Affordable Housing Policy Resource Page

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General |Affordability | Finance Issues | Trust Funds |Housing Elements | Inclusionary Housing | NIMBY | Parking | Smart Growth | Design | Green | Supportive Housing

Federation Position Papers

Housing Advocacy Principles - July 2005. Board approved document that outlines where we stand policy issues.

Recommendations to City of San Diego Planning Commission re Inclusionary Housing In Lieu Fee - March 31, 2005

Recommendations to City of San Diego Affordable Housing Task Force March 31, 2003

Recommendations to Sunne Wright McPeak re: Land Use Reform Proposals

General

Housing Policy.Org (added 5/1/08)

Online Guide to State and Local Housing Policy

California Affordable Housing Issues Bibliography May 2007 (added 7/2/07)

Published the Calfornia Department of Housing And Community Development

The State of the Nation's Housing 2007 (added 7/2/07)

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies

Solving America’s Shortage of Homes Working Families Can Afford: Fifteen Success Stories (added 09/06/2006)
Description: Fifteen policies and programs that increased the availability of homes within reach of working families were closely examined to identify the concepts and themes that made them successful. The study pinpointed a set of nine principles that should guide the formulation of solutions to the affordability crisis.
Urban Land Institute, March 2006.
Executive Summary: Click here
Full Report: Click here

Best Practices in the Production of Affordable Housing, an Urban Land Institute/Fannie Mae Foundation Policy Forum held in Washington, D.C., on March 29 and 30, 2005, was sponsored by the Fannie Mae Foundation to identify and explore current best practices and learn from companies that are doing an exemplary job of providing affordable housing. (added 8/17/06)

HUD's 2006 Western Regional Housing Summit - Final Report

This is a report of the outcomes of a summit held in in Las Vegas on March 15-16, 2006.

(added 5/16/06)

Measuring And Assessing The Status Of San Diego’s Community Development Corporations, 2005. This is a study of the state of the nonprofit community development corporations and affordable housing developers in San Diego County. It describes the sector and its accomplishments. It was funded by the San Diego Foundation, San Diego's Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the San Diego Housing Federation. (added 10/20/2005)

Strategic Recommendations of the Senior Homelessness Prevention Collaborative of San Diego, September 2004

OPPORTUNITY and PROGRESS: A Bipartisan Platform for National Housing Policy, September 2004

Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission Report, "Meeting Our Nation's Housing Challenges" May 2002

Little Hoover Commission's "Rebuilding The Dream: Solving California's Affordable Housing Crisis" May 2002

San Diego Association of Governments' "Solving the San Diego Region's Housing Crisis" 2001

The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy and The Urban Institute: "Rethinking Local Affordable Housing Strategies: Lessons From 70 Years of Policy and Practice" December 2003 (added 1/8/2004)

PolicyLink's Equitable Development Toolkit: Beyond Gentrification (added 12/2003)

State of the Nation's Housing 2004 (PDF) http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/markets/son2004.pdf(added 6/14/2004)

Affordability

Out of Reach 2007-2008

The National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual report on the gap between incomes and rents, Out of Reach 2007-2008, was released on April 7, 2008. According to the report, a renter in San Diego needs to earn $21.48 per hour to afford the rent on a one-bedroom apartment in the county. This is a 12.5% increase since 2006.  The household income needed for a two-bedroom apartment is $26.06 per hour, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. The typical San Diego renter earns $15.64 per hour, which is $10.42 less than is needed for a two-bedroom apartment. The annual income needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment in San Diego County is $54,200. Click here for the San Diego specific data.

Cost of living outpaces wages in San Diego region (added 3/3/2008)

A study released by CPI today details how much workers must earn to live and support a family in the San Diego region.  Many full-time jobs here pay much less than needed to meet a basic family budget.

The report,  Making Ends Meet in San Diego County 2008, concludes that a single adult needs to earn $13.71 an hour, or $28,510 a year, just to get by without assistance.  Two working parents supporting two children need to make at least $17.16 an hour each.  The data are based on no-frills budgets, including only necessities such as housing, food, transportation, childcare, health coverage and taxes. 

The Housing Landscape for America's Working Families, 2007

(added 9/10/2007)

On August 30, 2007, the Center for Housing Policy released a new study entitled The Housing Landscape for America's Working Families, 2007, which details trends in the number of working families paying more than half their income for housing and/or living in dilapidated conditions. The study also takes an in-depth look at housing problems in 31 U.S. metropolitan areas, including San Diego County, and provides specific affordability findings for working family renters and homeowners in these areas.

