The Crisis Of Housing Affordability In San Diego

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The Crisis of Housing Affordability in San Diego-Tijuana

There has been a recent increase in population and the prices of houses in San Diego

which has led to an increase in house rents and limited homes and giving people a lot of

challenges when it comes to settling rents in San Diego. Looking for a location to rent in San

Diego is a problem since there are decidedly fewer places to rent which are flooded with the

countries high growth in population. Uncontrolled population growth is seen to affect

housing and the value of renting a house mostly. The problem of housing is more especially

to people who try to look for apartments near to places where they are employed. The

housing prices have rampantly increased over the past years which are a tremendous benefit

to the owners and the investors but on the other hand, tend to affect the tenants to a

considerable extent. This has posed a lot of strain on the part of the tenants who are paid

peanuts since they are not in a position to afford the more expensive houses which are

available in San Diego. This impact is, therefore, more on the people with less income which

cannot meet the standards of the open houses. The city officials should consider developing

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low-valued dwellings in the city to cater for the low-income earners in an attempt to prevent

the problem from transforming into economic trouble.

Researchers have found that the housing shortage is as a result of lack of allocation of

building license to new builders by the local authorities of San Diego. The study also

revealed that there had been no enough houses to cater for the new staff that the local

authority added over the past 20 years. These findings were strongly seconded in by the San

Diego government. The San Diego government suggests that the local government should

construct as many houses as it can in an attempt to meet the rampant population growth in the

country. The local government is accused of inadequate housing and lack of enough funds to

build up houses to reduce the high demand for homes in the country.

The differences between the demand and the available houses are enormous.

However, the vast numbers don’t dictate the real housing crisis in San Diego. The number of

low-income apartments in comparison to the number of high-income flats is another serious

issue that is heightening the problem. According to statistics, the number of houses built for

high-income individuals was higher compared to the number of apartments constructed for

middle and low-income earners in 2003 throughout 2010.The reason for the construction of

many houses for top income earners is because the high-income earners pay vast amounts of

rents to the owners. The investors, therefore, choose between building executive houses in an

attempt to increase their income which flows. The low-income earners are not in a position to

afford expensive homes. Hence the investors prefer building fewer rentals for them. This has

therefore led to the low-income earners who are mostly made up of the youth to have

problems looking for houses to stay in it. This is the primary reason for the emanation of

house shortage in San Diego.

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The low-income earners are therefore forced to go to the other surrounding towns and

outskirts of San Diego in an attempt to look for cheap and affordable houses which are close

to employment points. The low-income earners, therefore, travel for long journeys on their

way to and from job respectively. This has increased stress and transport costs to those youths

who cant afford expensive and luxurious houses which are present in the city. Lack of

housing is a massive crisis which has increased the gap between the poor and the rich in San

Diego. The poor are perceived as bankrupt and being unable to afford proper quality houses

which are in good states. This problem has indeed fostered suffering on the part of the poor

since bad and poor conditioned dwellings are left for them. The high transportation has led to

a high number of vehicles in the road which tends to have adverse effects to the climate and

environment in general as a result of fumes and vehicle exhaust gases. The San Diego's

streets are also exhausted as a result of the many passenger vehicles which help transport the

low-income earners to their homes. The poor even waste a lot of time traveling rather than

involving themselves in essential activities. The house shortage crisis has not only made the

low-income earners not afford to stay near their employment area but instead forcing them to

move out of the town also. The enormous impact of it is that it has led to the loss of skills and

knowledge since the specialists live in the other cities. (Weeks, 230)

Statistics have shown an escalating amount of rent and in effect, reduction in the

incomes of individuals and particularly the poor over the past years. The tenants, therefore,

spend at least 30 percent of their monthly income to meet rent expenses which are expected

to continue rising over the coming years. This increase in the amount of rent has no

significant change in the number of houses which are built, increasing pressure on the few

available homes which also contributes to inadequate housing in San Diego. The small

apartments have significantly led to decline in the economic growth of the city. This is

because the tenants are forced into increasing the amount of money to cater for rent which in

