and its grounds ended up in the hands of a man named Robert Anderson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>It’s 1975 by now, and there’s a lot of local interest in the conservatory as a historic structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>People who live nearby had grown attached to the conservatory. They view it as a symbol of the neighborhood. A group called the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association forms and they start researching the history of the conservatory in order to get it landmarked as a historic building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>They wanted to save it from demolition because in the 50s and 60s and 70s, along Monterey Boulevard, we’d had so many empty lots, and it was rezoned after the war, that apartment buildings were growing up all the way along it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The neighbors succeeded in getting the building landmarked, but that didn’t keep it safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>But then Robert Anderson decided he actually would build some apartment buildings and he got a permit to demolish the conservatory, which he attempted to do at the end of 1978. And it was only saved because of two people who had their eye on the conservatory. Greg Gaar is one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Garr: \u003c/strong>Well, I was riding my bicycle along Monterey Boulevard. I think I was going to City College at that time. And I passed by the Sunnyside Conservatory and I saw heavy equipment in there. And part of the building had been removed. And I said, what the heck? I mean, are they demolishing it? I knew it was a registered historic landmark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Greg Garr and other neighbors started frantically calling city hall and they got the demolition halted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>When they were done, the glass was knocked out of most of the windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> This seems like an impasse. Robert Anderson can’t knock the conservatory down and build anything new – but he owns it. So what happens?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Well, the city buys the land from him. But there wasn’t any money to renovate the building then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Sunnyside Neighborhood Association tried to get it renovated and they looked after it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>They scraped graffiti off the building and boarded up all the broken windows to keep rain out. But unfortunately the whole thing was falling into disrepair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point in the 1980s, the east wing of the conservatory – the part that crossed over onto another property – it gets knocked down, leaving the building looking kind of lopsided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>And it is a loss, because it’s no longer, it’s whole, whole self.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Wait, after saving it from being knocked down by the developer…part of it was still demolished?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Yes, sadly. Amy says the circumstances are a bit mysterious, but that eastern wing is in photos of the conservatory through early 1980 and then it’s just gone. If you go there now, there’s a fence right up against the main part of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Sounds like these neighbors really had to be vigilant to keep this thing from being torn down completely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> You know, they did their best. And there was a man who lived behind the conservatory…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Whose name was Ted Kipping. And he was a professional botanist, arborist, and plant collector, and photographer, speaker. Very ambitious, very dedicated. He took care of the grounds in the 90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The conservatory becomes something of a pet project for him. A very expensive one…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>One time, when I was talking to him, he said, I spent $1,000 a month on water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> How does it turn into the beautiful building it is today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>A group called the Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory forms in 1999 and spend about 10 years raising money and getting San Francisco Rec and Park on board. They did a big multimillion dollar renovation in the 2000s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reopening video clip: \u003c/strong>We’re here at the Sunnyside’s Conservatory that’s re-opening and this has been a long fought community effort to make this happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>There was a big party at the conservatory to celebrate its reopening in 2009. Then mayor Gavin Newsom was there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>In a hundred years they’ll be talking about, in 2009…\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Everyone was so excited that this neighborhood gem had been restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reopening video clip: \u003c/strong>Here’s the original spire. It was somewhere up there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>The conservatory has a spire?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Yes — the original 1902 building that William Merralls built had a redwood spire on top. And a neighbor kept that spire in his garage for 30 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>This man volunteered this finial, redwood finial from the original building and said, well, here it is. You know, you can put it back on the new building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> And did they?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Well, by then it was fairly rotten. So, instead they made an exact replica, covered it in copper and that’s what’s now on top of the current building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> A bit of a cherry on top, if you will. So now the neighborhood has this pretty special place for everyone to enjoy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Not only that, but working to preserve the conservatory brought the community together\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Thanks for sharing this history with us, Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> My pleasure. And if you haven’t been to the Sunnyside Conservatory, you should really check it out!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> One thing I love about the Bay Area is that most neighborhoods have little gems like this one. They’re usually not things people would go out of their way to visit…but they do make each little corner of this area special. If you’ve got a spot near you that you’ve always wondered about, head on over to bay curious dot org and submit a question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re interested to know more about Sunnyside, Amy O’Hair has a book called \u003cem>History Walks of Sunnyside\u003c/em> coming out very soon. So keep your eyes peeled for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve been enjoying the double dose of Bay Curious we’ve been putting out this month, consider making a donation to KQED to support our work. Every little bit helps, just head over to KQED dot or slash donate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our show is produced by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen Price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Whether the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a>’s biggest city can meet its lofty housing goals to help cool a red-hot affordability crisis in the coming years could hinge on the fate of a former golf course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Housing advocates say the 113-acre former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in East San José, a huge plot of open land that shuttered in 2004, has the potential to become a thriving new neighborhood with several thousand homes or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But neighbors and some city officials are not as keen to stack the site so densely over concerns about worsening traffic congestion and maintaining the area’s character.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San José is still way behind. It’s way behind on its housing, and it’s way behind on its thinking about what development should look like,” said Alex Shoor, the executive director of Catalyze SV, a pro-housing group in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We either build a lot of housing on this site, and we’re actually serious about solving the housing crisis, or we have elected officials and civic leaders who continue to pay lip service to housing while doing nowhere near enough to solve the real issues,” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José could make a big dent in its state-mandated housing target to create 62,200 homes between 2023 and 2031 — a goal it is presently not on pace to meet — if it takes a full swing on the former course and pushes for roughly 6,000 homes, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pedestrian walks by a sign reading “Notice of Development Proposal” covered in graffiti at the site of the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Like much of the Bay Area, San José doesn’t have many large tracts of developable land left in its urban areas, making the golf course all the more appealing to housing advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This development should be a walkable, dense, vibrant neighborhood where shops, workplaces and housing and recreation space should all be next to each other. That is how centuries of housing and communities have been built. And it is how you create the most safe, sustainable and dynamic neighborhoods,” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The course opened in 1960 and closed in 2004, according to the city. The family that owns the land said it shut down due to rising costs and changing interests, \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-officials-want-denser-housing-on-former-golf-course/\">San José Spotlight\u003c/a> reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A proposal from Mark Lazzarini and Tony Arreola, two prominent South Bay real estate investors, initially contemplated about 1,700 homes, largely plotted out as single-family homes or townhomes, but was reworked to propose 2,000 homes in recent months, after city planning staff urged the pair to boost the density as high as 2,850 homes.[aside postID=news_12069836 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/251208-DOWNTOWN-WEST-MD-08-KQED.jpg']City planners have also said the project should include a significant number of affordable homes, commercial space and park or open space, and provide easier connections to the nearby Eastridge Transit Center and Lake Cunningham.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some neighbors worry the city is being too prescriptive about what the developer should build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Reese, a leader of the District Eight Community Roundtable, which represents several neighborhood associations in the area, said the project needs to be consistent with the existing single-family home communities in the area. He pointed to city studies that show denser mid-rise projects often don’t pencil out for developers under current market conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reese said Shoor and a group of like-minded community organizations calling for very dense housing on the land are oversimplifying a complex situation. A more realistic project, in his view, should be in the realm of 1,300 or 1,700 homes, on the high end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s one thing to have capacity, but we need to have something actually get built,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the [San José City] Council is going to have to be focused on whether they want a chicken in the pot or turkey in the bush,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site, while fully bounded by the city of San José, is currently an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, and the county’s housing goals imagine the potential for up to 2,850 homes on the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074333\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An open grassy area at the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If it were to be developed, City Planning Director Chris Burton said the property would need to be annexed into the city, and it’s not yet clear how the city and the county would divvy up the housing totals toward their respective targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not very often we get 110 acres,” Burton said. “Obviously, the market wants to drive to feasibility, which at this moment in time tends to be at lower densities. Certainly, the neighborhood is concerned about the impacts of more units in the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he also noted that market conditions that determine financing for housing projects can shift, and any large project on the site would take many years to build, in phases.