Sometimes finding a place to live in San Diego can be difficult. Just ask Sylvia Herrera.
“I’m trying to find places for myself to move here. But, guess what, I don’t know, it doesn’t seem possible at this time. At least not with the way the salary and the jobs that are here compared to the pricing for housing,” said Herrera.
But it’s no longer a pipe dream to find that housing — particularly middle-income housing.
“So it’s really for working families, working professionals who aren’t really looking for a place to live because it’s too expensive and they can’t afford it or they don’t qualify for low-income programs,” said District 80 Assemblymember David Alvarez.
Alvarez said his bill, AB 1287 which was recently signed by Governor Newsom, will allow developers to build more units in a project as long as the units include housing for middle income families in addition to in low-income families.
Here’s how Alvarez says it works if you own a piece of land where you plan to build a project with 100 units:
“If you agree to low-income housing and 15 of the units are low-income. Then you can build 50 more units on that site. So, it goes from a 100-unit site to 150 units on that particular site. Our fee increases that. If you build those low-income units and you also agree to build 15 percent, so another 15 units that are for middle-income families and keep it within in 55 years, you will get an additional 50 units.”
Alvarez said that this law is important to focus on middle-income families so that they can rent in San Diego and hopefully buy here as well.
“This is just the beginning of many other important changes that we need to make in California to really focus on building homes for the middle class,” Alvarez said.
Herrera said he hopes this new law will help him and others stay in San Diego.
“I don’t know any of my friends, at least born and raised here, moved on their own. They’re still living with family because of the price and all that stuff,” Herrera said.
This new law will take effect at the beginning of 2024.
