Good afternoon.

Welcome to the land use and housing committee meeting of September 4th, 2025.

Our committee liaison, Natalie Klesler will go over instructions for today's meeting.

Thank you, Chair.

While members of the public are able to attend the meetings in person, this meeting is being televised and live streamed on the city's website, and the council administration will continue to make arrangements for the public to comment using the Zoom webinar platform.

Members of the public who wish to provide virtual testimony must enter the virtual queue by raising their hand before the virtual queue closes.

The queue will close when the last virtual speaker finishes speaking, or five minutes after in-person testimony ends, whichever occurs first.

This will allow for better meeting management between the two platforms and ensure the committee is able to manage and conduct the city business.

We appreciate the public's cooperation.

Chair.

I will now call the Land Houston Housing Committee meeting of Thursday, September 4th, 2025 to order.

Natalie, please call the role.

Councilmember Kempio.

Here.

Councilmember Moreno.

Present.

And Chair, Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Here.

Also attending the meeting today, Chris Ackerman Avila with Mayor Todd Gloria's office, Deputy City Attorney Corinne Newfer with the City Attorney's Office, Amy Lee with the Independent Budget Analyst Office, and Angeli Hoyos, committee consultant.

If you're in person, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of chambers and place it on top of the box indicated at the front of the room next to the public comment microphone.

Please do so in a timely manner to ensure proper meeting management.

In-person testimony will conclude before virtual testimony begins.

Members of the public can join the webinar by computer tablet or smartphone by accessing the link, which is listed online in the preamble language of the agenda on the city's webpage.

To join the Zoom webinar by phone, please dial 1669 2545252.

The webinar ID is 160-683-0623 pound.

This information is also available on the agenda and will appear on the screen during the public comment period for each agenda item.

Please note that if you're watching via City TV 24 or online, there may be a delay.

Please participate via the audio on your phone and mute your TV or computer when it is your turn to speak.

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Chair.

Thank you, Natalie for reviewing those instructions for the benefit of the public.

A quorum is now present.

We will now take up non-agenda public comment.

The council members respect and appreciate the public's input and are fully committed to protecting every participant's free speech rights at council and committee meetings.

Thank you, Chair.

And if you have joined us in chambers and want to speak to non-agenda public comment, please submit a speaker slip at this time.

Jeff, please approach the microphone, and you'll be followed by Al Michaels, Vivian Ford, and Polly Wheatley.

You and your colleagues on the City Council agree to vote in the next few weeks on a resolution that would amend or abolish a grant deed that for 40 years has protected 600 acres of open space in the San Dieguido River Valley.

This includes the former polo fields.

The question I want you to consider between now and your vote is how would you justify such a betrayal of public trust to your voters if this was to happen to the dedicated open space parks in your districts?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Al Michaels.

I hope this letter finds you well and energized with the great responsibility entrusted to you by our city's residents.

I'm speaking to you today as a concerned citizen and a passionate supporter of community development.

As an advocate for responsible stewardship of shared public lands to address the issues of deed restrictions currently in place on the city's polo fields.

To begin, allow me to acknowledge the brisk history of the polo fields and the cherished role that they play in our city's fabric.

For decades, these grounds have been the site of spirited matches, community gatherings, countless memories for residents from walks of all life.

They have stood as a symbol not only of an athletic tradition, but also the city's commitment to preserving green spaces and fostering recreation.

However, as time passes, our city continues to evolve.

It is imperative that we assess the restrictions established in a bygone era still with current needs, aspirations, and realities of just what the greed of one developer is.

The deed restrictions in question initially intended to safeguard the purpose and the integrity of the fields.

Now present significant changes to adaptive use, unsustainable growth and the ability to respond dynamically to the community's diverse interests.

The primary concern of the lies in the abuse of the fragile protected lands as well as the protected lands in the city.

If the restrictions are lifted, it will set a dangerous precedent that will allow other parcels to have similar challenges.

We must protect these lands for future generations.

The San Diego River Valley is part of the San Diego landscape, and it needs to be protected.

We must not allow a greedy sports company to create a self-serving empire that disregards the needs of the surrounding communities.

Thank you for your time today.

Thank you.

Vivian Ford.

Either one of these.

Don't worry, this is 20 point.

About eight years ago, I joined Fairbanks Polo Club homeowners at a city council meeting to protest flagrant violations by the Lessey Surf Cup Sports LLC in their 2016 lease agreement with the city.

Said lease being subject and subordinate to conditions and restriction contained in the Watt Industries Grant Deed.

Well, here I am again, and nothing's changed.

I take that back, everything's changed.

While the city turned a blind eye, the Lessee continued without restraint to brazenly breach every provision of the original grant deed, skillfully and systematically commercializing pristine designated open space into a mega money machine.

Make no mistake, this was a well-designed plan, strategically executed over time.

A corporate takeover of publicly held land yielding massive profits from the thousands of people commuting to the sporting events every month.

Clearly, the city makes money from this arrangement.

A win-win for both parties.

And now, amidst ongoing lawsuits, you're presented with what seems like an obvious solution to get rid of the problem.

A motion to simply abandon the original grant deed, ignoring the spirit in which it was gifted to the city that grantee shall keep and preserve the affected land as open space in a natural condition as near as possible.

What's transpired over the years reminds me of a quote anecdotally attributed to Mussolini.

If you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, no one will notice.

You should notice before it happens in your district.

Thank you, Polly Wheatley, and you'll be followed by Sarah Wardrip, Oliver Wheatley, and Janet Bourgeois.

Which one am I?

Whichever one.

Okay.

Hi there, Council members.

Back in 2016, when Surf Cup Sports came before this body, asking for approval, they made one promise over and over again.

There would be no intensification of use of the polo fields.

Their own council told you that.

The city real estate assets department told you that.

And Surf Cup told the community directly in a bulletin, there will be no intensification of use.

They pointed to the history.

Eight events in 2013, eight events in 2014, eight in 2015.

Never more than about 22 or 23 days in a year.

Even in 2016, the projection was just 12 events over 28 days.

And Surf went further.

They said there was confusion about 25 events, first 25 event days.

And they made it clear.

The cap was 25 event days, not 25 separate events.

Their exact words were we have never approached that level of use, and in fact, could not do so if we wanted to.

That was the assurance given to the city and to the public to gain approval.

But today the reality is very different.

Instead of a handful of events, we see near daily use, thousands of cars, and traffic that overwhelms the surrounding communities.

This is exactly what the city was told would never happen.

Council members, this is not just about traffic or noise.

It's about trust.

If promises in public hearings and community bulletins can be broken so easily, then the integrity of the city's bullet agreements is meaningless.

I assure you to I sorry, I urge you to remember the commitments and hold Surf Cup and the assurances that they gave you to the public and to the public for no intensification of use.

The polo fields were protected by a grant deed for a reason to preserve open space and to limit further development.

We all know that there's a budget shortfall and that money is important to the city, but that is no excuse to sell off or monetize land that belongs to the public in perpetuity.

Once those protections are gone, they are gone forever.

Hello, I'm Sarah Wardrup, and I'm here today to address a very sensitive and troubling matter for my neighborhood and surrounding areas of Rancho Santa Fe and beyond.

Surf Cup Sports is operating beyond the attended land use of their land that they occupy.

Their continuous expansion has led to a significant surge in the congestion and traffic with thousands of cars entering and exiting the park all day long into our two-lane city roads.

This growth has occurred without any sound traffic measures, emergency evacuation plans, or consideration for the residents and the family family members of this of the that use these roads every day.

This matter is extremely personal to me.

Uh, when a surf soccer family from out of state, unfamiliar with all the congestion, crossed two lines of traffic to exit the field and crashed into her car.

She was both cars were total, and she was rushed to the hospital, one mile from our home on her way home from work.

Sadly, according to the county police and the department, the fire department, these incidences are happening every week in this area.

This is a regular occurrence.

This is the real human cost of Surf Cup, ignoring restrictions and the city's failure to enforce them.

I just want to say traffic was backed up all the way down Del Dios Highway from my daughter's accident all the way to the coast of I-5 for hours.

And I visually watched people going into side areas and crossing lanes.

The policeman told me that this is one of the most dangerous areas in the county right now, and the fire department told me the two fire trucks there, they would rather be on a fire than helping the traffic on this road from Surf Cup.

My thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Oliver.

Um afternoon, Council members.

I would appreciate your unwavering attention as I address the council.

I'm here to urge you against voting in favor of removing the deed restrictions on the polo fields in District 1.

Let me preface this speech by saying, as a sophomore in college studying U.S.

government policy and law, I find it appalling that members of the of the public must stand here today and beg their elected officials to do nothing more than uphold the law.

These deed restrictions were created to protect the people, their open spaces, and not to be bartered away for development interests.

The very fact that we have to plead for promises already written into law should trouble every San Diegan, Californian, and to be quite frank, American.

What happens at the polo fields directly affects the protections to your constituents in District 7.

Mission Trails Regional Park is one of San Diego's greatest assets, preserved under deed restrictions to insert to ensure that it remains open space for recreation, conservation, and honoring its history.

These protections were put in place with the explicit understanding that the land would never be developed but safeguarded for generations to come.

If you lift the restrictions on the polo fields, you set a dangerous precedent.

Weakening one deed restriction threatens them all.

The protections guarding the mission trails could be just as easily challenged in the future.

To undermine that promise would erode public trust and put every protected space in the city at risk, not to mention jeopardize hopes at reelection.

Protecting the polo fields means protecting mission trails.

It means standing up for your constituents, honoring the promises made to the public, and preserving the character of future San Diego.

Council members, I urge you to stand firm against removing these open these restrictions and ensure that the space remains open.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Janet Bourgeois, please approach the lecture, and you'll be followed by Shelby Huffaker and Miguel Miguel McCall.

Good afternoon.

Jam Bourgeois, I live in the East Village.

I want to congratulate you.

Or more likely, probably the housing development.

But I just want to say that Harrington Heights, which is over at 13th and Broadway, about to be completed for low-income housing, basically.

It's a fabulous looking building.

I think level 10 is construction company, but I don't know who the designer was.

You need about 10 of these in the downtown with nice architecture such as this.

I wander around, always have things to say about what we can do to include more housing.

And I always ask about the old library.

I always wanted it to go to a developer without restrictions.

Unfortunately, it is now declared surplus, which means you have to put it out, and you have the developer has to be agreed to 25%.

It's unlikely you will get that.

Or if you did get one, it probably would not be able to be fulfilled.

But so be it.

Um but that would be my request that it actually go to a developer if it can, and you would make the money and then use that for another area.

I have a little bit of time.

Um I also often talk about the Claremont Hotel.

Uh it was African American hotel, it's historic.

That has sold.

Nobody seems to know anything about it.

So it did sell this year, and it looks as though they're trying to do some remodeling.

And I asked the fellow if we'll stay low income, because I never found out where did all these people go when the board thing got boarded up.

So I'm curious about that.

Um but and then the other one is C Street.

C Street's a disaster as it is.

Uh C Street N has been closed up, but can we do something there?

That also was sold.

Uh, so it has a new owner.

So I know the elevator doesn't work, but start from scratch, but make more things available.

Thank you.

Thank you, Shelby.

Good afternoon.

My name is Shelby Huffaker, and I'm a public health researcher, District 3 resident, and chair of the San Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for safe access to medical cannabis.

I'm here today to express my strong support for renewed focus on the city's cannabis social equity program.

Extensive research, including data from the U.S.

National Survey on Drug Use and Health, shows that cannabis legalization does not increase underage use.

In fact, a large nationally representative study published last month showed no significant rise in daily cannabis use or cannabis use disorder among teens or adults following enactment of recreational cannabis laws.

Yet despite legalization, many medical cannabis patients still face barriers accessing affordable lab tested products, largely due to a shortage of licensed retailers in the city and high costs.

An NBC San Diego story released last month highlights the growing inaccessibility of the licensed cannabis market, reporting that the city is now experiencing its lowest cannabis tax revenue in four years.

A strong cannabis social equity program can help address these gaps.

Expanding access to licenses, especially when paired with local cannabis tax relief, can increase safe access, lower costs, and reverse the decline in local cannabis tax revenue.