[aside postID=news_12069608 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/019_KQED_RichmondHousing_08162022_qed.jpg']“From a city perspective, we really don’t see the future of building out the city around single-family homes and lower densities. We’ve got to continue to maximize opportunity to add,” he said. “But in a process like this, we have to balance all of those interests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Converting golf courses and sprawling private recreational spaces into havens of housing and retail is not a new idea, particularly in places where development tends to happen as infill in small pockets. But like in San José, some communities oppose the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just over the border from San José in Santa Clara, developers are planning \u003ca href=\"https://www.santaclaraca.gov/Home/Components/BusinessDirectory/BusinessDirectory/531/2495?npage=4\">316 apartments\u003c/a> on a portion of the popular nine-hole Pruneridge Golf Course, which already has older housing stock woven into it. That project doesn’t plan to replace the course, but will require a reconfiguration of three holes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Brentwood in the East Bay, voters overwhelmingly chose in a 2022 ballot measure to restrict potential developments across several golf course properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in San Diego, a developer is working to replace the Riverwalk Golf Club with 4,300 residential units, more than 150,000 square feet of retail space and 1 million square feet of office space, plus nearly 100 acres of green space, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/10/28/riverwalk-developer-secures-380m-resumes-construction-on-mission-valley-project/\">The San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San José, the Pleasant Hills Golf Course proposal is still undergoing environmental review. A formal vote to greenlight a final version of the project isn’t likely to happen this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074330 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An open grassy area at the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>District 8 City Councilmember Domingo Candelas, who represents the area where the land sits, said there are still many questions to be answered, and declined to say how big or dense the project should be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I firmly believe we’re not going to solve our housing crisis with this single project,” Candelas said. “I remain fully committed to finding a thoughtful, responsible solution that addresses this crisis while protecting the quality of life of our neighborhoods and of our neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shoor said the housing crisis in Silicon Valley — with average homes in San José valued at roughly $1.4 million — and the Bay Area needs to be treated with more urgency by officials around the region, and compared the situation to California’s drought cycles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t build enough housing on Pleasant Hills, it’s like we’re in a drought, and we say, ‘One day of rain will be OK. If we just get a day of rainfall, we’ll get back to where we need to go,’” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we need is a rainstorm of housing,” he said. “We need a deluge of new housing to provide for the people who are already here, the people growing up here, the people who are trying to move back here, and the new immigrants who deserve to be here, as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San José is still way behind. It’s way behind on its housing, and it’s way behind on its thinking about what development should look like,” said Alex Shoor, the executive director of Catalyze SV, a pro-housing group in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We either build a lot of housing on this site, and we’re actually serious about solving the housing crisis, or we have elected officials and civic leaders who continue to pay lip service to housing while doing nowhere near enough to solve the real issues,” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José could make a big dent in its state-mandated housing target to create 62,200 homes between 2023 and 2031 — a goal it is presently not on pace to meet — if it takes a full swing on the former course and pushes for roughly 6,000 homes, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pedestrian walks by a sign reading “Notice of Development Proposal” covered in graffiti at the site of the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Like much of the Bay Area, San José doesn’t have many large tracts of developable land left in its urban areas, making the golf course all the more appealing to housing advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This development should be a walkable, dense, vibrant neighborhood where shops, workplaces and housing and recreation space should all be next to each other. That is how centuries of housing and communities have been built. And it is how you create the most safe, sustainable and dynamic neighborhoods,” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The course opened in 1960 and closed in 2004, according to the city. The family that owns the land said it shut down due to rising costs and changing interests, \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-officials-want-denser-housing-on-former-golf-course/\">San José Spotlight\u003c/a> reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A proposal from Mark Lazzarini and Tony Arreola, two prominent South Bay real estate investors, initially contemplated about 1,700 homes, largely plotted out as single-family homes or townhomes, but was reworked to propose 2,000 homes in recent months, after city planning staff urged the pair to boost the density as high as 2,850 homes.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>City planners have also said the project should include a significant number of affordable homes, commercial space and park or open space, and provide easier connections to the nearby Eastridge Transit Center and Lake Cunningham.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some neighbors worry the city is being too prescriptive about what the developer should build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Reese, a leader of the District Eight Community Roundtable, which represents several neighborhood associations in the area, said the project needs to be consistent with the existing single-family home communities in the area. He pointed to city studies that show denser mid-rise projects often don’t pencil out for developers under current market conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reese said Shoor and a group of like-minded community organizations calling for very dense housing on the land are oversimplifying a complex situation. A more realistic project, in his view, should be in the realm of 1,300 or 1,700 homes, on the high end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s one thing to have capacity, but we need to have something actually get built,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the [San José City] Council is going to have to be focused on whether they want a chicken in the pot or turkey in the bush,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site, while fully bounded by the city of San José, is currently an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, and the county’s housing goals imagine the potential for up to 2,850 homes on the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074333\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An open grassy area at the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If it were to be developed, City Planning Director Chris Burton said the property would need to be annexed into the city, and it’s not yet clear how the city and the county would divvy up the housing totals toward their respective targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not very often we get 110 acres,” Burton said. “Obviously, the market wants to drive to feasibility, which at this moment in time tends to be at lower densities. Certainly, the neighborhood is concerned about the impacts of more units in the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he also noted that market conditions that determine financing for housing projects can shift, and any large project on the site would take many years to build, in phases.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“From a city perspective, we really don’t see the future of building out the city around single-family homes and lower densities. We’ve got to continue to maximize opportunity to add,” he said. “But in a process like this, we have to balance all of those interests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Converting golf courses and sprawling private recreational spaces into havens of housing and retail is not a new idea, particularly in places where development tends to happen as infill in small pockets. But like in San José, some communities oppose the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just over the border from San José in Santa Clara, developers are planning \u003ca href=\"https://www.santaclaraca.gov/Home/Components/BusinessDirectory/BusinessDirectory/531/2495?npage=4\">316 apartments\u003c/a> on a portion of the popular nine-hole Pruneridge Golf Course, which already has older housing stock woven into it. That project doesn’t plan to replace the course, but will require a reconfiguration of three holes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Brentwood in the East Bay, voters overwhelmingly chose in a 2022 ballot measure to restrict potential developments across several golf course properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in San Diego, a developer is working to replace the Riverwalk Golf Club with 4,300 residential units, more than 150,000 square feet of retail space and 1 million square feet of office space, plus nearly 100 acres of green space, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/10/28/riverwalk-developer-secures-380m-resumes-construction-on-mission-valley-project/\">The San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San José, the Pleasant Hills Golf Course proposal is still undergoing environmental review. A formal vote to greenlight a final version of the project isn’t likely to happen this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074330 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An open grassy area at the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>District 8 City Councilmember Domingo Candelas, who represents the area where the land sits, said there are still many questions to be answered, and declined to say how big or dense the project should be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I firmly believe we’re not going to solve our housing crisis with this single project,” Candelas said. “I remain fully committed to finding a thoughtful, responsible solution that addresses this crisis while protecting the quality of life of our neighborhoods and of our neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shoor said the housing crisis in Silicon Valley — with average homes in San José valued at roughly $1.4 million — and the Bay Area needs to be treated with more urgency by officials around the region, and compared the situation to California’s drought cycles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t build enough housing on Pleasant Hills, it’s like we’re in a drought, and we say, ‘One day of rain will be OK. If we just get a day of rainfall, we’ll get back to where we need to go,’” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we need is a rainstorm of housing,” he said. “We need a deluge of new housing to provide for the people who are already here, the people growing up here, the people who are trying to move back here, and the new immigrants who deserve to be here, as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "tiny-homes-big-ambitions-matt-mahans-run-for-governor-spotlights-his-shelter-strategy",
"title": "Tiny Homes, Big Ambitions: Matt Mahan’s Run for Governor Spotlights His Shelter Strategy",
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"headTitle": "Tiny Homes, Big Ambitions: Matt Mahan’s Run for Governor Spotlights His Shelter Strategy | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Some mayors have airports as legacy projects. Others have downtown arenas. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/matt-mahan\">Matt Mahan\u003c/a> has tiny homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Mahan, the mayor of San José and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071306/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-announces-run-for-california-governor\">Democratic candidate\u003c/a> for California governor, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072666/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-wants-to-be-governor-heres-a-look-into-his-signature-homelessness-program\">celebrated the opening\u003c/a> of a tiny home project in North San José. A six-acre patch of dirt next to the Valley Transportation Authority’s Cerone Yard was transformed into a hub of 162 private rooms for people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cerone ribbon-cutting marked the end of an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064380/new-san-jose-tiny-homes-for-unhoused-open-next-to-former-encampment\">ambitious expansion\u003c/a> of shelter in the state’s third-largest city — the last project the city had budgeted in a construction sprint. In the last year, 11 temporary housing sites opened their doors and an existing site more than doubled in size, adding a total of 1,319 beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This phase of shelter expansion may be over for now,” Mahan said at the site’s opening. “But our fight to end unsheltered homelessness continues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shelter building boom is sunsetting just as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071841/can-a-centrist-democrat-win-the-governors-race\">new chapter\u003c/a> in Mahan’s political career begins. At the Cerone opening, the mayor’s usual cadre of city staff were joined by new faces: members of a campaign team guiding Mahan’s run for governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that campaign, Mahan will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070167/governors-race-takes-shape-as-bonta-opts-out-mahan-weighs-run\">likely tout his ability\u003c/a> to take on the state’s most vexing problems by pointing to his experience as mayor. The tiny homes, converted motels and RV parking lots that together make up San José’s Emergency Interim Housing system stand as the visual embodiment of Mahan’s tenure — the fruit of multiple \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042688/mahan-unveils-final-san-jose-budget-plan\">budget fights\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949797/in-controversial-plan-san-jose-mayor-seeks-to-use-homelessness-dollars-to-build-more-temporary-shelters-instead-of-permanent-housing\">political clashes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Mahan and his supporters, the interim housing network is pragmatism in practice — an example of the type of “bias for action” prized in Silicon Valley that has delivered quick results on voters’ top issue. For critics, the tiny homes are monuments to political expediency, with a growing price tag that could weigh on the city’s books long after Mahan leaves office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan addresses reporters and city leaders at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“San José set a goal to create a lot more shelter units, and they’ve done