The City Council on June 2 voted unanimously to adopt a first-of-its-kind study of affordable housing in San Diego. The report, “Preserving Affordable Housing in the City of San Diego,” was produced by the San Diego Housing Commission in response to direction by City Council President Georgette Gómez. It provides an analysis of existing affordable housing options throughout the city and identifies 10 strategies for preservation.
 
“If we’re losing our existing affordable homes as we work hard to create new affordable housing, we’re just spinning our wheels,” Gómez said. “We must preserve the low-cost homes we have so that San Diego families and individuals have access to affordable housing options and aren’t displaced from their homes. This study provides a critical framework for action going forward.”
 
San Diego’s housing supply includes more than 23,000 rental housing units for which rents are required to remain affordable for specific income levels because of restrictions recorded on the properties. In addition, close to 47,000 rental housing units are not restricted, but their rents are naturally affordable for households earning up to 60 percent of the San Diego area median income, about $69,300 a year for a family of four.
 
Affordability restrictions recorded on 4,200 affordable rental housing units could expire in the next 20 years. The report also focused on the potential for preserving 9,250 naturally occurring affordable housing units that are at risk of becoming unaffordable by 2040 because of increasing rents or factors like redevelopment. This represents close to 30 percent of the more than 32,000 naturally occurring affordable housing units at risk of becoming unaffordable for low-income families in the next 20 years.
 
Gómez in 2017 released a Housing Action Plan that, among other things, called for an inventory of affordable housing. As chair of the Council’s Smart Growth & Land Use Committee, she prioritized affordable housing preservation in the committee’s 2018 work plan.
 
The San Diego Housing Commission has included approximately $22 million specifically for affordable housing preservation in its fiscal year 2021 budget, pending the approval of the City Council in its role as the Housing Authority of the City of San Diego.