San Diego Proposes New Subsidized Housing Plan

(San Diego is one of the unlucky cities in the country that happens to have some of the highest rental rates around. )

The cost to rent out an apartment here is outrageous, and with the housing market slowing, more people are forced to rent causing the rates to go even higher.

These high rental rates are obviously very difficult for many low-income families to afford, so San Diego wants to re-vamp its subsidized housing plan.

Subsidized housing is a federal issue that occurs in every state across the country.

But San Diego city officials are looking to stem away from the nation’s plan and start their own in the hopes of providing more affordable housing for low income families.

A November 17, 2006 article by Lori Weisberg of The San Diego Union Tribune, “Subsidized housing plan: To opt out of U.S. program, S.D. proposes alternative…” looks into the new program San Diego hopes to implement soon.

Right now there are public housing units all across the city that provides affordable housing for the poor and low-income.

“With the federal government's help, the San Diego Housing Commission believes it can at least double the 1,366 low-income households whose rents are subsidized while giving tenants the flexibility of either staying put or moving to apartments anywhere in the city.”

“As a bonus, the commission says it could borrow against its 151 public housing properties to create a broader mix of housing affordable not only to low-income individuals, but also to middle-income families struggling to make ends meet in a city where rents continue to rise.”

But to accomplish this, San Diego has to change the way it does things, and that means going through the Department of Housing and Urban Development to get their plan approved.

It could take months, but San Diego’s Housing Commission is willing to give it a shot.

“‘We don't want people to think we're cashing in the chips and tossing the poor people out the door,’ said Elizabeth Morris, chief executive officer of the San Diego Housing Commission. ‘There's an opportunity here because we own an awful lot of real estate free and clear, and if we can leverage that to create additional affordable housing opportunities while protecting the tenants, we think that's a net gain.’”

“‘The public housing system is the only real estate business in the world where you have no clue as to what your income will be,’ she said.”

The whole process is going to work around the fact the housing public tenants will now receive subsidized rent vouchers to use on a variety of different properties all across the county. This is under the federal section 8 program.

“More than 12,000 families in San Diego participate in the popular Section 8 program, and the waiting time to get a voucher is five to seven years. Renters pay no more than 30 percent of their income, with the remainder of their housing cost subsidized by the voucher, up to certain limits.”

The plan is slated to be submitted to HUD today, and San Diego City Council is also planning to take on the issue next month.

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