(Photo: Two San Diegans showed up at the city council meeting to protest mini dorms in red anti-mini dorm t-shirts. Alison St John/KPBS .)
San Diego City Council has voted for a measure to restrict mini dorms in single family residential neighborhoods city wide. However the council postponed taking action on a “Rooming House Ordinance” proposed by the city attorney, which would forbid mini dorms, except in multi- family and commercial zones. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.
The College area is ground zero for mini dorms -- family houses that have been converted into multiple occupancy units, often to house students. At a four-hour meeting last night, Reverend Adam Rock told the council what he thinks of mini dorms.
Rock: They become hazardous conditions - there is of course drinking, I’ve had to stop people sitting on my front lawn smoking, guys yelling, girls screaming. You’ve got to do something.
Many complained of unscrupulous landlords who squeeze twice as much rent out of mini dorms than they would from a family renting a home. But some landlords showed up to stand up for their rights.
Brendon Bracken says he wants to have the right to rent out the rooms in the house he owns to help defray the rent. He says the problem stems from lack of affordable housing in the city.
Bracken: Where do my rights begin and end, versus my neighbors' rights begin and end. We’re focusing on the leaves and fruit rather than the root of the problem.
Indeed three council members talked about how in their districts, multiple occupancy is common, and it’s not students -- it’s low-income families who can’t afford to live any other way.
District 8 councilman Ben Hueso:
Hueso: I myself was raised in a household of 15 so I have concerns about how this applies to people with large families and large extended families.
Councilwoman Toni Atkins worried that restricting or banning multiple occupancy housing from single family neighborhoods would simply push more of the troublemakers into multi-family zoned areas.
However most people were in support of the city’s ordinance which would require landlords who rent a house to more than six adults to apply for an annual permit . The cost -- $1,000. They will also have to provide enough parking spaces for everyone in the house -- except one. If there are six tenants they need five spaces.
The issue of mini dorms is a hot one for candidates running in next year’s election for the 7th District, that includes the College area and Rolando, affected by SDSU students.
April Boling, formerly head of the Taxpayer’s Association, is running for the seat to be vacated by Jim Madaffer .
Boling: I’d like to urge you to make sure that this evening you do what the community would like you to do and what is the right things for San Diego which is to stop the commercialization of our residential neighborhoods.
Boling’s opponent, former TV reporter /anchor Marti Emerald focused on the lack of planning by San Diego State University and the Cal State Board of Trustees, who recently approved a massive increase in students at SDSU without a massive increase in student housing.
Emerald: While this seems like a great short term solution, it really does not address the longer term needs of affordable housing for students and staff and teachers in this area, so I hope this is the first step of longer term planning.
The council ultimately voted to pass the Ordinance to require more parking, and permits to operate a rental with more than six adults. But council members were not comfortable with a Rooming House Ordinance proposed by the city attorney. It would ban mini dorms with more than three separate renters from single family neighborhoods altogether.
It would be a challenge to enforce because of the subjective definition of what constitutes a family rather than a group of economically independent renters.
Councilman Jim Madaffer whose district includes the College area has been wrestling with this issue for years.
Madaffer: There isn’t anybody who is more supportive of defending single family neighborhoods from the affects of mini dorms. I just want to make sure the law the city attorney is suggesting is legally enforceable and does find us in court being challenged by people who might be economically disadvantaged. How enforceable is this and how legal will it be in the eyes of California courts.
Madaffer knows a previous attempt to ban multi unit housing in residential homes has been overturned in court.
Finally the Council voted to let staff tweak the Rooming House Ordinance to see if it can avoid some of the ambiguities and problems, and bring the measure back in January for another vote.
Alison St John, KPBS News.
