Sarah Karlinsky is an expert in housing and land use policy. She has led the publication of numerous SPUR policy reports, including What Will it Really Take to Create an Affordable Bay Area, Room for More, Affordable By Design, Safe Enough to Stay, On Solid Ground, Taking Down a Freeway to Reconnect a Neighborhood and Historic Preservation in San Francisco: Making the Preservation Process Work for Everyone. She has held many leadership roles at SPUR, including serving as the organization's Deputy Director from 2008-2014. 

Prior to joining SPUR, Sarah developed affordable housing throughout the Bay Area with MidPen Housing, one of the largest nonprofit developers of affordable housing in the Bay Area. She began her career teaching urban planning to middle school students as a Teach for America corps member in Baltimore, Maryland. Sarah received her Master’s degree in public policy and urban planning from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in history from Columbia University.