Rental units in San Diego are being converted into condos so quickly the negative impacts are being ignored. That's according to City Attorney Mike Aguirre. Today he released a legal opinion that will require San Diego to do a more thorough job of reviewing condo conversions. KPBS reporter Beth Ford Roth has more.
Aguirre says his legal opinion will require the city to review the environmental impact of all condo conversions. Impacts like renters being displaced, and the loss of low-income housing. Aguirre says in addition, there needs to be some assurance about the quality of the conversions, so the condos don't fall apart before homebuyers pay off their loans.
Aguirre: "The life expectancy of the condominium should be greater than the duration of the loan, what we're concerned about now is you are diminishing home ownership, you still have the same expense, but you're not getting the same quality."
There were more than 11,000 applications to convert rental units into condos in San Diego between February of 2004 and June of 2005. Beth Ford Roth, KPBS news.