it,” said Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home, a housing nonprofit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the city’s new shelter focus has only solved “part of the problem,” Loving said. “Because obviously people can’t live in those places forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The interim housing sites have filled up just as quickly as they have opened, offering residents a more comfortable alternative to traditional congregate shelters. And on Mahan’s most prized metric, reducing unsheltered homelessness, the tiny homes appear to be delivering: last year’s point-in-time count found the number of people sleeping outdoors had \u003ca href=\"https://osh.santaclaracounty.gov/data-and-reports/point-time-count\">dropped by 10%\u003c/a> since January 2023, when Mahan took office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as this phase of the tiny home buildout winds down, nearly 4,000 people are still without shelter in San José — and the system’s future is uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072536\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072536\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">HomeFirst CEO Rene Ramirez speaks during a news conference at the grand opening of the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mahan and the council have committed to operate the shelter system in perpetuity, with no guarantee of ongoing funding help from the county, state or federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interim housing costs are outstripping the city’s dedicated homeless fund, and by 2029, the shelters could require an infusion of nearly $60 million from the city’s general fund, which pays for basic services like police and fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have leaned out in a big way in — some would say — taking a risk on going it alone and building out a system that is very expensive,” Mahan said. “The fact that we did that, though, and have shown that it’s working, I think has shown that we are committed to ending this crisis and has actually built the social and political capital to get others to the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A funding reversal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2023, the South Bay ranked last among large California Continuums of Care (HUD-designated regional homeless planning bodies) in shelter capacity, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/taking-stock-of-californias-capacity-to-house-its-homeless-population/\">an analysis\u003c/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San José, Santa Clara City and County Continuum of Care had 29 shelter beds per 100 people experiencing homelessness — well behind San Diego (61.1 beds per 100 homeless individuals), San Francisco (50.9), Riverside (40) and Los Angeles (34.9).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan won \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932432/cindy-chavez-concedes-race-for-san-jose-mayor-to-matt-mahan\">an upset victory\u003c/a> in the 2022 mayoral election on a vow to reduce unsheltered homelessness. But city funding was largely dedicated to building affordable apartments that offer a permanent path off the streets — though they typically take longer to build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072533\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outdoor common areas and walkways are shown at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The site will include shared seating, shaded areas and support facilities for future residents. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To engineer San José’s shift toward a shelter-focused strategy, Mahan eyed a pot of money created by voters in a 2020 ballot initiative, Measure E. The tax on high-value real estate sales raises around $50 million to $60 million a year — roughly 75% of which is dedicated to building permanent affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first year as mayor, a council majority \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952913/san-jose-council-approves-modest-shift-toward-temporary-homeless-housing\">rejected Mahan’s proposal\u003c/a> to redirect a larger share of the Measure E revenue toward interim housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989926/san-jose-council-approves-budget-with-historic-shift-in-unhoused-spending\">next two years\u003c/a>, Mahan evinced a political savvy in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026437/san-jose-mayor-proposes-permanent-shift-homeless-funding-from-housing-shelter\">spearheading the reversal\u003c/a> in city homeless funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacking the executive power of other big-city mayors, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979482/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-calls-for-urgent-action-on-homelessness-in-city-budget-plan\">trumpeted warnings\u003c/a> that the city could face fines for its lack of shelter; urged his colleagues to continue approving new shelter construction (adding pressure to find revenue to support the costs); and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024327/san-jose-council-taps-engineering-executive-carl-salas-vacant-seat\">built a roster of allies\u003c/a> on the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the council \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043418/san-jose-council-approves-mahans-shelter-enforcement-plan\">voted to permanently dedicate\u003c/a> 90% of the homeless fund toward shelter, with the remaining 10% earmarked for homeless prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The funding reversal was complete, and construction of tiny home villages continued apace — in Downtown, Berryessa and South San José. Neighborhood opposition, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942734/emergency-calls-complaints-are-down-near-san-joses-temporary-housing-sites-so-why-are-they-still-so-politically-risky\">once threatened to derail\u003c/a> the program, began to soften.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the beginning of Mahan’s tenure, the city was operating seven interim housing facilities. Now there are 23 — a mix of individual room projects such as Cerone, modular studio apartments, converted motel rooms and parking lots for lived-in vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Investments ‘started to bear fruit’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By the beginning of 2025, the South Bay had already caught up to the shelter capacity of other large California jurisdictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD has not yet released point-in-time counts of people experiencing homelessness in 2025 or the annual Housing Inventory Count of shelter. But seven of the state’s largest Continuums of Care provided the data they reported to HUD, either publicly or in response to a request from KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In two years, the South Bay’s ratio of beds per 100 people experiencing homelessness had jumped from 29.0 to 40.6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Local Shelter Capacity in California\" aria-label=\"Dot Plot\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-dmxrZ\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dmxrZ/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"333\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout 2025, San José opened a dozen more interim projects, adding more than 1,000 additional beds that were not reflected in the count, which typically takes place at the beginning of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vacancy rates for the new tiny homes have remained low — in part because San José’s shelter expansion looks very different from the large congregate shelters that offer a cot or bunk-bed in a large room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congregate shelters can leave residents without privacy and dignity — and open to crime and abuse, said Benjamin Henwood, director of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute at USC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People sort of voted with their feet, meaning they opted out of these shelters,” Henwood said. “They preferred living unsheltered without all of those risks that came with a congregate shelter.”[aside postID=news_11988728 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/IMG_7876_qut-1020x765.jpg']While the designs of San José’s tiny home shelters vary from site to site, nearly all offer a private room with a locked door — and access to case managers who can help coordinate medical needs and search for permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tiny homes have consistently been more than 95% full. The utilization rate across 13 locations tracked on an ongoing basis \u003ca href=\"https://app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrIjoiMjUxM2ZiMjAtNmE5Zi00ZTJlLWI4YjQtYTU3NjdiY2Q5OTBkIiwidCI6IjBmZTMzYmUwLTYxNDItNGY5Ni05YjhkLTc4MTdkNWMyNjEzOSJ9&pageName=fc2a0a27f1654d314199%22\">stands at 96%\u003c/a> over the last seven months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miguel Torres moved into the Rue Ferrari interim housing community in South San José last year. He had been living in his car for a year, by a train station on Monterey Road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Work was slow, and it was hard for me to find jobs and all that,” he said. “I didn’t have no resources in the car, and it’s hard to drive here and there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day, Torres saw outreach workers knocking on nearby tents. They were offering spots at Rue Ferrari, which expanded this year from 124 to 268 beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He jumped at the opportunity but had concerns about what life would be like in short-term housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I heard a lot of stuff [about] shelters because, you know, you live with a lot of people in bunk beds,” Torres said. “But here it’s peaceful, you get your own room, they kind of show you how to be independent more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And for me, because I get a little anxiety, it’s perfect for me,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four months later, Torres has settled into his one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit. His bed is covered with a San Francisco 49ers blanket, and a TV and speakers sit at the foot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Earlier today I was shaving, cutting my hair, and I had the music bumping — not too loud, respect the neighbors — but, ah man, you can’t complain, dude,” Torres said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A growing price tag\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Thousands of new shelter beds, with high rates of usage, have contributed to a decline in the number of people sleeping outdoors in San José — from 4,411 in January 2023 to 3,959 in January 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A countywide financial assistance program also helped — \u003ca href=\"https://news.nd.edu/news/targeted-prevention-helps-stop-homelessness-before-it-starts/\">Notre Dame researchers\u003c/a> credited it with dramatically reducing the number of people becoming homeless in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The investments that the city has been making have really started to bear fruit,” said Anthony Tordillos, a city council member representing downtown. “By bringing that additional capacity online, the city’s been successful in actually being able to move people from the streets and get them into more secure housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rows of newly installed tiny homes line a pedestrian walkway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The city secured $12.7 million in state funding to purchase the homes. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But San José is still thousands of beds short of the 5,477 shelter beds the city estimated last year would be needed to achieve “functional zero” homelessness — meaning anyone who lost their housing would be able to access a bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barring any influx of state or federal funding, the city’s shelter system won’t be greatly expanding anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And just maintaining a system the size of San José’s could be difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In permanent supportive housing projects, tenants typically pay a small share of rent or are subsidized by a federal housing voucher. In interim housing, there is typically no rent to offset the mounting operating costs, which include staffing and utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t appear that these are sustainable strategies because…you’re paying the operation cost on an ongoing basis,” said Henwood, the USC professor. “Those are sort of never-ending costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even the shift of Measure E funds from affordable housing to shelter will not be enough to completely pay for San José’s interim housing system in the years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A preliminary \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15167200&GUID=86C22EAB-3F43-40BC-8A68-3C74BE78A74D\">budget forecast\u003c/a>, presented to the council last week, found the interim housing system would need an infusion of $17 million in the upcoming fiscal year from the general fund — increasing to $58 million in 2029-30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Required General Fund Contribution to Interim Housing ($ Millions)\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-t1P8M\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/t1P8M/2/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"450\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is already \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071569/matt-mahan-is-running-for-governor-what-does-that-mean-for-san-jose\">facing a budget shortfall\u003c/a> of roughly $55 million to $65 million in the coming year, so maintaining the interim housing system could force difficult spending trade-offs with other city services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city obviously took kind of a big bet making these investments to so dramatically expand our shelter capacity, and knowing that those do come with longer-term operational costs,” Tordillos said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Tordillos said, the city will need to pivot into “optimization mode,” by finding ways to drive down the costs of on-site services — and finding financial help from other levels of government.