Planning Department
Tuesday, March 6, 2018 - NEWS RELEASE
San Diego – To address the statewide housing crisis at the local level, the City Council today adopted two additional strategies as part of Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer’s “Housing SD” plan to help increase housing supply, lower development costs and promote smart growth.
The first strategy expands the City’s award-winning Affordable Housing Density Program and the second makes several code changes to streamline the development process, remove unnecessary barriers to development and increase production.
“The dream of homeownership has gotten out of reach for too many hardworking San Diegans,” said Mayor Faulconer. “That’s why we’re working hard to lower costs and encourage more building. The changes we’re making today are going to speed the development process, cut burdensome regulations and make it easier for developers to build units people can actually afford.”
The City Council unanimously approved updates to the Affordable Housing Density Bonus Program to incentivize developers to increase the production of smaller and more affordable units. San Diego’s program, which goes beyond state mandates, allows a developer to increase affordable units above the maximum density as long as the size of the building footprint does not increase.
Several changes to the density bonus program include:
The City Council also approved Mayor Faulconer’s 46 recommended updates to the Land Development Code, also known as the 11th Code Update, including:
The proposals adopted today join several key actions taken the City over the past year to spur construction of low-income and middle-class housing, speed up the development review process, direct funding toward affordable housing and encourage growth in transit-priority areas.
Since June 2017, the City has adopted strategies including:
The ordinances will become effective spring 2018 for areas outside of the coastal zone and summer 2018 for the coastal zone.
CONTACT: Christina Chadwick (619) 865-3622 or chadwickc@sandiego.gov