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return lowers the number of available funds to meet their daily needs which have decreased

the amount of revenue which is collected by the county governments to meet for

developments in the city. Low amounts of revenue collection have a substantive impact on

the overall growth and events in any state. The local authorities should, therefore, enact laws

for reduction of the amounts of rents which are paid by the tenants which in return will

increase the number of income which is available for spending in an attempt to boost the

economy of the city.( Christensen et al.,60)

Statistics have shown that the increase in the rental prices has had a 2.5 percent

significant decline in the GDP of the counties. As a result of an increase in the demand for

housing, the housing crisis is predicted to double itself as we approach 2030 in case no

punitive actions are taken to eliminate that menace. San Diego’s population is also predicted

to double shortly, bearing in mind the era of fastest increase is the recent years.

Considering the other climatic and pressure on the available social amenities, the

population increase will result in more harms than good in the economy of San Diego rather

than bringing a solution to the current shortage of houses in the area. In other words, the new

number of people who will result will create a lot of pressure on schools, hospitals, work and

the free roads while they are traveling. Such an increase in population and pressure on the

available critical social amenities will mean construction of new highways or renovation of

the existing ones in an attempt to solve the issue. But how can such happen when there are

insufficient funds in the local authority. This is a prediction of a tough time on the economy

of San Diego over the coming years. The local government should, therefore, attempt to bring

unending solutions to help control the population growth and increase on the available

housing in an attempt to meet the future demand. The local San Diego’s authority is however

aware of this impending issues, and it’s looking for proper measures to help eradicate that

menace. The Regional Transportation Plan has also given a system whereby it wishes to

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inject billions of money to meet the required improvement in the state of infrastructure in the

coming years to help reduce the reliance on few social amenities by the increased population.

This will in effect lead to access to a variety of social facilities which will provide a long-

lasting solution to the current state of the economy. The town’s major project will target the

expansion of the available roads and construction of new ones to eliminate the possible jams

which result due to a massive number of cars which tend to scramble for the open fewer

lanes.

The Climate Action Plan (CAP) will help San Diego to make strategies to solve the

house shortage menace which is affecting the town. The body gives the measures the local

government will take to decrease greenhouse fumes, eliminate car exhaust fumes and

eradicate the harmful impacts that result when Santiago is continuously developing. The CAP

is again providing measures to increase the number of substantial houses within the vicinity

of the city. These projects will be constructed near roads to improve access to transportation

by large numbers of people. However, some people have seen the CAP and Regional

Transport Planning strategies as invalid especially the issue of eradicating house shortages to

meet the increasing San Diego’s population.

Some bodies have supported the fact that, there will be no immediate strategies to

help end the high demand for housing in San Diego shortly. The investors should focus on

low and moderate income earners houses rather than concentrating on building expensive

dwellings which are not afforded by all the occupants. Such homes should be built near the

employment areas to help reduce transportation costs and the distances which are covered by

the poor in an attempt to go and come from the job. New housing should give details on the

ways it will affect the available social amenities and climate of San Diego. (Hakim et al.,

330)

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When proper strategies are employed, San Diego will be in a position to increase the

number of houses to cater for the needs of all the classes. But in implementing those

measures, it should do it in a way which will help protect the environment according to CAP.

The tenants should also provide specifications for the houses which are well affordable for

them. In so doing, the number of individuals who will occupy San Diego’s rentals will hike,

and the house shortage crisis will have been buried completely.

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Works cited

Christensen, Karen, and Jane Rongerude. The San Diego Dialogue: Reshaping the

San Diego Region. No. 2004, 04. Working paper//Institute of Urban and Regional

Development, 2004.50-70

Weeks, John R. "The Changing Demographic Structure of the San Diego

Region." San Diego-Tijuana in Transition: A Regional Analysis (1993).200-250

Hakim, Simon, Paul Seidenstat, and Gary W. Bowman, eds. Privatizing

transportation systems. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996.300-350

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