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Not respecting the taxpayers’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Federal funding for the interim housing program has dried up, and support from the state (which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975319/newsom-reneges-on-sending-san-jose-tiny-homes-for-the-unhoused\">chipped in millions\u003c/a> for projects including Cerone) has declined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state budget approved last year by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom appropriated no new flexible homeless dollars (known as the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2026/01/homelessness-funding-2026/\">Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention\u003c/a> — HHAP — program) for cities and counties in 2025-26 — a drop from the $1 billion approved in the previous budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make up those costs, Mahan has turned to Santa Clara County, arguing in part that the city’s reduction in unsheltered homelessness is saving the county money by reducing the number of visits unhoused people make to the emergency room and jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The interior of a finished tiny home is seen through an open doorway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. Each unit includes a bed, storage space and basic furnishings for residents transitioning out of homelessness. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But county leaders have been among the sharpest critics of Mahan’s shelter-focused approach. They already fund more than 2,000 shelter placements of their own and have long prioritized funding permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that as a policymaker, I’ve ever proposed a program, a service, that I expected another entity to support,” Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said. “Collaboration does actually make sense, but that means that you meet…and you talk about what you’re building together and have the same objective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that we have the same objective,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former San José council member, Arenas said she had longstanding concerns about continuing to expand the interim housing system without a stable funding source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think to build tiny homes, and then you forget, oh, we needed to also put in some money to operate all of these tiny homes, is not respecting the taxpayers,” she said. “And also not being true to what you’re actually providing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Accountability without resources\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042370/in-san-jose-a-controversial-choice-for-unhoused-shelter-or-arrest\">harsh rhetoric between\u003c/a> members of the council and board of supervisors last year — which nearly resulted in a rare joint meeting to hash out their differences in public — the city-county relationship over interim housing appears to be thawing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Mahan endorsed a county-led \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058418/santa-clara-county-sales-tax-measure-a-pitched-to-offset-deep-medicaid-cuts-measure-a\">ballot measure\u003c/a> to raise the sales tax, and county leaders committed to sending health workers to bring medical services directly to residents at tiny home sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan insists that city general fund spending on temporary housing should be on the table, given the priority residents have placed on reducing street homelessness.[aside postID=news_12071306 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250312-MATT-MAHAN-ON-PB-MD-02-KQED-1.jpg']“That’s the nightmare scenario, but we have to plan for that,” he said. “So [if] federal, state and county all pull back and choose not to invest in things that are working, we can sustain the system we have, though that is far from ideal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As mayor, Mahan faces the same challenge as many big-city leaders across the state, said Darrell Steinberg, the former mayor of Sacramento and president pro tem of the state Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the number one thing for a big-city mayor in California is that, aside from the HHAP funding, you have all the accountability but not the bulk of the resources,” Steinberg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Mahan, the mayor, can’t secure money for the tiny homes now, he may be betting that Mahan, the governor, will be the program’s chief benefactor in the future, able to direct state resources toward the system he helped build in San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miguel Torres has dreams of something more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on a picnic table outside of his unit at Rue Ferrari, Torres said he feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ever since I got a spot, a roof over my head, I ain’t got to worry about being in the street or anything,” he said. “So I’m focusing on a career, on a job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hoping his tiny home will be a launching pad for the future he is already starting to envision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just a regular little house, you know,” he said. “I got kids, so hopefully I could bring them in with me too — that’s pretty much my goal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The mayor of San José has led a massive expansion of temporary housing. Now, he’s running for governor of California. Is the shelter system built to last? ",
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"title": "Tiny Homes, Big Ambitions: Matt Mahan’s Run for Governor Spotlights His Shelter Strategy | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Some mayors have airports as legacy projects. Others have downtown arenas. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/matt-mahan\">Matt Mahan\u003c/a> has tiny homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Mahan, the mayor of San José and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071306/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-announces-run-for-california-governor\">Democratic candidate\u003c/a> for California governor, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072666/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-wants-to-be-governor-heres-a-look-into-his-signature-homelessness-program\">celebrated the opening\u003c/a> of a tiny home project in North San José. A six-acre patch of dirt next to the Valley Transportation Authority’s Cerone Yard was transformed into a hub of 162 private rooms for people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cerone ribbon-cutting marked the end of an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064380/new-san-jose-tiny-homes-for-unhoused-open-next-to-former-encampment\">ambitious expansion\u003c/a> of shelter in the state’s third-largest city — the last project the city had budgeted in a construction sprint. In the last year, 11 temporary housing sites opened their doors and an existing site more than doubled in size, adding a total of 1,319 beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This phase of shelter expansion may be over for now,” Mahan said at the site’s opening. “But our fight to end unsheltered homelessness continues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shelter building boom is sunsetting just as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071841/can-a-centrist-democrat-win-the-governors-race\">new chapter\u003c/a> in Mahan’s political career begins. At the Cerone opening, the mayor’s usual cadre of city staff were joined by new faces: members of a campaign team guiding Mahan’s run for governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that campaign, Mahan will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070167/governors-race-takes-shape-as-bonta-opts-out-mahan-weighs-run\">likely tout his ability\u003c/a> to take on the state’s most vexing problems by pointing to his experience as mayor. The tiny homes, converted motels and RV parking lots that together make up San José’s Emergency Interim Housing system stand as the visual embodiment of Mahan’s tenure — the fruit of multiple \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042688/mahan-unveils-final-san-jose-budget-plan\">budget fights\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949797/in-controversial-plan-san-jose-mayor-seeks-to-use-homelessness-dollars-to-build-more-temporary-shelters-instead-of-permanent-housing\">political clashes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Mahan and his supporters, the interim housing network is pragmatism in practice — an example of the type of “bias for action” prized in Silicon Valley that has delivered quick results on voters’ top issue. For critics, the tiny homes are monuments to political expediency, with a growing price tag that could weigh on the city’s books long after Mahan leaves office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan addresses reporters and city leaders at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“San José set a goal to create a lot more shelter units, and they’ve done it,” said Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home, a housing nonprofit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the city’s new shelter focus has only solved “part of the problem,” Loving said. “Because obviously people can’t live in those places forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The interim housing sites have filled up just as quickly as they have opened, offering residents a more comfortable alternative to traditional congregate shelters. And on Mahan’s most prized metric, reducing unsheltered homelessness, the tiny homes appear to be delivering: last year’s point-in-time count found the number of people sleeping outdoors had \u003ca href=\"https://osh.santaclaracounty.gov/data-and-reports/point-time-count\">dropped by 10%\u003c/a> since January 2023, when Mahan took office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as this phase of the tiny home buildout winds down, nearly 4,000 people are still without shelter in San José — and the system’s future is uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072536\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072536\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">HomeFirst CEO Rene Ramirez speaks during a news conference at the grand opening of the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mahan and the council have committed to operate the shelter system in perpetuity, with no guarantee of ongoing funding help from the county, state or federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interim housing costs are outstripping the city’s dedicated homeless fund, and by 2029, the shelters could require an infusion of nearly $60 million from the city’s general fund, which pays for basic services like police and fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have leaned out in a big way in — some would say — taking a risk on going it alone and building out a system that is very expensive,” Mahan said. “The fact that we did that, though, and have shown that it’s working, I think has shown that we are committed to ending this crisis and has actually built the social and political capital to get others to the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A funding reversal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2023, the South Bay ranked last among large California Continuums of Care (HUD-designated regional homeless planning bodies) in shelter capacity, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/taking-stock-of-californias-capacity-to-house-its-homeless-population/\">an analysis\u003c/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San José, Santa Clara City and County Continuum of Care had 29 shelter beds per 100 people experiencing homelessness — well behind San Diego (61.1 beds per 100 homeless individuals), San Francisco (50.9), Riverside (40) and Los Angeles (34.9).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan won \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932432/cindy-chavez-concedes-race-for-san-jose-mayor-to-matt-mahan\">an upset victory\u003c/a> in the 2022 mayoral election on a vow to reduce unsheltered homelessness. But city funding was largely dedicated to building affordable apartments that offer a permanent path off the streets — though they typically take longer to build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072533\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outdoor common areas and walkways are shown at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The site will include shared seating, shaded areas and support facilities for future residents. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To engineer San José’s shift toward a shelter-focused strategy, Mahan eyed a pot of money created by voters in a 2020 ballot initiative, Measure E. The tax on high-value real estate sales raises around $50 million to $60 million a year — roughly 75% of which is dedicated to building permanent affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first year as mayor, a council majority \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952913/san-jose-council-approves-modest-shift-toward-temporary-homeless-housing\">rejected Mahan’s proposal\u003c/a> to redirect a larger share of the Measure E revenue toward interim housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989926/san-jose-council-approves-budget-with-historic-shift-in-unhoused-spending\">next two years\u003c/a>, Mahan evinced a political savvy in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026437/san-jose-mayor-proposes-permanent-shift-homeless-funding-from-housing-shelter\">spearheading the reversal\u003c/a> in city homeless funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacking the executive power of other big-city mayors, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979482/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-calls-for-urgent-action-on-homelessness-in-city-budget-plan\">trumpeted warnings\u003c/a> that the city could face fines for its lack of shelter; urged his colleagues to continue approving new shelter construction (adding pressure to find revenue to support the costs); and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024327/san-jose-council-taps-engineering-executive-carl-salas-vacant-seat\">built a roster of allies\u003c/a> on the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the council \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043418/san-jose-council-approves-mahans-shelter-enforcement-plan\">voted to permanently dedicate\u003c/a> 90% of the homeless fund toward shelter, with the remaining 10% earmarked for homeless prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The funding reversal was complete, and construction of tiny home villages continued apace — in Downtown, Berryessa and South San José. Neighborhood opposition, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942734/emergency-calls-complaints-are-down-near-san-joses-temporary-housing-sites-so-why-are-they-still-so-politically-risky\">once threatened to derail\u003c/a> the program, began to soften.