Mayor Faulconer has now committed to a plan involving the construction of 110,000 new housing units in San Diego. This has been done with the hopes of alleviating the California housing crisis and supporting new job growth in San Diego.
The Regional Housing Needs Assessment was voted for on September 6 by Faulconer as well as a majority of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) board. This assessment was instituted to examine the need for new housing development in certain regions.
As of now, 107,901 new housing unit construction projects have been committed to—and that number makes up nearly two-thirds of all the new housing projects in San Diego.
Faulconer commented after the vote, saying that “we need to build more housing or we’re never going to get out of this statewide affordability crisis, and the City of San Diego is leading by example by planning for our future housing needs … this decision is in line with the housing reforms we’re pushing to increase supply, lower costs and promote smart growth as we work to make sure that our children and grandchildren can afford to raise their families here just like we did.”
Over the past five years, over 46,000 additional homes have been built as a part of 14 community updates. This new influx of housing construction projects plays into the hopes of reducing housing costs.
However, this new plan for 107,901 units has been criticized by many in National City, Coronado, and Solana Beach as they believe the smaller cities are being asked too much for new housing, thus being put in a difficult position. While more housing is certainly needed in San Diego, these concerns should not be dismissed as any new housing development ought to be considered carefully.
