(Courtesy MTS)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAdded Parent, \u201cThe reality is we\u2019re not going to solve our housing crisis with any one solution. That means taking every opportunity we have to allow new homes to be built, especially where they make the most sense, along transit routes and especially on parcels of property that aren\u2019t being used for anything \u2014 or aren\u2019t being used at full capacity, like the MTS properties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parent cited the Grantville Trolley Station as a prime example of an MTS parcel that could be put to better re-use.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe station is on about 10 acres of land, almost all of it dedicated to parking, and very few cars are ever parked in that lot,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s also not a lot of residential, or jobs, immediately adjacent to that stop. So we have a really big resource that we\u2019re not allowing many people to be able to use.\u201d<\/p>\n
The San Diego Housing Federation is a nonprofit advocate for affordable housing. The agency\u2019s executive director, Stephen Russell, said the housing crisis is so acute, especially at the low end, that any additions to the available housing stock are direly needed and welcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about the low-income sector, people making 60 percent of the area median income, such as below $79,000 for a family of four making $48,000,\u201d Russell said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about low-wage working families, seniors, veterans and, increasingly, people who are homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring to housing as \u201cthe great crisis of our time,\u201d Russell noted the MTS parcels \u201care perfectly located to help provide additional housing units.\u201d Russell said the challenge now is how best to \u201cactively pursue acquiring these properties that meet the proper criteria,\u201d while finding developers \u201cwilling to make it happen rather than simply being open to the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell pointed out the seriousness of San Diego\u2019s housing shortage is confirmed by the current numbers. He cited 5 percent as the threshold figure indicating the dividing line separating surplus from shortage in the housing market.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the vacancy rate for renters is higher, 7 or 8 percent, then landlords have to begin making concessions, months of rent free, big-screen TVs, etc.,\u201d he said. \u201cIf vacancies go below 5 percent, tenants have much less bargaining power, and rents go higher. It\u2019s been estimated we have a 2.5 percent to 2.8 percent vacancy rate right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enter Mario Turner, vice president of Orange-County based AMCAL Multi-Housing, Inc. which builds affordable housing throughout Southern California, including San Diego. AMCAL presently has an affordable housing project, Villa Encantada at 505 62nd St. and Imperial, under construction.<\/p>\n
Villa Encantada is the redevelopment of an underutilized parking lot next to a trolley station on 1.7 acres, which will include 67 low-income family apartments offering replacement parking for MTS while providing 1,000 square feet of retail space.<\/p>\n
Noting Villa Encantada is \u201cSan Diego\u2019s first affordable-housing, transit-oriented development,\u201d Turner added the project has been in the pipeline since 2011.<\/p>\n
Asked about Villa Encantada\u2019s significance in the affordable housing market, Turner replied, \u201cIt\u2019s the future.\u201d He adding finding suitable properties is problematic.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinding large enough parcels to develop in parking lots near trolley stations is not easy,\u201d Turner said. \u201cOnce you identify suitable properties, it takes years to get them through city planning department\u2019s permitting process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then of course, said Turner, there is the all-important issue of obtaining financing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBig-lender investors in affordable housing, they aren\u2019t always enough,\u201d said Turner noting financing for Villa Encantada involved acquiring a mixture of public-private financing including state grants and loans, tax credit equity and other sources. \u201cYou need multiple layers of financing to bring down the rents for folks that are in the lowest income levels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Turner believes MTS is ideally constituted to contribute to the effort to alleviate the affordable housing crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at their presence in the region, and their underutilized parking lots, you have one of the pieces of the puzzle needed to resolve our future low-income housing needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Circulate San Diego\u2019s housing report recommends MTS make the following policy reforms:<\/p>\n
Create a joint development program that issues requests for proposals for priority sites while actively soliciting development partners.<\/p>\n
Require any residential development to include a percentage of homes to be made permanently affordable for low-income families.<\/p>\n
Eliminate the costly requirement for new developments to replace or maintain parking where it is already underutilized.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the new leadership on the MTS board, we believe that the transit agency has a real opportunity to transform its empty parking lots into affordable homes,\u201d concluded Parent.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Dave Schwab is a San Diego-based freelance writer. Reach him at dschwabbie@journalist.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Por Dave Schwab<\/p>","protected":false},"author":840,"featured_media":230332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11558","_seopress_titles_title":"An idea for more housing","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11558,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mission-times-courier","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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