SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - As San Diego grapples with a homeless epidemic and rising rents, the city's housing supply remains a point of worry.
According to the San Diego Housing Commission, the city twice the shortfall in housing than previously estimated. A 2017 report by the SDHC said the region could fall behind its goals by 50,000 units if housing supply followed the current production trend.
By 2028, the organization estimated San Diego's housing needs would reach 150,000 to 200,000 units.
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There is a silver lining, however. SDHC says San Diego has enough housing potential to meet its 10-year need if "all capacity sources are fully utilized," and could exceed that need by 30,000 units.
Where are these potential sources of land? SDHC outlined them as follows:
- Rezoning around transit areas to increase density (47,000-146,000 units)
- Redeveloping underutilized land (56,000-73,000 units)
- Adapting disused industrial zones and city-owned sites (11,000-20,000 units)
- Infilling vacant lots (5,000-6,000 units)
- Utilizing detached accessory dwelling units (basically, granny flats) (2,700-5,500 units)
Last year, the median home price in San Diego was about $610,000. That cost comes to about $3,080 a month in payments, according to California Association of Realtors. That means less than 30 percent of households can afford to purchase a median-priced home in San Diego.
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But what's stopping San Diego from making the most of housing? According to SDHC, there are six challenges:
- Parking requirements
- Complex planning processes
- Inclusionary housing programs that aren't fully utilized
- Length of planning and community input processes
- Housing development costs
- Uncoordinated and limited public funding
SDHC's report suggests tackling these challenges as a way to ease housing development and costs to fully utilize the region's potential. This involves Speeding up development and approval processes and looking at whether some development requirements need to be restructured based on actual needs.
