SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A new report from the San Diego Housing Federation shows 81% of low-income families are paying more than half of their income on housing costs.
The statistic has housing advocates fearing that will trend up as more big companies purchase housing developments.
"Folks come in purchase the building and then raise the rent to what the market is. So we’ve seen a huge loss of naturally affordable housing in San Diego," Stephen Russell, the president and CEO of the San Diego Housing Federation, said.
That’s why the San Diego Housing Federation is pushing for legislation that would help organizations like non-profits in acquiring property, keeping rent at an affordable rate. They are also asking the state to pitch in $500 million to help with this effort.
"We have to solve this supply and demand issue. The only way to do that is to build enough homes that are affordable for people here in San Diego to move into and preserve the homes we already have to make sure they stay affordable. If we do that we can address homelessness, low-income people not moving into affordable homes, and hard-working people barely able to make it," Joel John Roberts, the CEO of PATH San Diego, added.
