San Diego needs to roughly triple the number of homes it builds each year to keep up with demand and keep prices down, said a San Diego Housing Commission report released Thursday.

The commission, which is the city’s housing authority, produced the report with other government agencies to address rising rent and home costs. It said the city needs to take steps to increase the supply of homes — seen as the biggest reason for rising costs — such as eliminating required parking spots and increasing density in some areas.

The report argued the city would need an additional 150,000 to 220,000 housing units — that’s apartments, condos and single-family homes — by 2028, or 17,000 to 24,000 a year. It’s a tall order because the city’s top annual production rate in the last five years was 6,400 units.


“Whether you are working a minimum wage job or have a college degree and working a full-time job making a decent amount of money, you still can’t afford to rent or buy in San Diego,” said Councilman David Alvarez at a press conference Thursday at City Hall. “That is alarming.”

Councilmen Scott Sherman and Alvarez contributed to the report, as did members of the city’s Smart Growth and Land Use committees. Report authors consulted with private home builders, business leaders and housing experts.

The report said expensive housing creates a financial loss for the city because of a reduction in construction and other jobs, harms employers’ ability to recruit workers and can hurt the environment because affordable housing is often far from job and education centers.

Specific proposals in the report:


Increase density limits around transit areas (47,000 to 146,000 units)

Redevelop underutilized parcels of land (56,000 to 73,000 units)

Adapt industrial zones and city sites (11,000 to 20,000 units)

Infill vacant lots (5,000 to 6,000 units)

Encourage detached accessory dwelling units, or “granny units” (2,700 to 5,500 units)

If suggestions are implemented, roughly 40 percent of potential housing is in the neighborhoods of Mira Mesa, Mission Valley, City Heights, North Park and Uptown, the report said.

The political willpower for increasing density in neighborhoods is likely to be tested. Sherman said the community needs to come together on the issue, and the report was the first step.

“People are going to have to understand that for the greater good they have to do what’s needed,” he said.

Also, the report does not include the rest of San Diego County. Research last summer from London Moeder Advisors predicted the city would be the only place producing a significant amount of housing while places like Poway add jobs but no housing. The scenario would flip the script on the traditional commute — workers living downtown and going to the suburbs to work.


Sherman said there isn’t anything they can do about neighboring communities, but city planners can counteract the disparity by producing more housing near transit hubs.

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In the short-term, the report recommends several suggestions that may struggle to pass politically — loosening of parking requirements, hire a citywide grants coordinator and speed up the land-use approval in key community planning areas.

Regardless, the councilmen said the report armed them with numbers to get changes made. Among the finding: During 2007 to 2015, the city grew by roughly 15,000 people each year but only averaged 3,000 new houses annually.


There was also a business argument. San Diego’s gross domestic product has a yearly loss of $2.4 billion in excess disposable income diverted to housing costs, the report said.

“What this report does is it pinpoints exactly what the needs are for San Diego to remain competitive,” Alvarez said. “We are losing young, talented individuals to other places because they can no longer afford to live here.”


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phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar

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