LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
San Diego County Supervisors Pass Corporate Landlord/Homebuyer Proposal; Ignore Industry
In a 3-1 vote, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors passed the proposed ordinance to Fight Back Against Corporate Homebuyers and Wallstreet Landlords. Terra Lawson-Remer brought the item forward and made a motion to support. Monica Montgomery-Steppe seconded the motion. Joel Anderson was a staunch "NO" noting that this will do nothing to create homes. Chair Nora Vargas was absent from the meeting. SCRHA was hopeful that Supervisor Desmond would vote against the proposal which would have meant it would have failed passage. The Supervisors are going on recess so the second reading for the item is likely a month out.
SCRHA will reach out to County staff and work to be a stakeholder in an effort to ensure that owners and managers of rental properties have a voice in this process and aren't regulated unfairly. It is unfortunate that some Supervisors ignored the warnings from landlords and industry representatives and instead focused on the one corporate landlord that tenants' rights group are targeting. Thank you to all the members who attended the meeting, submitted eComment, and called in. Far more eComments were received in opposition than in support! Read more.
Supervisor Joel Anderson Defends County General Plan & Housing Production
San Diego County adopted a General Plan in 2011 that outlined the growth pattern for unincorporated areas of San Diego. Then came state legislation (Senate Bill 743) which included provisions for cities and counties to measure vehicle miles traveled (VMT) when considering a development project. The County implemented the most stringent guidelines for VMT implementation and said this new VMT mitigation would cost home builders $60,000 to $2,000,000 per unit, cutting off all housing development in the unincorporated areas of the county in the middle of a housing crisis. To get around the mandates home builders would have to build less than 11 units, or 100 percent affordable housing. Working with the Building Industry of San Diego, Supervisor Anderson pushed back against the County’s interpretation of the VMT and pushed county counsel to review case law and report back on the General Plan’s status as the leading document for land use. The County recently reversed course. If a project is consistent with the General Plan, it does not have to mitigate for VMT, the county says. Read more.
NAA Responds to Biden’s Call for Rent Control
NAA Issued the following response on July 16. “Today's announcement to cap rent increases at 5% or lose an important federal tax deduction is another attempt at failed rent control policy that will harm communities and renters across the U.S. Federal rent control will only drive rental homes out of the market, decreasing housing options while increasing costs and placing upward pressure on inflation. It’s time to stop issuing policies that harm the people who are trying to house Americans.” Learn more.
ICYMI:
