The city of San Diego is at a crossroads. The high cost of housing is pushing San Diego families out of the city while increasing homelessness for older adults and others. Meanwhile, the city continues to be mired in chronic budget and infrastructure deficits which culminated in the disastrous flooding of a Southcrest neighborhood because of the lack of money to maintain storm water infrastructure. Such large and seemingly intractable problems give the impression that the city is in decline and that our elected leaders are powerless in stopping it.

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But this is not the case. In fact, the San Diego City Council and Mayor Todd Gloria have the power to reverse these trends, at no cost to taxpayers.

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How? By creating the conditions that will lower housing costs and generate more property taxes for city services.

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Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Let us explain.

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The City Council and mayor control land costs by mandating how much land a family must buy to live in a particular neighborhood. In the city of San Diego a family must purchase a minimum of 5,000 square feet of land and the home to live in single-family homes, which account for 81 percent of the residential properties in the city. The mayor and City Council have the legal authority to change this requirement at no cost to taxpayers.

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Allowing families the opportunity to purchase 1,000 square feet of land instead of the current 5,000 square feet will lower the cost of a new home by approximately 40 percent. These new townhomes or rowhomes would not include a front or back yard but could provide a two-car garage along with three to four bedrooms — perfect for a growing family.

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How does this improve the city’s budget and infrastructure deficit?

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