S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Today we're talking about being priced out. My panel of guests discussed the high cost of housing in San Diego and the impact that's having on Tijuana. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. We'll talk about locals in Tijuana who are being priced out of a home market.
S2: Driven housing developments are changing the landscape within these neighborhoods.
S1: Then we re-imagine what affordable communities could look like and talk about the power of cross-border collaboration in finding solutions. That's ahead on Midday Edition. And. The high cost of rent in our region is one of the most pressing challenges San Diegans face. For some of you , that means moving across the border to find rent relief. But rents in Tijuana are rising twice as fast as those in San Diego. We spoke with Hanno Valladolid about this. He's a real estate broker at Bustamante Realty Group in Tijuana.
S3: The market has definitely gotten more expensive , and especially the rents , more so than the price of sales are going up because of the Southern California San Diego factor.
S1: So how is that affecting neighborhoods in Tijuana ? Well , last Wednesday , I moderated a community conversation about the cross-border housing crisis in the San Diego Tijuana region. Today on Midday Edition , we bring you a rebroadcast of that discussion. My guests were Gustavo Solis , KPBS border reporter. Also Dino Gonzalez. She researches urban economics and housing studies at Tijuana's L College Left university. And lastly , Teddy Cruz. He's a professor of public culture and urbanization in the Department of Visual Arts at UC San Diego. I began the conversation by asking Gustavo to outline the reasons why some Americans are moving to Tijuana for cheaper housing.
S4: San Diego is one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Actually , some are saying the world now and Taiwan is right across the border offering unique opportunities. And the main reasons , I mean , there's really only one it is cost , cost of housing. Now , how that looks to different people changes. Right ? There's different populations moving to Tijuana. And I think that's like really interesting right. You have retirees , you know , knowing that their money can go further south of the border. These would be people going to like condos in Rosarito or um , or players in Tijuana. You have people working uh , a lot of San Diego's economy is powered by the service industry. You have a lot of hotel workers , restaurant workers , bus drivers , a lot of kind of those low wage , traditional , low wage jobs. You have more people who just can't afford to live over here and are going to Taiwan as well. And the new population , which we've seen post-pandemic is and I don't know how big this is , but the digital nomads and , you know , remote worker types find that they can work from anywhere. And why not Taiwan , which is kind of an exciting Mexican city , but you also have the proximity to the border as well. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S4: I mean , it's hard to to compare. And I'd be curious to hear , like , what the experts think about it , but but it's it's multiple markets all in one. And they're not often competing against each other. I mean , on the one end of the socioeconomic spectrum , you have communities that are all , um , essentially like squatters , you know , will just build houses wherever there's vacant land. And those are , um , kind of the , the poorest of the poor , mostly migrants coming from the interior of Mexico and other countries who would otherwise be homeless. But they create these communities up out of nowhere. You have the high end market which people can see in San Diego , the luxury high rise towers that are going up all over downtown Tijuana. And those costs will rival properties here in San Diego. And then obviously you have a family market , the commuter market , who is more interested in living close to the border so they could come to work very often. So so there is a very large , very dynamic. I think people forget that Tijuana is growing massively. It's almost 2 million people living over there. So it's a huge market with with a lot of different options for people.
S1: Well , I mean , lay it out for me. Um , tell me about what an average studio or two bedroom rental would cost in San Diego compared to Tijuana.
S4: Oh , well , that's the pitch that that the the Realtors I interviewed for this story. That's the one they told me that that , you know , I talked to one guy who's clients , he gets about 70% of his calls are from people from California. And his go to pitch is all right. Do you want to pay for a studio in San Diego or a house in Tijuana , and that was kind of the comparable he gave us. So I looked at average rents , just looked at Zillow this morning , right. In San Diego , an average studio will go for $1,900 a month. What I was able to find in Tijuana , just through different like realtor apartment websites , there are houses comparable to that one now. Not super nice and maybe not in the best part of town , but it still holds up a studio in San Diego , the equivalent of a standing house in Tijuana. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Wow. Well , uh , Teddy , I want to bring you into this because you've been teaching at UCSD for 20 years , and I understand you've seen the housing crisis push your own students into Tijuana.
