From Neighbors for a Better San Diego
Mayor Gloria rebuffs Council’s effort to rein in Bonus ADU program
He’s trying to intimidate the Council and ignoring the valid concerns of San Diego residents
On the heels of the January 28th City Council decision to re-examine the Bonus Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) program, Mayor Gloria has resorted to bullying and disinformation in an attempt to get the Council to back off of its request.
There’s much to disagree with in the Mayor’s newsletter, but his core defense of the Bonus ADU program is stated in this paragraph:
The ADU program, recognized statewide for creating affordable housing everyday San Diegans can afford without taxpayer subsidies, has helped San Diego build more homes and provide options for families and middle-income residents. It was introduced transparently and has resulted in hundreds of new housing units since 2021, nearly half of which are rent-restricted affordable homes.
Before we address the numerous misrepresentations in the Mayor’s statement, it is important to clarify that we support homeowner-driven single ADU projects, which were conceived by the California legislature as an option for homeowners to help build more housing.
Instead, through the Bonus ADU program, San Diego has turned ADUs into a loophole for investors to exploit neighborhoods at the expense of families that want to buy homes and build generational wealth.
Breaking down the Mayor’s statement:
“recognized statewide” This is the Mayor’s tell on all of his policies – he’s not doing this for San Diegans, he’s doing it to further his statewide political profile and ambitions. Fawning “think tanks” at UC Berkeley and the University of Utah haven’t bothered to visit San Diego or talk to local activists to understand the real impact of what’s being built under Mayor Gloria’s investor-first policies.
“affordable housing” Bonus ADU programs do not produce units affordable to low-income families. The so-called “affordable” units are deeded at 110% Area Median Income, translating to $2300/month for a studio and $2629/month for a 1-bedroom ADU. In many projects, the market-rate units rent for the same amount as the “affordable” ones.
In 2022, the Council asked the Mayor (through the Planning Director) to conduct an economic study of the Bonus ADU program. Four years later, the Council is still waiting for that study. We suspect that it’s been delayed because the data doesn’t match the Mayor’s narrative.
Regardless of the impact on rents, the Bonus ADU program has harmed homeownership, as investors especially target smaller homes that historically provide an opportunity for first-time home buyers.
“without taxpayer subsidies” This statement is patently false. Bonus ADU projects are apartment complexes, and if they were built under the appropriate rules, developers would have to pay Development Impact Fees (DIFs) for those units. Instead, the City waives impact fees on Bonus ADU projects, sticking taxpayers with infrastructure costs.
Neighbors For A Better San Diego estimates that the 132 “affordable” ADUs touted by the Mayor cost the city tens of millions of dollars in impact fees, meaning that the cash-strapped city doesn’t have any money to improve the infrastructure (parks, libraries, sidewalks, streetlights, water, sewer, fire and police infrastructure) to support this added density, particularly in areas such as Encanto that have huge historic infrastructure deficits.
“introduced transparently” Nothing could be further from the truth. The adoption of the Bonus ADU program was buried in an omnibus code update package and deceptively sold to the City Council as “complying with state law,” when in fact state law only requires the city to allow a single ADU on a single-family-zoned property and up to eight ADUs on a multi-family zoned property.
As with Footnote 7, the Mayor and Planning Department are now confronting the consequences of their refusal to transparently and objectively provide the information the Council needed to make smart decisions about land use and density.
Mayor Gloria continues to ignore and defy both the City Council and the residents of San Diego who want smart solutions to our housing challenges, not bullying rhetoric from the Mayor and his backers.
Help us prod Mayor Gloria to engage in good faith with the City Council and our neighborhoods.
Please email him at MayorToddGloria@sandiego.gov or call his office at: (619) 236-6330 (Leave a message if you are directed to the Mayor’s voicemail. The voicemail will be monitored and tabulated so that the Mayor knows how strongly we feel on this important issue.)
I don’t know how to photo-shop his mug shot above to the Almayo Avenue project picture, but it might look good on social media sites.
Got Parking !
According to CalMatters, 2,208,000 people have left California since 2020. How can we have a housing shortage if 6% of our citizens up and left the state in the last four years?
Trust me Frank, for every one that moves out, another two move in. Yes, Housing in California is unaffordable to many, however, as you can see by the traffic on the freeways, there is no shortage of people who want to live here.
California experienced a net population loss between 2020 and 2023, with the state’s population declining by about 433,000 people during that period, before seeing a small increase in 2023.
One other thing: It has been reported, for quite some time now, the county hit it’s California state housing target mandates through 2050 last Spring. There exists is a 25 year housing surplus. And that does NOT take into accord the contraction of our population for the 5th straight year as Frand F points out. 2,208,000 said C-Ya!
I invite anyone reading the OB Rag to just go for a citywide drive. Your eyes are not deceiving you.
There are tens of thousands of overly subsidized, overvalued, overpriced vacant “luxury” housing units designated to manipulate the real estate market in a combined 1-2 punch of the massive corporate monopolization portfolio of single family homes forever removed from public consumption or habitation in this case. And countless more in the pipeline to keep filling the Gloria Hole for the San Diego Dems. Cha-Ching!!!
Invitation Homes for instance hoards about 90,000 3-4 br homes in their Southern California portfolio. When I last checked there are 191 publicly traded companies, REIT’s (Real Estate Investment Trusts) on the NYSE and dozens and dozens more on the NASDAQ.
The San Diego Democratic Party donated heavily to Larry Turner’s primary campaign to malign any efforts of well qualified candidate Genevieve Jones Wright.
We must never forget that Todd Gloria has been callously grifting off homelessness resulting from his own “party serving” and subsequently “self serving” legislation since his career began in the City council that culminated in the unmitigated catastrophic damage his legislation in the state assembly has left in it’s wake.
