New Commercial Strip Mall Policy Provides Great Affordable Housing Development Opportunities
[Co-authored by Mary Lydon & Howard Blackson]
Two tremendous new companion policies for increasing affordable housing development were signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2022.
As many as two million new units of affordable housing could be built statewide because of them. This could go a long way toward increasing both market-rate and affordable homes in our communities during this unprecedented time of housing shortage. These policies will also help alleviate the homelessness crisis, which is due in large part to a lack of affordable housing.
The policies allow owners of infill commercial strip centers along arterial roadways, many of which are underutilized due to retail decline, to develop mixed-income housing without going through an expensive and time-consuming zoning change or discretionary review process. The policy also allows for a streamlined environmental evaluation.
These are groundbreaking opportunities that will increase California's housing stock, and the opportunities are aligned with the climate action goals of the state of California and the city of San Diego.
Assembly Bill 2011, authored by Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), and Senate Bill 6, by Anna Caballero (D-Fresno), have many components, but the major benefits include allowing developers by-right approval to build when affordability, labor, and environmental criteria are met.
The development industry is not usually accepting of policy that has wage requirements, but the benefits of by-right development and streamlining CEQA far outweigh an increase in wage requirements.
Specific benefits to San Diego include giving local governments the option of an expedited development process to increase housing development.
The increased demand along with increased wages can catalyze workforce development to help fill the great deficit of construction workers in our region. It will also provide for historic state investments in transportation infrastructure.
The city of San Diego has committed to expanding our rapid bus transit routes in order to provide a more active multi-modal circulation system. The plan is written to expeditiously link older neighborhood housing with job centers in Mission Valley, downtown, Sorrento Valley and other neighboring communities. These systems are spelled out in our city's recently updated community plan circulation elements and a soon-to-be-updated citywide mobility master plan.
By focusing new infill housing in underutilized and vacant lots on commercial corridors, vehicle miles travelled (VMT) are lower in existing neighborhoods than if that housing were built as low-density, suburban pod development in the backcountry.
The approach of putting housing on existing corridors will assist our citizens in achieving the goals of San Diego's climate and mobility master plans. This alignment will connect not only the new housing, jobs and shops to the rest of our city's neighborhoods but also to parks, future public transit investments and public improvements.
Currently, the cost of homes has far outpaced levels affordable to middle-income families in our region. An inaccessible middle-income housing market creates wealth disparities. Providing more home ownership by increasing housing stock helps to retain younger generations of San Diegans who will invest in their futures and the San Diego economy overall.
Increased housing opportunities also allows low-income families to remain in homes that are affordable, so displacement doesn't occur, which helps mitigate homelessness.
In addition to the newly approved policies, a tax increment financing (TIF) mechanism is being developed as a companion policy that will resemble redevelopment law in place in California from 1945 to 2011. TIF captures increased property taxes that can be used up front to enhance these commercial corridors with community-serving amenities and public infrastructure. This is an opportunity for communities to engage with the developers to assure the amenities they need and want are part of the development plan.
In San Diego, new development on major corridors will avoid conflicts with our many historic districts, as they are primarily located in residential areas between the corridors. Historic preservation elements are being updated along with corridor plans in San Diego Community Plan Updates.
Focusing new development on corridors is a win for long-standing residential neighborhoods. Also, ground floor retail that may be part of the revitalized commercial corridors will win over shoppers within walking distance, as well as those coming via bike, bus and car.
Recent studies by Urban Footprint, a geospatial platform, and the Vision California 2050 report, illustrate that new housing developments built on existing corridors lower housing construction costs, reduce environmental impacts, and increase economic benefits. The bills' most prominent urban planning proponent, and founder of the New Urbanism movement, Peter Calthorpe, projects that, "new households along corridors would consume far less water and energy, drive less, save money on transportation and utilities, and produce almost 50% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the average California household."
This is the win-win scenario that San Diego's planning department has envisioned. San Diego's newly adopted inclusionary affordable housing, complete communities, and sustainable development area policies are transitioning San Diego from a "city of villages" network to a "city of corridors" approach.
AB 2011 and SB 6 will save time, money, and community resistance delays. They also will protect the density and character of existing residential neighborhoods, which is one of the biggest flashpoints for a community when new housing is proposed.
Overall, these policies are explicitly linked to create new housing, both affordable and market rate, and job opportunities located along our major existing corridors. Coordinating local efforts with these state laws allows San Diego to prioritize active transportation and climate-resilient projects, which will help us achieve housing, mobility, climate and equity goals, as well as reduce homelessness.
Mary Lydon is executive director for HomeAid San Diego and chair of the Burnham Center for Community Advancement Housing Working Group. Howard Blackson is chairman of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), California chapter, and general services administration design excellence peer review member.