SAN DIEGO (June 14, 2022) – Chair Nathan Fletcher, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors passed a measure to partner with San Diego Foundation (SDF). The County and SDF will work to encourage other government agencies including 18 incorporated cities, to develop a Government Land Action Strategy to entice developers to build 10,000 affordable housing units on government-owned property over the next three-to-five-years.
Supervisors Fletcher and Lawson-Remer, who authored the policy, along with Mark Stuart the President and CEO of San Diego Foundation, issued the following statements after the decision was made.
“Purchasing a house is out of reach for many hard working San Diegans and with this new initiative we want to change that,” said Chair Fletcher, “This partnership will make it easier for cities and government agencies to leverage the land they own, and make it accessible to developers. By working together we can create a viable strategy to build housing that working families and middle-income San Diegans can afford.”
“We want to use public land for the public good, and right now the greatest public good is to build homes that the public can afford,” said Supervisor Lawson-Remer, who has been working on equitable housing efforts including Senate Bill 1105. “This partnership with The San Diego Foundation will help us convene the region’s cities and public agencies to identify all vacant government land where homes can be built quickly. If we solve the problem of where to build, we can tackle our housing crisis with greater speed and at a lower cost.”
San Diego Foundation is a trusted leader in leveraging real estate assets and has pledged $10 million to help projects built on government land get started, and will pursue raising another $90 million to support the initiative.
“The negative impacts on our economy, environment and health due to this crisis cannot be overstated,” said Stuart. “The San Diego Housing Fund will leverage public, private and philanthropic dollars to accelerate the production and preservation of housing and create equitable, sustainable, community-focused housing. We look forward to working with all partners who are committed to housing solutions for San Diegans.”
SDF is also affiliated with the San Diego Charitable Real Estate Foundation and launched the San Diego Black Homebuyers Program in partnership with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and so far have helped 22 eligible first-time homebuyers with down payments and/or closing costs.
To read the entire policy, click the link here.
The County has recently taken the following actions to address the housing crisis:
- The County is on pace to issue more than 1,600 building permits for new housing in the unincorporated region of the County, that is up almost 50% from the year before. We are getting out of the decades of litigation that bogged down progress.
- In March the Board of Supervisors approved designating three county-owned properties as “surplus land.” The Properties are:
- Former Northeast Family Resource Center at 5001 73rd Street in the College Area,
- 6255 Mission Gorge Road in the Grantville area, and
- Former North Inland Family Resource Center at 600-620 E. Valley Parkway in Escondido.
- Approved $23 million to support 4 different projects that will deliver 421 units of housing for seniors, people with disabilities, the homeless or those at risk of being homeless, and people with behavioral health challenges.
- Paseo Norte Apartments (Ramona) – Excess County Land
- Taormina (San Diego-Kearney Mesa) – Excess County Land
- The Iris at San Ysidro (San Diego-San Ysidro)
- Santa Fe Apartments (Vista)
- $14 million to help open 407 new affordable units at the Saint Teresa of Calcutta and provide behavioral health services for 20 years. This property was built by Father Joe’s Villages.
- Broke ground in February on 100 affordable housing units for low-income people and families to live in San Marcos with Affirmed Housing. The County contributed $6.25 million.
- Broke ground in January on the 50-unit Valley Senior Village apartment complex in downtown Escondido for older people who are homeless and have a serious mental illness. This property is being built by National CORE and San Diego Community Housing Corporation. The County contributed $10 million.
- To date, the $50 million invested in the Innovative Housing Trust Fund has leveraged
- $567 million in other public and private funds to create and preserve 1,397 permanently affordable housing units within 20 developments in 15 communities throughout San Diego County. In August 2021, the Board of Supervisors increased funding by $20 million for a total of $70 million.
- The County’s No Place Like Home funding will total nearly $130 million for regionwide housing development.
Contact
James Canning / 619-372-7988 / James.Canning@sdcounty.ca.gov
