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Quality of Life

Oceanside Takes Steps To Develop More Affordable Housing

Lita Morales, shown in this photo, is a volunteer with the Ministry for Social Justice at the San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside, June 26, 2015.
Alison St John
Lita Morales, shown in this photo, is a volunteer with the Ministry for Social Justice at the San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside, June 26, 2015.

Oceanside Takes Steps To Develop More Affordable Housing
Oceanside lost an estimated $3.3 million in funding for affordable housing by cutting developer fees to some of the lowest rates in the region four years ago. This week, the city will start charging higher developer fees again.

Oceanside lost an estimated $3.3 million in funding for affordable housing by cutting developer fees to some of the lowest rates in the region four years ago. This week, the city will start charging higher developer fees again.

For Lita Morales, a single mother who spent years working three jobs to keep a roof over her children’s heads, that's good news.

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“I went out and asked for help and they said, ‘You qualify.’ I was very happy,” she said. “But then they told me the waiting list is 12 years.”

Morales is part of the Ministry of Social Justice at the San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside, which along with the San Diego Organizing Project lobbied the city to build more housing for low- and moderate-income residents.

“We did our research within our community, and we found out that there are a lot of needs, Morales said. "But the No. 1 priority for everybody is housing.”

Morales said she knows families where two parents and three children are sharing one room because they cannot afford to rent a bigger place. She said the high cost of housing leads to other problems because families can't build strong bonds if parents are working such long hours they are hardly ever home.

The San Diego Organizing Project, a faith-based nonprofit community organizing group, reports that Oceanside is 2,700 homes short of its state-mandated affordable housing goals.

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If developers fail to build 10 percent of their projects for low- and moderate-income families, they have to pay an “in-lieu” fee. In 2011, Oceanside slashed that fee from about $10,000 per house built to about $1,800.

Oceanside City Councilman Chuck Lowery, elected last November, said that decision set the city back on its affordable housing goals.

“We have not been able to get near even meeting those goals because the voluntary fee structure collected so little money that there was nothing we could do with the little money that we had,” Lowery said.

Bruce Reznik, executive director of the San Diego’s Housing Federation, said that without in-lieu developer fees cities also lose out on state funding for affordable housing because they can’t provide matching funds.

Oceanside’s decision to revert to a higher fee is linked to a recent California Supreme Court ruling that said charging developers in-lieu fees does not violate their constitutional property rights.

Morales is heartened that the city is acting on the community’s pleas to raise more money for affordable housing.

“Now we’re going to have some money to develop housing for low-income families,” she said. “And to me, it’s like a big victory.”

Lowery said his discussions with developers suggest they see the need to build more affordable homes rather than pay the in-lieu fee.

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