Locals are bearing the cost of increasing rates, with many spending more than half of their income on rent
By Sasha Abramsky / San Diego Magazine – The Nation / April 4, 2024
Teresa, a 52-year-old with a solidly middle-class job in the healthcare industry, recently separated from her husband. At the time, the couple lived in Encinitas, in a large home they bought in 2010 for $450,000. When interest rates plummeted, they refinanced at less than 2.5 percent with only 13 years of payments left. Each month, the mortgage, the insurance, and the money they set aside for real estate taxes came to $2,900 between them.
But now, the market has shattered Teresa’s financial calculus. Even after she and her husband sold their house and split the profits, affording to buy again seems impossible. She is currently renting, but with the San Diego rental market being one of the hottest in the country, she found slim pickings. Teresa is paying $2,000 a month to live in a small, one-bedroom accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in North County, without an oven in the kitchen, behind a friend’s house—and she counts herself lucky. On the open market, she says, that unit could rent for as much as $3,300.
And that cost is no outlier. Teresa pulls out her phone, bringing up Zillow listings from around San Diego County: $1,650 a month for a 250-square-foot studio, $2,200 for a 600-square-foot one-bedroom, $2,350 for a 350-square-foot studio.
San Diego is at the forefront of California’s affordable housing crisis, and California is at the forefront of a national housing shortage—US Census Bureau data shows that, countrywide, the home vacancy rate is at 0.8 percent, less than half of what it was a few years ago. A recent report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found that over 12 million households were spending more than half of their income on rent. And, when new apartment buildings are constructed, developers increasingly build for higher-income renters, leaving working- and even middle-class tenants unable to get a foot in the door.
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This is a big part of the problem, and our mayor and city council are not doing enough to prevent the destruction of existing affordable housing, which is being replaced by “luxury” apartments and condo projects with minimal affordable units.
“Mishele Stead, a 54-year-old housing navigator for a local nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated people find affordable residences, has lived in the same rental unit in Golden Hill for the past decade. She pays $2,000 monthly for her two-bedroom, one-bath, which is already more than half her $24.92-per-hour income. However, the property recently sold, and the new corporate owners want to knock down the building and construct luxury apartments. Stead is terrified that, once she gets the 60-day notice to vacate, she will not be able to find an affordable unit to rent.”
Let’s not forget that for $1000 you can delete that moderately-affordable little old cottage from the housing market entirely, and turn it into a hotel. This is where most of the Airbnbs in town are situated.
Exactly!
For renters reading this, I went through this exact scenario twice in the last 20 months. Longtime renter at first place, sold, kicked out, place was rented for double. Second place, “renovations”, kicked out, place was rented for more. It cost a lot of money and was terribly difficult to move twice. It was disruptive to my young son’s education and family relationships. And the stress of trying to find a place to live, let alone afford it, is a challenge for anyone.
If I have housing situation, I’m not leaving. Should you do the same? What is your alternative? When the courts and law enforcement get tired of kicking good people out of their homes and into the streets that they are also supposed to “clean up”, I imagine something will be done.
REITs, Airbnbs, investment owners, foreign investors, new to CA incoming residents, cities and residents fighting against affordable housing… at the same time some San Diegans are complaining about homelessness and people living in cars. It is clear there is a problem and not enough being done about taking care of housing needs.
I am leaving.
As a senior on a fixed income, having been in OB since 2010.
It will probably be to Florida. I will be going there to check it out
very soon.
Ocean Beach, what it sort of is now and used to be, will be a dim
memory, I guess. Many other sorts of places have met – or are meeting – the same fate, especially by the sea.
Considering our population is going down because more people are leaving than coming in combined with all the multi family housing going up, rents should go down. But that’s just not the case and we may have to accept this is a problem that simply won’t get resolved. A solution is simply not in the cards. I mean we now have active duty military members going through temporary periods sleeping in their cars FFS (though that’s more due to the military’s inability to get things processed in a timely fashion combined with poor training for its clerks). Still, rents go far beyond what their housing allowances will cover.
Existing affordable housing? A lot of old, dinky housing is really expensive now!