Regional Dashboard
Housing Affordability - Income Allocation Toward Housing
What is the measure?
The percent of residents in the San Diego
region who spend more than 30% of gross income on housing.
How are we doing?
A majority of renters and homeowners in San Diego County spend more than 30% of their income on rent or mortgage payments, higher than both the U.S. and California averages. As of 2011, the San Diego region had approximately 33,670 residences designated as affordable housing. SANDAG estimates San Diego will need 94,760 additional units of Very Low to Moderate Income housing units for the region in the next decade.
Why is it important?
- Cost
of housing impacts how much residents can spend on other basic needs. Spending
more than 30% of income on housing is believed by financial institutions and
creditors to put consumers at financial risk, and means residents have less
discretionary income to purchase other goods and services that support local
businesses. In this way, housing affordability affects the whole community, not
just the less fortunate.
- Housing
costs influence our region’s competitiveness against other metropolitan regions
in attracting or retaining businesses and a talented workforce.
- Housing
affordability affects transportation patterns. When housing in core areas is
not affordable, people move to less expensive areas, usually farther from jobs
and services. This increases traffic congestion and transportation costs and impacts
air quality.
- The State of California requires our region to plan for projected
population growth. This is in addition to many units that were required in the
previous decade and were not built.
How Can We Improve?
Policy Options:
- Reduce
red tape for developments that qualify as affordable, through fee waivers,
and/or flexible municipal code and development permit processes that allow for
parking, density, setback and height concessions for very low-income rental
housing.
- Consider
setting aside funding to purchase land near planned transit for
development of affordable housing or to preserve existing affordable housing
before transit projects drive up land and property values, as was successfully
done by the Transit-Oriented Development
Acquisition Fund in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Consider development of “shared equity” approaches such as a Regional Land Trust like the one in Silicon Valley that makes loans and grants to increase the supply of affordable housing, assist first-time homebuyers, prevent homelessness and stabilize neighborhoods.
- [See also: Land Use - Residential Development Indicator and policy options]