Click Here to View Report.

Homes For All San Diegans: The State of Housing Affordability In The Region

Published by the San Diego Housing Federation and the San Diego Association of Governments in June 2006.

This report contains the lastest statistics on the  housing affordability crisis in San Diego County, describes efforts being taken to address the problem and identifies further actions that are needed.  Click here to download an electronic version. The report was underwritten by San Diego National Bank.

Out of Reach 2006

The National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual report on the gap between incomes and rents, Out of Reach 2006, was released on December 12, 2006. According to the report, a renter in San Diego needs to earn $19.10 per hour to afford the rent on a one-bedroom apartment in the county. The household income needed for a two-bedroom apartment is $23.17 per hour, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. The typical San Diego renter earns $14.22 per hour, which is $8.95 less than is needed for a two-bedroom apartment. The annual income needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment in San Diego County is $39,720. Click here for the San Diego specific data.

NHC's Locked Out 2006: Keys to Homeownership Elude
Many Working Families with Children

The National Housing Conference Center for Housing Policy publication describes the declining rates of homeownership among low and moderate income working families in the United States. Teh report notes that minority homeownership is declining at a faster rate. The report includes suggestions on how to address the issues. Click here to download the publication. (added 3/22/2006)

AMERICA'S RENTAL HOUSING: HOMES FOR A DIVERSE NATION

This new report from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies documents the state of the rental housing supply in the US and discusses declinging affordability.
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/rental/rh06_americas_rental_housing.pdf
(added 2/22/06)

Making Ends Meet: A Look At the Cost of Living For Working Families

New research study from the Center on Policy Initiatives gives a clear understanding of the incomes different types of working families must bring home, in order to have a decent standard of living in San Diego. By detailing the cost of basic living expenses like food, clothing, and shelter, the data illustrates how earnings in San Diego must keep up with rising cost of living. For instance, a single person without dependents must earn almost twice the minimum wage at a full time job to provide their basic needs. Click here for full report. (added 3/14/2006).

Out of Reach 2005

The National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual report on the gap between incomes and rents, Out of Reach 2005, was released on December 13, 2005. Click here for the California and San Diego specific data that shows that a household needs an income of at $22.67 to afford a 2 bedroom apartment offered at the Fair Market Rent.

Paycheck to Paycheck 2005

The Center for Housing Policy Paycheck to Paycheck online interactive database provides housing affordability data for nearly 200 U.S. metropolitan areas and more than 60 occupations. Please go to http://www.nhc.org/chp/p2p/index.php. You can choose up to 10 occupations at a time and compare income of each occupation against income needed to purchase the median priced home or pay HUD fair market rents for 1 and 2 bedroom apartments.  In the Third Quarter of 2005, the income needed to afford the median priced home was $155,076. The hourly wage needed to afford a 1 bedroom apartment was $18.75 and $22.75 for a 2 bedroom apartment. Click here for an example of the charts that can be generated.

Locked Out 2004

California Budget Project's Locked Out 2004 (January 2004) In San Diego County, 44.5 percent of renter households pay more than the recommended 30 percent of their income for shelter (Table 5). Among low-income renter households – those with annual household incomes under $20,000 – 82.7 percent spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Among low-income homeowners in San Diego County, 51.1 percent spend more than half of their income for shelter. Among renters and owners with household incomes between $20,000 and $40,000, 59.8 percent of renters and 44.5 percent of owners pay more than 30 percent of their income toward shelter.

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Finance Issues

Permanent Funding Source for California an initiative of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Department of Housing & Community Development (added 5/13/2008)

2007 Section 8 & Tax Credit Income & Rent Limits updated 4/27/2007
The document also includes the Fair Market Rents (FMR)

2006 Section 8 & Tax Credit Income & Rent Limits posted 3/11/2006
The document also includes the Fair Market Rents (FMR)

The Local Economic Impact of A Typical Low Income Housing Tax Credit Project, National Association of Homebuilders, September 2007

Building Economic Strength for San Diego A Report of the Impact of Proposition 46 in San Diego County. October 2005.

