SUBJECT
Title
Receive the County of San Diego Housing Blueprint AND NOTICE OF EXEMPTION (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
The San Diego region is facing a severe housing shortage, with rising housing costs making affordable housing unattainable for many residents, including those at risk of homelessness. Despite efforts, housing production rates in the San Diego region have not kept pace with population growth and demand. On December 13, 2022 (30), the San Diego County Board of Supervisors (Board) held the Let’s Talk Housing Workshop to address this crisis. The workshop resulted in the adoption of the Draft Housing Blueprint, a strategy document to guide the County of San Diego’s (County) response. The Board directed the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to engage with the community and stakeholders to refine the Draft Housing Blueprint and authorized the selection of a consultant to analyze, formulate, and provide further recommendations. LeSar Development Consultants (LDC) was selected and has been collaborating with County staff, stakeholders, and the community to enhance the Draft Housing Blueprint.
The Housing Blueprint is a broad policy document structured around five essential policy goals, known as the 5 Ps: Promote Equity, Inclusion, and Sustainability; Produce Housing for All; Preserve Vulnerable Housing; Protect Tenants; and Prevent Displacement. These goals focus on addressing the root causes of the housing crisis by developing a comprehensive and equitable housing strategy that includes strategies that are regional in nature and ones specific to the County’s responsibilities related to the Housing Authority jurisdiction and land use in unincorporated communities. As a result of community engagement, research and assessments, a set of eight strategies were developed that form the policy priorities of the Housing Blueprint. These strategies are categorized into two themes: Systems Changes and Programmatic/Policy Changes. Systems Changes strategies are essential for the initial and ongoing implementation of the Housing Blueprint and should be given priority. This is primarily due to the need to identify significant, ongoing funding for the Housing Blueprint implementation, highlighted in Strategy 2 below. The Programmatic/Policy Changes strategies are specific to implementing policies and programs to aligned with the 5 Ps and will be most successful after the System Changes strategies, specifically the first two, are implemented. The Housing Blueprint eight strategies include:
Systems Changes
1. Refine the County’s Organizational Approach to Housing
2. Create New Funding Sources for Housing
3. Improve Engagement, Transparency, and Access
Programmatic/Policy Changes
4. Focus and Streamline Administration of Housing Funding (Subsidy) to Maximize Impact
5. Unlock Land for Sustainable and Resilient Development Opportunities
6. Provide Solutions for Missing Middle-Income Housing Production and Programs
7. Implement Affordable Housing Preservation Strategies
8. Strengthen and Enforce Tenant Protections and Homeless Prevention Efforts
Aligned with each strategy are numerous recommended actions that are intended for the County to prioritize and scale according to available funding, staffing, and other resources. The actions are meant to provide both regional solutions and ones focused on the County’s responsibilities for the Housing Authority jurisdiction and land use in the unincorporated area. However, the scope on many of the actions can be adapted for either focus. LDC has proposed timelines for each action which would begin once the item is fully funded. Actions are assigned timelines of immediate term (1-2 years) and medium term (3-5 years). Recommended actions that were not thoroughly assessed by LDC are listed as actions that can be considered for further study, but should not be prioritized over items in the Housing Blueprint. Additionally, each action is designated with an order of magnitude estimate of the staffing and funding required to implement the action. The County will need to further analyze and refine estimated resources and timelines within the context of current and future County resources in order to develop an actionable plan to report back to the board.
The Housing Blueprint underscores the need to focus immediate efforts around identifying significant and sustainable funding to make an impact on the housing affordability crisis. Many of the recommended actions require strong partnerships with communities, stakeholders, and governments to create a collective impact in the region through shared resources and efforts. While actual cost of implementing the actions laid out in the Housing Blueprint requires additional County analysis, LDC estimates that in order to meet the proposed goal of producing 4,100 new, deed-restricted affordable homes over a 5-year period, the County will need to provide developers with $383 million in gap financing.
Today’s action requests the Board find in accordance with Section 15061(b)(3) that today's actions are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, receive the Housing Blueprint and direct the CAO to report back within in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 24/25 with a plan for prioritizing actions for implementation within current and future resource availability to advance the goals and strategies of the County of San Diego Housing Blueprint.