S5: And I would like just to mention , first something that was part of the initial conversation , the initial topics before I answered that. But , um , or reflect on it , is this idea of relating housing to markets. This is probably to begin with , a very problematic issue for me in our research. Uh , reducing housing , housing to a commodity has made it , in fact , vulnerable to the fluctuations of the market itself and therefore creating a huge crisis of inequality disparity. We can talk more about that later. Without any social guarantees. Uh , uh , so , yes , housing affordability. Right. The crisis of affordability has pushed many of my , my former students from the visual arts department who graduated from the MFA program , graduate students who have moved to Tijuana historically , uh , in recently , even more because of the access to more affordable rents. But not only that , it is housing in relationship to opportunities to studio spaces. So it's about really , you know , expanding housing to connect to mixed use , uh , into opportunities to really belong to a more vibrant street life for a moment. So , yes , affordability and the crisis of affordability is something that pushes , uh , many of my students , but also , I think the vibrancy of the , uh , culture in terms of the arts has been placed in the map of the world in terms of really bottom up , uh , cultural artistic practices without too many schools of art necessarily. So , yes. Young people going to Tijuana to really , uh , have access to affordable housing and other amenities connected to everyday life. But let's not forget , Tijuana is also the place of arrival of global migration at this moment. So migrant housing , not only there but now into San Diego , the flows of migrants come into our cities to be part of our communities. That can really help us to expand the meanings of social housing , inclusion and so on. We can talk more about that. But yes , at the end of the day , my experience through my students has been , uh , many of them living in Tijuana because of access to more affordability. Wow.
S1: Wow. Lots to get into there. Um , but , De Nora , I want to bring you into this to your hypothesis is that those investing in Tijuana's housing market are driving up the prices.
S2: So it's after the housing crisis. It's after we also , here in Tijuana had our own social housing debacle where , uh , certain policies came into place and reduced , uh , housing , uh , availability from , from both informal markets , which were these , um , mass produced small houses that were $20,000 purchase price. And also we saw a reduction in , uh , the the type of , uh , occupations that Gustavo was mentioning. And so it all comes in within this , uh , the , this , these changes that have been implemented in the last maybe 20 , 30 years , uh , where we have mortgage availability before , we didn't have mortgage availability. So the markets were somewhat stagnant and neighborhoods were very mixed. And right now , what we're seeing is that this market driven housing developments are triggering , uh , more segregation , are changing the landscape within these neighborhoods. They're becoming more homogeneous in income and so the profile of these neighborhoods are less mixed well , which is not good for for for promoting quality. It's not good even for businesses , because businesses have to compete for their workers who have to come from , uh , faraway places in order to , to attend these neighborhoods.
S1: Yeah , that certainly , uh , changes things.
S4: And just because , like KPBS , the way we the way I try to cover Tijuana is to to have stories that people in San Diego can , can kind of relate to and kind of see the impact. But the biggest one in Tijuana is the fact that that city is infrastructure is already overburdened and they keep on approving more and more construction. Not just residential , but commercial and industrial as well. And that is pushing the city to the brink. I mean , some neighborhoods. I was working on another story last week. I was at the new Esperanza Colonia , which is one of the poorer neighborhoods in Tijuana. No paved roads , not connected to the sewer system , not connected to the electrical grid. They're subject to rolling blackouts. I think the city needs to answer or the region needs to really answer like the ethics of this , right ? Is it right to continue all this building without backing up the infrastructure and south part of San Diego ? We see the results of that overburdened infrastructure , right ? We see the Imperial Beach coastline being closed for , for I think it was a thousand days in a row before it reopened recently. Um , you can smell it while you're driving down there and for for the people that live right along the border closest to the border. There's the air quality from all that traffic of the border traffic. So there are real physical impacts of this type of growth that we experience on both sides of the border. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , and I definitely want to get that into our conversation about the environmental impacts of all this. But you know about what you were saying earlier , Gustavo , we actually spoke with Evelyn Sandoval , who moved to Tijuana with her husband in 2021 as an American citizen of Mexican descent. And she told us that she actually feels guilty living in Mexico. Take a listen.