Easing zoning restrictions for social equity applicants, particularly in dense and transit priority areas, can further reduce driving distances, supporting safer, more sustainable consumption practices.

This is a chance for the city to advance its equity goals, improve public health outcomes, and strengthen local revenues, all through a smarter, more inclusive cannabis policy.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Miguel McCall.

And you'll be followed by Caesar and Perita Javier.

Blessed greetings.

My name is Miguelne McCall.

I'm a district four resident and combat veteran.

I'm here speaking for the Roll-Up for Equity campaign with cards from community members and small business dreamers asking you to start cannabis social equity in the city of San Diego.

The county is moving.

In the city, we adopted an equity assessment, but the program hasn't launched.

That gap keeps dollars in the illicit market and denies the neighborhoods most harm by the war on drugs, the safety, jobs, and reinvestment a regulated market brings.

For 50 years, enforcement landed hardest on black and brown families in low-income over policed areas.

Records blocked jobs and housing, so wealth bled out.

Equity repairs that, featuring local ownership, apprenticeships, technical assistance, and fee relief, paired with accountability, count cameras, lighting, and tested products.

That's safety, stability, and revenue that we can direct to youth and education.

Chair Lee, your data first leadership can build trust from day one by launching a public equity dashboard that features applications, timelines, outcomes, and dollars invested in plain view.

Councilmember Campillo, you fought to restore equity funding.

Now help lock in the full-time staff to run the C program and post the calendar to open applications.

Council President Ilo Rivera, translate your listening sessions into land use action by holding fast, predictable permit hearings so community entrepreneurs can plan.

Councilmember Moreno, your your practical results first approach can replace illicit sales with accountable operators who bring security plans and good jobs.

Adopt the C code package and open an equity equity application window with technical assistance and fee relief.

Create an equity carve out beyond the four per district slash 36 citywide cap.

Refine buffers to protect kids without unintentionally blocking equity sites.

Publish the dashboard and dedicate a meaningful share of the 10% cannabis tax to impacted neighborhoods and education.

Thank you so much for listening.

Caesar Javier.

Please.

And we didn't expect good, we didn't vote for you, even on the re-election time.

I'm just questioning how did you win the election?

Five days before the election, there was a fire in Montesoma College.

And suddenly I do not know.

Anyway, that is some kind of frustration.

Toxic psychologically.

And here is my wife.

Sick and declared, which she will read on her two minutes' time.

You know why the mayor insisted to be member of the governing board air pollution control district, including this guy, Citizen Rivera.

You know why, sir, mom?

Fellow citizens, San Diego.

By golly.

They are there.

Absenty.

And the mayor.

I could not describe but just like a mystic smile from Mona Lisa.

I was there since 2021, listening, learning from the air pollution control meeting.

They are there to protect this exempt businesses, industrial activities.

Twenty of them.

A ruling vintage when APCD was still with the county under loose.

Ms.

Javier, before before you Ms.

Javier, before you begin, and Mr.

Javier, I I do appreciate that you utilize the public comment.

We are here to hear your First Amendment rights.

However, I will just clarify, Miss Ms.

Javier Parita, if if you would like to speak, you have your two minutes as well.

Uh but I I recognize that you were sort of called up by Mr.

Javier and really pulled up.

And so I will also let you know that if you would not like to speak, you certainly don't have to as well.

Um and again, we always welcome your feedback.

But uh Mr.

Javier, I sort of noticed that you both yelled for her and dragged her up to the podium, and certainly you're welcome to fill out a slip for her as well.

Um but Ms.

Javier, again, your time is for you if you'd like to utilize it.

Um, if for any reason you would not like to speak, you're welcome to not have to speak as well.

Thank you.

It's Miss Javier's time for public comment, so we'll turn to her for a public comment.

Parita Javier.

August 4th.

2025.

Date of birth, 4-7, 1938.

Date of visit 825.

To whom it may concern my patient, Burita Javier.

Request my documentation in regards to how her surrounding environment affects her health.

She continues to have significant anxiety in regards to the possible health effects related to air quality around her home.

Her neighbors have a kiln.

The use of fits may have contributed to adverse symptoms, and if not to her health physically than psychologically previews.

Okay.

Continue.

You still have 26 seconds.

Yeah, GAD 7 questionnaire is 16 in the moderate anxiety range.

She lives in fear in her own home and avoids being outside this anxiety has contributed to increase for gapfulness.

Thank you.

This concludes in-person public testimony.

We will now move to the virtual queue.

If there are the five-minute timer for all those at the queue to indicate that they have an on-agenda public comment.

We will begin with Lori Saldania.

Please unmute and provide your comments.

Please don't do that again.

I'm commenting today to ask that you require assessments of the impacts of short-term vacation rentals in all community plan updates coming before the council.

And evaluate how these businesses are impacting housing availability and cost as they reduce the supply of housing for both full-time ownership and rentals.

It's a simple question.

Will you evaluate the impacts of these businesses on the supply and demand of local housing and ensure that as we plan to add new homes in Claremont, for example, they do not become mini hotels and stay as permanent full-time homes as intended.

At a recent Claremont Community Planning Group subcommittee meeting, it was noted that short-term rentals were not included in that community plan update.

It's understandable because these did not exist when Claremont was first designed and built in the 1950s.

But as a lifetime Claremont resident and an assembly member who chaired housing and community development while representing almost half a million people in central San Diego City area, I can say with certainty that these neighborhoods are being inundated with short-term rentals to the detriment of renters and home buyers who simply want a place to live.

Short-term rentals in Claremont are increasing as coastal areas are saturated with these businesses.

Short-term rental owners remove full-time housing from neighborhoods that desperately need more homes.

They often take out mature trees and landscaping because they're expensive to water and maintain, decreasing the urban forest canopy that helps offset impacts of climate change.

Please evaluate if these businesses are contributing to higher housing costs overall as they reduce the supply of housing for both ownership and rentals.

And finally, as someone who has been a caregiver for people with disabilities, Mr.

Lee, what you did in the previous comments was deeply troubling and offensive.

Thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Our next speaker is Becky Rapp.

Please begin with.

Good afternoon, Chair and members of the land use and housing committee.

My name is Becky Rapp, and I'm here to urge you to close a critical loophole in San Diego smoke-free housing protections.

HUD requires all public housing to be 100% smoke free, protecting children, seniors, and residents with health conditions from exposure to secondhand smoke.

However, if an affordable housing project is privately owned, even when it benefits from public resources, such as Section 8 vouchers or local housing funds, that rule does not apply.

Skyline Apartments in Rancho Bernardo is one such example.

It's a privately owned affordable housing project that accepts housing subsidies, but because it's not owned or managed by the housing commission, the HUD smoke free protections do not apply.

This means that low income families living there may still be exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes simply because of who owns the property.

Two families with the same income living in subsidized housing are treated unequally when it comes to health protections.

Secondhand smoke does not stay contained in one unit.

It travels through walls, vents, and shared spaces, leaving residents with no way to escape exposure in their own homes.

It's not fair that public dollars can support housing where children in vulnerable populations are still subject to toxic secondhand smoke.

Be designated smoke free.

This would close the loophole, create a con create consistency across our housing system, and ensure taxpayer dollars only support housing that protects health and safety.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is phone number ending in 7234.

Please press star six and begin.

Phone number ending there go.

Good afternoon, land use and housing committee.

The World Health Organization recently released a document entitled Tobacco is Poisoning Our World.

Tobacco's impact on our world occurs at various stages, including growing and cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, use, and disposal of tobacco products.

Each of these stages have negative implications for the city's land, like fouling our city's living, working, and playing spaces with trash, and the creation of air pollutants and toxic waste.

I recognize that your purview is the city of San Diego and not the whole country.

However, we bear the consequences of one of the greatest environmental damages done by tobacco products because we all have extensive waterways here.

Cigarette butts, vaping debris, and other forms of tobacco product waste poison our streams, our oceans, and marine life, contaminate beaches and bays and inlets.

Marine animals, birds, and fish often mistake cigarette butts for food, where microplastics and toxins can then enter the food chain, eventually making their way to humans to consume seafood.

One significant first step in improving the San Diego's land of water and air is the banning of smoking in public places.

The time has come.

Five other cities in our county have already done so.

Thank you for hearing my concerns this afternoon.

Thank you.

The five-minute timer has concluded.

We had eight hands remaining in the queue.

We will take no additional callers after these eight individuals.

Phone number ending in 870.

Please unmute and begin.

Policy sets long-term vision and objectives for land development.

Codes are tools for implementation and enforcement of policy.

This fall, council will be presented with updated land development codes, I hope.

My question is do we need updates on our vision and objectives, our policies?

Recently, a legal decision was set that 70%, that 70% of affordable housing be targeted for high resource areas in San Diego.

When I read the book entitled Housing a Nation, Social Equity Architecture, and the Future of Affordable Housing, two things stood out to me.

Number one, how outdated old housing policies are in land in codes.

They are as old as some of our oldest trees.

Trees equal lumber, equal housing.

A while back at a committee meeting, one of your agenda items brought in architects.

They excuse me.

They spoke of housing, designing, building, creating the future.

They were excellent.

One of the things that was said was the most effective was that we need the most effective use of land.

We need the most effective use of land.

Are some of our policies excuse me?

Are some of our policies as old as some of the trees I hug?

Thank you for listening.

I'm hoping we're moving forward with this this fall with updated coats.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Megan Stewart.

Please begin.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, members of the land use and housing committee.

My name is Megan Stewart.

I have experience in both public health and social work.

I'd like to echo previous speakers and speak today about secondhand smoke exposure and multi-unit housing, which is a critical issue that sits at the intersection of housing and health equity.

Research clearly shows that low-income residents and communities of color bear disproportionate share of this burden.

Nationally, individuals living below the poverty line have nearly double the exposure rate of those above it.

47.9% versus 21.2%.

People in rental and multi-unit housing also face significantly greater risk compared to homeowners, even when no one in their own unit smokes.

Unlike in single family homes, tenant tenants in multi-unit buildings share walls, hallways, and ventilation systems where smoke exposure can travel through.

This is not just a nuisance, but an equity issue.

Families living in multi-unit housing who are often from low-income communities and communities of color face greater challenges in avoiding secondhand smoke exposure.

Children with asthma, seniors with chronic conditions, and pregnant women are especially vulnerable.

Families should never have to choose between keeping a roof over their head and protecting their health.

As San Diego continues to expand affordable housing options throughout the city, I'd like to urge you to ensure that smoke-free protections are part of that vision.

Incorporating these policies into land use and housing standards creates healthier, more stable homes for everyone, especially those who may not have as many options.

Thank you so much for the time today.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Kathleen Lippett, please begin.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

On behalf of public health and minimizing the choices that either put the public health or safety at risk, I want to address the recent metropolitan transit district's vote to remove a long-standing ban on alcohol ads permanently.

It's a move that they have to, on their part, to prioritize revenues over the well-being of the public.

And there and a contribution to lowering the community public health standard.

This would have negative impacts on low-income neighborhoods along the trolley, but they've but transit officials have said there was no evidence of that during the pilot.

It normalizes drinking, once again, exploiting a human weakness that many people have.

The city's sorry, the city cities policies have laid the groundwork for this to happen because the city has also done similar things to raise revenue, doing things that are not in the best interest of the public.

The best interest of its residents policies with an economic interest to allow private industry that has a conflict of interest to promote and normalize drugs like alcohol.

Hopefully, they would they we don't want it to set a precedent for perhaps tobacco ads or marijuana ads.

So thank you for letting me speak.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Judy String.

Please begin.

Judy Strang.

I'm sorry, Judy Strang here.

I thank you for this opportunity to share some thoughts this afternoon with land use and housing.

And thank you to City Council Member Capillo, who's also on the EDNIR committee.

Yesterday there, I talked about the role of smoking and vaping products being the number one preventable cause of death and disease in the United States, and talked about what those products and smoking and vaping behaviors do to employers and to the employment market, which is sort of the purview yesterday's commission.

And today I'd like to talk to you about their role in land use and housing.

We must all remember that poor health is expensive and it creates substantial cost for the healthcare system as well as families and the individuals.

We must remember that the products we're talking about, vaping and smoking products are both nicotine as well as marijuana.

