Why We Started Stream: Building is Hard

The US has a housing shortage. We could spend several posts looking at the evidence for this, but it’s not hard to find. If you search “US housing” you’ll find article after article saying the same thing with different numbers:

• In 2022 the US was short by 4.5 million homes
• In the last 5 years, national home prices have risen by 50% and rents by 35%
• Last year median home prices reached $900K in California and $1.4 million San Francisco

The specifics of why and how housing has become such a problem depend on who you ask, but everyone agrees that there is a simple solution: Build more housing.

If the solution is so obvious, why don’t we just build more housing? Because the housing shortage is a symptom of a larger problem: it's really hard to build things.

Building is hard, but permitting shouldn’t be.

There are plenty of reasons why construction is tough. Costs are high, materials are scarce, and skilled labor is in short supply. However, there's one major bottleneck that doesn’t have to be so difficult: the permitting process.

Just how difficult is it to get a building permit?

• In San Francisco, in 2022, it took 450 days for planning approval, 627 days for a full building permit for multifamily housing, and an astonishing 861 days for a single-family residence.
• In contrast, Dallas had a much faster process. For single-family residential projects, approval took 68 days in 2022—and by 2024, this was reduced to just 8 days.

The difference between these two cities is staggering. It's clear from Dallas that the permitting process can be streamlined. So how can we speed up permitting in cities like San Francisco?

Streamlining permitting with AI

At Stream, we are using AI to accelerate the permitting process. Our AI system reviews designs for compliance with zoning codes, building codes, and other relevant regulations. It flags issues early, helping architects catch problems before they ever make it to the city’s planning and building departments. This means that architects can get instant feedback, and plan reviewers save their focus for the most complex projects. Architects and reviewers can avoid the slow and painful back-and-forth that typically delays approvals, and instead focus on what they do best -- building.

The path forward

We know the housing shortage won't be solved overnight. But we believe that it will get better, and that we can help make it better with new technology. We're excited to do our part!