Affordable Home Development Master Plan
Projected Completion: 2027
Partially Grant Funded: (SANDAG) Regional Early Action Planning Grant
San Diego, like many cities, is struggling with a housing and homelessness crisis due in part to a shortage of affordable homes. The City of San Diego General Plan’s Housing Element is the City’s housing plan. Cities in California are required to have a plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in their community.
The City has made progress in permitting new homes, including affordable homes for lower-income households. However, we are still falling behind in meeting the housing needs of many community members, particularly lower-income households. The City is committed to tackling the housing shortage by setting housing and climate goals and using various strategies to achieve them. One key approach is using publicly-owned land for housing. Land in San Diego is expensive, and there is limited availability of undeveloped space, making it challenging to build more homes.
The Affordable Home Development Master Plan establishes a high‑level framework for how the City could use its land to continue providing critical City services, such as libraries, while also identifying opportunities to add future housing. City services would remain on site, and no housing is being built on the properties included in this study at this time. Instead, the Master Plan will evaluate potential opportunities and determine where future affordable homes could be incorporated on City‑owned sites.
Using City-owned land for housing offers several primary benefits:
Affordable home builders have the City as a cooperative landowner to work with
Housing on City-owned land can meet multiple goals such as increasing the supply of affordable homes by making more land available, reducing housing costs and leveraging public investment to attract private, non-profit, state and federal funding
Residential developments on public land that also include business uses that can generate revenue for the City
Locating affordable homes with City services can help the City use its land more efficiently
The City can offer access to land near public transit and jobs, where developable private land is often scarce
What does the Affordable Home Development Master Plan do?
In 2024, the City received funding from SANDAG’s Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) grant to study city-owned sites and develop a comprehensive plan to utilize City-owned property to develop homes for people of all incomes in communities served by public transit and amenities. The Affordable Home Development Master Plan will:
Reduce development costs and expedite housing construction on public land
Identify potential shelter sites to address the urgent need for increased shelter capacity for people experiencing homelessness
Determine housing types to build on each site, such as condos, apartments, or cooperative housing, and explain how City services can continue at each site
Indicate the level of environmental review needed at each site
Seek public input to inform the process
Through this planning process, the City can make the best use of its land by studying how to continue providing critical City services on each site while also identifying opportunities to add the new homes San Diegans need.
What studies have been conducted so far?
The Home Opportunity Framework
The Affordable Homes Development Master Plan is informed by the Home Opportunity Framework study, completed in 2024. The Home Opportunity Framework evaluated 400 City-owned sites, and identified 20 locations best suited for affordable home development.
The sites were sorted into three main groups based on the following factors:
Social equity - which looked at access to parks, healthy food and the socio-economic diversity of the surrounding area.
Livability - which examined proximity to public transit, schools or freeways.
Development feasibility - which evaluated site conditions such as size, shape and topography.
The study also examined how each City-owned site is used by different City departments and whether those services could continue if the site were used for homes instead.
What publicly-owned sites are being considered and what criteria was used to select these sites?
Twenty City-owned sites were evaluated using criteria such as how each site is used today, the importance of existing community assets, potential disruption to current operations, suitability for shelter or housing, development feasibility, and environmental or safety considerations. These factors helped determine which locations could best support future affordable housing or shelter opportunities. From the initial list of 20 City-owned sites, 11 were identified as the most promising candidates for further analysis.
The plan will study how the City can keep essential services operating on each site with the addition of new homes. Any potential development at a candidate site with an existing library would include both a replacement library and housing, consistent with the Library Master Plan.
To learn more, click on any of the sites below. You can also learn more about the sites by viewing their associated PDF board.
