The rising cost of housing is not just a San Diego problem, it's a problem for working families across the country. Inflation has skyrocketed housing and rental prices to unprecedented levels, coupled with a sharp rise in interest rates. Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer has been leveraging all of the County resources possible to speedup production of affordable housing, keep renters in their homes, and make the dream of homeownership more accessible.
Since 2021, the County is helping to construct housing twice as fast as required and building housing at twice the historical average over the past 20 years. Within just two and a half years, County government has already permitted 50% of its state mandated 6,700 homes in the unincorporated communities, and is on pace to exceed that target by 60% by the 2029 deadline.
The Supervisor is working to remove barriers to housing, and has advanced a bold set of policies to streamline and expedite homebuilding. She also authored a new program to create a fast self-checkout lane for building permits.
Unlike in the past, these efforts are not building mansions in dangerous high fire zones, but rather are creating "missing middle" infill housing and first-time homeownership opportunities for working people near jobs, transit, and amenities. In fact our County was one of the first to receive a Prohousing Designation for this work.
We're working with partners to accomplish our housing goals. The County, City of San Diego, and San Diego Foundation have made a bold commitment to building 10,000 homes on surplus public land in the next decade.
Under the Supervisor's leadership, the County has taken an unprecedented role in supporting affordable housing efforts across the region. Since her first year, 1,655 affordable housing units have opened with another 3,183 County-supported units on the way. Many of these units are specifically tackling affordability challenges for seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and formerly homeless individuals.
A lot has been accomplished over the last three years, but more work remains, and the Supervisor is eager to keep the momentum going.
