Mayor Lurie Launches Streamlined, Digital Permits For Small Businesses, Homeowners

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie today announced that two types of permits are now available on San Francisco's digital PermitSF portal, making it easier for business owners to install signs and awnings while speeding up the process for property owners to replace roofs. Applicants can now submit all necessary materials to obtain either permit through a single, streamlined, online application—with redundant steps or paper required.

Since launching PermitSF last year to make permitting fast, predictable, and transparent, the Lurie administration has introduced more than 20 ordinances, including common-sense reforms to remove burdens for homeowners to park in their driveway and for businesses to set up cafe tables on the sidewalk and paint their own business name on their storefront. One year after launch, Mayor Lurie launched a fully digital permitting portal that is allowing homeowners and business owners to obtain the permits they need online, without making any in-person trips to the Permit Center. To continue that work, the mayor announced plans to create a more coordinated and accountable permitting process by merging the Department of Building Inspection, the Planning Department, and the Permit Center.

“We don’t have to make easy things hard anymore in San Francisco,” said Mayor Lurie. “Every hour we save a small business owner is another hour they can spend serving San Franciscans. It doesn’t serve anyone for the people investing in our communities to be stuck doing paperwork—and the PermitSF portal, now with these new permits, is helping them bring life to our neighborhoods instead.”

San Francisco processed more than 180 awning permits and 500 sign permits in 2025 alone. Businesses can now apply for all signs and awnings for a given location under a single permit—eliminating the need to take a day off work to visit the Permit Center or re-enter duplicative information for each exterior sign, reducing application time by several days. Businesses looking to legalize an existing awning or sign can also manage the entire process online, without a trip to the Permit Center.  

The city processed more than 4,000 re-roofing permits in 2025. Property owners can now handle those applications entirely online, and more property owners qualify for express permitting. Previously, only non-historic single-family homes with no violations were eligible; now, any single-family home or apartment building without violations can qualify, including historic properties. Re-roofing contractors who are current on their Hot Works safety certification can also qualify for express review. As a result, permits that once required an in-person visit and a full day at the Permit Center now go from submission to issuance in a little as four minutes.  

“Every minute we save business owners from paperwork strengthens our commercial corridors and the communities that thrive because of them,” said Katy Tang, Office of Small Business Director. “Improving and digitizing the permits for signs and awnings is another step toward a more accessible, modern permitting experience.”

“I opened my first nail salon this year, and the Office of Small Business gave me the support I needed to get started,” said Sabrine Affes, Owner of Nail Dar. “As a first-time business owner, an immigrant, and a mother of two young children, opening NailDar was one of the biggest challenges I have ever taken on. When I started this process, I knew very little about permitting, construction requirements, or how to navigate the regulations involved in opening a business in San Francisco. It means a lot to me that San Francisco is helping people like me build a business we’re proud of and a place where customers feel welcome.”

“I used to have to drive all the way into San Francisco just to pull my permits. Between the parking and the lines at the Permit Center, it could eat up two full days,” said Don Carillo, Agent, Westco Roofing Company. “Today it took me less than an hour—from my desk.”