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the beginning of Mahan’s tenure, the city was operating seven interim housing facilities. Now there are 23 — a mix of individual room projects such as Cerone, modular studio apartments, converted motel rooms and parking lots for lived-in vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Investments ‘started to bear fruit’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By the beginning of 2025, the South Bay had already caught up to the shelter capacity of other large California jurisdictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD has not yet released point-in-time counts of people experiencing homelessness in 2025 or the annual Housing Inventory Count of shelter. But seven of the state’s largest Continuums of Care provided the data they reported to HUD, either publicly or in response to a request from KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In two years, the South Bay’s ratio of beds per 100 people experiencing homelessness had jumped from 29.0 to 40.6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Local Shelter Capacity in California\" aria-label=\"Dot Plot\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-dmxrZ\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dmxrZ/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"333\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout 2025, San José opened a dozen more interim projects, adding more than 1,000 additional beds that were not reflected in the count, which typically takes place at the beginning of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vacancy rates for the new tiny homes have remained low — in part because San José’s shelter expansion looks very different from the large congregate shelters that offer a cot or bunk-bed in a large room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congregate shelters can leave residents without privacy and dignity — and open to crime and abuse, said Benjamin Henwood, director of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute at USC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People sort of voted with their feet, meaning they opted out of these shelters,” Henwood said. “They preferred living unsheltered without all of those risks that came with a congregate shelter.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While the designs of San José’s tiny home shelters vary from site to site, nearly all offer a private room with a locked door — and access to case managers who can help coordinate medical needs and search for permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tiny homes have consistently been more than 95% full. The utilization rate across 13 locations tracked on an ongoing basis \u003ca href=\"https://app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrIjoiMjUxM2ZiMjAtNmE5Zi00ZTJlLWI4YjQtYTU3NjdiY2Q5OTBkIiwidCI6IjBmZTMzYmUwLTYxNDItNGY5Ni05YjhkLTc4MTdkNWMyNjEzOSJ9&pageName=fc2a0a27f1654d314199%22\">stands at 96%\u003c/a> over the last seven months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miguel Torres moved into the Rue Ferrari interim housing community in South San José last year. He had been living in his car for a year, by a train station on Monterey Road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Work was slow, and it was hard for me to find jobs and all that,” he said. “I didn’t have no resources in the car, and it’s hard to drive here and there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day, Torres saw outreach workers knocking on nearby tents. They were offering spots at Rue Ferrari, which expanded this year from 124 to 268 beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He jumped at the opportunity but had concerns about what life would be like in short-term housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I heard a lot of stuff [about] shelters because, you know, you live with a lot of people in bunk beds,” Torres said. “But here it’s peaceful, you get your own room, they kind of show you how to be independent more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And for me, because I get a little anxiety, it’s perfect for me,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four months later, Torres has settled into his one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit. His bed is covered with a San Francisco 49ers blanket, and a TV and speakers sit at the foot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Earlier today I was shaving, cutting my hair, and I had the music bumping — not too loud, respect the neighbors — but, ah man, you can’t complain, dude,” Torres said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A growing price tag\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Thousands of new shelter beds, with high rates of usage, have contributed to a decline in the number of people sleeping outdoors in San José — from 4,411 in January 2023 to 3,959 in January 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A countywide financial assistance program also helped — \u003ca href=\"https://news.nd.edu/news/targeted-prevention-helps-stop-homelessness-before-it-starts/\">Notre Dame researchers\u003c/a> credited it with dramatically reducing the number of people becoming homeless in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The investments that the city has been making have really started to bear fruit,” said Anthony Tordillos, a city council member representing downtown. “By bringing that additional capacity online, the city’s been successful in actually being able to move people from the streets and get them into more secure housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rows of newly installed tiny homes line a pedestrian walkway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The city secured $12.7 million in state funding to purchase the homes. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But San José is still thousands of beds short of the 5,477 shelter beds the city estimated last year would be needed to achieve “functional zero” homelessness — meaning anyone who lost their housing would be able to access a bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barring any influx of state or federal funding, the city’s shelter system won’t be greatly expanding anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And just maintaining a system the size of San José’s could be difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In permanent supportive housing projects, tenants typically pay a small share of rent or are subsidized by a federal housing voucher. In interim housing, there is typically no rent to offset the mounting operating costs, which include staffing and utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t appear that these are sustainable strategies because…you’re paying the operation cost on an ongoing basis,” said Henwood, the USC professor. “Those are sort of never-ending costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even the shift of Measure E funds from affordable housing to shelter will not be enough to completely pay for San José’s interim housing system in the years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A preliminary \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15167200&GUID=86C22EAB-3F43-40BC-8A68-3C74BE78A74D\">budget forecast\u003c/a>, presented to the council last week, found the interim housing system would need an infusion of $17 million in the upcoming fiscal year from the general fund — increasing to $58 million in 2029-30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Required General Fund Contribution to Interim Housing ($ Millions)\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-t1P8M\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/t1P8M/2/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"450\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is already \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071569/matt-mahan-is-running-for-governor-what-does-that-mean-for-san-jose\">facing a budget shortfall\u003c/a> of roughly $55 million to $65 million in the coming year, so maintaining the interim housing system could force difficult spending trade-offs with other city services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city obviously took kind of a big bet making these investments to so dramatically expand our shelter capacity, and knowing that those do come with longer-term operational costs,” Tordillos said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Tordillos said, the city will need to pivot into “optimization mode,” by finding ways to drive down the costs of on-site services — and finding financial help from other levels of government.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Not respecting the taxpayers’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Federal funding for the interim housing program has dried up, and support from the state (which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975319/newsom-reneges-on-sending-san-jose-tiny-homes-for-the-unhoused\">chipped in millions\u003c/a> for projects including Cerone) has declined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state budget approved last year by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom appropriated no new flexible homeless dollars (known as the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2026/01/homelessness-funding-2026/\">Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention\u003c/a> — HHAP — program) for cities and counties in 2025-26 — a drop from the $1 billion approved in the previous budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make up those costs, Mahan has turned to Santa Clara County, arguing in part that the city’s reduction in unsheltered homelessness is saving the county money by reducing the number of visits unhoused people make to the emergency room and jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The interior of a finished tiny home is seen through an open doorway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. Each unit includes a bed, storage space and basic furnishings for residents transitioning out of homelessness. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But county leaders have been among the sharpest critics of Mahan’s shelter-focused approach. They already fund more than 2,000 shelter placements of their own and have long prioritized funding permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that as a policymaker, I’ve ever proposed a program, a service, that I expected another entity to support,” Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said. “Collaboration does actually make sense, but that means that you meet…and you talk about what you’re building together and have the same objective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that we have the same objective,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former San José council member, Arenas said she had longstanding concerns about continuing to expand the interim housing system without a stable funding source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think to build tiny homes, and then you forget, oh, we needed to also put in some money to operate all of these tiny homes, is not respecting the taxpayers,” she said. “And also not being true to what you’re actually providing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Accountability without resources\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042370/in-san-jose-a-controversial-choice-for-unhoused-shelter-or-arrest\">harsh rhetoric between\u003c/a> members of the council and board of supervisors last year — which nearly resulted in a rare joint meeting to hash out their differences in public — the city-county relationship over interim housing appears to be thawing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Mahan endorsed a county-led \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058418/santa-clara-county-sales-tax-measure-a-pitched-to-offset-deep-medicaid-cuts-measure-a\">ballot measure\u003c/a> to raise the sales tax, and county leaders committed to sending health workers to bring medical services directly to residents at tiny home sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan insists that city general fund spending on temporary housing should be on the table, given the priority residents have placed on reducing street homelessness.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“That’s the nightmare scenario, but we have to plan for that,” he said. “So [if] federal, state and county all pull back and choose not to invest in things that are working, we can sustain the system we have, though that is far from ideal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As mayor, Mahan faces the same challenge as many big-city leaders across the state, said Darrell Steinberg, the former mayor of Sacramento and president pro tem of the state Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the number one thing for a big-city mayor in California is that, aside from the HHAP funding, you have all the accountability but not the bulk of the resources,” Steinberg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Mahan, the mayor, can’t secure money for the tiny homes now, he may be betting that Mahan, the governor, will be the program’s chief benefactor in the future, able to direct state resources toward the system he helped build in San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miguel Torres has dreams of something more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on a picnic table outside of his unit at Rue Ferrari, Torres said he feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ever since I got a spot, a roof over my head, I ain’t got to worry about being in the street or anything,” he said. “So I’m focusing on a career, on a job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hoping his tiny home will be a launching pad for the future he is already starting to envision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just a regular little house, you know,” he said. “I got kids, so hopefully I could bring them in with me too — that’s pretty much my goal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "factory-built-housing-hasnt-taken-off-in-california-yet-but-this-year-might-be-different",
