With a new Governor, California’s next legislative session with likely look for a different approach to addressing the incessant affordable housing crisis in the state. The carrots-and-sticks approach in the last couple of years has yielded new statewide revenues for homeless and affordable housing and has made local cities more accountable in their housing production. [Read more…] about How the state can address California’s housing crisis
The presence of an urban research university has been conventionally regarded as the foundation for economic growth of any large city. It is “the heart of the story” for the fortune of successful high-tech regions. It is a “key actor” in revitalization of urban communities. It is “one of the most powerful engines” that drive innovation in the knowledge economy. And so on. With such a vital role, an institution of higher learning is not just cultivating scholarship and skills in the next generation of the workforce, but nurturing the city itself through intellectual, economic and cultural osmosis. [Read more…] about University expansions create opportunity for community benefits
San Diego does not have a homeless problem, it has a housing bed inventory problem in comparison to other large cities. The region’s homeless as a percentage of the total population is 12th in the nation, and the five-year trend is relatively flat when including both sheltered and unsheltered homeless. Yet, despite the public outcry, there are still about five thousand unsheltered homeless sleeping on our streets, sidewalks, canyons, riverbeds, parks and open spaces. [Read more…] about ‘America’s Finest City’ is Worst in Nation in Housing the Homeless
There is not enough affordable housing being built in the city of San Diego. Lenders and banks are not lending as much, apartment owners are not caring, and builders are not building as much, since it is not as remunerative to build for income-constrained households. This worsens the disconnect between the economics of the housing stock and the demographics of the families it is meant to serve, as shown by a recent Harvard University study on apartments. In San Diego, less than ten percent of the rental housing stock is affordable.[1] With new federal tax policies, things could get worst. [Read more…] about How to make housing more affordable in San Diego
The current leadership at San Diego’s regional transportation agency hates taxes, except that they love to spend it. This double-standard has become increasingly apparent in the recent months, as they are back-filling the shortfall in the local sales tax revenues and increase in project costs with $5 billion from a statewide gas tax that many on the agency’s board vehemently oppose. [Read more…] about How San Diego’s public transit went from first to worst
Having invested a billion and a half dollars of public funds in downtown redevelopment, it is worth asking if it helped or hindered in solving the affordable housing crisis that San Diego faces. From the catalytic start of downtown’s boom with the construction of the ballpark to the unceremonious demise of tax increment financing under Governor Brown, there has been a lot of change. [Read more…] about How San Diego’s downtown housing supply boom is making rent less affordable
Nearly a third of all counties in California are proposing a sales tax increase to fund transportation on this November’s ballot. But one stands out with organized opposition from an unprecedented coalition of labor, environmental and community groups. It is perhaps the only transportation measure where both political parties, and the main newspaper opposes it. [Read more…] about Measure A: How SANDAG undermines transit, environmental, and social goals.
Governor Jerry Brown’s “Streamlining Affordable Housing Approvals” proposal will have far-reaching consequences on urban planning in cities and counties across California. However, there has been little discussion about the real-world consequences of this policy on the planning profession with regard to public participation. [Read more…] about Why Gov. Brown’s housing plan is bad for planning
http://sandiegofreepress.org/2016/06/high-costs-policy-shortfalls-housing/
The high cost of housing is one of the most challenging planning issues of our time. The meager supply of affordable housing is a major contributor to the problem, yet the policy tools to address the shortfall often seem to worsen the problem.