So I am concerned that the suggestion we have more pot shops for any reason is unwise.

It's like asking for more smoke shops and vape shops.

How could that possibly be a good idea when we're talking about removing preventable causes of death and disease?

I think it's also important that we realize that the city already has 37 permitted pot shop spaces, but only 25 pot shops.

So something's amiss.

And it doesn't require the city throwing money at it, but some real deep questions about why.

And we should remember that access is not a problem since deliveries are a major part of pot shops business model and go everywhere throughout the city.

I suspect throughout the county as well.

So let's take a new look at baking and smoking products and not encourage their inuse, not enable them, and not normalize them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have four hands remaining in the queue.

Madison, please unmute and begin.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, and thanks for the opportunity to speak today.

I'm here to read some concerns about the potential.

Social and particularly the risks that it poses to our youth.

While the goal of social equity programs, which is to remedy past Madison, we can't hear you.

Madison, if you'd like to raise your hand again, I'll give you another opportunity.

But right now we will go to John Davis.

Hi, can you all hear me?

Yes.

Okay, wonderful.

Uh Councilmember Moreno, um, I urge you to vote against removing the open space deed restrictions on the 114 acres known as the polo fields in the San Dieguito River Valley.

You repres you represent a community that deeply values its open space.

In fact, you own district benefits from the preserved land of Otai Valley Park, which was an acquisition of land for wildlife corridor and preservation of public open space.

These protections exist because past leaders had the foresight to safeguard them with deed restrictions and environmental planning, ensuring that they would remain open for the people, not subject to short-term pressure or private interest.

If you vote to remove the deed restrictions for the polo fields, you set a precedent that threatens the same protections your constant constituents rely on.

Once open space is stripped off its off its guarantees, it becomes much easier for future councils to argue that open space restrictions, including those in your own district, should be undone as well.

That is a risk your community cannot afford.

It's not just about 114 acres in district one, it's about the integrity of San Diego's commitment to preserve public land for public use by protecting the polar fields.

You protect the principle that our city's open space is not for sale, not for development, and not for negotiation for the sake of your constituents for the future of San Diego open space.

I respectfully ask you to vote no on removing the polar fields due restrictions.

I also just want to respectfully remind all the council members that just because there's only a few people uh speaking today on the non-agenda items about this, there are tens of thousands of impressions on next door people vehemently against this.

And in addition, currently there's over 200 signed signatures.

And I know that there's been hundreds of emails sent to city council based on these signatures that oppose this.

So please, please, please vote no on this.

We cannot have this happen.

It will absolutely not just break trust for the immediate area uh around the polo fields, but trust me, the whole city is watching this because once you open the floodgates to this, I mean, we really uh it's gonna break trust on what you guys have the power to do next in removing things like deed restrictions.

This isn't just land use for development or anything like that.

So please, everyone vote no.

Thank you.

Madison, please unmute.

You have one minute 30 seconds remaining for your time.

Okay, sorry.

Did I drop off like halfway through before?

Yes.

Okay, sorry.

Uh um, okay.

So for instance, there was a 43% increase in adolescent edible cannabis use in Canada following legalization, with overall youth use up 26% and accidental ingestion by young children rising sharply, resulting in dangerous pediatric emergencies.

We also know from the CDC that teen cannabis use is linked to measureable harms, impaired thinking and problem solving, memory issues, reduced coordination, and academic and social challenges.

Heavy adolescent use has been associated with long-term drops in IQ and persistent learning deficits while into adulthood.

Moreover, adolescents are especially vulnerable to cannabis use disorder, which significantly raises risks of mental health crises, including suicidal behavior and self-harm.

Even well-intentioned social equity policies, risk increasing cannabis availability and normalization, making it more visible and accessible to young people.

That's why I would advise moving before moving forward to ensure that we have robust safeguards like strict retail buffers, capping advertising your schools, and rigorous enforcement to prevent harm for children.

Thank you for prioritizing the safety and future of our children.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Marco Espinoza.

Please begin.

Um trying to create new housing uh in any way, shape, shape, or form, is very important for everyone.

Um in terms of uh short-term rentals, uh, just to put this out there, it's concerning the by just in a few seconds on your phone.

You can book something on a site, and specifically with Airbnb, if you get book it more than 20 days, you get a discount.

So basically call it a month.

So you can find housing for a month from month to month to month or longer.

Easy on a website, but to get into permanent housing is difficult to find to do to just everything.

Um it's a concern.

It's and then I think I've also heard about how certain companies are using algorithms to see how much they can, you know, constantly keep charging us more.

Um, you know, the system, the computer AI, whatever.

Uh it's it's all very concerning.

Um we are not robots.

We need a home.

So uh we being us people.

Anyways, okay, thank you very much.

Sorry for being weird.

Have a good day.

Bye.

Thank you.

And our final speaker in the queue is Saad.

Please unmute and begin.

Thod, I've asked you to unmute.

Hello there.

Uh, good afternoon, council members.

Um, I want to bring up two important stories out here to request recently kind of highlighting both uh issues facing San Diego when it comes to homeownership opportunities.

The San Diego Union Tribune reported recently that San Diego ranked number two as the highest median age and homeownership across the nation.

And this is simply because the city or the region of San Diego is older, it's actually in the middle of the pack.

So it's clearly a trend of young people not having homeownership opportunities in San Diego.

And then related that the New York Times had an article about uh young couple that were looking for housing opportunities in San Diego, but couldn't find anything within their price range, so they simply moved uh they moved to Virginia, uh, showing how we are increasing uh kind of reflective of the data is this the actual story of a young couple moving out and getting home ownership everywhere.

So I'm for uh this committee, and I know many of you have already done and push for opportunities to increase homeownership opportunities.

Um express the need to continue to increase the supply of both rental homes and for sale homes.

Um excuse me, and encourage that uh as you consider different initiatives.

Um I'll add one more thing that's likely related is the need for more family-sized homes.

Um the city of LA recently proceeded initiative, um, and uh for the family-sized homes to kind of reforming our stairways and a single stairway reform.

Um, they recently passed an initiative 13-1 voted by the city council to explore single stairway reform.

So I encourage the city of San Diego to pursue similar opportunities to pursue family-sized homes and for sale from ownership opportunities so it doesn't get further behind and to the people of St.

Legend they'll get further time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Chair, this concludes non-agenda public comment.

Thank you to the uh thank you, and thank you to the members of the public for their comments.

Uh, do we have any committee members, mayoral staff, city attorney, and independent budget analyst comments?

Hearing none.

Do we have any requests for continuance?

Hearing none, we will now take up our consent agenda.

Do we have any requests upon an item from the consent agenda?

Uh seeing none, we will move forward with public comment on the consent agenda.

And we please proceed.

Thank you, Chair.

The public comment period for the consent agenda is now open, and the consent agenda includes item number one approval of the committee minutes of July 2nd, 2025.

Item number two, authorize the first amendment to the pipeline installation and maintenance agreement dated August 19th, 2025, between the city of San Diego and the United States of America acting by and through the Department of the Navy.

Each speaker will have one minute per item for a maximum time of two minutes.

And as a reminder, please indicate which item or items you're speaking to.

We've received two speaker slots from two individuals in chambers.

Perita Javier has ceded her time to uh Caesar Javier, and he has indicated that he'd like to speak to items one and two, so you'll have four minutes to speak to the consent agenda.

Your continuing good work, Clerk.

I know you're there, but not you cannot vote.

We have the attorney here.

You're not the city attorney, mom.

You're a fake.

That's in the minutes.

We spoke on the minutes.

This is records to be revered, to be respected.

This are Ben Smart in order for us to go forward.

Not what the mayor says forward, forward to destruction, no sir.

Minutes reminds us how the core city develops as envisioned by our predecessors.

The comia, if may I say it again as what Mr.

Rivera, the conquistador attitude, looks like telling us once more, reminding us.

On this number two, this is one of the pillars of governance.

Defense, the existence of the military in the region is money.

Money that goes to you.

Some of it goes to you.

Kickback.

This project is efficiently implemented, whatever the changes based on EIR.

Is the city capable of producing that?

Versus the need for defense.

Come to think of it.

Environmental chair.

Working committee.

Do you know about EIR?

I hope you know, even if you were absent in those meetings, which are crucial to the first survival kit we call oxygen.

It's a failure.

And we could only bring back our respect and trust when you are jailed and in prison.

What about Mam Moreno?

While this pipeline doesn't go through you, you get money for your district because of this economic presence of the case, if I may say that.

Please look back.

The mayor, who is trying to protect the industrial and manufacturing.

Well, of course, some of them are rightfully located.

Rightfully constructed, but not what was located, operated and constructed in our residential zone.

Just a reminder and an example of this.

Mr.

Chair.

It's up to your rational thinking, social judgment, psychological judgment, economic judgment, whatever judgment you have.

We expect you to be scholar on this.

Good, better, best choices.

This is a crucial.

Thank you.

This does conclude your time, and this concludes in-person public testimony.

We will now move to the virtual queue.

There are three hands raised in the virtual queue for the consent agenda.

Laurie Saldania, I've asked you to unmute.

Please indicate which item or items you wish to speak to.

Yes, thank you.

I'd like to speak to the minutes from the previous meeting on July 2nd, I believe.

Yep, one minute, please begin.

Thank you.

Um in the last meeting, um, Pierita Javier and Cesar Javier gave comments on the issues affecting their health with hazardous materials uh that are located near their home.

And I don't see any mention of them being interrupted or any comments being made.

Um trying to change the content or the manner that they're making their speech.

Um so I appreciate that the council president and committee chairs do their comments of support at the beginning of comments that they affirm the city's commitment to supporting free speech.

I would just like to see that carried out in real life as we go forward in today's meeting.

So uh what is being brought forward in today's comments reflects what's been brought forward in the past by uh Mr.

and Mrs.

Javier, and I appreciate their advocacy in trying to clean up their their air quality in their neighborhood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Michael Dwyer.

Please indicate which item or items you wish to speak to.

Michael Dwyer, I see you have unmuted.

We cannot hear you.

Okay, we will go to Zoom user.

Zoom user, your hand is raised for the consent agenda.

Zoom user, I see that you've unmuted, but we cannot hear you.

Okay, if you'd like to submit a comment, you can submit it to council committee at sandiego.gov.

Michael Dwyer.

We cannot hear you.

You must be having technical difficulties.

I've asked you to unmute.

Okay, Chair, this concludes public comment on the consent agenda.

Thank you.

I will now turn over to committee members for any questions, comments, and a motion on the consent agenda.

Uh I'll go ahead and move the consent agenda if we can get a second.

We have a second by Vice Chair Elo Rivera.

Um, seeing no other speakers, if you'll please vote on the consent agenda.

And the motion passes 4-0.

Thank you.

We'll now hear our discussion agenda.

Now, we please introduce item three.

Item three, approval of next steps to establish a San Diego Affordable Housing Preservation Fund.

And if you'd like to provide comments on item three, you can call in to the meeting by calling 1669 2545252 when prompted.

Chair.

Thank you.

Colin Wendy, when you are ready, um, we'll ask you to introduce yourselves for the record and just let us know how much time you'll need.

Good afternoon, Colin Miller, City of Housing Commission.

I'm joined by Winnie Dubins, uh Vice President of Preservation, and we'd like to have about 10 minutes, please.

Great, thank you.

Good afternoon, land use and housing committee members.

As mentioned earlier, my name is Colin Miller, and joined by Winnie DeWitz, Vice President of Preservation with the Housing Commission.

We are returning to the land use and housing committee as requested to provide an update to the preservation fund item that was last heard in February of this year.

I'll not now turn it over to Wayne DeWitt.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

The Housing Commission's preservation study estimated that over the next 20 years, 4,200 deed restricted units may lose protections.

And 9,250 naturally affordable homes will become unaffordable due to market pressures.

Without intervention, 35% of all new production will simply replace units that have lost affordability.

At the request of Council President Pro Tim Lee, staff presented an informational report to the committee in April on the potential to create an affordable housing preservation fund along with options for implementation.

After discussion, the committee directed staff to explore the necessary steps to start an affordable housing preservation fund, subject to necessary approvals, identify what other funds may be available to be leveraged for a proposed affordable housing preservation fund.