What is required of the City to make land available for development
City-owned properties in San Diego are subject to the Surplus Land Act, which prioritizes surplus land for affordable housing. In 2019, Governor Newsom took several actions to make state and local public lands available for affordable housing development, including:
Issuing an executive order to make excess state land available for affordable housing (Executive Order N-06-19)
Connecting affordable housing developers to local surplus land and strengthening enforcement of the Surplus Lands Act (AB 1486, Ting, 2019)
Requiring cities and counties to inventory and report surplus and excess local public lands to include in a statewide inventory (AB 1255, Robert Rivas, 2019)
Engagement Schedule
Four in-person open house events will be held across the City to inform and provide community members multiple opportunities to provide input on each of the 11 sites. The open house events are open to the public. Register Now.
Affordable Home Development Master Plan Overview
View the pre-recorded video, which provides an overview of the Affordable Home Development Master Plan and provides helpful context for the upcoming open house events.
A fact sheet about the Affordable Home Development Master Plan is also available.
Additional handouts related to alternative home ownership models.
- Housing Cooperatives | Cooperativas de vivienda
- Community Land Trusts | Fideicomisos de tierras comunitarias
Project Survey
We want to hear from you! Please take a few moments to complete our survey and share your thoughts on the Affordable Home Development Master Plan. Your feedback will help shape future housing and services in your neighborhood. The survey will close on Aug. 28, at 5:00 p.m.
Affordable Home Development Master Plan Community Survey
Timeline
Winter 2026 | » | Spring 2026 | » | Summer 2026 |
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Strategic Plan Priority Areas of Focus
This initiative focuses on the following priority areas of the Strategic Plan:
Create Homes for All of Us
Comprehensively plans for the development of City-owned property with homes for people of all incomes and in all communities.
Champion Sustainability
Identifies opportunities for new home development on City-owned property in areas that are located near transit to best achieve the City’s climate goals.
Send Us Your Comments
Questions and comments about the Affordable Home Development Master Plan are welcome and can be sent to: AffordableHomeMasterPlan@sandiego.gov
Mira Mesa Library Adjacent Lot
Site description: 0.59 acres, rectangular. Currently used as a surface parking lot. Adjacent to a library, grocery store, and park with recreation center.
North Park Library
Site description: 0.72 acres, rectangular. Currently used as a library and surface parking lot. Adjacent to apartments, shops, and a transit corridor.
University Community Library
Site description: 0.83 acres, trapezoidal. Currently used as a library and surface parking lot. Adjacent to homes and shops, including a grocery store.
Barnes Tennis Center Overflow
Site description: 1.95 acres, long and slightly oblong. Section of larger parcel including Barnes Tennis Center. Currently used as a surface parking lot. Adjacent to apartments and near a large park.
University Heights Library
Site description: 0.16 acres, rectangular. Currently used as a library and surface parking lot. Located along a major transit and commercial corridor near a hospital and grocery store.
San Ysidro Vacant Lot
Site description: 1.25 acres, rectangular. Currently used as a community service center under lease to San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce. Near retail and a trolley station.
Balboa Park Operations Yard
Site description: 6.27 acres, rectangular. Currently used as an operations yard. Adjacent to stores, residential areas, Balboa Park, and the I-5 freeway.
Rose Canyon Operations Yard
Site description: 16.8 acres, long oval. Currently used as an operations yard. Separated from nearby neighborhood by major road and hill. Adjacent to trolley station, railway, and I-5 freeway.
Clairemont Library
Site description: 0.46 acres, rectangular. Currently used as Clairemont Library. Adjacent to homes and a mall, including a grocery store.
Allied Gardens/Benjamin Branch Library
Site description: 0.54 acres, rectangular. Currently used as Allied Gardens/Benjamin Library. Near homes, a grocery store, and a recreation center.
Linda Vista Library/Skateworld
Linda Vista Library (right)
Site description: 1.58 acres, rectangular. Currently used as Linda Vista Library. Located near homes, stores, and civic/community buildings.
Skateworld (left)
Site description: 1.63 acres, rectangular. Currently used as a commercial building, including potentially historic Skateworld. Located near homes, stores, and civic/community buildings.