Solutions

There are numerous issues that have culminated in the unchecked development in our older neighborhoods including state and local pressure to build more affordable housing, adoption of municipal code changes that have bypassed approved Community Plans and zoning, and weakening of Community Planning Groups. Here are some things you can do:

1. SUPPORT OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

We urge our City and State leaders to stop the Complete Communities Program and other destructive building policies in our older neighborhoods and implement the following recommendations to increase our fair share of affordable housing while maintaining the integrity of older neighborhoods:

Establish a "fair share" of deed-restricted affordable housing units for each community in San Diego

According to the 2020 Census, University Heights has a population of 16,547, approximately 1% of the total population of the City of San Diego.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development requires that a total of 108,036 housing units be built in the city by 2029. Of these, 64,199 should be affordable to those with Very Low, Low, and Moderate incomes. Accordingly, our fair share in UH would be 1.19% or 764 units.

Subtract the 30 affordable housing units included in the Winslow project on Park Blvd., 11 units at CedarSt. on Park Blvd., and approximately 500 on the San Diego Unified School District site on Normal Street, and that leaves 223 additional units that must be built in University Heights by 2029.

Focus building incentives on major transit corridors like El Cajon Blvd. and Park Blvd.

Restrict the Complete Communities Program and other building incentive programs to major transit corridors like El Cajon Blvd. and Park Blvd. south of El Cajon, and require a higher proportion of deed-restricted affordable units along such corridors.

Implement the recommendations of the San Diego Housing Commission’s 2020 report "Preserving Affordable Housing in the City of San Diego."

Implement the recommendations of the 2020 “City of San Diego Housing Commission Report on Preserving Affordable Housing in the City of San Diego”, which states that, “San Diego cannot solely rely on new construction of housing units to mitigate the housing affordability crisis the City faces; this necessitates a robust preservation strategy.” Report recommendations include

Offering developer incentives for rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings such as outdated shopping malls and office buildings, which are often located along transit corridors;
Provide developer incentives for preservation and adaptive reuse of homes and properties in older neighborhoods where so much “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing” (NOAH) already exists; and
Increase funding for affordable housing programs

Recognize and partner with Community Planning Groups

Fully reinstate the Community Planning Groups as the formal mechanisms for community input in the City’s land use decision-making processes.

Restore independence to the City of San Diego Planning Department

Fully restore the City of San Diego Planning Department as a separate and independent department from the Development Services Department.