S6: I'm the gentrified and the gentrified and it's just hard. It's weird living in between both worlds because I am the problem. But like , I'm only the problem because there was a different problem that pushed me out.
S1: Well , um , Teddy , talk a little bit more about that.
S5: What a powerful reflection of Evelyn. Interesting. Uh , yes , I mean , Tijuana , San Diego is a global microcosm of urban asymmetry , of a huge disparity and inequality. Um , very few places in the world you can find where the most expensive real estate , as the one found in the edges of Rancho Santa Fe , not that far from my campus , is barely 30 minutes away from some of the poorest informal settlements of Latin America. So this is definitely a place of radical inequality and disparity , socioeconomic , but also environmentally. Uh , and I think this is reflected in physical ized in the way that many of these neighborhoods are transforming , uh , the kinds of images that Gustavo painted for us in terms of lack of infrastructural , uh , support and availabilities , uh , the the impacts of irregular urbanization informality , which more and more are creeping into our cities , obviously. Uh , so these are very interesting , uh , processes of transformation that we need to witness , but also through them , reorganize , uh , our political economy in the construction of , of of housing in this case and infrastructure. Uh , there are many issues that are interesting here. Imagine , uh , the minimum wage in San Diego is $16. Let's say , uh , an hour. The minimum wage in Tijuana is $16 , potentially a day. Okay. So the the the the disparity is huge in many ways. Uh , and that really reflects itself in , in budgetary issues from both municipalities , the investments in education and etc. , etc.. So , uh , I think , um , uh , this idea of how these two cities can collaborate in checking in , in , in really figuring out how to connect their own , uh , policies to mitigate the drama of this , uh , disparity , I think , is something that that is necessary and urgent at this moment. how to reduce that ? Uh , uh , by a regional , let's say , uh , sense of of disparity.
S1: Still ahead , while rents may be cheaper in Tijuana , there's still a hefty tax on your time if you cross the border.
S4: People are lured by the the relatively affordable rents , but then they're told about those hour long commutes that your entire daily schedule revolves around how long it takes to cross the border , and that takes a toll.
S1: More on that when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Today on the show , we are rebroadcasting a panel discussion I moderated last week about the cross border housing crisis between San Diego and Tijuana. I was joined by Gustavo Solis , KPBS border reporter. Also Dino Gonzalez , who researches urban economics and housing studies at Al-Khalifa University , and then Teddy Cruz. He's a professor of public culture and urbanization at UC San Diego. In this part of the discussion , I asked Honora to give a quick overview of the complex cross border economy between San Diego and Tijuana.
S2: We can see that , for example , in Tijuana , you have around 68% of people making between , uh , one and four minimum wages. So so multiply those $16 , uh , from 1 to 4. And those are like around 60% , 68% of the population. So that's a big chunk. And these , uh , these people or most of the population , uh , used to be able to find housing or find their own housing through the informal settlements or the informal markets. They would either buy , uh , their land plot and they could build a house. And this was a big chunk of how we , uh , how populations solve their housing needs. Um , this was before the , the financial reforms and now with financial reforms that try to bring , uh , more adequate housing. But in certain terms , uh , they failed. So policy just forgot about housing. And people are being pushed out of , uh , of both housing markets because right now , even land that could be used for , uh , progressive settlements , that that would be like , uh , informal type settlements. Uh , they're not it's not going it's not available because it's so needed for industrial development , for other types of activities. We shouldn't be afraid of taxation. And that's very important to say here in Tijuana , because one of the most enticing things of investing in Tijuana is precisely , precisely that , that you have very little , uh , capital gains tax , uh , paid on , on your real estate. It's almost , almost nothing. It , uh , people in the , in the municipality say that they can't. The capital gains tax doesn't even cover trash collection. So you don't have money for infrastructure. You don't have money to do cross subsidies and make these , uh , neighborhoods better. So all of the capital gains from this , uh , These real estate developments are going straight to , uh , private entities or private , uh , or the private investors. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So policy just isn't keeping up here. Um , you know , I want to move along to an issue facing those that commute across the border every day , and that's the cost of transportation.
