Reducing red tape would help a lot, but Houston has geography on its side. Looking at a map of Beltway 8 superimposed over the SF Bay [1], it is easy to visualize why land is cheap. That's not even the outer loop for Houston.

SF and adjacent cities need to both reduce the approval process and encourage higher density.

1. https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/as-if-you-needed...