RECOMMENDATION(S)
CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
1. Find in accordance with Section 15061(b)(3) that today's actions are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines that it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that today's actions may have a significant effect on the environment and is, therefore, exempt from CEQA.
2. Receive the County of San Diego Housing Blueprint Report.
3. Direct the Chief Administrative Officer to report back in Quarter 3 of FY24/25 with a plan for prioritizing actions for implementation within current and future resource availability to advance the goals and strategies of the County of San Diego Housing Blueprint.
EQUITY IMPACT STATEMENT
According to the San Diego Association of Governments’ Housing Acceleration Program, upwards of 40% of the region’s population is housing cost-burdened, defined as spending more than 30% of their income on housing. Rising rents impose financial burdens, limit opportunities for saving, and force individuals and families to make difficult budget tradeoffs. Most homeowners start as renters who then save their way into buying a house, but when rents are high, opportunities to save are low. Furthermore, rising home prices and interest rates have made owning a home infeasible for many. The cumulation of these current events have further disadvantaged vulnerable communities, creating further distress to their quality of life and ability to thrive.
Affordable housing programs contribute to the County’s efforts in addressing local housing shortages and increasing access to quality affordable housing. Additionally, affordable housing development contributes to the creation of private sector jobs and economic opportunities in the San Diego region. Units created provide housing for low-income families, seniors, veterans, developmentally disabled individuals, people experiencing homelessness, and other vulnerable populations throughout the affordability period. With rent and home prices increasingly becoming out-of-reach for many in the region, affordable housing is a key component to assist in preventing individuals from becoming homeless while simultaneously helping persons experiencing homelessness become housed. The Housing Blueprint includes a set of Strategies that are intended to form a set of policy priorities for the County with each strategy composed of numerous actions that could be implemented to address the critical shortage of affordable housing, particularly for extremely low- to moderate-income households in disadvantaged communities. The Housing Blueprint will significantly contribute to the County's goals of fostering equitable growth, ensuring just and equitable access to resources, and enhancing the quality of life for all residents.
SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT STATEMENT
The proposed action to receive the Housing Blueprint aims to strategically enhance housing affordability and availability across the San Diego region, aligning with many of the County's sustainability goals. This initiative will focus on expanding housing access, promoting social equity, and improving overall community health and wellbeing. One of the Housing Blueprint’s goals is to promote equity, inclusion, and sustainability. Housing solutions should promote climate-resilient communities, the preservation of open space, and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This initiative will have a profound impact on communities historically burdened by high housing costs and limited housing options. The Housing Blueprint aims to stabilize these communities by providing affordable, safe, and sustainable housing solutions, thereby reducing economic disparities and enhancing social cohesion. Extensive community engagement, including surveys and consultations with stakeholders, was a key component of the Housing Blueprint. This approach ensures that the initiative reflects the needs and priorities of the community, fostering a sense of belonging and shared responsibility for sustainable development.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with these recommendations. There will be no change in net General Fund costs and no additional staff years. There may be fiscal impacts associated with future related recommendations which staff would return to the Board for consideration and approval.
BUSINESS IMPACT STATEMENT
N/A
Details
ADVISORY BOARD STATEMENT
N/A
BACKGROUND
It has been well-established that California and the San Diego region (region) are experiencing a severe housing shortage. The lack of housing supply continues to drive up costs, causing affordable housing to be out of reach for many residents, including those experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. Housing production rates in the region have not kept pace with population growth and demand at nearly all income levels. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors (Board) has been resolute in its efforts to curb the ongoing housing affordability crisis by proactively enacted new policies that address barriers to accessing housing and produce housing. On December 13, 2022 (30), the Let’s Talk Housing Workshop was held to discuss the current steps the County of San Diego (County) was taking to define the County’s future housing goals, and to adopt a coordinated and focused strategy that balances priorities with existing and future resources. At the conclusion of the workshop, the Board adopted a Draft Housing Blueprint as the guiding document for the County’s ongoing response to the housing affordability crisis. Additionally, the Board directed the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to conduct community and stakeholder engagement related to revising the Draft Housing Blueprint and authorized a solicitation for a consultant to analyze, formulate, and provide recommendations on the Blueprint. Per the Board’s direction, the Housing Blueprint was to be structured around five essential policy goals, known as the 5 Ps, focused at addressing the root causes of the housing crisis. The 5 Ps are:
1. Promote Equity, Inclusion, and Sustainability: Implement housing solutions that address the historic patterns of exclusionary housing practices, segregation, and other inequities and ensure that safe, healthy, accessible, and inclusive housing opportunities are available to everyone. Housing solutions should promote climate-resilient communities, the preservation of open space, and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
2. Produce Housing for All: Support and implement policies to increase production of all kinds of housing. Housing development should be located in urbanized areas with access to transit, jobs, and amenities that enhance the quality of life for residents.
