The San Diego City Council does not appear interested in reviving Mayor Todd Gloria's effort to integrate the city's most exclusive, high-income neighborhoods with more lower-cost housing options.
Gloria's "missing middle" housing proposal would have legalized townhomes and small apartment buildings on certain lots that are currently restricted to single-family homes. It was an effort to implement SB 10, a state law that allows cities to streamline the approval of up to 10 homes on a single lot if it's located near public transit.
The proposal is currently in limbo after the city's Planning Commission voted it down last week. The commission's vote was only advisory, but the mayor's office declined to advance it to the City Council amid fierce opposition from homeowner groups who see it as a threat to the privacy and aesthetics of their low-density neighborhoods.
Instead, the mayor said he would hold more workshops on SB 10 to try and craft a compromise. The city's Planning Department already held workshops via Zoom on Feb. 21 and 23 and in person on March 2 and 13. The Planning Commission discussed and took public comment on the proposal on June 1 and Aug. 3.
Gloria's SB 10 proposal was supported by affordable housing developers, youth activists and environmental groups who see it as a means of helping relieve San Diego's housing shortage while also allowing more people to live in neighborhoods with good schools, jobs and access to public transit.
Planning Department staff also said SB 10 would help the city fulfill its obligation under state law to undo past policies that resulted in racial segregation. Single-family zoning originated as an effort to exclude people of color from white neighborhoods.
Most new city laws originate from the mayor's office, which oversees nearly all city departments. But the City Council has its own lawmaking powers as well. Four councilmembers — or the council president alone — need to support a proposal for it to be brought forward for a vote.
The City Council is on legislative recess until next month, but KPBS reached out to all nine council offices to see whether the councilmembers were interested in taking up SB 10 implementation independent of the mayor's office. Councilmembers Joe LaCava, Jen Campbell, Monica Montgomery Steppe, Marni von Wilpert, Kent Lee, Vivian Moreno and Council President Sean Elo-Rivera all either declined to comment or could not be reached by deadline.
Councilmember Raul Campillo's office said he "supports the Planning Commission's action to create a working group to engage directly on the issue to ensure they are making a fully informed recommendation to the mayor and City Council."
Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said he supported moving forward with a package of other housing reforms that did win the Planning Commission's support last week, and that he would "continue working with the mayor and my council colleagues to make sure every San Diegan has a home they can afford in the city we all love."
City spokesperson Tara Lewis told KPBS that Planning Department staff have not decided how many SB 10 workshops will be held or when.
