June 3, 2022 – San Diego, CA – Chair Nathan Fletcher, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and The San Diego Foundation (TSDF) want to work with the 18 incorporated cities, and other government agencies to create a Government Land Action Strategy, to identify government-owned land to build 10,000 affordable homes over the next three to-five years. TSDF is also pledging $10 million to help projects built on government land get started, and will pursue raising another $90 million to support the initiative.
“The Government Land Action Strategy will be a catalyst for more housing region wide that families can afford,” said Chair Fletcher. “Housing costs are out of reach for most, including hard working, middle income families. We want to create a package of properties that can be marketed to affordable housing developers, so we can have more housing built, and more built faster.
“I appreciate Mark Stuart, and The San Diego Foundation’s commitment to helping us tackle the housing crisis,” Chair Fletcher continued. “When they see a challenge, they quickly raise their hand to be part of the solution. We’re fortunate to have them here in our County.”
“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.”
The San Diego Foundation is a trusted leader in leveraging real estate assets to benefit our community because of its affiliation with the San Diego Charitable Real Estate Foundation (CREF). Last year they launched the San Diego Black Homebuyers Program in partnership with LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) and supported by Chair Fletcher’s Office to provide down payments and/or closing cost assistance for eligible Black first-time homebuyers. To date, 20 homeowners and their families have received assistance through the program that launched in August 2021.
“This spring our Board of Governors committed $10 million – the largest grant in the history of our organization – to partner with the County of San Diego to launch a massive Housing Impact Fund,” said Mark Stuart, President and CEO of The San Diego Foundation. “This permanent, revolving fund will leverage public, private and philanthropic dollars to accelerate the production and preservation of housing and create equitable, sustainable, community-focused housing.”
On Tuesday, June 14, Chair Fletcher and Supervisor Lawson-Remer will present their policy to formalize the partnership with The San Diego Foundation. If approved, the policy will ensure:
Today, the announcement was made at a vacant parcel owned by the County of San Diego that once had a building on it where the County delivered child protective and adoption services. Later this year, the County, in partnership with Wakeland Development, will break ground on a new development that will bring more than 120 affordable housing units to the Linda Vista area.
This announcement is not the first time the County is wading into the housing crisis waters.
The County has recently taken the following actions to address the housing crisis:
In early 2022, San Diego became the least affordable metro area in the State. Although the County of San Diego is building more new homes in the past year than in the prior three years, production is still lagging behind demand. The region has a current shortfall of 90,000 homes and needs to build another 90,000 homes by the end of the decade just to keep pace with population and job growth. We are on track to build half that amount (Stat Source: https://www.sandag.org/uploads/projectid/projectid_189_27782.pdf).
James Canning: 619-372-7988 or James.Canning@sdcounty.ca.gov
On August 9, 2022, we awarded $838,704 in Opening the Outdoors grants to 24 nonprofit organizations that offer equitable access to outdoor spaces in San Diego County.
“San Diego Foundation is proud to once again support its partners committed to increasing community-driven efforts to enhance accessible outdoor space, encourage youth to learn more through hands-on education and create the next generation of environmental stewards in the San Diego region,” said Christiana DeBenedict, SDF Director of Environment Initiatives.
This year’s grantees will help address these inequities and enhance access to the outdoors throughout San Diego County.
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