San Diego is in a housing shortage — and it affects everyone. Teachers spend half their income on rent. Families choose between groceries and housing. Employers struggle to keep workers who can’t afford to live nearby. Despite some progress, housing remains scarce and expensive. San Diego has launched effective programs, but outdated rules and high costs still block real solutions.
The good news is that we know what works. Programs like Complete Communities allow more homes near transit, helping people live closer to jobs and services. In 2023, this initiative added over 1,100 homes in walkable areas near bus lines and shops.
Another proven success is the city’s density bonus program. It lets builders construct more homes if they include affordable homes. Last year, the program led to the permitting of over 3,500 homes — more than 2,100 of them below market rate. These mixed-income buildings don’t even rely on public funding, because the flexibility makes the math work for developers. And to 100% affordable housing construction, the city cut review times to 30 days, helping home builders line up financing and start projects faster.
San Diego has also embraced accessory dwelling units, or ADUs — small backyard homes that often rent for less than new apartments. Nearly 6,000 have been permitted since 2021.
These programs show what’s possible when local policies align with the need for housing. But three big barriers continue to hold San Diego back.
The first is outdated laws that restrict what types of homes can be built and where. Large parts of the city require every house to sit on at least 5,000 square feet of land. That blocks the kinds of starter homes and townhouses that once served working families. Reforming this rule could lower prices by up to 40 percent.
Other restrictions make things worse. A 30-foot height limit along the coast prevents apartments in wealthy neighborhoods — even in areas with jobs and transit. And the city has declined to adopt a state law that would have allowed small apartment buildings in our most exclusive communities. These choices keep new housing out of affluent areas and drive up prices everywhere else. When exclusive neighborhoods stay zoned for large, expensive homes, families get locked out of good schools, safe parks and short commutes.
The second barrier is the high cost of building. San Diego charges over $30,000 in fees per new home — compared to less than $1,000 in some high-growth cities in Texas. For a 100-unit apartment, that’s $3 million before construction even begins. These fees pay for infrastructure, but asking new residents to cover the full cost drives prices even higher.
Some building codes also raise costs unnecessarily. For example, San Diego requires two staircases in buildings with just a few floors. That inefficiently consumes valuable space that could go to more or larger family-sized apartments with three-plus bedrooms. Seattle updated this rule decades ago using modern fire safety standards and now builds more affordable, family-sized homes. Los Angeles is also considering changing these rules. San Diego should follow suit.
The third barrier is a lack of funding for affordable housing. In 2020, voters narrowly rejected Measure A, which would have created a local source of funding. Without it, San Diego misses out on matching dollars from state and federal programs — money that other cities use to build housing for seniors, veterans and essential workers. This funding gap leaves thousands of people stuck on wait lists with no affordable options in the short-term. Many face impossible choices between paying rent or covering food, medicine or child care.
To make matters worse, labor costs, tariffs and rising interest rates are pushing many projects off the table. Plans that were financially possible last year may no longer pencil out today. The longer we wait, the harder it gets to catch up.
San Diego lost 12,000 residents in 2024 — even as the job market remained strong. Many left because they simply couldn’t find a place to live. Even longtime homeowners feel the impact when their grown children leave to find housing elsewhere. A successful city doesn’t push people out. It makes room for them at every stage of life. San Diego knows how to build housing. Now we need the will to do it — at the scale this moment demands.
Rodriguez is the president of the YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County. He lives in East Village. Asad is the communications chair for the YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County. He lives in Mission Hills.
