SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A new report paints a grim picture of the housing supply in San Diego.
According to numbers just released by the Southern California Real Estate Research Council, housing permits in San Diego County dropped by 43% through the first six months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018.
So far this year, there have been 2,037 units of housing permitted in San Diego.
"We are in deep trouble in housing production," says Borre Winckel, the President of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County. "We can't build the housing for the people that need it most."
Winckel says decades of increased costs from state and local fees, regulations, labor costs and more have led to this point. He says it's too expensive for developers to build anything that the average San Diegan can afford. He says that's pushing the "workforce" population of teachers, first responders and military out of the market.
"There will be homelessness, and there will be more workforce displacement to Temecula and points beyond," says Winckel. "That's all because we have screwed up the regulatory environment that exists to build houses for the people that need them."
The numbers show a steady decline in housing construction in San Diego.
2015: 6,403 permits
2016: 6,036
2017: 5,230
2018: 4,286
2019: 2.037 (so far)
Winckel says the only solution is to ease regulations and make it easier for companies to build.
According to the report, Santa Barbara had a 40% decline, while Los Angeles and San Bernardino had declines in permits around 20%.