"title": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different",
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"headTitle": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first home rolled off the factory floor in Kalamazoo, Michigan — “like a boxcar with picture windows,” according to a journalist on the scene — the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development proclaimed it “the coming of a real revolution in housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades engineers, architects, futurists, industrialists, investors and politicians have been pining for a better, faster and cheaper way to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068746/2025-was-a-blockbuster-year-for-housing-laws-what-does-that-mean-for-2026\">build homes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, amid a national housing shortage, the question felt as pressing as ever: What if construction could harness the speed, efficiency, quality control and cost-savings of the assembly line?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if, rather than building homes on-site from the ground up, they were cranked out of factories, one unit after another, shipped to where they were needed and dropped into place? What if the United States could mass-produce its way out of a housing crisis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/20/archives/first-unit-built-in-housing-plan-button-pushed-by-romney-at-factory.html\">In Kalamazoo\u003c/a>, that vision finally seemed a reality. The HUD chief predicted that within a decade two-thirds of all \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/HUD-Challenge-November-December-1969.pdf#page=6\">housing construction\u003c/a> across the United States “would be industrialized.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year was 1971, the HUD Secretary was George Romney (father of future Utah senator, Mitt), and the prediction was wildly off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073550\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory-built housing Drake Avenue Apartments sits under construction at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within five years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Operation-Breakthrough.html\">Operation Breakthrough\u003c/a>, the ambitious, but ultimately costly, delay-ridden and politically unpopular federal initiative that had propped up the Kalamazoo factory and eight others like it across the country, ran out of money. The dream of the factory-built house was dead — not for the first time, nor the last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By some definitions, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_prefabrication_of_houses_1951.pdf#page=35\">first prefabricated house\u003c/a> was built, shipped and re-assembled in the 1620s. Factory-built homes made of wood and iron were a mainstay of the \u003ca href=\"http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/search/nattrust_result_detail/66817\">colonial\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/details/SkillingsFlintCCA196560/page/n9/mode/2up\">enterprises\u003c/a> of the 19th Century. Housing and construction-worker shortages during the Second World War prompted a wave of (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to mass-produce starter homes in the United States. The modern era is full of those predicting that the industrialization of the housing industry is just a few years away, only to be proven wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, state legislators in California believe the turning-point might actually be here. With a little state assistance, they want to make 2026 the Year of the Housing Factory. At long last.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California gets ‘modular-curious’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and one of the legislature’s most influential policy makers on housing issues, is leading the charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the year, she has organized two select committee hearings under the general banner of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/committees/1700\">housing construction innovation\u003c/a>.” The bulk of the committee’s attention has been on factory-based building — why it might be a fix worth promoting and what the state could do to actually make it work this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearings are ostensibly intended to gather information, all of which will be summarized in a white paper being written by researchers at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is underway on an affordable housing apartment building at 2550 Irving Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But they’re also meant to build political momentum and legislative buy-in for a coming package of bills. Both the paper and bills are due to be released in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has “select committee’d” her way to major policy change before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2024, she cobbled together a series of state-spanning meetings on “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/california-construction-permitting-wicks/\">permitting reform\u003c/a>.” Those provided the fodder for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/ceqa-infill-housing-wicks/\">nearly two dozen bills\u003c/a> the following year, all written with the goal of making it easier to build things in California, especially homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most significant of the bunch: Legislation \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban apartment buildings\u003c/a> from environmental litigation. Gov. Gavin Newsom enthusiastically signed it into law last summer.[aside postID=news_12073193 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg']Now comes phase two. Last year’s blitz of bills, capping off years of gradual legislative efforts to remove regulatory barriers to building dense housing across California, has, in Wicks’ view, teed up this next big swing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the last eight to 10 years or so the Legislature and the governor have really taken a bulldozer to a lot of the bureaucratic hurdles when it comes to housing,” said Wicks. “But one of the issues that we haven’t fundamentally tackled is the cost of construction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Factory-built housing can arrive on a construction site in varying levels of completeness. There are prefabricated panels (imagine the baked slabs of a gingerbread house) and fully three-dimensional modules (think, Legos).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest in the use of both for apartment buildings has been steadily growing in California over the last decade. Investors have poured billions of dollars into the nascent sector, albeit with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/90643381/this-prefab-builder-raised-more-than-2-billion-why-did-it-crash\">famously mixed results\u003c/a>. In California’s major urban areas, but especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, cranes delicately assembling factory-built modules into apartment blocks has become a more familiar feature of the skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randall Thompson, who runs the prefabrication division of Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, said he’s seen attitudes shift radically just in the last couple of years. Not long ago, pitching a developer on factory-built construction was a tough sell. But a few years ago he noted a growing number of “modular-curious” clients willing to run the numbers. Now many are coming to him committed to the idea from the get-go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Ave., in San Francisco, on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Policymakers are interested too, debating whether public policy and taxpayer money should be used to propel off-site construction from niche application to a regular, if not dominant, feature of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evidence from abroad is fueling that optimism: In Sweden, where Wicks and a gaggle of other lawmakers visited last fall, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/headway/how-an-american-dream-of-housing-became-a-reality-in-sweden.html\">nearly half of residential construction\u003c/a> takes place in a factory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The renewed national interest is part of a “back to the drawingboard” energy that has pervaded policy circles at every level of government in the face of a national affordability crisis, said Chad Maisel, a Center for American Progress fellow and a former Biden administration housing policy advisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, the country has tried and failed at this before, most notably with Operation Breakthrough. Yes, individual companies have gone bust trying to make off-site happen at scale. “But we haven’t really given it our all,” Maisel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Henry Ford, but for housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If the goal is to bring down building costs, rethinking the basics of the construction process is an obvious place to start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last century, economic sectors across the United States have seen explosions in labor productivity, with industries using technological innovation, fine-tuned production processes and globe-spanning supply chains to squeeze ever more stuff out of the same number of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction has been a stagnant outlier. Since the 1970s, labor productivity has actually declined sector-wide, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2025/eb_25-31\">official government statistics\u003c/a>. In 2023 the average American construction worker added about as much value on a construction site as one in 1948.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you go to buy a car, you don’t get 6,000 parts shipped to your house and then someone comes and builds it for you,” said Ryan Cassidy, vice president of real estate development at Mutual Housing California, an affordable housing developer based in Sacramento that committed last year to build its next five projects with factory-built units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck is piled with planks salvaged by Perks Deconstruction from an old farmhouse in Aurora. The wood will be transported to the company’s warehouse, where it will be sorted and priced for sale. \u003ccite>(Hart Van Denburg/CPR News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In theory, breaking down the building process into a series of discrete, repeatable tasks can mean fewer highly trained workers are needed per unit. Standardized panels and modules allow factories to buy materials in bulk at discount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work can be done faster, because it’s centralized, tightly choreographed, closely monitored and possibly automated — but also because multiple things can happen at the same time. Framers don’t have to wait for a foundation to set before getting started on the bedrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Off-site construction reliably cuts construction timelines by \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Southern-California-Off-Site-Construction-February-2022.pdf\">10 to 30 percent\u003c/a>, according to an analysis by the Terner Center. Some even rosier \u003ca href=\"https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/modular-construction-from-projects-to-products\">estimates\u003c/a> have put the figure closer to 50%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can translate into real savings. “Factory-built housing has the potential to reduce hard (labor, material and equipment) costs by 10 to 25% — at least under the right conditions,” Terner’s director, Ben Metcalf, said at the select committee’s first \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/278391?t=1525&f=f7440a2ebdd25e14a09f1f72e544107e\">hearing\u003c/a> in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But historically, it’s been very hard to get those conditions right.