SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Mayor Kevin Faulconer is pushing a plan for more affordable housing in San Diego. Some households earning more than $100,000 a year could get a discount on low-cost apartments.
It's a growing problem in the region -- rents in San Diego are either too expensive or subsidized for low-income households like a family of four making up to $54,540 a year.
Faulconer said he wants to change that. His plan is to widen those rent discounts so households of four earning as much as $136,350 a year can qualify. A spokesman for the mayor's office said the idea is to provide adults making $50,000 to $60,000 a year with two kids the ability to live in those units.
The plan would allow developers to build bigger complexes in exchange for reserving 10 percent of the apartments for middle-income earners. The mayor's plan defines those as earning 150 percent of the Area Median Income.
Michael Bottomley and his wife pay about $2,700 a month in rent in University City. It's a cost that he said is keeping them from saving up for a home down payment.
"Every year it's been less and less affordable for us," Bottomley said. "We're paying more in rent than my family does in mortgage in another part of the country."
The mayor's office says the plan will be hashed out over the next year. Faulconer's plan would also streamline development standards and speed up the review process, and it would also encourage growth in transit-friendly areas.
The average rent in San Diego is now more than $1,700 a month.
The San Diego City Council will ultimately need to approve the plan.