S4: And how much is your time worth ? The numbers fluctuate , right ? People say there's between 60,000 or as high as 80,000 people living in Tijuana , working in San Diego every day. So that's tens of thousands of people crossing every day. If you don't have sentry , which , you know , sentry is kind of like a fast pass to the border. Um , I've talked to people who get up at three in the morning to make sure that they're at work in San Diego at eight in the morning , and then recently in the drive back home , it's been an hour to get back home anyway. So you're you're working eight hours and You're in the car like five hours. What kind of toll does that take on somebody ? Right. And that's something I comes up with with realtors I talked to who say , you know , people are lured by the the relatively affordable rents , but then they're told about those hour long commutes that your entire daily schedule revolves around , how long it takes to cross the border. And that takes a toll. And for a lot of people , that's a deal breaker. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , I mean , as you've laid out , uh , the commute can be really taxing day.
S2: So that's something that , uh , that they do evaluate when choosing to if they want to live in Tijuana. So what what I can see through the census data , uh , it's that probably the wait times and this , uh , these these , uh , these cost of living in Tijuana are only , uh , I are only taking by these workers who can , who really need to really need to take advantage of this cost of living differential , for example. We have that for the most part , uh , people who live in 21 and work in San Diego are workers that make less than , uh , what it's called , uh , living wage. So they are worker , health care worker , sales employees , cashiers. Maybe the group that makes a little bit more are all those people in the construction industry like welders , masons , plasters and , uh , and these people , you can see that they're in jobs that already demand a lot of them Physically , so you can imagine how much it also impacts their quality of life if they. On top of that , they have to spend 3 to 4 to five hours for a daily commute. Right.
S1: Right. And then there's all of those idling cars. I want to talk about that a bit more , because I know that that that was something , Teddie , that you brought up earlier.
S5: I mean , imagine thousands of cars idling every day in these huge wait times. No wonder San Isidro is one of the epicenters of , uh , environmental injustice because of its air quality. Forever this community has been. Casa Familia has been advancing projects and initiatives for environmental justice because of its air quality. So the impacts are unprecedented. And I think that I wanted to also connect it to to this broader economy , as you mentioned. I mean , the the supply and demand , the historical interdependence at times when already , you know , during the prohibition years , uh , uh , Tijuana became the Mecca of point of arrival , uh , becoming really making it in one of those entertainment cities that became so famous. And obviously there is NAFTA , the impact of maquiladoras , uh , the free trade agreements that produce a lot of havoc , also , environmentally speaking , because these factories place themselves next to the informal settlements to extract cheap labor without investing through taxation or any other regulation , uh , support for producing transportation and affordable housing for their workers. Uh , in the health crisis. Right ? The lack of affordability , the high cost of prescription prescription drugs in the United States produced the the medical tourism in Tijuana. I mean , the number one business in Tijuana is , is pharmacies. And precisely because of that , there are possibilities of expediting certain , uh , demographics. So there is there are special places for people who really take advantage of these , uh , uh , medical tourism , huge , uh , industry of , uh , medicine and hospitals. Uh , so one wonders if , uh , these , uh , interdependencies that are driven by economic supply and demand could also be paired or supported by diversifying , uh , the way of crossing to , to really support particular demographics that really we , you know , workers going in one way and what direction and , uh , just like Newsom , uh , our governor recently , actually , uh , I forget what is the name of the the law that he passed making it possible for students in Tijuana who live in 45 mile radius of the border to pay state tuition. Uh , and so , you know , there was we could begin to recalibrate our , our , our , uh , these dynamics based on really understanding those economic and hopefully environmental interdependencies. Dinner.
S1: Dinner. Are there any proposed solutions to address the long border wait times and the issues that that brings.
S2: Well , there have been different , uh , proposed solutions like , uh , maybe , uh , bringing back the hub lane or , uh , there's always , uh , there are always groups , uh , community groups that are pushing for fast , less wait times. And , uh , they , they come up with different solutions. However , it's always complicated because , uh , border security is the priority. And , uh , being that what it is , uh , border wait times , take a second or third place in in priority. And , uh , well , some of the initiatives there are very interesting. And I think that as we move forward with technology , uh , the idea , for example , that Sandag is floating is the possibility of a binational trolley. Also , uh , there is uh , from the , the , the Baja California government uh proposal for uh , connecting uh connecting bridge , uh , which would serve , uh , people walking through the border and connecting them with , uh , public transportation on this side of the border. So there are several initiatives that could , uh , that could make fast , that could reduce wait times and also incentivize public transportation. Yeah.