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The ghost of Katerra\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The main hitch is an obvious one: Factories are hugely expensive to set up and run. Off-site construction companies only stand to make up those costs if they can run continuously and at full capacity. Mass production only pencils out if it massively produces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means factory production isn’t especially well-suited to industries that boom and bust, in which surplus production can’t be stockpiled in a warehouse and everything is made to order and where local variations in climate, topography and regulation require bespoke products of varying materials, designs, configurations and sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which describes the current real estate sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a world in which housing projects are approved one at a time under various local rules and designs and sometimes after years of piecing together financing sources, it’s hard to build out that pipeline for a factory,” said Metcalf at the early January hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The particular financial needs of a factory also upend business as usual for developers and real estate funders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industrial construction “costs less overall but costs more in the short term. Everything is frontloaded,” said Jan Lindenthal-Cox, chief investment officer at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. All design, engineering and material decisions have to be finalized long before the factory gears start turning. Real estate investors and lenders tend to be wary of putting up quite so much money so early in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Accelerator Fund, a privately-backed non-profit, is hoping to ease some of those concerns by providing short-term, low-cost loans to developers in order to cover those higher-than-usual early costs. The hope is that traditional funders — namely, banks and investors — will eventually feel confident enough to take over that role “once this is a more proven approach,” said Lindenthal-Cox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such skittishness pervades every step of the off-site development process, said Apoorva Pasricha, chief operation officer at Cloud Apartments, a San Francisco-based start-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of Drake Avenue Apartments at the site of the factory housing complex at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of factory-built housing, Drake Avenue Apartments, at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A subcontractor unfamiliar with modular construction might bid a project higher than they otherwise would to compensate for the uncertainty. Building code officials might be extra cautious or extra slow in approving a project for the same reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the industry grows, “creating familiarity with the process helps drive that risk down,” said Pasricha. “The question is, who is going to be willing to pay the price to learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some would-be pioneers have paid it. In 2021, the Silicon Valley-based modular start up Katerra went \u003ca href=\"https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/katerras-2-billion-legacy_o\">spectacularly bankrupt\u003c/a> after spending $2 billion in a hyperambitious gambit to disrupt the building industry. Katerra still hangs over the industry like a specter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Potter, a former Katerra engineer who now writes the widely-read \u003ca href=\"https://www.construction-physics.com/\">Construction Physics\u003c/a> newsletter, said he too was once wooed by the idea that “‘we’ll just move this into a factory and we will yield enormous improvements.’”[aside postID=news_12072999 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg']These days, he strenuously avoids terms like “impossible” and “doomed to fail” when asked about the potential of off-site construction. But he does stress that it’s a very hard nut to crack with limited upside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Beyond just the regulatory issues, which are real, there are just fundamental nature of the market, nature of the process, things that you have to cope with,” said Potter, whose recent book, \u003cem>The Origins of Efficiency\u003c/em>, digs into how and why modern society has succeeded at making certain things much faster and cheaper — and not others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certain markets in California could be a good fit for factory-built construction, he added, but not for the reasons that off-site boosters typically lead with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction costs in the Bay Area, specifically, are notoriously expensive. Many of the region’s most productive housing factories are located in Idaho. That arrangement might make financial sense, said Potter, not because of anything inherently cost-saving in the industrialized process, but because wages in the Boise area are just \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_sanfrancisco.htm\">a lot\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_boisecity.htm\">lower\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That raises another potential impediment for state lawmakers hoping to goose the factory-built model: Organized labor. In a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar political split\u003c/a>, while California’s carpenters union has historically been open to the idea of off-site construction, the influential State Building & Construction Trades Council has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-trade-unions-at-odds-over-modular-15755264.php\">hostile\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Will the state step in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Neither Wicks, nor any other legislator, has released legislative language yet aimed at supporting the industry. But in committee hearings, developers, labor leaders, academics and other off-site construction supporters have repeatedly pitched lawmakers on the same three themes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building out the pipeline is one. The state, supporters say, could keep the factories humming either by nudging affordable developers that way when they apply for state subsidies or by out-and-out requiring public entities, like state universities, to at least consider off-site when they build, say, student housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insuring factories against the risk of a developer going bankrupt (and vice versa) is another common proposal. Developers and investors are hesitant to schedule a spot on a factory line if that factory’s bankruptcy will leave them in the lurch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings under construction near Macarthur BART station in Oakland, on Feb. 21, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Likewise, factories tend to charge high deposits to make up for the fact that developers go out of business or get hit with months-long delays. One solution could involve the taxpayer playing the role of insurer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third: Standardizing building code requirements. The state’s Housing and Community Development department already regulates factory-built housing units. But once a module is shipped to a site, local inspectors will often do their own once-over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these proposed fixes are specific to the industry. But some are regulatory changes that would make it easier to build more generally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That might suggest that policy should ideally focus on making it easier to build stuff more generally, “not on a specific goal,” said Stephen Smith, director of the Center for Building in North America, which advocates for cost-cutting changes to building codes. For all the emphasis on building entire studio apartments inside factories, he noted that plenty of steps in the construction process have entered the modern era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023647\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A line of old factory buildings on Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You find walls built in factories, you see elevators, you see escalators,” said Smith. “You need to consider the small victories and think of it as a general process of (regulatory) hygiene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has heard all of the arguments for why emphasizing factory-based construction won’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think factory-built housing is going to solve all of our problems. I think it’s a piece of the solution,” she said. “We’re not talking about actually funding the building of factories. We’re talking about creating a streamlined environment for these types of housing units to be built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, it can’t hurt to try again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/02/factory-built-housing-california-wicks/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Building homes inside a factory has long been seen as a way to revolutionize the American housing industry, ushering in a new era of higher quality homes at lower price. That dream has never quite panned out. Can California finally make it happen?",
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"title": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first home rolled off the factory floor in Kalamazoo, Michigan — “like a boxcar with picture windows,” according to a journalist on the scene — the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development proclaimed it “the coming of a real revolution in housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades engineers, architects, futurists, industrialists, investors and politicians have been pining for a better, faster and cheaper way to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068746/2025-was-a-blockbuster-year-for-housing-laws-what-does-that-mean-for-2026\">build homes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, amid a national housing shortage, the question felt as pressing as ever: What if construction could harness the speed, efficiency, quality control and cost-savings of the assembly line?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if, rather than building homes on-site from the ground up, they were cranked out of factories, one unit after another, shipped to where they were needed and dropped into place? What if the United States could mass-produce its way out of a housing crisis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/20/archives/first-unit-built-in-housing-plan-button-pushed-by-romney-at-factory.html\">In Kalamazoo\u003c/a>, that vision finally seemed a reality. The HUD chief predicted that within a decade two-thirds of all \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/HUD-Challenge-November-December-1969.pdf#page=6\">housing construction\u003c/a> across the United States “would be industrialized.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year was 1971, the HUD Secretary was George Romney (father of future Utah senator, Mitt), and the prediction was wildly off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073550\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory-built housing Drake Avenue Apartments sits under construction at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within five years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Operation-Breakthrough.html\">Operation Breakthrough\u003c/a>, the ambitious, but ultimately costly, delay-ridden and politically unpopular federal initiative that had propped up the Kalamazoo factory and eight others like it across the country, ran out of money. The dream of the factory-built house was dead — not for the first time, nor the last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By some definitions, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_prefabrication_of_houses_1951.pdf#page=35\">first prefabricated house\u003c/a> was built, shipped and re-assembled in the 1620s. Factory-built homes made of wood and iron were a mainstay of the \u003ca href=\"http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/search/nattrust_result_detail/66817\">colonial\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/details/SkillingsFlintCCA196560/page/n9/mode/2up\">enterprises\u003c/a> of the 19th Century. Housing and construction-worker shortages during the Second World War prompted a wave of (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to mass-produce starter homes in the United States. The modern era is full of those predicting that the industrialization of the housing industry is just a few years away, only to be proven wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, state legislators in California believe the turning-point might actually be here. With a little state assistance, they want to make 2026 the Year of the Housing Factory. At long last.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California gets ‘modular-curious’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and one of the legislature’s most influential policy makers on housing issues, is leading the charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the year, she has organized two select committee hearings under the general banner of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/committees/1700\">housing construction innovation\u003c/a>.” The bulk of the committee’s attention has been on factory-based building — why it might be a fix worth promoting and what the state could do to actually make it work this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearings are ostensibly intended to gather information, all of which will be summarized in a white paper being written by researchers at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is underway on an affordable housing apartment building at 2550 Irving Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But they’re also meant to build political momentum and legislative buy-in for a coming package of bills. Both the paper and bills are due to be released in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has “select committee’d” her way to major policy change before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2024, she cobbled together a series of state-spanning meetings on “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/california-construction-permitting-wicks/\">permitting reform\u003c/a>.” Those provided the fodder for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/ceqa-infill-housing-wicks/\">nearly two dozen bills\u003c/a> the following year, all written with the goal of making it easier to build things in California, especially homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most significant of the bunch: Legislation \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban apartment buildings\u003c/a> from environmental litigation. Gov. Gavin Newsom enthusiastically signed it into law last summer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now comes phase two. Last year’s blitz of bills, capping off years of gradual legislative efforts to remove regulatory barriers to building dense housing across California, has, in Wicks’ view, teed up this next big swing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the last eight to 10 years or so the Legislature and the governor have really taken a bulldozer to a lot of the bureaucratic hurdles when it comes to housing,” said Wicks. “But one of the issues that we haven’t fundamentally tackled is the cost of construction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Factory-built housing can arrive on a construction site in varying levels of completeness. There are prefabricated panels (imagine the baked slabs of a gingerbread house) and fully three-dimensional modules (think, Legos).