SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The San Diego City Council voted Monday to adopt an ordinance intended to prevent developers from converting homes deemed as affordable to market rate or luxury housing units.
The Affordable Housing Preservation Ordinance will expand state laws to preserve deed-restricted affordable housing for very-low, low- and moderate- rate housing by requiring owners to issue a notice when they intend to sell housing fitting those parameters -- regardless of any expiration date on such affordability.
"This ordinance will keep San Diegans from losing the affordable homes they live in," said Councilwoman Vivian Moreno, who proposed the law. "The reality is that there are not enough affordable homes available. This will be another tool the city can use to preserve affordable houses that were built with public money."
State law requires owners of properties with less than five years before rental restrictions expire to issue notices of an intent to sell or change to market- or luxury-rate housing three years out, followed by additional notices at one year and six months. These notices are intended to let local governments or other public entities (such as the San Diego Housing Commission) make an offer on the property.
However, a sale can occur at any time prior to the state requirements being triggered, such as when an owner sells prior to a five-year periods described under state law, according to a city report.
The ordinance passed Monday is intended to give tenants more notice and cities more time to make an offer on the property.
"The preservation of existing deed-restricted affordable housing is critical for San Diego to sustain itself as a livable city," said Council President Joe LaCava. "I thank the San Diego Housing Commission for engaging with the community and collaboratively creating a mechanism that prevents housed individuals from losing their homes and maintains that truly affordable housing for the next generation."
If a property owner wants to sell within that aforementioned five-year period, the state law supersedes the ordinance passed Monday and notices must be issued as usual.
"There is a hole in San Diego's affordable housing bucket. No matter how much we do, we are losing existing affordable homes faster than we can replace them with new ones," said Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee. "This new law gives the city and San Diego Housing Commission the power to work with property owners to find ways to keep units affordable, before they revert to market rate costs that many people cannot afford.
"It means more money in San Diegans' pockets, less stress for families, more people with a roof over their head, and fewer people falling into homelessness."
Starting in July last year, the SDHC conducted 15 meetings with stakeholders such as the California Apartment Association and San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center to received feedback on how to craft the ordinance.
"Preserving existing quality affordable housing is crucial to tackling our city's housing challenges," said SDHC President and CEO Lisa Jones. "This ordinance will be a significant and important tool for the city, and we look forward to working to support the council's additional preservation efforts moving forward."
The passage of the proposed ordinance comes at an interesting time for the San Diego City Council, who just last week voted to remove a footnote from the city charter. This footnote reduced required lot sizes in the Southeastern San Diego neighborhood of Encanto from 20,000 square-feet to 5,000, allowing for more housing units in the same amount of space.
While seemingly a minor change, Mayor Todd Gloria saw it as a hasty backtrack against the city's recent boom in Accessory Dwelling Units.
"The ADU program, recognized statewide for creating affordable housing everyday San Diegans can afford without taxpayer subsidies, has helped San Diego build more homes and provide options for families and middle-income residents," Gloria said in an email to supporters.
"It was introduced transparently and has resulted in hundreds of new housing units since 2021, nearly half of which are rent-restricted affordable homes. The city attorney warned the City Council that its decision to restrict ADUs violated California's open meetings law, yet the council proceeded with the vote without public notice or proper debate."
Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera was not present for last week's impromptu vote on the footnote -- which was not on the meeting's agenda and thus will likely be returned to the council for a full discussion with public input.
Copyright 2025, City News Service, Inc.
