San Diego San Diego's housing crisis is largely driven by a shortage of housing units. According to the
Housing and Urban Development, total housing costs are affordable if they meet or are below 30% of annual income. According to the
American Community Survey of 2016, 54.8% of renters in
San Diego pay 30% or over of their income toward rent and housing costs every month. Even with an estimated 84,000 vacant housing units, a significant number of people choose to live outside of county lines, where housing costs are lower. About twenty percent of
San Diego workers live outside the county, notably in
Riverside County, where median home costs can be as much as $195,400 cheaper. However, where housing costs may be lower, these workers are now facing longer commutes. The combination of housing costs and transport costs means that as many as 45% of the population working in
San Diego face poverty. Homelessness is a huge challenge also stemming from this lack of affordable housing. San Diego's Regional Task Force on the Homeless counted 4,912 homeless individuals in the City of San Diego alone, with 8,576 homeless persons in the
San Diego region. Multiple propositions have been made to abate the problem. In 2018, California voted on Proposition 10, which would have lifted state regulations on
rent control and allowed local jurisdictions to set their own policies. Proposition 10 did not pass. More recently, in March 2019, the
San Diego City Council voted and approved a reform to parking standards on housing units near public transit with the goal of reducing housing costs associated with mandated parking spots and relieve traffic by encouraging residents to use
public transit.
Initiatives The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 programs help low income citizens find housing by paying the difference between the market price of a home and 30% of the renter's income. According to the San Diego Housing Commission,
Section 8 housing vouchers are the city's largest affordable housing program and were responsible for helping to fill 14,698 homes in the 2014–2015 fiscal year. The San Diego Housing Commission currently owns 2,221 affordable housing units and plans to expand that number in the future to meet the growing demand. In 2009, the San Diego Housing Commission implemented a finance plan that created 810 more units of affordable rental housing through leveraging the equity of its owned properties. The conversion of city-owned buildings into low-income affordable housing was made possible by an agreement made with the
Department of Housing and Urban Development in September 2007. The cost of rent and availability of these units for residents will remain consistent, as the city has put in place provisions to make them affordable for at least 55 years. Additionally, because of a concern that the people who need these housing units might be crowded out, the units are only available to residents with an income cap of 80% of the
San Diego median. In 2017, the new Atmosphere apartment building in downtown
San Diego drew attention when it announced that it would be offering 205 apartments to low-income residents. Residents pay their portion of rent through
Section 8 vouchers, and many of the apartments are available only to families who make 30% or less of the median income of the city. The new housing project aimed to provide a low-rent area for residents who work downtown but who are unable to live near their workplace because of the high costs. The idea behind the California Comeback Plan is to boost
California's housing supply by removing barriers to
multi-family units and
accessory dwelling units. Major cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco frequently cite increases to the homeless population as a result of reductions in
housing supply, while the limitations to affordable housing are also exacerbated by issues of
gentrification and
redlining, growing residential sprawl within residential communities, and the prevalence of the
housing bubble that keeps rent prices consistently high. While local governance bodies such as the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) have worked to introduce reforms to policies such as
single-family zoning in an effort to improve housing affordability, the growing homeless population within the
Bay Area also points to shortfalls in addressing the intersection of homelessness with issues of
mental illness, anti-homeless sentiments and
racial discrimination.
New York City New York City has a shortage of affordable housing resulting in overcrowding and homelessness. New York City attracts thousands of new residents each year and housing prices continue to climb. Finding affordable housing affects a large portion of the city's population including low-income, moderate-income, and even median income families. Since 1970, income has remained relatively stagnant while rent has nearly doubled for
New Yorkers. ==See also==