Determine if there are other financing options in addition to a preservation fund that would result in the preservation of affordable housing, and return with an analysis of and recommendations for preservation fund models.

Today we're presenting preservation strategies that support timely action, long-term affordability, and adaptable implementation.

We began by hiring a consultant, CSG advisors to help us analyze strategies that would have more immediate impact and help establish a preservation portfolio with strong performing assets.

The following framework emphasizes mixed income acquisitions with financing that avoids delays related to low-income housing tax credits and utilizes public ownership through the housing commission and its nonprofit affiliate, housing development partners, or HDP.

Number one, the use of 501c3 bond or governmental purpose bond financing with neighborhood enhancement funds.

As a 501c3, HDP can utilize these bonds for HDP ownership.

Governmental purpose bonds would be used for SDHC ownership.

The bonds would be paired with neighborhood enhancement fee funds to finance the acquisition of naturally occurring affordable housing.

The gap between what these tax exempt bonds can support and the total acquisition cost would be filled with the neighborhood enhancement fee funds.

Second, ownership and oversight through housing development partners.

Naturally occurring affordable housing properties at risk of losing affordability would be acquired and owned by HDP or an entity HDP creates or sponsors.

HDP is a separate nonprofit affiliate that the Housing Commission established in 1990 to facilitate affordable housing acquisition and development.

Third, ownership and oversight through the housing commission.

The housing commission, or an entity created or sponsored by it could also be the entity to purchase, own and operate the preservation units where its status as a public agency is beneficial, such as purchases from another governmental entity or property where tenants need resources or programs that presently exist at the housing commission.

Having this flexibility helps cover a wide range of potential property purchases.

Fourth, targeting high opportunity NOAA properties.

Initial acquisitions would focus on stable revenue generating multifamily properties in high opportunity areas near transit, schools, employment centers, where the focus would be on properties that do not require major rehabilitation.

Acquiring well-maintained properties in strong locations helps the Housing Commission or HDP act more quickly, preserve affordability, and generate income to reinvest in future acquisitions.

This helps build a track record of success more quickly.

Item five, leveraging additional capital from strategic partners.

The preservation model is designed to deliver measurable outcomes in the near term.

It will preserve affordability, generate rental income, and help build confidence in an innovative preservation strategy.

As the program establishes a successful track record, it positions the Housing Commission to explore partnerships with philanthropic foundations, community reinvestment act motivated financial institutions, major employers and health care systems to ultimately expand the scope and sustainability of future preservation efforts.

Item six, identifying and combining restricted fund balances to use in the preservation fund.

The Housing Commission and the city have identified some funding sources that are required to be spent in defined regions or in specific projects and to be spent in those regions.

However, each fund by itself has been insufficient to construct new affordable units.

So under this strategy, the Housing Commission would work with the city to investigate and explore the potential reallocation of these funds if it's legally permissible to the affordable housing preservation fund.

That's a process that will necessarily involve additional approvals.

And then lastly, maintain flexibility for expansion of the preservation activities to fulfill the city council approved preservation strategy.

The initial phase of implementation of the preservation fund focuses on acquisition and development through the housing commission and HDP or another entity created or sponsored by the Commission or HDP.

This simpler, more direct financing structure will establish the fund quickly, provide more immediate results, and does not use competitive affordable housing financing resources.

Creating a successful track record early makes it easier to attract additional investment.

A future phase of the fund could offer loans to finance acquisitions and pre-development expenses, those costs that are repaid upon obtaining permanent financing for the project.

Those loan repayments are then returned to the preservation fund, allowing it to become a revolving loan fund sooner.

As the fund balance grows, new programs can be established, such as the small sites rehabilitation program for naturally occurring affordable housing, which is an action item number three of the city's preservation strategy.

Fund activities could be further expanded through partnership with a selected community development financial institution or CDFI.

CDFIs are U.S.

Treasury certified organize organizations that specialize in community-based investment and can attract philanthropic private and institutional capital.

Helping leverage additional resources beyond the city's initial investment by creating public-private partnerships.

Staff requests that the committee recommend that the city council take the actions detailed in the staff report and showed on the next two slides.

So this concludes our presentation, and Colin and I are available for any questions.

Thank you for the presentation.

We'll turn next to Amy Lee with the IBA's office for comments.

Thank you, Chairley.

Amy Lee with the IBA's office, and thank you to the Housing Commission for their presentation.

I just wanted to provide some additional context on this item.

The item before the committee helps implement council's final budget actions in the fiscal year 2026 adopted budget to allocate $5 million from the city's neighborhood enhancement fee to the Housing Commission for an affordable housing preservation fund, a long-standing council and housing commission priority.

Based on our understanding, the ultimate vision for the preservation fund is to leverage limited city resources with outside investment and other financing tools to acquire and extend the affordability of both naturally occurring and deed-restricted affordable units at risk of converting to market rate.

Ideally, these acquisitions would generate revenue to sustain and grow as a revolving loan fund.

However, some of Housing Commission's early discussions with potential investors and a contracting consultant highlighted some initial challenges.

First, investors want a proof of concept before committing funds.

Second, five million dollars alone is not sufficient to acquire a property outright, but other financing resources are either highly competitive or limited.

Lastly, a viable proof of concept must generate near-term returns, unlike typical affordable housing loans where loan repayment trickles in over a longer duration.

To address these issues and catalyze the preservation fund, housing commission staff are proposing a ramp-up strategy during this early phase of the fund.

Under the proposed strategy, the housing commission would leverage tax exempt bonds either through its nonprofit development arm, housing development partners or HDP, or through the Housing Commission status as a governmental entity to purchase mixed income properties in high opportunity areas and deed restrict them as affordable housing.

The housing commission intends this strategy to provide sufficient funds to acquire a property, generate immediate profits, pay back the fund, and show proof of concept to potential investors.

Any project pursued during this phase would go before the housing commission board and housing authority to authorize tax exempt bonds and the housing commission intends to return to the housing authority to request approval on priorities and strategic goals for the preservation fund.

While this strategy is of reasonable, strategic and necessary first step, it differs somewhat from the fund's long-term vision.

Additional details regarding the overall implementation timeline, strategy, and prioritization of the preservation fund are necessary.

The committee may want to consider establishing a clear time frame for the housing commission to return to L UNH to request committee feedback on how the fund will be implemented over time and achieve the ultimate vision.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Amy.

We'll turn next to public comment.

Thank you, Chair.

The public comment period for item three is now open.

Each speaker will have one minute to speak to item three.

We currently have nine speakers who have submitted speaker slips in chambers, and there are five hands raised in the virtual queue.

We will begin with Jesse Schmidty, followed by Stephen Russell, Joanne Franciscus, and Gilbert Gilberto Vera.

Jesse, please approach the lectern.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Jesse Schmidty, State Policy Manager for Alliance San Diego and a member of the Coalition for Equitable Development standing before you today in strong supports of preventing the displacement of already rent burdened households by supporting the creation of an affordable housing preservation fund.

Let's be clear.

Last year, our coalition supported the affordable housing preservation ordinance and urged the city to dedicate funds to acquire and preserve deed restricted and naturally occurring affordable housing.

At the time, the housing commission estimated that deed restrictions on 200 units were expected to expire each year through 2040.

And that the city was expected to lose thousands of naturally occurring affordable homes.

Seeding the preservation fund with five million dollars from the neighborhood enhancement fee fund helps to reverse that trend.

In addition, the housing commission's efforts to expert IT's acquisitions will provide individuals and families.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This does conclude your time.

Stephen Russell, please approach the Lieutenant.

You've been seated time by Byron Ware.

Byron, thank you.

So you'll have two minutes.

Well, thank you.

I think it's one of the first times that Byron has ceded the uh the Rostrum to anyone, so I thank you for that, sir.

Um Steven Russell, I'm the president and CEO of the San Diego Housing Federation, honorable chair and committee members.

I want to thank the staff at the San Diego Housing Commission, in particular, Noder Ho and Wendy DeWitt for their just long-standing commitment to this project and for engaging folks uh in the collaborative.

I'm a member of the the preservation collaborative as well.

And uh especially want to thank folks like Legal Aid Society who stands behind me or sits behind me right now.

Um I do want to speak also to the uh to commend the thoughtful and deliberate process of creating this fund that started back in 2020 with a report that remains salient today, and I encourage folks to revisit that report because it is it uh describes the state of housing in San Diego in very clear terms.

Um it also underscores the the extent to which homelessness is a housing problem.

And that bears repeating homelessness is a housing problem.

And when you look at this report, you look at the loss of naturally affordable housing in the in the city of San Diego.

We started in 2000 with 90,000 units that were affordable to low income, 50 percent AMI and below.

We had 90,000 units in 20 in the year 2000, 60,000 such units in 2010, 30,000 such units in 2020.

That is, you know, loss of two-thirds of the total naturally occurring affordable housing stock, and that is directly a driver of street homelessness.

I will remind you that in 2021, uh Conrad Previs uh uh estate uh sold a portfolio to Blackstone, 6,000 units of housing.

We asked them at the time.

I worked with uh uh at the time, uh state senator um I'm gonna say uh Tony Atkins was signed on to a letter, Todd Gloria signed onto a letter, Chris Ward signed on to a letter asking previous to break up the portfolio, sell pieces of it so we could preserve some under affordability.

There was no mechanism to do so.

We need that mechanism.

This action today will begin to create that, and our sector stands ready to assist in helping to implement it.

Joanne, please approach the lecture.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair Lee, committee members and staff.

My name is Joanne Franciscus, and I'm the executive director of the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and a member of the Affordable Housing Preservation Collaborative Stakeholder Group.

As part of a comprehensive strategy to address the housing crisis, it is imperative that the city take measures to preserve existing affordable housing.

The affordable housing preservation ordinance that the city passed in February was a crucial step towards ensuring that deed restricted affordable housing units retain their affordability.

However, the city desperately needs dedicated affordable housing preservation seed funding to preserve both deed restricted and naturally occurring affordable housing.

Without a preservation fund, more than a third of new construction will simply replace the affordable housing units being lost, severely hampering any progress the city tries to make in addressing the housing crisis.

Without immediate action, many San Diegans, especially low-income households earning less than 80% of the area median income, will be an increase in risk for homelessness.

I urge you to approve the next steps in the San Diego Housing Commission establishing an affordable housing preservation fund.

Thank you.

Gilberto, you'll be followed by Marco and Sermio and Cesar Javier.

Good afternoon, Chair Lee and Council members.

My name is Gil Vera, and I am the director of the Housing Justice Collaborative at Legal A Society San Diego, and I'm here to urge you to support the affordable housing preservation fund.

With the existing scarcity of affordable housing, we cannot afford to lose any deed restrictor, naturally occurring affordable housing units.

Through the services we provide under the City of San Diego's eviction permission program, we see more and more evictions for non-payment of rent and general housing affordability issues for low-income San Diegans.

Low-income tenants defined as 80% AMI or less simply cannot afford their rent and are at risk of homelessness if they have an unexpected expense or a decrease in income.

This is why the funding funding the preservation of affordable housing is so crucial.

Every affordable housing unit loss results in more low-income households being rent-burdened and at risk of falling into homelessness.

There is no silver bullet to solve our housing crisis.

However, preservation is one of the three P's along with protections and productions that holistically help address and ameliorate our housing crisis.

I ask you to support the affordable housing preservation fund for low-income San Diegans.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marco Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Marco Briones, and I am the political director of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council.

We represent more than 200,000 working families in about 130 different 35 different unions across our region.

We'll keep it very simple.

We hear every day from our members that their biggest and most pressing concern is the cost of living in San Diego.

Our working families worry daily about their ability to remain in San Diego, which has one of the highest costs of living with you all know.

Today's potential action would be another step in the right direction towards helping our neighbors stay in the communities they were raised in, helping working families get a leg up, not a hand out.

Let's do this for the working class families that depend on us, and we urge your support for the creation of affordable housing preservation fund.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Sermio.

Good afternoon.

My name is Ansadimo Jacostrada with the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council.

Councilmember Lee also want to thank you for the way you ran this meeting.

Like my brother Marco Brionis mentioned, these meetings can be difficult sometimes, and we appreciate you getting us through it.