3. Preserve Vulnerable Housing: Support proactive strategies to preserve restricted and unrestricted naturally occurring affordable housing by tracking expiration dates of affordable housing deed restrictions, keeping tenants informed of their rights, and investing in rehabilitation of housing to preserve affordability.
4. Protect Tenants: Support renters by providing information on tenant rights and creating protections to minimize economic eviction or unsustainable rent increases.
5. Prevent Displacement: Implement policies that prevent vulnerable communities and residents from the harmful outcomes of displacement resulting from neighborhood revitalization or gentrification pressures. Strategies include studying existing and potential displacement pressures and monitoring the effectiveness of housing retention strategies in relation to planned infrastructure investments.
Since the Let’s Talk Housing Workshop, LeSar Development Consultants (LDC) was selected as the consultant to lead the enhancement of the Draft Housing Blueprint. LDC has been working closely with County staff, stakeholders, and the community to gather feedback, conduct research, and refine recommendations for the final Housing Blueprint.
Community Engagement
Community engagement for the Housing Blueprint was conducted in two phases. Phase I, conducted from February 2023 to May 2023 was led by the County intended to raise awareness of the County's housing affordability crisis and gather feedback on draft goals and objectives of the Housing Blueprint. The County utilized a multi-pronged approach to engage on this topic. Activities to support community engagement included:
• establishing a project page on the Engage San Diego County site, the County’s online engagement platform,
• conducting community surveys,
• presenting at stakeholder meetings,
• providing County departments with a communications toolkit,
• releasing County News Center articles, and
• hosting a virtual community meeting to gather stakeholder feedback.
There were 381 respondents to the community surveys, reflecting over 2,600 comments. An additional 167 pieces of feedback were received from the other engagement activities. Feedback was summarized and published on the Engage San Diego County site.
Building off the activities led by County staff, LDC conducted Phase II of community engagement from August 2023 to May 2024. This phase focused on gathering insight into the housing landscape, identifying barriers to development and access to housing, and formulating actionable recommendations. Nearly 350 individuals participated in the numerous activities that included 17 focus groups, 6 stakeholder meetings, 2 webinars, 2 community sessions, a survey and the Engage San Diego County site. For engagement activities that focused on specific stakeholder groups, LDC developed a robust stakeholder list that included representatives from groups directly involved in the housing sector, such as those focused on production, preservation, prevention, and protection, as well as groups affected by housing issues. The list included representatives from various industries, geographic regions, demographic populations, and interests across San Diego County. In prioritizing equitable community engagement, special attention was given to including vulnerable communities and individuals experiencing housing insecurity. For activities such as the survey and community forums, LDC and the County ensured broad promotion through the utilization of existing distribution lists from Phase 1, the Live Well San Diego sectors, the Regional Community Leadership Teams, newsletter promotion through Board Offices to their constituency and other County distribution lists, County News Center articles, and social media posts. All the feedback gathered was vital in informing and refining LDC’s recommended Housing Blueprint. Additional details on community engagement activities are included in Attachment C.