S7: Yeah.
S1:
S5: So in , in our research , if anything , uh , informal settlements in Tijuana become incredible laboratories for social housing and for environmental infrastructure , believe it or not. Well , many governments and probably many actors in the city would look at these informal settlements as places of criminalization , poverty , places that we don't want to enter into. For us , it's been essential to to argue that these environments , uh , that have been building with people's own sweat equity , uh , recycling materials , in fact , many of the informal settlements of , uh , of Tijuana , their housing , uh , the self-build , uh , practices , uh , mobilize use , in fact , recycle the waste , the urban waste of San Diego , uh , historically. So there is an incredible ingenuity , I think , without romanticizing poverty. But I always , you know , always want to understand the institutional mechanisms that have produced so much poverty in disparity. But at the same time , I want to really elevate the creative intelligence of people in moments of scarcity and emergency to build their own environments. So. So there is something about the involving communities in a participatory way to really , uh , address the housing , uh , you know , the housing crisis.
S1: Still ahead , we reimagine housing as a social infrastructure.
S5: In places of poverty. And in terms of housing crisis of affordability , units cannot be be left to their own devices. They cannot just be about cheap units , but units need to be embedded in infrastructure of support.
S1: KPBS Midday Edition returns after the break. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Last week , I moderated a live panel discussion on the cross-border housing crisis between San Diego and Tijuana. We're rebroadcasting that today on Midday Edition. A reminder that our panelists included Gustavo Solis , KPBS border reporter. Also Dino Gonzalez. She researches urban economics and housing studies at Tijuana's Al-Khalifa University. And lastly , Teddy Cruz. He's a professor of public culture and urbanization at UC San Diego. In this last part of our conversation , we discussed possible solutions. I asked Sonora what local governments can do to support better affordable housing options for both San Diego and Tijuana residents.
S2: Well , right now , I think some things that , uh , should be addressed is the issue of property taxes and land value capture tools in order to , uh , generate some cross subsidies and really invest in the infrastructure and , uh , and everything that is public , like public roads , public , uh uh , and public infrastructure. Uh , we also have to think about uh , multi level , multi needs uh , solutions like uh , we cannot discard , uh , how the city has grown through progressive , uh , settlements. So the provision of landlords for progressive housing should also be something that , uh , that that's part of the strategies with a , with a good strategy on providing IT infrastructure and the in community services. Also we need investment in infrastructure all throughout the city. And well , these things are things that have to be addressed. And uh , and mostly through looking for alternative , uh , funding sources because we are in , Tijuana , and many municipalities in Mexico , very dependent on the federal government for these types of investments. So local sources for , uh , for financing , uh , everything that's public is something that that should be explored.
S1: Well , and , Gustavo , one of the things both donor and Teddy emphasized is the need for collaboration.
S4: Right. And I think the experts can weigh in. I don't think there really is anything that addresses this issue. Um , part of the problems , as they've alluded , is that in Mexico , the sphere of political influence is very much in Mexico City. So it's hard to get things done the further you are away from Mexico City. And similarly , you know , Washington , D.C. doesn't really know about what's going on in the border between San Diego and Tijuana. Um , but no other binational solutions to addressing the cost of living. There's been a slight minimum wage increases in Tijuana. But as we said , you know , I talked to women who work , uh , cleaning warehouses. Uh , they make $100 a week. Incremental change to that salary is not going to substantially change. Um , I think we do need to recognize that there are a lot of people and companies and entities profiting off of what's going on in the border right now. Um , it's not a lack of resources. It's a lack of who is getting those resources because the cross-border trade is measured in the billions. A lot of people in San Diego are making a lot of money off of housing , and it's not really trickling down to the people who are impacted by it. So sorry to be a downer , but I'm just not seeing any , uh , leadership from the political class. And in terms of the market , I know there's a lot of people that that respect the free market. And then we're a capitalist society. But the last decade and more has shown us that the market does not care about these issues. The market , at least historically , is not supporting affordability. It in some ways , I think people can argue that it hinders it. So yeah , I don't think there's a there's any real serious conversation to addressing the root of some of these causes. I mean , yes , like they said , a cross border trolley or even a cross border ferry , that would make it a little bit quicker to cross the border , but it wouldn't impact any of the the factors that's driving the , you know , move from San Diego to Tijuana or vice versa. Yeah.
