For middle-income families in the City of San Diego, the prospect of owning or renting a home is a challenge. There is a lack of housing built specifically for families in this income bracket (earning between 80-150% of the area median income), and rents and home prices have continued to rise.

While funding sources exist to develop low-income housing and housing affordable to wealthier households via private development, there are no financial mechanisms to construct middle-income housing, contributing to a lack of housing options for these families.

Between 2010 and 2020, per the State’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment, the City of San Diego needed to construct 15,462 housing units to meet the demand of families in this income range, but only 37 were constructed. This has created a “missing middle” housing option and exacerbated the housing crisis in San Diego.

To address this need, as part of his “Homes For All of Us” initiative, Mayor Todd Gloria is creating a middle-income housing working group consisting of 23 representatives from developers, financial institutions, building trades, think tanks, and affordable housing advocates. These individuals will meet frequently from September-November 2021 to prepare policy and financing recommendations that can be acted upon quickly by the Mayor and City Council. Additional stakeholder groups and experts will also be invited to participate in the Working Group meetings.

MIHWG Recommendations Final Staff Response.pdf

MIHWG Memo.pdf

Members

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• Bill Fulton, Director, Kinder Institute for Urban Research
• Gilman Bishop, Chief Executive Officer, Bishop Ventures   
• Mike Burnett, Principal, Foundation for Form   
• Angeli Calinog, Policy Advisor, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Molly Chase, Vice President of Policy, San Diego Housing Commission  
• Charles Davis, Board President, San Diego Community Land Trust 
• Chi Elder, Southern California Community Development Officer, Citi Bank  
• Marcela Escobar-Eck, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atlantis Group Land Use Consultants 
• Lara Gates, Land Use and Housing Consultant, Price Philanthropies  
• Doug Hicks, Lead Representative, Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters 
• Lori Holt Pfeiler, Chief Executive Officer, Building Industry Association of San Diego    
• Reginald Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation 
• Stath Karras, Executive Director, University of San Diego Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate 
• Carol Kim, Director of Community Engagement, San Diego Building & Construction Trades Council 
• Sarah Lyman, Executive Director, Alliance Healthcare Foundation   
• Andrew Malick, Founder / Principal, Malick Infill Development   
• Arnulfo Manriquez, President and Chief Executive Officer, MAAC of San Diego County (Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty)
• Lenny McNeill, Executive Vice President, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage  
• Kelly Modén, Executive Board Member and Legislative Committee Co-Chair, NAIOP San Diego 
• Louie Nguyen, Chief Investment Officer, Mission Driven Finance 
• Satomi Rash-Zeigler, Managing Director, San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council 
• Deborah Ruane, Founder and Managing Member, Norwood Development Strategies  
• Stephen Russell, Executive Director, San Diego Housing Federation  

The Middle-Income Housing Working Group will be focused on addressing issues such as:

• How can the City incentivize building more housing for middle-income families?
• How can other actors (private capital sources, philanthropies, nonprofits) create opportunities to build more housing for middle-income families?  
• What other actions should be considered to encourage the development of middle-income housing?