Housing Blueprint Assessment Activities
LDC’s approach to the Housing Blueprint combined extensive stakeholder engagement with their professional assessment of the County’s current strategies, barriers, and opportunities and best practices, resulting in recommendations for a comprehensive approach to tackling the region’s housing needs. This process was iterative, and included an assessment of County infrastructure and responsibilities, a look at the local housing landscape, and a dive into barriers and opportunities. Each stage of research built off the previous and resulted in the development of recommended strategies the County can consider. Details on the process for developing the Housing Blueprint can be found in Attachment A.
Housing Blueprint
Goals:
As mentioned, the goals of the Housing Blueprint are referred to as the 5 Ps. These goals provide the framework to address the region’s housing crisis at its root: solving for decades of underproduction as well as practices of inequitable access, challenges of housing stability for various vulnerable populations, and more. By nature, each of the 5 Ps supports and relates to other Ps and thus no single goal area is prioritized ahead of another.
Strategies and Actions:
A set of eight strategies form the policy priorities for the Housing Blueprint. The strategies fit into two categories: Systems Changes and Programmatic/Policy Changes. The Systems Changes strategies are essential for the initial and ongoing implementation of all aspects of the Housing Blueprint and should be given priority. This is primarily due to the need to identify significant, ongoing funding for the Housing Blueprint implementation, highlighted in Strategy 2 below. The Programmatic/Policy Changes strategies are specific to implementing overarching policies and programs to achieve the 5 Ps and will be most successful after the first three strategies are implemented. The eight Housing Blueprint strategies are:
Systems Changes
1. Refine the County’s Organizational Approach to Housing: The County should more strongly align its efforts internally across the enterprise to address the housing crisis. Additionally, the County can support housing needs across localities by collaborating with other agencies.
2. Create New Funding Sources for Housing: The County should work with regional partners to create permanent revenue sources to help build new affordable housing, provide rental assistance, and help maintain existing affordable homes.
3. Improve Engagement, Transparency, and Access: As the County works to address the housing crisis, the County should engage with the general public on housing planning and policy, track Blueprint progress, and help improve public access to existing data and resources
Programmatic/Policy Changes
4. Focus and Streamline Administration of Housing Funding to Maximize Impact: As the region accesses new affordable housing funding sources, the County should prioritize existing and new funds to create new supportive housing and affordable homes for the region’s most vulnerable households, in full alignment with the County’s Homelessness Solutions and Prevention Action Plan.
5. Unlock Land for Sustainable and Resilient Development Opportunities: To further sustainable and resilient development strategies, the County should use its land to support holistic housing affordability. This includes strategies to create more homes in areas near transit, jobs, parks and other resources. This also includes providing resources for affordable housing development on land owned by the County and other public and private entities helping to solve the housing crisis.
6. Provide Solutions for Missing Middle-Income Housing Production and Programs: The County should create more opportunities for middle income households to access affordable housing by incentivizing the creation of more middle income homes and providing resources for more households to become first-time homebuyers.
7. Implement Affordable Housing Preservation Strategies: The County should build upon its work in preventing the region’s limited stock of both restricted and unrestricted affordable housing from diminishing by closely tracking loss of affordability and providing targeted resources where most impactful.
8. Strengthen and Enforce Tenant Protections and Homeless Prevention Efforts: By protecting renter households and providing additional financial, legal and other resources, the County can prevent households from falling into homelessness and stabilize neighborhoods experiencing displacement pressures. This includes actions to build on recent State expansions of tenant’s rights.
Aligned with each strategy are numerous recommended actions that are intended for the County to prioritize and scale according to available funding, staffing, and other resources. The actions are meant to provide both regional solutions and ones focused on the County’s responsibilities for the Housing Authority jurisdiction and land use in the unincorporated area. However, the scope on many of the actions can be adapted for either focus. The Housing Blueprint recognizes that there are many initiatives and programs the County already administers in support of the 5 Ps. These actions are primarily focused on new, innovative or best practices activities, some of which may be enhancements to current efforts. Based on LDC’s assessment, timelines of immediate term (1-2 years) and medium term (3-5 years), which would start when resources are identified, are suggested for the actions. Recommendations that were not thoroughly assessed by LDC are listed as actions that can be considered for further study but should not be prioritized over other items in the Blueprint. Actions are designated with LDC’s estimated order of magnitude of staff and funding resources required. Further research by County staff will be needed to refine these estimates within the current operational context of the County. Details on the strategies and actions can be found in Attachment A and B.
