City Council seeks ways to create future affordable housing projects

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – The City Council’s Smart Growth and Land Use Committee Thursday requested staff to find ways to increase revenues that would pay for future affordable housing projects in San Diego.

Part of a deal brokered between the business community and the San Diego Housing Commission, which runs affordable housing programs for the city, was for officials to look for other funding streams. The two sides had been at odds over hiking a fee on commercial development to pay for such projects.

Officials in San Diego and other cities in California have been looking for ways to pay for affordable housing since the state abolished redevelopment. According to the Housing Commission, around 47,000 names are on an affordable housing waiting list in San Diego.

The committee’s request to the city’s Independent Budget Analyst came during a truncated discussion over a recently released IBA report on how to pay for San Diego’s $2 billion of infrastructure needs.

The IBA’s suggestions for revenue increases focused more on infrastructure and not so much on affordable housing, so it was redirected to the Infrastructure Committee, which has a special meeting set for Dec. 11.

The report says the city needs to consider raising taxes, instituting new levies, changing the type of bond that is taken out dumping an ordinance that requires free curbside garbage collection.

IBA Andrea Tevlin said her office could begin working on a revenue study tailored more to affordable housing early next year.