San Diego’s Measure A: Time For Action on Affordable Housing
The folks behind San Diego’s Measure A have tried for years to find a sustainable way to build housing in an era where the cost of being a human all-too-often exceeds the potential for profit.
There isn’t enough housing unless you’re wealthy. While downtown towers sit dark at night because they’re more about parking (or laundering) money than shelter, the shortfall in affordable housing grew by 3.35% in 2019.
A number of factors have contributed to the present crisis:
destruction of single occupancy hotels as part of downtown development.
wages on the lower end of the scale have, until recently, been stagnant, even as housing costs rise. Increases mandated for minimum wage by law aren’t enough to close the gap.
housing units are no longer on the market, thanks to Air BnB-type operations.
apartment buildings are increasingly being owned by hedge funds, which demand more return than appreciation of property values can provide.
available land at the edges of developed areas is becoming scarce
property owners in single family neighborhoods are hostile to new construction because their wealth is increasingly limited to appreciation in property values.
racism
The school of thought that holds housing construction costs are driven by government regulations conveniently overlooks the realities of financing; the return on building affordable housing sans fees and taxes simply isn’t high enough without subsidies.
A solution to this shortfall in available funding is for the City to issue bonds, with returns being paid by revenues created by a gradual increase in property taxes.
From the Union-Tribune:
The proposal would raise taxes on San Diego property owners to pay for roughly 7,500 subsidized apartments, 2,800 units for the formerly homeless and 4,700 units for veterans, senior citizens, the disabled and low-income families.
In addition to the local money it would raise, the measure would help San Diego secure a greater share of state and federal money devoted to homelessness and affordable housing, because it would make the city eligible for matching funds.
The bond measure would cost property owners
$19(actually $21) per year for every $100,000 of assessed value. The average homeowner with a $600,000 property would pay $115 more per year.But property owners would pay significantly less in the early years of the bond because fewer bonds will have been sold, creating less debt to be paid off.
There is opposition to this measure, namely the County GOP and assorted fear mongers like Carl DeMaio, based on absolute aversion to taxes, the assertion that the costs of proposed housing are too high, and a philosophical viewpoint holding individuals responsible for their predicament.
This dovetails nicely with the soft-spoken dream of building internment camps for the homeless, moral barriers for public/private assistance, and the fantasy of ill-funded facilities enabling a reduction in substance abuse. These nightmare scenarios are not considered proper for public consumption, and are usually wrapped up in rhetoric belying their true intentions.
So when Council member Barbara Bry says stuff like “treatment first”for the homeless and framing her support for putting Measure A on the ballot as all about consent for increased property taxes, you should know the political forces she’s appealing to.
In a perfect world, some form of government subsidized housing wouldn’t be a big deal. This is where our toxic history of mixing property policy with racism comes into play. Post-World War II “ghetto buildings” were a consequence of red lining; the resulting crime rates and concentration of overt poverty were then used as fodder for fear based propaganda. The “solution” was pitched as yet another argument for allowing the invisible hand of the market to dictate public policy.
There are models of cooperatively run public housing throughout Europe available to inform public policy on low income housing going forward. What we are currently stuck with is a legacy of despair based on the assumptions of the “natural” inadequacy of government intervention and the inherent inferiority of those who would be served by public housing.
Voting for Measure A is a moral choice. Like all things worth doing, the road to fixing our housing crisis won’t be quick or easy. But at least we’ll be making steps in the right direction.
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Measure A - General Obligation Bonds for Affordable Housing
(City of San Diego ballots)
Measure Ballot Summary: To provide permanent and supportive housing for extremely low- to low-income individuals and families, including supportive mental health and substance abuse services, for populations including veterans, seniors, the disabled, youth and the homeless, shall the City of San Diego issue up to $900 million in general obligation bonds financed by property tax assessments estimated between approximately $3 and $21 per each $100,000 of assessed valuation for fiscal years 2022 through 2068?
Placed on the ballot by a vote of the City Council after years of organizing by San Diego Housing Federation, in collaboration with other stakeholders.
Voting Threshold required: 66.67%
Supporters: Homes for San Diegans, Sponsored by a Coalition of Civic Nonprofits and Housing Providers
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Endorsements
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Committees Dedicated to Supporting Measure A
Yes on A - $197,000 (Estimated)
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Opponents: Carl Demaio/Reform California; County Republican Party
Website | Facebook | Twitter |
(Note: while Reform California has contributed money in opposition to Measure A, they haven’t included information on the web and social media.)
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Committees Dedicated to Opposing Measure A
Reform California - $13,189.06
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For more information on Measure A:
Downloadable Fact Sheet.
San Diego council places $900M housing bond on November ballot
Affordable Housing Advocates Launch Campaign for $900 Million Bond Measure
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Up Next: City of San Diego Ballot Measure B
Special thanks to The Ballot Book for financial donations research.
Voter Guide – You’ve Voted for President, what’s next?
I’ll be writing about many ballot measures and candidates between now and the end of September. That work will be condensed into a handy-dandy voter guide just in time for your mail-in ballots to arrive. I’m the guy who coordinated San Diego Free Press’s Voter Guides over the past decade, so this won’t be my first effort. Stay tuned.
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