You tell ’em Mateo!
Just like the those classic infill Huffmans that robbed the older neighborhoods of public parking and tree filled parkways, these “Glorias” will be a hallmark and lasting legacy!
Oh Inkbrear, you just took me back to the 1970s! Ray Huffman, lordy. I remember when his apartments were being built just west of the 7-11 at Voltare and Catallina. And North Park, how lose zoning allowed single family homes to be plowed and apartments built in beautiful single family neighborhoods from the 1920s.
Actually, the Huffmans had parking, it was ugly but it was there.
Yes, very ugly, but for the 5 parking spaces the Huffmans added in front, 2 public spaces were removed. Net only +3 spaces, and the private spaces couldn’t be used by others during the day the way the removed street parking could.
Some of the Huffman had more parking in the rear and some of the front parking was tandem parking as well. He tried to provide as much parking as possible.
This 1982 Reader article about Ray Huffman is something everyone should read. It is a history of apartment building from the 50s. What it talks about is virtually no different than what is talked about today concerning housing and mass transit.
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1982/aug/12/cover-the-muffled-roar-of-ray-huffman/
You’re right there, but they were only able to do it with massive curb cuts, which of course eliminated parking on the street.
How is the Fire Department expected to fight a fire in those pictured units under construction? They’re 100% hemmed in, and wholly unaccessible.
Excellent point, Mateo.
If you’re not signed up to receive info from NeighborsForABetterSanDiego.org, you really should be. They are extremely knowledgeable and an active group. The affordable housing is only affordable to those who have about $100K a year income. Do those people living in tents on G Street approaching the 94 have that kind of money? NO! Does anyone making $20.00 per hour, = $38,000 LESS taxes, have money to buy into an affordable unit? NO! Gloria and the council have no idea how folks making minimum wages exist and why their definition of “affordable” is totally without real knowledge of the issue. Their staff make more than that and they make over $200K per year, so what do they know about living on a $30K a year budgt. Not a darn thing.
Gloria and the council have no idea how folks making minimum wages exist and why their definition of “affordable” is totally without real knowledge of the issue. And the fact is they don’t care. They pretend to govern, and make all the right “caring” noises while catering to exploitation (greedy developers and STVRs). It’s all about getting reelected, so they go with the money. They have zero interest in actually serving the public.
The Democratic Party has been infiltrated by the YIMBY Dem movement. Mayor Gloria has surrounded himself with them and therefore has lost touch with the majority of the Democratic Party in San Diego which are homeowners. Sadly, the stated goals of the YIMBY Dems sound good, yet their housing policies support deregulating the housing industry. They are not Democrats but Libertarians like to Koch brothers. These policies have up-zoned single family neighborhoods in high fire zones and have made housing more expensive and therefore less equitable. Because Mayor Gloria has protected himself from hearing what the majority of his constituents feel, he is unaware of how traumatizing the Bonus ADU Programs has been to the communities that have them. The increase of high density in high fire zones with no parking or effective fire emergency evacuation ability is unacceptable. These communities are experiencing TRAUMA!!!
I thank the City Council for standing up to Mayor Gloria, the YIMBY Dems and the Building Industry Association (BIA). ENOUGH with developer driven planning. Let’s start functioning like a democracy again and not a Strong Mayor dictatorship.
Excellent comment, Laura. How about we publish a longer version with some of the details flushed out? Send it to us via our email: obragblog@gmail.com
I have yet to find a true YIMBY Dem. None of them supports high density and no parking in their own backyard – it’s always someone else’s. Sort of like what used to be called Limousine Liberals. (Disclosure: I can’t stand MAGA but the current Dem politicians are just a kindler, gentler version of the old greed is good GOP.)
A Rag writer, Geoff, introduced YIYBY — “Yes In Your Back Yard.”
A great concept. YIYBY signs should be carried to every council meeting and hearing on this topic.
An earlier version of this post had a typo in the headline; it’s been corrected and we apologize for any misunderstanding, misconceptions and thoughts we were trying to say something by the typo. Our excuse: the proofreader has been on an indefinite vacation ever since the Rag made the big time. For an example, see today’s Google News here —
The folks who have the power to fix the housing/affordability crisis in our fine city have no interest in doing so. Our beach communities, desirable to developers for financial reasons, are being pillaged without any thought of infrastructure or access for evacuation/emergency crews. Allowing the construction (with no impact reports required) of luxury high-rises with a handful of “affordable” units, as well as ADUs that will surely be rented as STVRs or at least rented long term at market rates, does nothing to alleviate the problem. What good are elected representatives if they do not serve to represent the interests of their constituents? It’s a broken system for sure, vulnerable to the capitalist interests of corporations, investors, and ambitious politicians.
So, I got to wondering. Does anybody know how the restrictions on the “low income” units will be monitored and enforced? Are we leaving this to Code Enforcement, which has years long backlogs of enforcement complaints without the added burden policing ADUs.
Just putting a deed restriction on a property is essentially meaningless unless there is going to be a mechanism for monitoring what rents are charged and a mechanism for forcing landlords into compliance.
Maybe there is such a mechanism and I’m just ignorant, which I’m sure someone will (gently and politely) point out.
Code enforcement in SD is at best hit or miss. Mostly miss. The Code Enforcement office is grossly understaffed.
I like to say the YIMBY movement, founded and led by highly paid Sacramento lobbyists, came from the Ayn Rand wing of the Democratic party and that, if they got their way and crashed housing prices, it would financially destroy them and their supporters.
It’s great seeing them get in bed with AirBnB! More mini-hotels for everyone – in your neighbors’ backyard.