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
About Murtaza Baxamusa
How to make housing more affordable in San Diego
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
How San Diego’s public transit went from first to worst
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
Labor, Environment, and Social Justice Groups create coalition to facilitate and advocate for affordable housing in San Diego.
How San Diego’s downtown housing supply boom is making rent less affordable
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
Measure A: How SANDAG undermines transit, environmental, and social goals.
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.
Why Gov. Brown’s housing plan is bad for planning
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
The High Costs of Policy Shortfalls in Housing – San Diego Free Press
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.
Why climate change action cannot succeed without social equity
Over 120 cities and counties in California have a climate action plan either completed or in the pipeline. As cities develop these plans and initiatives to address climate change, it is important to emphasize that social equity is integrated within environmental policies. The vulnerabilities, resilience and sustainability of the human ecosystem are as much determined by diversity and inter-dependence as its natural counterpart. As Pope Francis said in Laudato Sí, “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” [Read more…] about Why climate change action cannot succeed without social equity
Urban planning without social equity is like playing chess without the queen.
With rising inequality, a looming climate change crisis, and persistent state of housing unaffordability being the defining issues in the growth of American cities in the twenty-first century, it is time for urban planners to take social policy seriously. Too often, social policy is relegated to a specialized role for advocacy planners, at other times ignored completely for being too political, and often times dismissed as “creeping socialism” that is inappropriate in land-use planning. This prompted planning legend Norman Krumholtz to call the profession “timid,” not as much to reflect on the work ethics of rank-and-file planners, but the leadership of those in power, who do not allow planning to pursue equity objectives. The most powerful piece on the planning chess-board is unavailable to most urban planners. [Read more…] about Urban planning without social equity is like playing chess without the queen.