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Housing Elements

Housing Elements: Tool to Create Vibrant, Livable Communities (added 7/2/07)

Slide Presentation by Cathy Creswell, Deputy Director, California Department
of Housing and Community Developmentof Development

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Inclusionary Housing

The Effects of Inclusionary Zoning on Local Housing Markets: Lessons from the San Francisco, Washington DC and Suburban Boston Areas March 2008

Affordable By Choice: Trends in California Inclusionary Housing Programs (9/10/2007)
A study of housing produced though inclusionary housing programs from January 1999 through June 2006. Produced by the Non Profit Housing Assn. of Northern California along with the California Coalition for Rural Housing (CCRH), the Sacramento Housing Alliance (SHA) and the San Diego Housing Federation (SDHF). $40/NPH member, $50/non-members. Click here to view excerpt.  Click here to buy now.

California Inclusionary Housing Policy Database (7/1/2007)

This searchable database contains details about individual local inclusinary housing programs in California.

Inclusionary Zoning in San Diego County (7/2005)

"Inclusionary Housing in California: 30 Years of Innovation"

"Making Inclusionary Zoning Work" Urban Land Institute's Multifamily Trends - Summer 2005

On Common Ground: Joint Principles on Inclusionary Housing Policies. NonProfit Housing Assn. of Northern California and Home Builders Assn. of Northern California, July 2005.

"Field Guide to Inclusionary Zoning" National Assn. of REALTORS

Institute for Local Self Government "The Inclusionary Housing Reader" (1/26/2005)

Institute for Local Self Government Inclusionary Housing Resources (12/13/05)

Inclusinary Zoning: Legal Issues - 2002 (5/26/06)

City of Los Angeles Inclusionary Study (9/25/2002)

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NIMBY

Community Support Strategies (added 5/1/08)

Myths and Facts About Affordable Housing (3.8 MB PDF) (added 1/27/04)

Field Guide to Effects of Low Income Housing on Surrounding Property Values, National Association of REALTORS

White Paper: From NIMBY to Good Neighbor Updated May 2006

Web sites & Documents on Affordable Housing & Relationship to Property Values

Harvard Study Finds "In working communities, the presence of multifamily dwellings correlates with higher home values"

MIT Center for Real Estate Study EFFECTS OF MIXED-INCOME, MULTI-FAMILY RENTAL HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS ON SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING VALUES (added 5/3/05)

California Housing Law Project's "Anti-NIMBY Tools" provides a summary of California laws that can be used to fight NIMBYS (12/29/2003)

Parking Requirements

Parking Requirements Guide For Affordable Housing Developers by SCANPH

Planning for Residential Parking: A Guide For Housing Developers and Planners by NPH

City of San Diego Multi-Family Residential Parking Study (added 8/25/05)

Senior Parking Standards - 3 Recent Surveys of California Cities (added 9/15/05)

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Smart Growth

Affordable Housing and Smart Growth Making the Connection (added 7/2/07)

Opportunity for All: Growth, Equity and Land Use Planning for California’s Future
(added 7/2/07 )

Making the Connection: Transit-Oriented Development and Jobs is a national study completed by Good Jobs First honoring 25 exemplary transit-oriented development (TOD) projects that provide increased transit access, good jobs, and affordable housing to low and moderate-income people, including many who cannot afford to own a car. (added 8/17/06)

Smart Growth Illustrated - Case studies in Smart Growth (added 7/26/06)

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Trust Funds  

City of Los Angeles Affordable Housing Trust Fund

Housing Trust Fund Project

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Design

The Affordable Housing Design Advisor (added 2/21/2005)

"Multifamily Green Building Guidelines" (added 6/14/2004)

"The Materials Handbook: Guidelines for Sustainable Affordable Housing" (added 12/2/2004)

Good Design : The Best Kept Secret in Community Development by LISC (added 2/21/2005)

The Center for Universal Design (added 7/26/05)

Air Quality and Land Use Handbook: A Community Health Perspective (added 8/8/05)

Center for Creative Land Recycling Brownfields Development Resources (added 10/6/05)

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Green and Sustainable Building

The Case for Sustainable Building: Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change

California HCD's Green Building & Sustainability Resources, August 2007 (added 9/11/2007)

Go Solar for California's Solar for Affordable Housing Website (added 9/11/2007)

Enterprise Community Partners' Green Communities Website (added 9/11/2007)

Global Green's Green Building Resource Center (added 9/11/2007)

US Green Building Council - San Diego Chapter (added 9/11/2007)

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Supportive Housing

Toolkit for Developing and Operating Supportive Housing

Publications from the Corporation for Supportive Housing

Funding Sources: Members Only Page

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