Group marches to save affordable-housing complex in Rancho Penasquitos
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — A group was marching Wednesday against developers who want to tear down an affordable housing complex in Rancho Penasquitos so that they can build unaffordable, luxury units, which would displace hundreds of residents.
The San Diego Organizing Project, a community faith group, will begin the march at 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on Stoney Creek Road and end their march at the Penasquitos Village, a housing development currently seeking city approval for a redevelopment permit.
The group says if the permit is approved, hundreds of residents would be displaced because Penasquitos Village is the neighborhood’s last affordable housing unit. The 332-unit complex is home to many seniors and low-income San Diegans.
After the march, a pastor will read scripture about the moral necessity of affordable housing for families while residents share their stories of why they make Rancho Penasquitos their home.
Related Link: Rancho Penasquitos development has Section 8 residents fearful for their future
The march highlights part of San Diego’s ongoing affordable housing crisis. Last week, Mayor Kevin Faulconer unveiled “Housing SD,” a plan to spur the construction of low-income and middle-class housing through incentives and revised development standards.
"The housing affordability crisis is the top issue facing our city that is literally forcing the next generation of San Diegans to move outside the region," Councilman Scott Sherman, who chairs a committee that deals with land-use issues, said.
The developer for Penasquitos Village has not indicated if it will set aside any below market rental units.
The San Diego Organizing Project will next urge the Rancho Penasquitos planning board to deny the developers a permit at their July 5 meeting.
