This, in turn, has decreased activity downtown, negatively impacting the city's economy, small businesses, and the public's use of transportation. At the same time, San Francisco continues to fight a crisis of housing affordability and availability. In an effort to address the city's office vacancy and much-needed housing, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the "Commercial to Residential Adaptive Reuse and Downtown Economic Revitalization" ordinance on June 27, 2023. On July 5, 2023, Mayor London Breed approved the ordinance, which will become effective on August 4, 2023.

Several factors affect the viability of a potential office-to-residential conversion, including but not limited to the physical characteristics of a building; the cost of development, impact fees, inclusionary housing requirements, and other factors that affect the financial feasibility of a conversion project; and planning and building code processes and requirements that make it difficult to convert an office building into housing. While the feasibility of office-to-residential conversion remains uncertain, the city's ordinance seeks to facilitate the conversion of qualifying downtown commercial buildings into housing by amending the City's Planning Code to establish a Commercial to Residential Adaptive Reuse program, relax certain requirements for eligible conversion projects, and streamline the permitting and approval process.