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest in the use of both for apartment buildings has been steadily growing in California over the last decade. Investors have poured billions of dollars into the nascent sector, albeit with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/90643381/this-prefab-builder-raised-more-than-2-billion-why-did-it-crash\">famously mixed results\u003c/a>. In California’s major urban areas, but especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, cranes delicately assembling factory-built modules into apartment blocks has become a more familiar feature of the skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randall Thompson, who runs the prefabrication division of Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, said he’s seen attitudes shift radically just in the last couple of years. Not long ago, pitching a developer on factory-built construction was a tough sell. But a few years ago he noted a growing number of “modular-curious” clients willing to run the numbers. Now many are coming to him committed to the idea from the get-go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Ave., in San Francisco, on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Policymakers are interested too, debating whether public policy and taxpayer money should be used to propel off-site construction from niche application to a regular, if not dominant, feature of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evidence from abroad is fueling that optimism: In Sweden, where Wicks and a gaggle of other lawmakers visited last fall, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/headway/how-an-american-dream-of-housing-became-a-reality-in-sweden.html\">nearly half of residential construction\u003c/a> takes place in a factory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The renewed national interest is part of a “back to the drawingboard” energy that has pervaded policy circles at every level of government in the face of a national affordability crisis, said Chad Maisel, a Center for American Progress fellow and a former Biden administration housing policy advisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, the country has tried and failed at this before, most notably with Operation Breakthrough. Yes, individual companies have gone bust trying to make off-site happen at scale. “But we haven’t really given it our all,” Maisel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Henry Ford, but for housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If the goal is to bring down building costs, rethinking the basics of the construction process is an obvious place to start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last century, economic sectors across the United States have seen explosions in labor productivity, with industries using technological innovation, fine-tuned production processes and globe-spanning supply chains to squeeze ever more stuff out of the same number of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction has been a stagnant outlier. Since the 1970s, labor productivity has actually declined sector-wide, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2025/eb_25-31\">official government statistics\u003c/a>. In 2023 the average American construction worker added about as much value on a construction site as one in 1948.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you go to buy a car, you don’t get 6,000 parts shipped to your house and then someone comes and builds it for you,” said Ryan Cassidy, vice president of real estate development at Mutual Housing California, an affordable housing developer based in Sacramento that committed last year to build its next five projects with factory-built units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck is piled with planks salvaged by Perks Deconstruction from an old farmhouse in Aurora. The wood will be transported to the company’s warehouse, where it will be sorted and priced for sale. \u003ccite>(Hart Van Denburg/CPR News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In theory, breaking down the building process into a series of discrete, repeatable tasks can mean fewer highly trained workers are needed per unit. Standardized panels and modules allow factories to buy materials in bulk at discount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work can be done faster, because it’s centralized, tightly choreographed, closely monitored and possibly automated — but also because multiple things can happen at the same time. Framers don’t have to wait for a foundation to set before getting started on the bedrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Off-site construction reliably cuts construction timelines by \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Southern-California-Off-Site-Construction-February-2022.pdf\">10 to 30 percent\u003c/a>, according to an analysis by the Terner Center. Some even rosier \u003ca href=\"https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/modular-construction-from-projects-to-products\">estimates\u003c/a> have put the figure closer to 50%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can translate into real savings. “Factory-built housing has the potential to reduce hard (labor, material and equipment) costs by 10 to 25% — at least under the right conditions,” Terner’s director, Ben Metcalf, said at the select committee’s first \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/278391?t=1525&f=f7440a2ebdd25e14a09f1f72e544107e\">hearing\u003c/a> in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But historically, it’s been very hard to get those conditions right.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The ghost of Katerra\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The main hitch is an obvious one: Factories are hugely expensive to set up and run. Off-site construction companies only stand to make up those costs if they can run continuously and at full capacity. Mass production only pencils out if it massively produces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means factory production isn’t especially well-suited to industries that boom and bust, in which surplus production can’t be stockpiled in a warehouse and everything is made to order and where local variations in climate, topography and regulation require bespoke products of varying materials, designs, configurations and sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which describes the current real estate sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a world in which housing projects are approved one at a time under various local rules and designs and sometimes after years of piecing together financing sources, it’s hard to build out that pipeline for a factory,” said Metcalf at the early January hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The particular financial needs of a factory also upend business as usual for developers and real estate funders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industrial construction “costs less overall but costs more in the short term. Everything is frontloaded,” said Jan Lindenthal-Cox, chief investment officer at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. All design, engineering and material decisions have to be finalized long before the factory gears start turning. Real estate investors and lenders tend to be wary of putting up quite so much money so early in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Accelerator Fund, a privately-backed non-profit, is hoping to ease some of those concerns by providing short-term, low-cost loans to developers in order to cover those higher-than-usual early costs. The hope is that traditional funders — namely, banks and investors — will eventually feel confident enough to take over that role “once this is a more proven approach,” said Lindenthal-Cox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such skittishness pervades every step of the off-site development process, said Apoorva Pasricha, chief operation officer at Cloud Apartments, a San Francisco-based start-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of Drake Avenue Apartments at the site of the factory housing complex at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of factory-built housing, Drake Avenue Apartments, at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A subcontractor unfamiliar with modular construction might bid a project higher than they otherwise would to compensate for the uncertainty. Building code officials might be extra cautious or extra slow in approving a project for the same reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the industry grows, “creating familiarity with the process helps drive that risk down,” said Pasricha. “The question is, who is going to be willing to pay the price to learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some would-be pioneers have paid it. In 2021, the Silicon Valley-based modular start up Katerra went \u003ca href=\"https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/katerras-2-billion-legacy_o\">spectacularly bankrupt\u003c/a> after spending $2 billion in a hyperambitious gambit to disrupt the building industry. Katerra still hangs over the industry like a specter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Potter, a former Katerra engineer who now writes the widely-read \u003ca href=\"https://www.construction-physics.com/\">Construction Physics\u003c/a> newsletter, said he too was once wooed by the idea that “‘we’ll just move this into a factory and we will yield enormous improvements.’”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>These days, he strenuously avoids terms like “impossible” and “doomed to fail” when asked about the potential of off-site construction. But he does stress that it’s a very hard nut to crack with limited upside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Beyond just the regulatory issues, which are real, there are just fundamental nature of the market, nature of the process, things that you have to cope with,” said Potter, whose recent book, \u003cem>The Origins of Efficiency\u003c/em>, digs into how and why modern society has succeeded at making certain things much faster and cheaper — and not others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certain markets in California could be a good fit for factory-built construction, he added, but not for the reasons that off-site boosters typically lead with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction costs in the Bay Area, specifically, are notoriously expensive. Many of the region’s most productive housing factories are located in Idaho. That arrangement might make financial sense, said Potter, not because of anything inherently cost-saving in the industrialized process, but because wages in the Boise area are just \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_sanfrancisco.htm\">a lot\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_boisecity.htm\">lower\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That raises another potential impediment for state lawmakers hoping to goose the factory-built model: Organized labor. In a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar political split\u003c/a>, while California’s carpenters union has historically been open to the idea of off-site construction, the influential State Building & Construction Trades Council has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-trade-unions-at-odds-over-modular-15755264.php\">hostile\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Will the state step in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Neither Wicks, nor any other legislator, has released legislative language yet aimed at supporting the industry. But in committee hearings, developers, labor leaders, academics and other off-site construction supporters have repeatedly pitched lawmakers on the same three themes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building out the pipeline is one. The state, supporters say, could keep the factories humming either by nudging affordable developers that way when they apply for state subsidies or by out-and-out requiring public entities, like state universities, to at least consider off-site when they build, say, student housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insuring factories against the risk of a developer going bankrupt (and vice versa) is another common proposal. Developers and investors are hesitant to schedule a spot on a factory line if that factory’s bankruptcy will leave them in the lurch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings under construction near Macarthur BART station in Oakland, on Feb. 21, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Likewise, factories tend to charge high deposits to make up for the fact that developers go out of business or get hit with months-long delays. One solution could involve the taxpayer playing the role of insurer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third: Standardizing building code requirements. The state’s Housing and Community Development department already regulates factory-built housing units. But once a module is shipped to a site, local inspectors will often do their own once-over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these proposed fixes are specific to the industry. But some are regulatory changes that would make it easier to build more generally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That might suggest that policy should ideally focus on making it easier to build stuff more generally, “not on a specific goal,” said Stephen Smith, director of the Center for Building in North America, which advocates for cost-cutting changes to building codes. For all the emphasis on building entire studio apartments inside factories, he noted that plenty of steps in the construction process have entered the modern era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023647\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A line of old factory buildings on Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You find walls built in factories, you see elevators, you see escalators,” said Smith. “You need to consider the small victories and think of it as a general process of (regulatory) hygiene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has heard all of the arguments for why emphasizing factory-based construction won’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think factory-built housing is going to solve all of our problems. I think it’s a piece of the solution,” she said. “We’re not talking about actually funding the building of factories. We’re talking about creating a streamlined environment for these types of housing units to be built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, it can’t hurt to try again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/02/factory-built-housing-california-wicks/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
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