Next Steps
The Housing Blueprint compiled by LDC represents a comprehensive set of recommended strategies and actions that are both ambitious and adaptable to help the County prioritize its efforts to address the housing affordability crisis. It will be critical for the County to focus efforts around identifying significant and sustainable funding in order move forward the goals of the Housing Blueprint. Many of the actions require strong partnerships with communities, stakeholders, and governments to create a collective impact in the region through shared resources and efforts.
While actual cost of implementing the actions laid out in the Housing Blueprint requires additional County analysis, the LDC identifies 5-year affordable housing unit production goals and projects the funding needed to meet those goals.
• Reaching Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Goals: The RHNA process, mandated by state law, quantifies the need for housing across a region and in its individual localities across all income levels. When accounting for the numbers of units permitted through 2023 as well as additional affordable units planned for the unincorporated area and funded by the County, there is a remaining need for approximately 1,600 affordable homes (for households earning at or below 80% AMI) in the unincorporated area. This is estimated to require approximately $151 million in County funding.
• Continuing the Practice of Funding Affordable Housing Regionally: The County has historically funded the development of thousands of affordable homes throughout the region. Based on the recent average amount of affordable housing units the County has been able to fund within incorporated cities through the Innovative Housing Trust Fund and other sources, continuing this trend would require the County to provide an estimated $182 million in funding for approximately 2,000 affordable homes within the region’s incorporated cities.
• Reducing Homelessness: The County’s Homelessness Prevention and Solutions Action Plan sets a target of increasing the amount of PSH by 20%. Based on the past trend of how much PSH the County has funded, this would mean supporting the development of approximately 500 units additional of PSH region-wide. LDC estimates this will require approximately $50 million in County funding, not counting the cost of operating subsidy
Therefore, LDC recommends the County should plan to invest approximately $383 million over five-years for affordable housing development. It is estimated that this would generate 4,100 new affordable homes. Currently, there are over 3,000 County-funded units that are at various stages of planning and development. The County could account for these units to further refine the LDC funding target.
While further work is needed by County staff to assess the recommendations in the Blueprint in order to develop a robust workplan and to identify resources, there are already many County initiatives underway that move forward the Housing Blueprint's goals and strategies. The table below highlights some of the significant efforts that are currently underway.
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Current County Activities Aligned with the Housing Blueprint |
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Housing Blueprint Strategy |
Current County Activities |
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Strategy 1: Refine the County’s Organizational Approach to Housing: |
The Removing Barriers effort created a new Affordable Housing Liaison to serve as the point of contact for potential applicants when they have questions about Affordable Housing projects regarding zoning and land use constraints, as well as help applicants navigate the process from start to finish, coordinating with various County departments, such as Housing and Community Development Services, Fire Authority, and Environmental Health and Quality (May 24, 2023 (12)). |
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Strategy 2: Create New Funding Sources for Housing: |
The County actively pursues new State and federal funding sources as they become available, including successful applications for Homekey, Prohousing Incentive Pilot program, and additional VASH vouchers. One-time funding sources like ARPA have been leveraged to fund housing production and other housing activities, including a recent $10 million dollar infusion into the Innovative Housing Trust Fund. The Draft Inclusionary Housing Ordinance will be considered by the Board for adoption this Summer. If the Draft Ordinance is approved with an alternative compliance option that allows payment of an in-lieu fee, then the in-lieu fee revenue will be an additional funding source for HCDS to make loans to affordable housing developers for the development of affordable housing. |
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Strategy 3: Improve Engagement, Transparency, and Access: |
The County collaborated with San Diego Regional Policy and Innovation Center on an interactive map to identify government owned parcels that may be candidates for affordable housing projects https://www.sdrpic.org/land-locator-map. County maintains a GIS story map regarding affordable housing developments on County-owned land. In addition, the County recently launched a map of existing County-funded affordable housing regionwide and is preparing to publish a public-facing dashboard with progress towards the Homelessness Solutions and Prevention Action Plan. |
