The city has only built 3,348 housing units, 506 which are below market rate since their last report in 2020. This is very short of the City and Mayor’s goal of building 25,000 housing units (10,000 of which would be affordable housing). The permitting process is in need of change and must change if we are to effectively build more housing.

As a small business owner of 33+ years in downtown, I understand the ups and downs of owning a small business. I outline my plans below on how to simplify our permitting process:

• Developing and implementing a Master plan for the permit process

• Consolidating multi-department permit review processes

• Publishing fees in advance and coordinating multi-departmental fees

• Reducing multi-inspection process (no more 6 inspections per bathroom wall)

• Considering peer review certification of industry experts to avoid delays

• Measuring our results to goals in the permit department

These changes will aid developers and business owners, dramatically reduce down time wasted shuffling between departments, and better calculate the costs of doing business in San José.