San Diego County is on pace to meet its state housing mandate years early — but the teachers, healthcare workers, and families who need housing most are still being priced out. Today, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to change that, adopting the County's first-ever Inclusionary Housing Ordinance requiring new residential developments to support the County’s affordable housing goals.

The vote marks a milestone in Lawson-Remer's effort to build a San Diego County that working families can afford. Under her leadership, the County has streamlined permitting, directed hundreds of millions in affordable housing investments, and put the region on pace to meet its state housing mandate years ahead of schedule. Today's action closes the gap that those efforts alone cannot: homes affordable to the residents most left behind by the market.

"I've spent five years making the case that building more homes faster is not enough if the people who need housing most are still being priced out," said Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, Board Chair. "This ordinance is the missing piece. When developers build and profit in our communities, they have a responsibility to make sure those communities stay affordable for the teachers, nurses, and young families that make San Diego work."

Under Lawson-Remer's leadership, San Diego County has already permitted 6,577 homes — 98% of its total eight-year state housing target — just over halfway through the current planning cycle, on pace to exceed the state mandate by 50–60%. But a significant gap remains: the County has permitted just 516 Very Low-Income units, only 28% of its obligation of 1,834 for the 2021–2029 period. Lawson-Remer championed the inclusionary ordinance as a way to address that shortfall.

Under the ordinance, developers of new market-rate housing projects in unincorporated San Diego County must include a share of affordable units within their development or meet other affordable housing requirements. 

The action builds on more than 4,022 affordable homes Lawson-Remer has helped fund across 46 developments since 2021 — deeply subsidized units for the seniors, teachers, and families the private market will not reach on its own.

Lawson-Remer has championed the inclusionary ordinance through multiple rounds of Board direction, beginning with the County's 2018 housing affordability study and culminating in the ordinance before the Board today. The ordinance is also a required action item in the County's Housing Element — the state-mandated plan for meeting regional housing needs through 2029.

A companion CEQA Exemption was adopted alongside the ordinance.