The Building Industry Association (BIA) touts the Complete Communities Now program as ramping up production of more affordable homes (“Mayor’s housing orders can be a winning game-changer for San Diego,” Guest Commentary, March 28, La Jolla Light).
But this deserves a closer look. Complete Communities is not a cure-all for San Diego’s housing problems.
As of July 1 this year, our city’s inclusionary housing code requires that new residential rental developments with 10 or more units reserve 10 percent of those units for very-low-income and low-income households. But Complete Communities has not — and will not — deliver on that promise.
Not counting taxpayer-subsidized projects, the current version of Complete Communities has produced just 6.2 percent of those truly affordable units. The two biggest projects in the pipeline provide 42 truly affordable units out of 1,577 — a measly 2.7 percent.
Also, a recent code change now allows these meager numbers of affordable units to be moved offsite from the main project, making these “incomplete communities,” to quote City Councilman Joe LaCava.
The Planning Department sold Complete Communities to the City Council as an “equitable … diverse … inclusive” building program that would contribute to San Diego’s equity efforts. But now the program simply reinforces existing inequalities. It moves affordable units elsewhere — often to lower-opportunity neighborhoods — and uses taxpayer funds to build them instead of requiring developers to foot the bill in exchange for the out-of-scale density bonuses they’re getting.
Worse yet, many Complete Communities projects demolish existing naturally occurring affordable housing on those properties. This can result in a net loss in the number of truly affordable units in the market.
Meanwhile, the city is waiving development impact fees on all Complete Communities units 500 square feet or less and most units with three or more bedrooms. Those fee waivers have deprived the city to the tune of more than $17 million so far — money desperately needed to maintain and improve our failing infrastructure. These are funds the city wants the residents to make up via increased taxes.
And regrettably, these new units are not for-sale housing, so there’s no additional opportunity for San Diegans to actually buy a home. Instead, San Diego continues to create a city of lifelong renters.
The BIA applauds Complete Communities for creating housing near transit, but the truth is these projects can be built up to one mile away from an existing or planned transit stop. That’s farther than most San Diegans will or can walk to a bus or trolley.
By allowing Complete Communities developments to be built randomly up to a full mile from transit, the city is diluting its own efforts to create the population concentrations necessary to a workable transit system. And it won’t create the critical mass of residents needed to economically our “City of Villages” vision.
Complete Communities is San Diego’s second and very regrettable example of “unplanning,” with the bonus ADU program being the first.
Planning at its best creates communities with zoning and density outlined on maps in a logical, orderly fashion. This gives residents and businesses a blueprint of the type of land use they can expect in their neighborhoods.
“Unplanning” happens when the city imposes illogical, destructive zoning on a carefully planned community, ignoring the existing height, density and lot coverage limits. These overlays are imposed without community review or notification (except in a few extreme height situations), so residents are unaware their neighborhood will be dramatically altered.
Of course, the BIA is delighted that Complete Communities Now will create more immediate jobs for the developers and contractors whose interests it represents. Meanwhile, our city budget and infrastructure fund will bleed money, low-income San Diegans will have fewer affordable housing options than they would if these projects were built under San Diego’s inclusionary housing law, and existing affordable housing will be demolished without being fully replaced.
Complete Communities is a bad deal for San Diegans. Whether it takes 30 days or a year to get a permit, these developments will provide little truly affordable housing, minimal development impact fees and no for-sale housing. At the same time, Complete Communities makes a mockery of San Diego’s Community, Climate Action and Mobility Master plans by allowing out-of-scale high-density towers to be randomly dropped into neighborhoods that lack effective and reliable public transit or the infrastructure to them.
Danna Givot is co-chair of Neighbors for a Better San Diego, an organization with a stated mission of “protecting single-family neighborhoods from overdevelopment.” ◆
