The city of San Diego this week released numbers that show the city is nowhere close to creating the 180,000 homes by 2029 that the state has set out to combat the housing crisis.
Only, the report never said that. It said the city had given permission for up to 5,000 houses, but did not say it had to approve more than 13,000 houses every year for eight years to reach the national level. The City Council approved the so-called Housing Element last year which aims to get developers up to that standard.
Now, to reach that big goal, developers would need to build up to 15,000 homes a year for the next seven years – three times the average housing production that has reached the city over the past decade.
If they don’t follow through, no one can call them amazing. The government’s “Regional Housing Needs Assessment” program has been failing for 50 years to encourage the production of houses that meet the government’s needs. The city of San Diego, in the last eight years, has approved more than half of what it needs.
Council staff presented their progress report on Thursday to the Council’s housing committee, and they also did not say that after one year, the city is nowhere near the speed required to reach the goal. None of the four members of the Council in the committee said it.
One council member, however, responded to our question, stating that the city now needs to triple its rate of housing to meet demand.
Councilman Joe LaCava wanted to make it clear that the city doesn’t build anything – private developers do.
“I saw interesting news in the news,” he said. “All we can do is create the conditions. What we can do is create diversity in our communities, do more projects with the right, the ministers – which I think we’ve done a very good job in recent years – and then set the table for private money, private landowners. builders to come and build houses. At the moment we are not building houses, we can only set the conditions, and we hope it is attractive enough for the private market to come and build those houses. “
That is an obvious fact. The city doesn’t build houses, it allows them. And to the extent that the RHNA plan requires anything, it would require the city to pass zoning laws that match the needs — or, as LaCava put it, “making space.”
However, the city’s own employees refer to 108,000 as a “goal” and “goal.”
The gap between the annual production number the city needs to hit to reach its goal and the average annual production over the past decade is so wide, we thought we’d ask the city’s elected officials a simple question.
Do you believe that the city will grant 108,000 residence permits by 2029?
So we asked all nine members of the Council and the mayor. Their answers are below.
Two elected officials agreed that the city could not – or would not – meet the state’s goals and the city agreed.
One elected official said the city will hit the target. Another said that the city has done its job, and others are in the private market. Another said major changes were needed to reach the goal.
Four elected officials did not respond.
District 1 Councilman Joe LaCava
“The city has taken strong steps (in recent years) to position itself to meet its Housing goals. The question is whether the global market will be able to take advantage of the restructuring, the city-wide boom, and the stimulus to build houses at a targeted rate and level of income. In the near future, the industry will have to navigate the pandemic, inflation, trade issues, and labor shortages, which are major obstacles. “
District 2 Councilwoman Jen Campbell
District 3 Councilman Stephen Whitburn
“There are about 530,000 houses in the city. Adding 108,000 houses by 2029 would increase the number of houses in San Diego by 20 percent in eight years. While the city must prioritize its housing needs, it is difficult to imagine this type of increase, especially since many economic and other factors that influence housing production are outside the city’s control. However, we must continue to aim for the goal and get as close as possible. The current City Council approved the housing ordinance, approved changes to increase housing, and added staff to process permits. Of course, that is still not enough, and I look forward to further steps we can take. We’re brave enough to build more homes for San Diegans. “
District 4 Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe
District 5 Councilwoman Marnie von Wilpert
District 6 Councilman Chris Cate
“While I hope the city will continue to accelerate the issuance of permits, I do not expect the city to achieve its goal by 2029. All laws and reforms must be on the table to meet the needs of the near-term reduction.” production cost and also increase the speed and efficiency of our development services department. This includes providing them with all the tools at their disposal to ensure control in the granting of consent. “
District 7 Councilman Raul Campillo
“For too long, the city has fallen short of our RHNA goals. I am confident that under the leadership of this Mayor and this city council, our city will address our RHNA needs. Over the past year and a half, we as a City Council have approved several housing projects throughout San Diego and supported policies that make it easier to build housing in every zip code. The Mayor introduced policies, like the Housing Action Package, that address our city’s great need to build more housing for all San Diegans. As San Diego leaders we are committed to promoting the creation of more housing, and our actions over the past year and a half undoubtedly show that the Mayor and Council are committed to working together in solving housing problems in our city.
District 8 Councilwoman Vivian Moreno
Council President and District 9 Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera
“We are lagging behind in the construction of houses in the City and the result is painfully obvious. Unaffordable housing, unaffordable rents and lack of housing are the main causes of homelessness and the biggest obstacle to the generation of people to build wealth. We are off the pace and we have to do better.
As a Council, together with the Mayor, we are taking every opportunity to encourage and approve affordable housing, market housing and to provide opportunities for more people to build homes through Accessory Dwelling Units. At MTS, we are exploring design options such as building parking spaces at trolley stations.
Residents from across San Diego must do their part to help us reach our housing goals and address homelessness, which means agreeing to build more housing throughout the community. Removing the 30-foot height limit in Midway will be the first step in removing barriers to increasing housing production in a meaningful way.
Ultimately, achieving these goals requires doing things different from what we have done or done. The market cannot solve this problem alone. We will need private elections, public elections, bold change… all of it. We cannot accept not reaching our goals for living. “
“That is our goal. It is important to note that Mayor Gloria received the allocation of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment and worked to improve it in order to meet the metrics and increase the production of housing that San Diegans can really afford. The Mayor has launched new policy measures aimed at doing just that – including a series of Housing Action Packages under his “Homes for All” initiative and his “Bridge to Home” initiative. Building 14,000 homes every year until 2029 is an impressive goal, especially given that many of the factors involved are outside the City’s control. The State of California has affirmed the City’s Housing Element, showing that the state’s housing leaders believe we are on the right track. It is not possible to predict if the City will be able to build 108,000 houses out of 108,000, but the Mayor is doing everything he can to achieve that goal. “
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