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Strategy 4: Focus and Streamline Administration of Housing Funding (Subsidy) to Maximize Impact: |
The County has identified potential opportunities for PSH funding under Proposition 1 within the existing portfolio of County-owned surplus property (July 16, 2024 (22)). The State NOFA is anticipated to be released later in 2024. Through focused investments and partnerships, the County is on track to double the existing stock of PSH funded by the County in the coming years. Additionally, the recently adopted FY24-25 Housing Authority of San Diego Annual Agency Plan aims to further expand the use of Project Based Vouchers, which can be used for PSH (March 13, 2024 (HA1)). |
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Strategy 5: Unlock Land for Sustainable and Resilient Development Opportunities: |
The County is participating in Partnership to House San Diego, a regional effort which includes faith-based and educational institutions working together to foster housing development in the region. As one partnership example, the County has provided funding for the upcoming Imperial Beach Neighborhood Center Apartments which will be built on a property owned by a faith-based organization. The Development Feasibility Analysis (DFA) is currently underway in four initial unincorporated communities to assess their capacity to meet the region's housing needs and to identify barriers and strategies for supporting housing development. The findings and recommendations from this effort may inform the expansion of the analysis to other areas and also provide insights into the infrastructure improvements (water, sewer, mobility) and land use strategies that are needed to support development. Since 2017, the County has made significant progress related to the development of affordable housing on County-owned excess land. Eleven properties are in various stages of development on County land that will produce over 2,100 affordable homes for low-income families and older adults. |
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Strategy 6: Provide Solutions for Missing Middle-Income Housing Production and Programs: |
The Removing Barriers effort includes an action to establish guaranteed review timelines for middle-income households. The Programmatic Environmental Impact Report will also provide streamlining opportunities for housing located within VMT-efficient and infill areas (May 24, 2023 (12)), Housing Element Implementation Actions include exploring the feasibility of developing a Small Lot Subdivision Program and creating an ordinance to allow for the separate sale of Accessory Dwelling Units from the primary residence. Program options for these initiatives will be presented to the Board for consideration in Fall 2024. The County recently increased funding for the recently created Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) Middle-Income First-Time Home Buyer Program (June 25, 2024 (4)). |
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Strategy 7: Implement Affordable Housing Preservation Strategies: |
In 2023 the County finalized a “Preserving Affordable Housing in San Diego County” report and launched a Housing Preservation and Anti-Displacement Pilot Program that helped a local non-profit acquire, renovate and restrict the affordability of an existing 151-unit development in Chula Vista. |
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Strategy 8: Strengthen and Enforce Tenant Protections and Homeless Prevention Efforts: |
The County currently contracts with Legal Aid Society of San Diego to provide tenant legal services to approximately 1,800 people a year. This program was expanded during utilizing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to address the increase in need as a result of the pandemic. ARPA funds were also used to establish the Coordinated Eviction Prevention Program to helps stabilize households who are on the verge of receiving eviction notices. The Pilot Shallow Rental Subsidy Program was launched to help stabilize older adult households who are rent-burdened and at risk of homelessness. |
Today’s action requests the Board receive the County of San Diego Housing Blueprint report and to direct the Chief Administrative Officer to report back in Quarter 3 of FY24/25 with a plan for prioritizing actions for implementation within current and future resource availability to advance the goals and strategies of the County of San Diego Housing Blueprint.
LINKAGE TO THE COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO STRATEGIC PLAN
Today’s proposed actions support the Sustainability, Equity, Empower, Community, and Justice Strategic Initiatives in the County of San Diego’s 2024-2029 Strategic Plan by examining and using policies to provide housing opportunities that meet the needs of the community while fostering new ideas and proven best practices to achieve results.
Respectfully submitted,
EBONY N. SHELTON
Chief Administrative Officer
ATTACHMENT(S)
Attachment A - County of San Diego Housing Blueprint Report
Attachment B - County of San Diego Housing Blueprint Strategies and Actions
Attachment C - Housing Blueprint Community Engagement Report