By DAVE SCHWAB

The housing affordability crisis will continue in San Diego because of market factors and accessory dwelling units are one way to accommodate growth now and into the future.

That was the message delivered by local and state legislators at a Zoom webinar hosted by the San Diego Network of Town Councils on July 29.

The subject of the webinar was accessory dwelling units (ADUs), otherwise called granny flats, companion units, cottages, or casitas, which are defined as a second rentable unit that a homeowner can build on their lot.

Speakers included: Senate President Pro Tem Senator Toni Atkins, District 39; Councilmember Joe LaCava, District 1; Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, District 9; Jared Basler, AIA, representing the ADU and Casita coalitions; and Geoff Hueter, chair of Neighbors For A Better San Diego, a nonprofit group of neighbors and community activists opposing more lenient local ADU rules and regulations.

Noting she’s been involved in housing for 25 years, Atkins talked about a housing bill she recently introduced, SB 9. Known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency (HOME) Act, SB 9 streamlines the process for a homeowner to create a duplex or subdivide an existing lot. The legislation seeks to enable homeowners to create inter-generational wealth by providing access to more rental and ownership options for working families who would otherwise be priced out of neighborhoods.

SB 9 would allow no more than four units on what is currently a single-family parcel. It is intended for homeowners, not institutional investors, and builds on the successful approach of ADUs to expand options for homeowners.

“This bill is really about (housing) production,” said Atkins. “It is not a bill that seeks to take care of every issue related to affordable housing. It is part of a package of bills intended to help us get more housing production, which California has seen less and less of since 1989.”

Under SB 9, homeowners must comply with all local zoning requirements when developing a duplex or other accessory unit. It would also allow local government to impose an owner-occupancy requirement as a condition of their receiving a lot split.

“This really is a bill designed for homeowners, people who want to own a home but don’t have the ability to pay the mortgage,” Atkins said. “It’s about their ability to rent out an accessory unit to help pay the mortgage to build on the dream of homeownership.”

The state senator noted the legislature has made a significant investment, $12 billion in this year’s budget alone, to try and stimulate affordable housing development.

“We don’t have enough housing to meet the needs of San Diego residents throughout the City today to fuel our economy as local businesses expand,” cautioned LaCava adding, “The crushing demand is for housing in the middle-income range, and the reality is the capital market is not going to solve our housing challenge.”

LaCava said the City needs to change course on housing policy.

“We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing because we’ve not been able to provide housing at the price points that the average San Diegan, our children, and people coming out of our universities can afford,” he said. “Our continuing challenge is how to figure out a way to achieve a better housing affordability level for the average San Diegan.”

Added LaCava, “You can fight for good housing design and better public infrastructure while supporting mixed-income neighborhoods in a more thoughtful manner.”

Elo-Rivera noted people “have a right to housing” while acknowledging that housing “is a basic need.” He added, “The current reality is that, for many Californians and San Diegans, homeownership has simply become unaffordable. We need to make up for a lot of lost time with respect to this issue. Part of the answer is in increasing supply. But supply alone will not solve the problem. Housing prices are not now aligned with increases in income.”

Basler representing the pro-ADU coalitions pointed out the housing crisis is building. “It’s projected that, by 2050, San Diego is going to be 400,000 housing units short of what’s needed, especially at low- and moderate-income levels,” he said, while adding on a positive note, “The City has adopted a culture of trying to say yes to housing, especially adding housing through ADUs.”

Hueter of Neighbors For A Better San Diego warned current market forces are incentivizing developers to “build smaller units to max out returns on properties, not building two- or three-bedroom units to support family housing. In many cases, we’re going to be paving over our existing single-family neighborhoods resulting in in-fill sprawl and changing our quality of life by creating a more dense living environment.”

— Reach contributing editor Dave Schwab at [email protected].