Wondering why your rent is exorbitant, you have to search for months to find a home you can afford, and homelessness is rising? It all comes down to one major issue: San Francisco is way behind on housing construction. The city needs to build 82,000 homes by 2031 to meet our Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) goal, or an average of roughly 13,000 new homes each year. Here’s how we’re doing on that goal: in 2024, San Francisco built just a little more than 1,000 homes.

The results are in. San Francisco has a new mayor, the balance of power on the Board of Supervisors has changed for the first time in recent memory, common sense has returned to the school board, our elected officials are committed to enacting commission reform, and solving the fentanyl epidemic is at the top of the city’s agenda. This edition of City Hall Digest digs into exactly what happened in an historic election.

With just two weeks to go until the November 5 election, it’s been a chaotic week in San Francisco. There are massive changes at San Francisco’s public schools, and the Dream Keeper Initiative scandal keeps getting bigger. The latest City Hall Digest digs into the latest scandal at San Francisco City Hall, and the changes in store with a new SFUSD Superintendent.

We’re officially one month away from the next election. New political stories are dropping daily, and candidates for San Francisco mayor are scrambling to gain a last-minute advantage. The latest edition of City Hall Digest gives you the insight you need about the latest developments in San Francisco.

In this edition of City Hall Digest, we’re expanding on our mayoral endorsement. We’ve gone into detail on the backgrounds of the three candidates who share our concerns around public safety, street conditions, the economy and the government. But we’re also in the thick of a contentious mayoral election, and news is breaking each day that can be confusing voters, including those in our community. 

We remain firm in our opinion that Mark Farrell is the most qualified candidate to be San Francisco’s next mayor. We still want you to rank Breed and Lurie so Peskin doesn’t stand a chance, but it’s also worth digging into why we think neither Breed or Lurie is most suited for the difficult job.

It can be hard to stay on top of everything that happens in San Francisco politics—City Hall Digest navigates all the latest developments to make sure you’re in-the-know. This week’s City Hall Digest investigates the grand jury report that confirms SF’s government oversight system is a mess, and the WalletHub survey that found San Francisco is the worst-run city in the country, and how TogetherSF Action’s commission reform ballot measure can help.