Owning a home is considered by many to be an integral part of the American Dream. But if we continue with the same painfully slow and expensive process of housing expansion in San Diego, it is destined to remain just that — a dream.

Right now, San Diego is at a crucial point in determining the future of its regional economy.

According to a 2016 study by The Fermanian Business & Economic Institute (FBEI), 21 percent of San Diego County households are now priced out of the local market.

In effect, these residents face two options, neither of which pans out favorably for the region. Either they endure the commute from Riverside, the Inland Empire and the like (which isn’t helping our already-overcrowded freeways) or they just leave altogether, draining San Diego of talent and labor.


Contrary to widespread belief, these exorbitant prices stem from more than just the desire to live in a climatic wonderland.

Regulatory costs weigh in at about 40 percent of the overall cost of any new development. By the time developers jump through all of the required hoops, their only hope to turn a profit is building large, expensive homes that lead to the pricing-out scenario that we currently face.

In order to bring San Diego’s workforce housing back to a state of affordability, we must take a more in-depth look at just what purposes these regulations serve and how they affect the regional economy.

Such regulations are generally thought to be environmental protections, which is an important and respectable cause. This is not an argument against accounting for climate change and wildlife conservation when planning for increased housing.


However, the sheer quantity of regulations has made it so that they now reach beyond their original intent of ensuring that people and the environment can co-exist in a healthy manner.

Rather, the regulations act as an excessive obstructionist, slowing or shutting down any and all development — even that which is done responsibly and has the potential to reduce traffic, drive down the outrageous cost of living, and keep talented employees in the region.

Numerous politicians from both sides of the aisle, including some longtime environmental advocates, have agreed that these regulations have become too burdensome.

Many recent legislation proposals have acknowledged that San Diego can work toward increased housing and infrastructure without sacrificing the health of our surrounding environment, but those proposals are yet to be converted into tangible policy change.


As long as we continue down this path of obstructionism, we will witness employers and the regional economy suffer. It is difficult to maintain a successful business model in which an employer has to pay their entry or mid-level employees an inflated salary to keep up with the cost of living, especially while competing with other regions in which fewer dollars go a much longer way.

Similarly, it poses a unique and unfortunate challenge to San Diego businesses when their staffs face an exhausting commute from a different county on each end of their workday. These employers must then deal with everything from unpredictable traffic patterns to employees lobbying for alternative work schedules, all while trying to run a business.

Meanwhile, our region continues to disregard many common-sense alternatives that are available to us. Many of the potential changes are not drastic additions of new policies, but just some simple adjustments to the existing ones.

A primary example is the streamlining of permits, a concept advocated by many legislators on both sides of the aisle. Instead of having builders apply for various permits through an assortment of government agencies and at different times throughout the process, all permitting could be assigned to a single agency and allow for “one-stop shopping.”


The same caliber of environmental protections could be maintained, yet the time and money currently devoted to this step would be significantly reduced, thus lessening the cost that must be passed along to homebuyers. This suggestion is just one piece of a much longer list, which includes items like required benchmarks for project approval times and improved communication between permitting agencies and developers.

San Diego must make way for more reasonable housing expansion if we want to keep our regional economy strong. Costs of living and the costs of doing business are fundamentally intertwined.

If we do not work to make housing more attainable for our workforce, we will inevitably be facing substantial employment challenges that impede economic growth and hurt San Diego families.

Rosen is president/CEO of North San Diego Business Chamber. Website: sdbusinesschamber.com