That being said, I also want to uh urge this council, this committee to support the item today.

Uh this is one step in the right direction to do what should have been done a while ago, but we're here now uh is to preserve affordable housing.

It's to make sure that the folks that live and work in the city of San Diego uh have opportunities to live and work in the city of San Diego.

Um we are in a cost of living crisis.

Uh elected officials, decision makers are not uh spectators in that fight.

You are decision makers, and you have an opportunity to ease the burden that working class people feel in this city.

Um thank you so much, and please support this item.

Thank you.

Caesar, you've been seated time by Peritas.

You'll have two minutes to speak to item three.

Two minutes.

Is this really a problem?

That San Diegans do not have a place, a room to live.

Come on, think.

Is it the housing or lack of wealth getting on the part of the human being, San Diegans?

They have no job because they are sick, basically.

You have been using homelessness as your gateway to deceive us.

How could they afford a house when they do not have job?

When they do not have a means of wealth getting.

Where are the golds in the region?

Where are the copper?

Where are these uranium and lithium?

Resources that are driver.

Not only this shelter problem, but people who would be able to have money to rent and hopefully own home.

In our case, we have home, but we cannot live there because there's poison gas.

Next door.

Thank you.

This concludes in-person public testimony.

We will now move to the virtual queue.

I've started the five-minute timer.

We have six hands raised in the virtual queue.

As a reminder, each speaker will have one minute.

Becky Rapp, please unmute and begin.

Good afternoon.

Um, as you consider the creation of affordable housing um preservation fund, I urge you also to address the critical health and safety concern affecting the families that these homes are meant to protect.

The presence of marijuana billboards near affordable housing sites.

Affordable housing should provide stability, security, and opportunity for family children and seniors.

Yet allowing marijuana advertising directly outside these communities undermines those goals.

Research shows that board billboards exposure normalizes youth and youth use, excuse me, and youth who see marijuana ads are more likely to initiate use at younger ages.

Children walking to school or riding the bus should not be greeted daily by bright marijuana billboards right outside their homes.

Families who finally gain stability of affordable housing should not have to trade that stability for exposure to predatory advertising.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lori Saldania.

Please unmute and begin.

Yes, thank you.

Um I'd like to suggest that to create this preservation fund, this committee establish a fee to be charged on every licensed short-term vacation rental in the city.

They're currently displacing people from thousands of permanent full-time homes, and they're reducing the availability of all housing.

And there are over 8,000 licensed short-term rentals operating in San Diego.

So instead of taking money out of the neighborhood enhancement fee fund, charge each of them $600 a year to fund that $5 million.

So $600 a year times over 8,000 licensed short-term rentals.

You have your $5 million.

The average cost for a coastal short-term rental is $300 a night.

So you're basically asking these people for two nights worth of revenue to keep San Diegans from losing their housing and becoming homeless.

I think that's a much better solution to fund this every year, as opposed to taking it out of neighborhood enhancement fees when short-term rentals disrupt our neighborhoods.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is phone number ending in 870.

Please press star six and begin.

Excuse me.

Wendy, Colin, Lisa, and the rest of the team.

This is the work of greatness.

This is the work of greatness.

Please continue doing what you're doing.

I approve the five million.

And I want to say this, folks, listen to me.

The San Diego Housing Commission is bringing forward their new updated strategic plan.

It'll be at the board meeting as an information item on the 12th of September, and then it'll roll forward.

Be sure and look at that.

It's going to include acquisition strategies.

It's going to include acquisition strategies.

I hope so.

I know so.

So thank you, everybody.

This is great work and try philanthropy.

Will you?

There's lots of money in those pockets.

Uh, there's lots of gold in them their heels.

Okay, thanks for listening.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jeff Hoyer.

Jeff, please begin.

Uh, this is Jeff Hubert from Neighbors for Better San Diego.

Um, we welcome this initiative because nationally occurring affordable housing or NOAA tends to be excluded from our annual housing reports, which track permits for new units and deed restricting units, but not the number of NOAA units that we have and the loss of those units more importantly.

Today's presentation shows really how important this is to meeting the needs of San Diego families.

One thing that we would like to bring up and we've advocated for in the past is that we have more robust housing requirements and complete communities and other programs, um, which today only require replacement of you know deed restricted or um identified low income as opposed to requiring that all of the existing units be replaced under the assumption that they're NOAA.

This is an important thing because if we had this requirement, it would actually lower the price of acquisition and help the fund go farther.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Zoom user.

Please unmute and begin.

Well, I can you guys hear me?

Yes.

Okay, got working.

Hey, there is a silver bullet in housing and also in employment.

Our great president, Johnald J.

Trump is hiring a hundred thousand ICE agents.

And we're gonna do the rapid deportation of all the illegal aliens that live in San Diego County.

There's gotta be at least 200,000 of them.

And they gotta go back to their country of origin.

That'll open up a lot of rental units, jobs, everything else.

So there is a silver bullet.

It's brought to you by Donald J.

Trump.

And it's coming at you guys.

And if one of you guys stand in the way, you guys, the political parties or political people.

You're like, uh, could be going to Guantanamo, man.

But it's coming down the road.

You can talk about it eight.

But if you if an illegal alien stands in a section eight housing, they're gonna lose their voucher.

Even the owner of that property could lose his ability to get vouchers.

So you might want to.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, committee, for letting me speak again.

Thank you to the housing committee for this item.

It seems laudable.

Respectfully, one of the policies the city should recognize is the importance of not permitting commercial businesses in post-productivity to private properties that are inconsistent, incompatible, or potential nuisance to an existing community residence.

Caesar and Perita Javier are an example of the city's failure to protect their property, allowing having allowed a commercial enterprise near their home that has compromised their health and destroyed their peaceful enjoyment of their property, which ultimately could force them out of the home that they should be able to inhabit for the rest of their natural lives.

Thank you.

And please consider a policy that protects the residents from commercial enterprises.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And our final speaker in the queue is Saad Asad.

Please unmute and begin.

So this is a cost-effective strategy.

Um, with that said, of course, this is uh a necessary strategy, but it speaks to why is this uh housing being converted and and the kind of necessity of what's happening there.

It's uh important that we continue to build more housing and pursue other strategies to continue to expand housing options so that uh these initial, you know, naturally occurring affordable housing stays naturally occurring affordable housing rather than being priced up because of excessive competition.

If we have more housing options options, there'll be less competition for the existing housing rentals that we do have.

So I once again encourage support of this proposal while also continuing to fight back the and preserve and promote more competition, more housing options.

Thank you.

And Chair, this concludes public comment on item three.

Thank you to all the members of the public for participating.

Um I'd like to kick off this discussion by first thanking my colleague, Councilmember Vivin Moreno, for her years of leadership and advocacy as the chair and a member of this committee to bring the preservation ordinance that this council adopted earlier this year to reality.

Um I think as we acknowledged at that time, the ordinance was just the first major step to move the city's affordable housing preservation strategy forward, and that the next major hurdle would be to begin identifying resources to actually take action.

Um today we're returning to do just that, and I want to thank the housing commission for their hard work in moving us forward, and also to recognize our planning and economic development departments for working collaboratively with the Santa Gousing Commission as discussions on utilizing the neighborhood in f enhancement fees moved forward.

These funds offer us a critical opportunity to create uh inclusive and affordable communities moving forward.

Um, as a city and a council, we've taken a plethora of actions to encourage more housing and especially more affordable housing across the city.

Um yet, as members of the public today eloquently shared, um, increasing the supply of housing is only one piece of the puzzle, and the preservation of existing affordable housing is equally as critical for us to address this housing crisis.

Uh too many families that we all know face limited housing options, and we can't let affordability continue to slip further out of reach.

Um so I'm I'm especially pleased to see the focus on purchasing mixed income properties in high opportunity uh resource areas.

Um, and I think of my district in particular when I think of that as part of the strategy where we have numerous communities where the preservation of naturally affordable, naturally occurring affordable housing is going to be a big piece of the puzzle, um, not only for the residents who currently count on that housing and today, if they were to move, would have no other options within the area they live in, um, but also because it's part of the city's long-term strategy, um, our obligation really to ensure that we have housing options that are affordable near good jobs, good schools, and good transit.

Um, as much as we're taking this step forward today, I think this is also an important time for us to acknowledge that it is just that.

It is a step.

Uh, it's one that opens a door through which we will need to engage and bring on support from local philanthropic organizations to look at how we can partner with major employers within the region uh and more, because this preservation fund will not uh work on its own just between the city and the housing commission.

Um the fund is a meaningful way to be part of the solution, and I think it'll be up to us collectively here to present that opportunity.

Um, I also want to thank the independent budget analyst for highlighting the need for clear details when it comes to implementation, prioritization, and the timeline, um, especially as we're going to move forward from establishing this fund uh and seeding it with that initial five million dollars to seeing how we actually deliver upon the long-term vision and function that has previously been laid out.

And to that point, I thought I'd I'd turn back to the Santa Housing Commission um staff to see if you wanted to share a little bit more about how we intend to bridge from this seed funding to the long-term implementation so that we can ensure that the resources we have are directed where they will be most effective.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for the question, Councilmember.

The intention is to use the initial $5 million as a seed fund, as we've discussed, that once a property is acquired and established uh track record so that other institutions can see that that the how the housing commission, the housing authority city council action does actually work, and that we believe will bring investment to San Diego, whether through CDFIs, banks, or philanthropic organizations.

So the first step would be to transfer the funds, identify a property, receive approval to acquire the property, and enter into into negotiations, acquire the property, and then operate it.

So that will establish our track record.

And so to give you an exact timeline, it depends on what's in on in for sale in the market at that time.

Uh, but that's the general steps we would take in order to establish step one before going to step two, which is bringing other investors into the fund.

I think that the reality is that we'll need additional investors and funding to be able to grow the fund's ability to actually um work as intended, um, but that the seed funding really is a way for us to begin testing out how we can acquire properties and look at the rehabilitation, which I know the housing commission is already uh taking some initial steps towards.

Um, with that in mind, um thank you, and uh I'm happy to move um the item as recommended in the staff report, and we'll turn next to Councilmember Moreno.

Thank you, and um thank you for the presentation.

Um thank you to Chair Lee for docking this item today.

Um I truly appreciate the work that the housing commission uh continues to do in the preserve uh preserving affordable homes across the city.

Um I want to be very clear that this would not be possible without the thoroughness, professionalism, and commitment to the city of San Diego that Wendy DeWitt and Colin Miller have really shown on this um item or this package, if you will.

Um this is truly important because the city, so thank you for that.

I just wanted to make, you know, I what definitely wanted to recognize both of you for all the work that you guys have put into this.

Um it's important because the city of San Diego badly needs affordable homes.

Uh we're behind our RENA housing needs assessment, um, regional housing needs assessment, also known as RENA goals of building 44,880 homes, affordable homes by 2030.

44,880 homes.

This is basically in five years.

Um according to the uh planning department's 2024 annual report on homes, as of 2023, we've only permitted 4,594.

So it makes it absolutely imperative that we do everything within our power to ensure that affordable homes that exist today remain affordable and accessible to San Diegans.

Um I was able to partner with the housing commission to pass the affordable housing preservation ordinance this past February, um, which I think I I championed a few years back as the L UNH chair, which was and is a critical tool in the city's ongoing effort to keep in place the affordable homes that currently exist.

Um, as was mentioned, and I want to reiterate that was a first step in strengthening how we can keep affordable units throughout our communities in place.

Um the housing commission and affordable housing developers are at the table when a building with affordable units is up for sale and that those homes are at risk of becoming market rate.

Um but we knew back in February that the next step after passing the preservation ordinance would be creating a fund that could actually support acquisition and rehab efforts of existing units at risk of being lost.

Um it is one of the reasons I listed the funding of a preservation fund in my budget memo last year.

Uh the preservation ordinance and preservation fund will provide a one-to-punch in terms of the city's ability to keep existing affordable homes in place.

Um, as mentioned in the staff report, uh there are over 4,200 deed restricted units set to expire by 2040, 590 in the next two to three years alone.

So over 9,000 naturally occurring affordable homes are at risk of becoming market rate by 2040.

