Speeding and Digitizing Permitting
Accelerating permit approval timelines to increase new housing
A faster path from application to construction
In San Diego, California, lengthy permitting delays raised financing and construction costs, making housing projects less viable and slowing the delivery of new homes.
In January 2023, Mayor Todd Gloria signed an executive order requiring city hall to review 100% affordable housing permits within 30 days – approvals that had taken nearly a year. The city redesigned its permitting system to cut handoffs, created separate review tracks by project complexity, and filled 150 permitting staff vacancies in eight months, added third-party reviewers for routine work, and fully digitized its permitting process end-to-end so an applicant can see where a permit sits and what question is holding it up.
By 2023, homes cleared for construction jumped 82% in one year, with the city issuing permits for 9,691 new homes and clearing a backlog of 2,700 applications – the most since 2005.
The Impact:
- Affordable housing review targets exceeded, with an average of nine days versus the city’s initial 30-day goal, a pace that has held through April 2026
- Across 2021-2024, the City permitted over 31,000 homes with progress posted on a public permitting dashboard, with one in six over the past two years approved in eight business days or less
- Nearly 7,000 affordable housing units permitted within three years, including 2,148 completed and occupied
What you can do with this idea:
- Reduce permitting timelines that delay housing construction and increase development costs
- Free staff capacity to focus on affordable housing and more complex, high-priority development projects
- Improve housing development transparency for developers and residents
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