Editordude: The following “Reader Rant” is in response to a series of comments by Shelly OB who accused members of the new Community Coalition of being out-of-touch old people.
By Trudy Grundland
Shelly, it’s obvious that you are a woman who likes facts. I do too.
California legislators write the housing laws that allow developers to build, and the state of California gives cities new housing quotas every 8 years, divided into 4 income categories: above affordable income, affordable/moderate, low, very low income.
Cities must give permits to developers in order to reach their quota, or get fined by the state. Repeat: Cities must give permits. Developers DON’T have to build.
Cities give incentives to make it less expensive and easier for developers to build bigger = more units = meet quota. The state gave the City of San Diego a quota of 40% for above affordable = >$3K/month rent. That’s ridiculous because we have more than enough expensive housing. I’m sure you will agree.
The current 8 year cycle is April 2021-April 2029. The city is 50% through this state-mandated timeframe to meet its housing quotas. It has reached 173% of quota for above affordable income units, it is below 50% on the other 3 income levels.
When people say that we need more housing in San Diego, what they are saying is that there is not enough housing for people who need to pay under $3,000 a month. In fact, I’ve done a deep dive into the numbers and what I found will curl your hair.
72% of housing in the City of San Diego is priced for the wealthiest 28%. Meanwhile 28% of the housing is priced for what the 72% majority can afford. Is this backwards, or what?
Now, let’s talk about first responders. I have done a deep dive on this too.
Los Angeles has 1 firefighter for every 1,000 residents. San Francisco has 1:500. Dallas, TX is the same size as City of San Diego in square miles & population. Dallas has 1:500, and in 2025 plan to hire more and reduce the ratio to 1:250.
What is the ratio in the City of San Diego? 1 firefighter: 1,400 residents. Not very good, is it? Fires are not the big issue. 85% of the 911 calls for firefighters in this city are health related, including accidents. Due to staffing shortages and distance to travel in traffic, SDFD response time is 8+ minutes. The national standard is 5 minutes.
Our firefighter salaries put them in the low income housing category. If you have a sudden health issue or accident, I hope you survive. Until the city and state adjust the ratio of housing to what people can afford, we won’t ever have enough firefighters (or healthcare workers, etc) because they don’t love commuting 35 miles from Alpine, which is where many live (I’ve talked to them).
Shelly, I used my brain, worked by butt off in plain English, putting in 60, 80 hour weeks to achieve my home. I am not a member of the Silver Spoon Club. My dad was a Teamster and a school teacher. I’m a proud member of the San Diego Community Coalition because we are working to provide more affordable housing in this city. I hope you will join us. We could use a vociferous woman like you helping the cause to help others.
Shelly has a problem with Boomers, and thinks we don’t have kids, and grand kids, and we only think of ourselves, and don’t help them out with the same supply side issues of housing and affordability in today’s world. She doesn’t deserve the distraction.
I don’t mind explaining the facts. If I can help by providing real data and this prevents future misunderstandings then I’m happy to share my information. Build bridges, not walls. :) Peace, Trudy 4/16/25
THANK U TRUDY. WE NEED TO STOP SHADOWS ON MY HOUSE
If Shelly is feeling less angry about the objective of the SD Community Coalition, that’s good. I wonder how Mayor Gloria, Governor Newsom and Senator Weiner will react when I release my data publicly on my website. How can so much housing be for the wealthy? It boggles my mind. :) No shadows on homes! Trudy 4/16/25