Old Globe panel sinks its teeth into San Diego affordable housing

By Vince Meehan | SDUN Reporter

A panel discussing the issue of affordable housing in San Diego was held at the Old Globe Theatre on Monday, Feb. 3. Speaking at the forum was Interim Mayor Todd Gloria, Executive Director of the San Diego Housing Federation Susan Riggs and Senior Vice President of Real Estate for the San Diego Housing Commission Debbie Ruane. Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein introduced the trio to a full house, and Ruane chose to speak first.

Ruane explained to the attentive audience how the cost of housing throughout America is increasing disproportionally to the work force’s pay.

“As time goes on, this gap widens even more to where housing becomes unaffordable,” Ruane said.

She spoke of low-income families who rely on vouchers from the housing commission to make ends meet. She also noted that while 14,000 families in San Diego are currently receiving these vouchers, 50,000 more are still in need and the waiting list is currently 10 years. An audible gasp was heard from the audience at that statistic, and this set a somewhat somber tone to the event. She then turned the microphone over to Gloria, who she referred to affectionately as the iMayor.

Gloria thanked Ruane, and spoke to the audience on the subject of the vouchers.

“These numbers really bring home the magnitude of the problem,” Gloria said. “A 10-year wait for assistance is definitely not a solution, and I’m sure a lot of people lose hope, which is unacceptable.”

The gravity of the subject had a silencing effect on the audience, which seemed to lower a pall over the proceedings. Riggs then took her turn on the mike, and spoke of a study by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), which indicated that San Diego is in dire risk of becoming socioeconomically divided in the near future. She noted that one-third of San Diego’s work force earns less than $14 an hour, which is inadequate given San Diego’s cost of living. She added that the high cost of rent leaves many families with no money left over for medication or healthy food, and that in turn leads to additional problems.

Riggs also stated that by factoring in normal family growth, without accounting for any additional immigration, San Diego would need 300,000 new homes by 2040 to house its residents. This figure sent the audience buzzing to voice their opinions.

Ruane then took this opportunity to announce that Gov. Jerry Brown had recently appointed Riggs deputy secretary of housing policy at the California Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency.

“San Diego’s loss is now California’s gain and I’m sure having Susan [Riggs] in Sacramento will be a huge plus for us all,” Ruane said.

The audience was given a chance to chime in on the discussion as a microphone was passed around the crowd. A participant asked the panel what they thought about raising the minimum wage as a way to offset the gap. As if on cue, both Ruane and Riggs simultaneously offered their microphones to Gloria, who cracked a smile. This led to a bit of levity from the audience, which seemed to relieve the panel.

“I didn’t plant that question, but I certainly thank you for asking it!” said Gloria.

He took that opportunity to address the minimum-wage issue, which he recently touched on at his State of the City address in January.

“In San Diego, it takes $30,000 a year to live in decent conditions,” Gloria said. “I feel very strongly that anybody who works full time should not live in poverty.”

He added that many Californian mayors have committed themselves to tackle this issue head on in 2014, and that he intends to help.

“We’re going to do this on our own because we don’t know if we can count on the federal government to support us.” Gloria said, adding that while there is no magical cure for a housing crisis, numerous, small projects can add up to create progress toward a solution.

Several people brought up the topic of homelessness in San Diego, and Gloria told the audience that as council president, he intends to re-address that issue once the special election is over. When asked if there are any cities that serve as good examples in tackling affordable housing, he brought up Phoenix, Ariz.

“Phoenix has just declared the end of homelessness for vets in their city,” Gloria said. “We can look to them for guidance, and see how we can make it work here in San Diego. There are many other communities who have come up with successful models that can help solve homelessness. It’s not a unicorn, it does exist!”

Gloria stated that it is his goal to eliminate homelessness for veterans in San Diego by 2016. After the last question of the night, Gloria closed by saying that it is his continuing vision to change San Diego for the better.

“We can’t call San Diego ‘Americas Finest City’ if we are a city of haves and have-nots,” Gloria said. “We can’t be the finest city when we have 8,000 to 10,000 homeless on the streets. We need to solve the housing issue as a legacy for our children and grandchildren.”

After the panel, Edelstein said that due to the success of the event, he is looking into having additional pubic forums in the future.