The coronavirus pandemic has created confusion, delays and uncertainty in housing projects around the Bay Area, despite a crushing need for new homes from an industry deemed essential to work through the regional lock-down.
Shutdowns in local government offices have distanced city planners and inspectors from developers, making the already sometimes Byzantine development process more complicated. Staff in Bay Area cities are shifting as many development functions as possible online. Residential builders and small contractors are struggling to understand and adapt to the variety of new work policies and limits forced on local governments by the coronavirus.
The region’s housing crisis, already hampered by high land costs, a lengthy local process and environmental regulations, is getting a roundhouse from the pandemic.¹