S7: Yeah.
S1:
S2:
S1: Tell me about. That.
S7: That.
S2: Of course , if you're a homeowner , if you have a plot of land and you're seeing all this demand for for housing or for rental housing , of course people are subdividing , of course , even in , uh , uh , it's and it's , it's in different scales and different segments of the market. If , if , if I may say it that way , for example , you , you can uh , we can go to the examples that Terry was bringing , uh , uh , from the informal sector where there's more , uh , needs based economy. So people there , if they have a home , if they have some extra space , they might subdivide and , uh , rent out those spaces to whoever wants to , wants to rent. And also in , uh , fancier neighborhoods , maybe Tijuana for example , has lots of subdivisions and and rental and rental , uh , small rental properties or within their properties. They're probably probably renting or subletting or it's it's of course , they're taking advantages. This is not just , uh , this is why it's so hard also to provide a comprehensive policy because , for example , if you tax all these people , all the all people with property , this is taxing around 60 some percent of the population , which are the houses that are owner occupied. And so it's most of the population that occupies their home and the that they see , and they have a vested interest in their property prices rising. Um.
S1: Teddy , you almost look like you got something to say.
S5: Back to the innovation aspect , there is a lot to be done , I think , or expand based on these , how these two cities CDs relate and not to each other. I think that unfortunately. In other words , the question is what do they learn from each other ? I think Tijuana and San Diego , unfortunately , in many cases , Taiwan has expanded itself in terms of its own growth , imitating the selfish sprawl of Southern California in terms of cookie cutter housing and the edges without paying attention. Again , as I was saying before , to the vibrancy of incremental housing infrastructures in much of the informal sector. And , and these sort of misunderstandings continue to happen , I think , by which are typical. I think often cities nations want to import the symbols of progress without understanding that the true sort of innovation is already latent. It's already inherently part of the everyday life of their own. The way the city has evolved. Innovation for me has been about paying attention , in fact , to those invisible at times patterns of growth that are participatory , that are at times bottom up. We have begun to rethink housing. I think the major problem with affordable housing and housing models in both places is that housing is understood only as units on their own and in places of poverty , and in terms of housing crisis of affordability , units cannot be be left to their own devices. They cannot just be about cheap units , but units need to be embedded in an infrastructure of support , uh services , uh , social , economic education. So a lot of our projects have been really that we have been advancing is really calling to attention that housing needs to be affordable. Housing needs to be framed by spaces , uh , of access , let's say , for opportunity , for education. So that's one of the most innovative projects that we have. Advances that you see is the community stations , uh , which is a network of public spaces surrounded by housing on both sides of the border , uh , where education and research is conducted collaboratively with community partners. We've discovered that the economic power of our own public university , UCSD , can be leveraged. In fact , for our community partners to develop and own their own housing stock. We developed the first model of a community station with Casa Familia in San Isidro. Uh , where we basically , uh , you know , mobilize and university philanthropy and foundations were able to , uh , invest $3 million that serve as leverage for Casa familiar to , uh , advance a project through new market tax credits to develop ten units of affordable housing. But those those housing units are flanking a community theater , an outdoor classroom , a pavilion for social services. So this interface of units and public space is necessary today in places , in particular in neighborhoods that are underserved. Yeah.
S1: Well , in Teddy , when I hear you talk about this , this housing solution , what I , what I also hear is the difference between , um , not only like what's needed , but also the cultural difference between a culture that embraces individuality and units versus one that embraces communalism and and working together and cooperatively. Um , so talk to me a bit about how the vision from the UCSD community stations could be applied to other models of housing.
