County Supes Voted to Develop Government Land Action Strategy in Partnership with San Diego Foundation & Other Jurisdictions

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 Housing Impact 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:

Contact

James Canning / 619-372-7988 / James.Canning@sdcounty.ca.gov

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