Uh given the state of our housing crisis, we simply cannot lose any one of them.

The strategy that we've presented uh today, I think makes a lot of sense.

Uh, utilizing bonds uh paired with neighborhood enhancement fee funds uh to finance the acquisition of naturally accord uh um occurring affordable housing properties, um and also to close any funding gap between what bonds can support and the total acquisition cost will allow us to quickly preserve uh units.

Um targeting initial acquisitions that are stable, uh review revenue generating and multifamily properties in high opportunity areas that do not require any major rehab will help begin a revenue stream that could be built up into resources to be accessed to either acquire more units or provide pathways for current ownership to keep them affordable.

I think the sky's the limit, right?

On this.

Um so with any issuance of a bond for acquisition of a property for affordable housing, what would be the repayment period?

Thank you for the question, Councilmember.

The traditional bond repayment period is 30 years.

However, in order for us to achieve more favorable financing terms, uh we've been talking with various bond purchasers.

We've shown us much more favorable favorable rates at 15-year term, a 10-year term, or a seven-year term.

So the short of the term requires a faster repayment, but if the reward is a lower interest rate.

So it's traditional as 30.

We've been looking at 15 year terms in order for these deals to cash flow better.

Got you.

And then when they start repaying that money is gonna come back into this fund and keep on regenerating.

Correct.

The yeah, all the cash flow would go to the uh to to the sorry, to the preservation fund.

Okay.

And I I think you answered this, but just for the sake, I always think about that my mom watches um city TV, but I always think of the benefit of the public um knowing in layman's terms, you know, exactly what this um is gonna look like.

Um could you walk us through how a potential deal in concept may work on acquiring a property?

Um step one, from step one of identifying a property to issue about a bond, and how the neighborhood enhancement fund would support that process and how a property will create a revenue stream to feed back into the fund.

Of course, happy to do so.

So the at the initial onset of the funds transferring to the housing commission in this proposal, uh, we would then look start looking for properties that are for sale, multifamily properties that you are at risk of converting to market or our market that we could then deed restrict for a 55-year affordability period.

Uh once we and the and additionally in high resource areas.

Once we identify a site, we would bring that site back for internal review and approval as well as approval by the housing commission, land, land use and housing city council.

Uh we would then work through the negotiation process with seller to arrive at a purchase price that is supported by an appraisal.

Uh we wouldn't we would never pay more than appraised uh value for a property.

And then we'd also assuming that the seller and the housing commission can reach an agreed upon price, we would come back to the HDP board if HTP is issuing the 501c3 bonds.

If it's going through the housing commission, we go to the housing commission board first.

Uh but ultimately housing commission and then to the housing authority for approvals for the bond issuance as well as the tougher resolution and bond inducement resolutions.

Once the property is acquired, the idea is that we would we would be acquiring properties that require virtually no renovation.

So if it's a if it's a brand new property, people can move in immediately.

If it's a property that has individuals living there, we've preserved the affordability for them.

Um as the property cash as people pay the rent, uh the building has obviously has expenses to pay.

And the analogy I would use is that your bonds are basically the mortgage.

And the neighborhood enhancement fee is basically the down payment.

And so that down payment allows the purchase price to come down a little so that the what the bonds that are issued can actually support the debt the property can support.

So every year the property pays its taxes, pays uh staff of rent for operations, makes the payment on the bought the bonds or the mortgage, and the remaining cash flow after that's done comes back to the preservation fund to be recycled into the next deal.

Wonderful.

Thank you for taking the time and going into de and into detail.

Um the final point I want to make is um I do appreciate the housing commit uh commission's uh researching uh or searching for underutilized or unused restricted funds that have a balance in them that could be repurposed uh for use um in this program, which obviously is far better, it's a far better use than having um the money sitting dormant.

So thank you for that.

Um thank you again uh to uh Chair Lee for docketing this discussion today.

And I can't stress enough, um I just I always I I'm as I sit here as a council member.

I've continuously been impressed with the housing commission um and all the great work you guys do.

Um this just you know, this is a home run, and I appreciate your commitment as I stated to the citizens of San Diego.

We are the face, and you guys do a lot of the really hard work.

So thank you for that commitment.

Um so I'm happy on that note, I'm happy to second this motion and looking forward uh to the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have both a motion and a second.

We'll turn next to Vice Chair Guller Rivera.

All right, thank you, Chair.

Um thanks, Colin and Wendy for the work on this.

Really, really appreciate it.

Um Lisa, thank you for uh continuing to prioritize this and um Councilmember Moreno and uh Chair Lee definitely appreciate you all um continue to prioritize the city making a more concerted effort when it comes to preservation.

Um I I do also I appreciate it uh Amy uh not just the report but the recognition within that of the the council making the prioritization of of five million dollars toward um the this preservation fund.

This wouldn't be happening without council being committed to making it happen, and and that feels important to note.

The um the comments my colleagues have have um that you all have made, I I think uh say a lot of what I wanted to say, but uh there was a couple comments um from the public that I think were important to to really note.

Um Gil's still here, Gil's still here.

Gil's still here.

Um the the you mentioned the three P's, you know, production, preservation, production, protection, and preservation.

And um the city has been very vocal about the production side.

Um we've worked hard on the protection side, and I think we have lagged on the preservation side, and that speaks to Mr.

Russell's point of the 60,000 affordable homes that were lost over the last uh during the first 20 years of this of this um of the 20 excuse me, the 60,000 homes that were lost since uh 2000.

Um that is an enormous number.

And uh I think that that is a really good demonstration of why it's so important for government to act.

Um sitting by and hoping that housing will um would remain affordable, or that housing would um not be seen as a commodity simply does not work.

Uh and we are dealing with the consequences now.

Uh I I know from the communities that I represent, and having seen how some of the naturally occurring affordable housing is is viewed by folks who um see it as no more than an opportunity to make a lot of money with very little regard for the impact that that'll have on the lives who are living the lives of the people who are living in those homes.

And I um I I I think a lot about City Heights when we we talk about preservation and uh uh Chairley, I know that you have a connection to that community as well from your your family.

And um, you know, these are these are folks who care deeply about their community, commit a lot of time and effort into improving those communities, and I think that the council members on this committee have a um each of us have neighborhoods within our districts that understand this.

What it feels like to work so hard to s to have your community invested in, to see it improved, and then to no longer afford to be able to live in that community once the fruits of the of those improvements begin to um to be born.

Uh it's so hard to watch.

And I I appreciate that we're taking measures to no longer sit back and watch and actually um do something about it.

And um the actions here today and the actions that will need to come, um I I think um will give more families hope.

Um that it's just it's not simply a matter of time before they get priced out of their communities.

And um so really, really glad that we're doing this today.

Um I'm very much looking forward to seeing what we can do to ensure that we have the resources necessary to actually be able to um to be as aggressive as as possible in preserving affordable housing, the the very, very limited affordable housing that exists.

And obviously that means that doesn't mean that we can let our foot off the pedal when it comes to production.

It certainly is not an excuse um to not continue to work on protection because we actually know the protection and uh preservation piece can kind of go hand in hand.

Um but I think we're taking a very very important step in the right direction.

Uh the last thing I will say is um the the story that Mr.

Russell shared of of the 6,000 units uh purchased by Blackstone, I think is a perfect example.

Blackstone exists purely to make as much money as possible.

And the fact that they saw uh affordable housing in San Diego as such a great profit opportunity tells us a lot about why it's so important for government to step in and be assertive in uh playing a role here.

The market's not going to do it for us.

The market's not working for the folks who are being priced out of San Diego.

And if we want families to believe that they have a future here, uh we have a responsibility to act aggressively, and I'm glad that we're taking a step in that direction.

So uh thank you, Chair.

Uh, I'll turn it back to you.

Thank you.

We'll turn next to the council member Kimpeel.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to our staff here from the housing commission on their great work over the last uh several months uh and year to get this uh moving forward on the concept, and then of course the first affordable housing preservation ordinance.

Um I'm frankly excited to see this preservation strategy and what you've put in front of us.

I know that dollar for dollar, that investing in preservation that pays dividends over the long term uh and that with a revolving fund model, it can particularly be successful, can start out small, build upon itself, get a reputation and attract people to uh invest money in a way that's gonna benefit communities and and keep housing affordable, but also renovated and new.

And I can see that uh we have a lot of proposals in front of us, but what you have here today is really, really well.

I'm gonna support the motion, but just wanted to ask for the public's benefit.

What is the cost to preserve affordable housing versus constructing new housing in in terms of whether it's dollar per door or cost per square foot?

That's something that the average uh the average resident thinks through when they're looking at buying a home, when they're thinking about renting a unit, um, that dollar for dollar amount is important.

So do we know what the dollar amount per door for preserving affordable housing is and or the cost per square foot?

Sure.

So the in in very general terms, in order to to take into account the acquisition of the property as well as the renovation, we're seeing that around 400,000 per unit.

That's to buy the building and then do the work.

Uh for new construction, we've seen it range anywhere from a little over 500 to uh upwards of 900,000 dollars per unit again, land construction and everything else.

Understood.

Uh in general terms, it's it's clear that preserving these units uh rather than spending this money to construct new units is is uh is essentially the right way to move forward.

So I I think what you've put in front of us is really good.

I know that we're um trying to identify sustainable local funding strategies.

Um can you just boil it down to three sentences?

How do you expect the revolving fund to grow?

Because it's not just gonna stay at a stable amount.

How do you expect it to grow?

Can I have four sentences?

Okay.

Twelve sentences.

Well, okay, thank you.

Uh so it try to boil this down.

So the idea is that the initial seed funding uh five million dollars is paired with 501c3 or general obligation bonds, that acquires the first property.

Uh once that property is stay is up and running, the cash flow from that property goes back into the fund.

At the same time, we're uh we're reaching out to uh philanthropic organizations here in San Diego.

We're reaching out to CDFIs, we're reaching out to banks and investment groups like Chase Bank or US bank who have certain funds that where they want to invest in areas like San Diego.

Once we can they can uh dedicate their some some funding to the uh preservation fund, we can now go out and make loans to smaller developments that may need a new roof, uh, or they may need some minor upgrades or major upgrades.

Now that fund has more capital to actually lend those funds out.

Okay.

Thank you.

And we're anticipating f philanthropic dollars uh or I I assume private investment would also see this as a potential hedge, depending on which way the market goes for them, and say this this is a good thing to invest in.

But ultimately, the housing authority and the governing body that oversees this is gonna make sure that we're gonna keep prices affordable for the people who are living in the units, right?

Correct.

Everything would be deed restricted uh at either 50, 60, 700 or 80% AMI.

So that and that those affordability covenants would last for as long as a property zone.

So 55 years or more.

Understood.

Okay.

Um I know that we heard at EDNIR yesterday, uh the bridge to home programs uh sixth round uh is gonna have a new matrix when taking in applications for that money where they're going to give priority points to developments in proposed high, highest and moderate resource areas.

Um after the initial projects needed to get this fund off the ground are completed, do you see that we might have you and are you anticipating putting in a similar incentive structure so that we can meet our affirmatively furthering fair housing goals and utilize this money in high resource areas rather than low resource areas?

So understand that we're gonna we're gonna come back from my multiple occasions to this board to this governing body as well as the the city council and the housing commission board, uh I think that will evolve over time.

Our intention is that as you as you noted initially to focus on high and highest resource areas because there's a need for that, and there's a need to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing in those areas.

Uh should we decide to uh expand the scope to maybe lower resource areas, that's something that would need to come back for uh approvals.

Okay, so AFFH is built into this is what you're saying.

For the record, he's nodding up at the end.

Oh sorry, yes.

Very good.

Thank you for your good work.

I'm gonna be supportive of the item.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Uh with that said, uh, there's a motion by myself, a second by councilmember Moreno, and we will turn to call the roll.

And the motion passes unanimously four zero.

Thank you.

Natalie, will you please um introduce item four as we hear our information agenda?

Thank you.

Item four, factory built housing.

And if you're watching on City TV or the live stream online and would like to call in to provide comment on item four, please call 16692545252.

The webinar ID is 160630623 pound.

Chair.

Thank you.

We'll let Gary and the team get settled.

And the ones are ready, if you would uh go ahead and take a moment to introduce yourselves for the record and let us know how much time you'll need.