S5: Yes , particularly because we need to in our mind , I think we need to expand , um , the horizon of economic development that the city should not only be developed by private developers. Uh , we in fact , question , uh , the housing financialization models that prioritize private interest , uh , in , in housing affordability solutions that are always articulated by giving developers incentives , uh , without demanding any social guarantees. What I'm trying to say is that we need new coalitions of development. The community stations became a model not only of a collaborative education model , so our public university can begin to construct co-developed knowledge with others , circulating activists and community leaders into the university and researchers and students into communities. But it became a model of co-development , really a model that universal public university can be co-developed in housing and public space with grassroots organizations , and also accessing public parcels by the municipality for promoting and enabling communities to be the developers of their own housing stock. That's , for me , fundamental to expand the horizon , not only private developers should be developing housing. There are other modalities , other other economic performance that can be invented. I think that's where innovation really should be.
S1: All right. Well done. Nora , I want to get a question from from the audience. Why are the newly built condos in Tijuana empty ? Are investors just banking on appreciation. Hmm.
S8: Hmm.
S2: Why are they empty ? Housing is an investor. It's an investment where you can , um. You can get a revenue from either rent , from rent , and from the actual equity. So if they're empty , that means that. And if the the equity is really doubling every couple of years , it's they don't have to sweat it. Renting them out in some in some areas in others. Or they could just rent it out occasionally like uh , uh , maybe through Airbnb. They could rent it out. They have also new models of administration where maybe some , uh , group of uh , or a company can administrate your properties and they can rent them out. So there are different models so they don't have to be empty all the time. They don't have to be full all the time. You just have to , uh , ensure a certain revenue.
S1: All right. Well , I mean , we've been talking about possible solutions to this problem , but this isn't a problem with one solution , right ? Teddy. Right.
S5: Right. In in a lot of it also depends. And I was thinking as I was speaking about regulation , believe it or not , about more empathetic , may I say regulatory frameworks. The innovation needs to happen in bureaucracy itself on both sides of the border , San Diego and Tijuana , to change the opacity , the Byzantine bureaucracy that defines our regulation , how to make it more agile , more inclusive , and to really redirect the resources and knowledges to communities in need. I mean , this is depends on the progressive governance , I think , where regulation really sets the terms for the kind of social guarantees that can prevent really these kinds of crises in the future.
S1:
S4: That's an implication of what's going on in Tijuana. What are we seeing ? Right. Um , increased water pollution , um , on our shores and more people being pushed out of the communities they have lived in for a long time. I think if nothing changes , we should just expect those trends to to continue and potentially even expanding and grow faster and faster. Like , I don't know what needs to happen. Maybe we kind of hit rock bottom for for people in , in a position of authority to do something about this , to actually take it seriously. But the status quo just isn't working. This isn't sustainable , and we're seeing it in very real time. I think , you know , the question for the Nota about empty apartment buildings in Tijuana. We see the same thing in San Diego. How many of the skyscrapers they've built downtown. You drive by and all the lights are off. Uh , and meanwhile , around downtown San Diego , there are ten cities of people who are unhoused. Right. There's a great , um , just divide. Right. You see the income inequality in both sides , um , in San Diego and in Tijuana and even in San Diego and Tijuana , which we've talked about. So I think those issues , I expect them to continue to , to , to grow and even get more impactful in the future unless something changes. And I do hope something does change. You know , I grew up here. I live here , my my family lives on both sides of the border and we're invested. This is a beautiful place to live in , but unless we do something about it , I'm concerned about the long term sustainability of this place.
S1: You've been listening to an edited version of a live community conversation I moderated last week about the cross-border housing crisis. You can catch the full recording of this discussion on pbs.org. Thank you to the panelist who joined me for this conversation , including Gustavo Solis , KPBS border reporter. Also , Dino Gonzalez , who researches urban economics and housing studies at Tijuana's Al-Khalifa University , and Teddy Cruz , a professor of public culture and urbanization at UC San Diego. If you have an idea for a future community conversation , we want to hear from you. Give us a call at (619) 452-0228. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose. Everyone.