Good afternoon, Chair Lee, committee members.

My name is Gary Gallery, the assistant director of the development services department.

With me is Kelly Charles, the deputy director over the building construction and safety division, who oversees all the building reviewers and inspectors out in the field.

And she's also our chief building official for the city of San Diego.

There are two members of the working group out in the audience that will join us at the end of the presentation.

We're here today to present the results of a working group that development services put together over the past several months regarding factory built housing.

There's been an increase in interest in development of factory built housing within City of San Diego.

A few years ago, we worked with a smaller group to identify process improvements, an actual process to permit these to go through the development services printing process.

We can meet a working group that consisted of development services staff, state of California housing community development staff, industry professionals, designers, and builders to look at the existing procedures that we have in place, see some ideas to streamline the process to get this housing on the market faster.

And these are naturally affordable.

Thinking about the last item that we just heard, these fit into our housing strategy.

And there's almost about 2,000 units either in built in process or in review or inspecting right now as we speak.

So with that, I'll pass it to Kelly Charles to go over some of the working group.

Thank you, Gary.

All right.

So just to start with, what is factory built housing?

I'd say it's relatively new.

We were doing single-family homes this way, but it is uh described as a process where a residential building, a dwelling unit, or a component of a building is manufactured in such a manner that all the concealed parts or processes cannot be inspected before or after installation at the building site without disassembly.

So basically they're uh constructed in a factory and then shipped to the site.

So it allows for uh consistent um installation and redundancy, and then they are shipped to the site and then connected on site.

Uh factory built housing gets confused by a lot of different other items, and so um it is not a mobile home or manufactured home.

Those have uh federal regulations associated with them.

It's also not commercial modular.

Um, those are also um, you know, you see commercial office spaces that are used that are put on site, or even uh construction trailer that's brought on site.

So, what role does DSD play in factory built housing?

It's a very interesting concept.

It's actually set forth in the California building code.

It says it's built in a factory, so the um Department of Uh Housing and Community Development actually assigns what's called a DAA, it's a design approval agency to review the plans and then inspect.

They have a QAA, the quality uh assurance agency inspects it in a factory.

It can be built anywhere in this country, but they're um or in another country, in fact.

Um what DSD does is review for the site built portions.

So sometimes there's a site-built um parking garage, retail on the ground level, and then we look at the connections associated with it, um, and then site-built features like is it in a very high fire hazard severity zone, what the geological hazards for the soil, and then the setbacks, the zoning requirements.

Um we will review those, we'll also inspect the connections, and then we also are responsible for issuing a certificate of occupancy.

Uh so as Gary said, we set forth um a new working group based on some feedback.

We had some projects that were under our belt, and we decided to reconvene the group to see uh lessons learned.

You know, we developed this about three years ago, and it's a working uh work in progress.

So we met with the interested parties, which included developers, designers, also housing and community development, HCD, the state agency joined us along with some of our reviewers and some of our inspectors to provide feedback and guidance on how we can shape this information bulletin.

Um we had four meetings and we had a variety of topics, including plan check comments that they were seeing, questions during the plan check process.

Um what we do with construction changes.

Also, this is a unique topic because sometimes you can have damage during delivery.

And so, what do you do with that when it's already been inspected in a factory and then it's put on site?

Uh then there's engineering and right-of-way coordination issues that we hadn't delved into in the past.

Um, also we have complete communities and 100% affordable housing projects.

Um, we want to encourage those in utilizing factory-built housing.

However, sometimes the timelines don't really mesh with the funding timeline.

So we wanted to include that in our new um and revised information bulletin.

And then also talk about inspection issues.

Until you've actually done one of these projects and completed it and issued a certificate of occupancy, we can't anticipate all of the maybe potential concerns or questions we had.

So uh we heard from our inspectors and then allowed the um designers and um uh developers to provide feedback.

And then the result of it is information bulletin uh 241.

Um it was revised uh two days ago, and you'll see the um updates on our website.

It is a working document, so hopefully, you know, if we get additional feedback, we can continue to revise it.

Uh, but it does include all of the steps for plan review, uh inspection, um, meetings, coordination, and then um all of the items that were discussed.

And one of the main items that was discussed that we hadn't talked about previously was traffic control.

Uh it requires a large crane, a large staging area to lift these in.

So we did include a large portion of our bulletin to talk about traffic control and how to uh maintain and um submit for those permits.

And I'll hand it to Gary now.

This is just some slides of some current installation of factory built housing.

As you can see, the cranes do require traffic control because some portions of the street might have to be closed off for a certain period of time.

Um the beauty of this construction is though, it's not a year long or a year and a half long, like some of the projects that you see.

So the complaints from neighbors and businesses about impacts to them is mitigated because these are done in some cases, you know, within six weeks.

Um, the majority of the work is completed.

So that's what's really fascinating.

Um here's one of the finished projects.

Um there's others.

This is just a location of what these two developers that were on the working group have gone through with the city of San Diego currently built under inspection in process or under review, and that's approximately 2,000 units.

So within three years, we're seeing a lot of this, and we anticipate to have more.

Um and with that I'll conclude our presentation.

But I would like to have the two members of the working group to speak.

They put in speaker slips.

That's um Andrew Ronaldo from Impact Housing and Edward Kane from Domo Housing.

Great.

Uh if they've submitted speaker speak slips, we can we can have them come up in their time.

If they need more time, I think I'm sure we'll be happy to cede some additional time to them.

So we'll turn next to public comment.

Thank you, Chair.

The public comment period for item four is now open.

Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, sure.

We'll begin with Edward Kane and Andrew Reneo.

Andrew.

Whoever would like to afternoon.

Doesn't matter.

Yeah.

Uh Andrew Ronala with Impact Housing.

Very excited to be here.

We have worked uh very closely with the team at uh development services department.

We have put in so far uh over 400 apartment units have been TCO'd across three different projects.

We have uh 480 under construction right now and uh over 200 units in plan check.

So we use the factory built housing program.

We've also um utilized the complete communities housing program to really help drive affordability into San Diego.

So uh impact housing, you know, the first four projects are naturally unsubsidized workforce at low and moderate income housing solutions.

We are substantially uh a lower cost than new construction that is market rate.

Um, and we do that with the factory built housing uh program as well because we can build in a controlled environment, we can um leverage economies of scale by building in a factory with a standardized process.

We get higher quality for the end users that it comes out, and we can also do it faster, which helps when you're getting loans and paying interest and things like that, helps reduce those, which ultimately drives the cost of rent to that end user down.

Um the other benefit for kind of the productizing looking at factory built housing as a solution for the city of San Diego.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, was that Edward?

Edward is net I see.

Okay.

And this is Edward Kahn from Domo Modular.

Uh we're also similar to Impact Housing.

We do modular um factory-built uh modular apartments.

Uh we have our first project on Fourth Avenue right now going up.

Um, you know, we do ours out of steel, so we can actually go high-rise.

We can go up to 22 stories with the same boxes.

Um worked very closely with the group at the city who have been very helpful um helping us get through the you know uh situations you deal with when you're doing construction, and uh we look forward to working with them more.

Um we need some help on the traffic control and stuff that they're aware of, and uh you know, like Andrew said as well, you know, we bring the product in cheaper.

Um our headquarters are in San Diego and actually in Barrio Logan, and we have our factory down in Tijuana, so we utilize the cross-border um to get these projects in cheaper than you could do it traditionally.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have two additional speaker slips submitted for item four here in chambers.

Caesar Javier, please approach the electric and you've been seated time by Parita Javier, so you'll have two minutes.

You know, we are learners, fast learners.

How many hours could you put that up?

Give me time.

Thank you.

Oh, I mean public service is defined or characterized by timeliness.

We are on crisis.

People are dying, people are sick, people need roof, whatever the engineer could conceive.

Timeliness is important, Mr.

Rivera from uh Nicaragua.

The same concept, a spot on the land, and now you're planning to put it within this uh congested serving spot that we are trying to avoid.

Come on.

Oh, Attorney Campiglio is a good thinker.

We need housing for six thousand.

How many mom?

How many victims of uh toxic uh in your district?

Not answer, we know 10,000.

Okay, we need housing or shelter now concept.

How could you answer that?

Engineers.

And thank you for your presentation.

You see how engineers could work on this?

They're not the engineers, they are politicians.

Oh, is that Mr.

Lee?

Citizen Lee.

Thank you.

I've started the five-minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to indicate that they have public comment on item four.

Lori Saldania, please unmute.

You'll have one minute.

Um, yes, thank you.

And I think this is a great idea to speed up available housing.

Uh I was looking with interest at the map that's shown, and I tried to visualize what some of these look like.

And um I I may have the address wrong, but if these are going into communities that have historical designations, I I suspect that they will not be accepted.

Um the one on Goldfinch Street might be actually out of uh that area.

But again, um I I want to make sure that these if the city moves ahead with expediting housing in this way that it stays as housing, because this is a very quick way to add uh frankly another short-term rental unit.

Um, and if the city is serious about using these as permanent full-time residential housing units, please make sure whatever language you introduce for an ordinance incorporates that distinction um as these are uh installed.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Saad Asad.

Please unmute and begin.

Thank you for the presentation today.

I think this is a great opportunity.

And just to even speak to that Goldfinch point from the earlier commentary, I live right off Goldfinch.

There's nothing historical there.

This is a great spot for more housing, quite literally, yes, in my backyard too.

This factory built housing being built in my neighborhood.

So I support that.

The only question I have is if there's any differences in inspection requirements compared to like stick built housing.

Like, is there any way that we can speed up from the city side the way of producing and encouraging this type of housing?

Does it need to follow the same type of permitting processes?

Are there alternative, shorter pathways that can speed that up?

So already the construction is naturally fast.

Is there a way to speed up from the city side the uh construction and permitting and inspection of these types of housing?

Thank you all for building more housing.

Uh thank you to the committee for this presentation.

Thank you.

And our final speaker in the queue is a phone number ending in 870.

Joyce and Yat uh uh thank you so much.

Thank you to the working group and to everyone involved.

Uh we like to move forward, and this is exciting.

Just a couple of questions.

I may have missed it, but I was really uh looking forward to a price range on these structures, and I didn't uh hear it come forward.

Uh but I didn't have a chance to read the backup.

And number two, uh I know most of us, no, not most of us, maybe not enough of us know about what's happening in 3D printing.

It's now become 3D construction.

So I wonder if there's any modular pieces of this that are being used uh and produced to 3D printing construction.

And is there any things such as a 3D factory uh being built or present?

This is our future, folks.

This is AI, and I'm sure it can segue into what you're doing.

And then the only concern I had the ADUs that we have uh had so much trouble with putting too much on the time.

Thank you.

Sorry.

And Chair, this concludes public comment on item four.

Thank you.

We'll turn it over to committee members for questions and comments uh on this item.

We'll start with Council Member Campio.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh, thank you to our development services department for your work on this.

Um I know uh a number of folks outside the industry may be more familiar with manufactured or uh prefabricated homes, so factory built housing.

Uh, I'm I'm glad we could get a little more information on this.

Uh I'm curious where the factories are and where the homes are actually constructed and uh how they're just what it takes to transport them here and who's working in these factories and who's driving them here.

I think some uh two both of the members of the working group can speak to their specific factory locations and workers.

Yeah, and Andrew Ronaldo with Impact Housing.

Um, our factory is located in Yor Belinda.

Um we can service, you know, greater Southern California with that factory.

We transport up to about 500 miles.

Um, San Diego has been um a really good partner for us, um, both with Company Communities and the factory built housing program.

They understand the process and it's uh a great way to go.

Our our workers are local workers to the area, whether it's uh your belinda, Orange County, Riverside, um they are you know hardworking people.

We're trying to build housing for them.

Great.

How many um how many employees do you have in?

I guess.

Uh we're we're uh just over a hundred.

Um we can ramp up to uh just over 150 when we add a second shift in production.

Okay, and how quickly to produce do you well do you keep track?

Do you assess your production in terms of units built or in terms of square footage?

So depending on the number, like if you're building a two-bedroom unit, for example, it may be more modules.

But we we average about 17 modules per week out of our facility running two shifts.

Um that's about a 50 weeks, 850 modules per year.

And on average, right now, our our our um projects use about 1.3 modules per unit.

So you can just divide that by 1.3 and you get about 650 units or so a year in production um out of the Yor Belinda facility.

So yeah, we uh we built 1200 modules to date, um, all of them for San Diego.

Understood.

Do you you order them specifically to spec or by uh or do you produce what you think the market might need and they're ready to go?

So we we treat our our housing like a product, and so we get consumer feedback and do continuous improvement.

So we look at it look at it a lot more like manufacturing a car and getting feedback from the users, what works, what doesn't, and and iterating on that version.

So we have a standard kind of model that we like to deliver to the to the uh workforce that allows us to um really drive costs out, right?

Where there's no waste in uh in production, there's no waste of materials.

Where there's no waste in uh in production, there's no waste in materials, we can really optimize and really help drive that rent um lower for new construction.

So we're comparable on our rental price points to existing 40 or 50 year old apartment units out there.

Understood.

And what sort of warranties do you have uh for your consumers?

The typical warranty that you get for new construction.

So you have you know longer warranties on appliances and things like that.

You have your one-year contract or warranties that subcontractors provide.

Um it provides the same, if not greater.

I mean, one of the benefits for factory built housing, we build six-sided boxes a lot of times, and that provides better sound transmission between floors and between units.

And so we have a lot more um positive resident feedback that they don't hear a lot of neighbors tromping around, et cetera.

Got it.

And um what's your return policy?

No, I'm just joking with you.

Thank you very much for uh elucidating that for us.

Uh I'm interested to know.

Well, you got more answers.

Good.

Yeah, Edward Kane from Domo Modular.

Um our factory is actually in Tijuana.

Okay.

And so um, and our system is basically each box is a unit um until you get to like the two bedrooms and three bedrooms, which will add more units.

And uh our current factory can do uh about five hundred units a year, and next year we'll be in a new factory that will ramp up to about four thousand a year.

And so far we've concentrated on San Diego as our first market because our you know our headquarters are down here.

Um but we can transport all the way to probably about Texas.

Got it.

Okay.

Uh another question just came to my mind.

Where do you source your materials from?

Is your cement lumber?

Everything's from Mexico building.

We buy everything in the US.

We're usually we're we're utilizing the US MCA program.

So we buy everything locally and ship it down and then bring it back.

Got it.

Tariffs not affecting you because you're part of the deal.

Correct.

Got it.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair, for putting this on the agenda.

Thank you, Councilmember Campio.

Uh so you know the speakers uh I'll chime in here to just note I I think we all can agree that we need all every type of housing that we can um find.

And uh even as we're seeing factory built housing uh taken up, there are obviously some limitations to that still at the moment in terms of throughput.

Um, but that there are um opportunities really to see that really come into fruition.

So thank you, Kelly, especially for looking at how we we integrate that into our process from a permitting um standpoint.

Um it's it's great to hear from the stakeholders uh in the working group thus far.

And I was really curious um what other stakeholders have been engaged or do you envision uh engaging in the future um as part of this um process?

Well, separate from factory build housing, we're looking at an inspection working group um because we do find that there have been issues with our stakeholders in terms of uh construction changes on projects, certificate of occupancies when those when those are issued.

So we're gonna look to uh form a working group on inspection um specifically and coordination with both right-of-way engineering and other departments on some projects.

So that'll that'll start up probably next month.

Well, thank you.

And and and again, I'll just reiterate Kelly, thank you for for your openness to exploring I I think not just this, but there have been a couple other sort of innovative um opportunities that have arisen in the last couple of years uh as we look at the cost of um construction being one of the big challenges uh in the per unit you know cost that we're exploring.

So um with that, let me turn over next to Councilman Reather Bear.

Apologies, sir.

Uh just the one question, and I don't know if this is Gary or if one of the um factory owners wants to speak to it.

I'm curious about the efficiencies that are being gained as more experience is gained.

Um typically speaking, you know, we we get better at things the more we do it.

Um so uh I don't know if you all would like to speak to that.

I'm also happy to hear from the I think we learned from the first few projects and with the information bulletin on how better to proceed.

We've we've seen an increase in the review process, the setup times to get these projects in, having it clearly identified what the state is looking at initially, when they can get that plan to us so we can take a early quick look at it, coordinate with our staff to know what they're looking at, what they don't need to look at.

The review process has been reduced considerably, and out in the field with inspections, I believe it has as well because HCD is looking at or inspecting some of these things in the factory itself, so by the time it gets to the site, what our inspectors have to look at is minimized.

Yeah, I think um along with that uh training with our staff um to know what to look at and what not to look at.

There was a lot of crossover happening, I think at the beginning because we get a full set of plans, but a lot of it's already been plan reviewed by the state.

And so uh we develop this resume of work and we have an example in our bulletin.

What do we review?

What is the state review?

What do we inspect?

What is the state inspect?

And really drilling down on that really with lessons learned, I think has expedited the review process.

What does that look like in terms of actual time?

The review process?

Yeah, that the change in time from you know the first one you all were looking at to you know when we're doing it now.

Gosh, I'd probably uh defer to our um our uh uh candidates here, but um I do think that the review turnaround times have uh shortened and also the number of cycles.

So um I would say Yeah, I would say that we we go substantially quicker than a typical um stick frame project because most of that plan checking is done for factory built by the state, and so we can run those in parallel uh in a lot of situations.

Um and so the city, again, by training their their staff, they are they know what to start focusing on, and we can we can really uh dive into a quicker return time and and get those out of the door faster for starting construction.

Right.

I guess what I'm asking is what's the what's the improvement like from where we're at today versus where we were a year ago versus you know the first the first project you did?

I would say we've probably cut plan check time for our the first project in versus these new projects by 50 percent.

Okay.

And what is that at an actual time like number of let's say it was uh 13 or 14 months before, we're now in that seven months time frame to be able to go through that process, and we're getting even faster as we look at kind of permit now and complete communities now and moving through those systems and and really refining that process with the city.

Are you able to put a dollar amount on what that reduction looks like?

If you own the land, it's that's huge.

Um if you're paying interest on a land loan or something like that, so it could be you know hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in in savings for the developer.

Um and again that helps drive the rents down if you can you can bring those those projects faster to uh occupancy.

And what about within the factory itself?

So that's the you know the permitting side, the inspection side of things on in terms of your process.

Are you doing it faster, cheaper than you were absolutely a year ago, five years ago?

Yeah, absolutely.

We do continuous improvement.

Um our manufacturing philosophy follows a lot of lean manufacturing principles, which come from the automotive industry, and so we do continuous improvement.

Every employee on the line is encouraged to bring ideas to help uh increase quality and then and then uh you know decrease uh cost so that we can ultimately pass that back on to the consumer.

Our goal is to keep bringing rents down.

Do you do you have an estimate in terms of how much time you've you've saved?

I mean, our first uh I mean, this is getting into the weeds, but yeah, our first uh our first I mean that's what we do.

Um 450 minutes per moving down the line, and we're at 247 now.

Okay.

Um we brought in some experts from the auto industry, they've been able to increase throughput by 70 percent.

So um from what we originally proformed to where we are now.

So there's a lot of improvement that's made on the factory built side that helps drive cost out, ultimately help bringing you know more cost effective solutions to the market.

Where do you see this in 10 years?

Automation is gonna start to really help drive throughput.

Um I think that what the city is being able to do is they're gonna be able to get increased productivity out of the staff because they're having to do less plan checks so they can get uh more projects out the door.

The same with the the workforce.

We can't triple the labor force in San Diego overnight and get triple the housing.

So if we can use off-site fabrication solutions that can increase the throughput and allow those that local workforce to really triple the amount of of production they can get out of that same workforce, I think that's where we're gonna see it.

So we're looking at ways that we can um continue to kind of increase that throughput in our facility and then open up uh more regional facilities to to drive more of this.

I mean, factory built housing right now is a very small percentage of the production, but its opportunity um is is huge.

So there's other companies in the in the modular or mobile home building, they're building 60,000 units, one company a year in the US, 60,000.

Um so the the opportunities there to really drive factory built housing as a as a main one of the main solutions of helping the housing crisis.

Appreciate that.

Thank you for bringing the conversation here, Chair.

Thank you for the responses.

I I think there I see a ton of potential here.

I also um think this is a great example of where we we have to just be very thoughtful about where technological innovation um the balance between real tangible benefits in terms of bringing down cost and time for uh building housing.

Um balancing that with ensuring that we're not displacing folks from work that they depend on in order to keep a roof over their heads.

And uh it doesn't need to be mutually exclusive.

Um it shouldn't be mutually exclusive.

And I think if we're thoughtful about it, we can we know that the demand for housing in San Diego County alone is enough to guarantee years of work, uh decades of work.

When you uh think about step back and think about the state as a whole, that certainly is true.

Um I definitely want to make sure we're careful to not do is um end up with a different problem with folks who had been building housing, having good middle class uh careers, um, no longer being able to um keep a roof over their heads.

Um yeah, if you by all means I would just like to share one thing.

Um so the state allows this third party inspection to review the plans and approve it.

At some point in the future, if the city allows the same third party, it would definitely speed up the process and cut down the cost as well as using less resources from city staff because all those plans are already being reviewed to make sure they meet the state uh requirements.

That same third party could be used by the city.

So at some point, you know, that might be a little way of speeding up plans getting approved.

And it would help on the manufacturing side because now you're dealing with one agency that's reviewing everything.

Understood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um appreciate uh the responses of definitely think it's an interesting conversation and like I said, there's tons of opportunity here.

Want to make sure that we are being really thoughtful about um how we how we move toward those in the ideal world.

Um, we're leaning into um the opportunity to reduce costs, speed up uh construction without in any way uh undermining uh the the the jobs and and um in fact uh creating more guaranteed work uh for the for the skilled and trained folks who uh are building houses now.

So thank you, Chair.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, uh Councillor Marie Lou Rivera for bringing that point up and for some of the answers that we received because I think that is actually a critical part of the conversation.

The moment I think folks hear automation, they they often are concerned about what that looks like for the future, and I think absolutely the the thoughtfulness in which we um use automation in a way that helps us maximize throughput with the workforce that we have.

I appreciate that you you framed it the way that you did, because that is the objective that I think um we're going to be seeking.

And and we've seen that in other economies as well.

Uh the green economy is a great example of one in in which we have sought to um shift labor forces to to really match a need moving forward.

Um and I I imagine that as we see more innovation from a housing perspective, we're gonna see that needed as well.

So um that is a big component of it.

It I I will echo that and Gary certainly knows we've we've engaged in many conversations with your team about um uh how plan checks and um permitting and the process that we go through uh can continue to be optimized and the potential for engaging further third party um plan checks and and other um processes.

And so that conversation is already happening at the city.

DSC has done a fantastic job in moving uh initiatives forward, and uh we'll we're gonna be excited to likely hear more updates on that front um very shortly.

So um I believe that then concludes item number four.

Uh and before we adjourn this meeting, I do have two um last comments I do want to make.

Uh one is um, and I understand that not everyone in the public, especially those who are watching on City TV, can see and hear everything that happens within this room.

Um but I will simply acknowledge that um I will you can count on me that I will always uh stand up and inquire if I see an incident where a member um who is in this room appears to be raising their voice to what seems like coerce another member of the public um to speak.

And uh I don't think that's something that we should stand quietly for.

It's why I spoke up uh when that moment happened.

Um and certainly if it happens again, uh I will do so again uh because I think it's it's we absolutely value um the public's opinions and their ability to speak, but we also want to ensure that the folks who are speaking are doing so because they would like to uh and not because someone is raising their voice telling them that they must.

Um the final thing, and on a really positive note is that um these meetings are only possible with a lot of support from our council administration team.

Uh and with that, Nana Kessler, who is here today is celebrating her birthday.

So I want to conclude this meeting by this taking this chance um to wish her a very happy birthday.

We can all sing right after we uh conclude the uh meeting today.

She'll be thoroughly embarrassed.

Uh and so with that I will now adjourn this meeting of the land use and housing committee to our next regularly scheduled meeting, which is on Thursday, October 9th, 2025 at one o'clock PM.

We are adjourned.