State and local leaders gathered in front of the San Diego Civic Theatre on Monday to announce a new bill to revive California’s dying downtowns with housing.
Assembly Bill 2074, authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, focuses on building more affordable, denser housing in cities’ urban centers.
The pandemic drastically changed downtowns because of remote work, Haney said. That was evident in the boarded-up windows and graffiti on downtown San Diego buildings where there were once vibrant shops.
“Office vacancy is still up. Foot traffic is down,” Haney said.
The office vacancy rate in some cities' downtowns now exceeds 30%, according to industry reports. In downtown San Diego, it’s around 33%, according to the brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap.
AB 2074 aims to revitalize the urban cores of major cities across the state, including San Diego, by building denser housing.
“Downtowns are actually some of the best places to build housing," Haney said. "There's transit, there's jobs as restaurants, there's arts and culture. There's public spaces. Everything that people need is already here.”
The bill would streamline the approval process for building high-rise affordable housing and mixed-use developments near downtown transit hubs. Haney chose San Diego to announce the bill because he said the city has been doing many of the things the bill seeks to do.
"While other cities are still trying to figure it out, San Diego has doubled down, tripled down on building housing in their downtowns. And it's working," he said. "More people are living here, not just commuting and leaving at 5 p.m."
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria touted several ongoing developments he said were the result of the city's land-use policies.
“As you look around, literally every direction, you can see brand-new housing that is popping up,” he said.
The more people who live downtown, Gloria said, the more retail storefronts will pop up, and, along with them, more jobs.
“I don't think it's an accident that on the other side of this building (referring to Golden Hall), we have three towers going in, nearly a thousand units, and with them is coming a grocery store for this corner of downtown that has never had one," he said. "So these are connected matters.”
The mayor said that while there’s plenty of housing on the west end of downtown, the hope is that the bill would spur development on the east end and along the C Street corridor.
“We do have places where we need a lot more focus and attention, and I think specifically the C Street corridor would be one,” Gloria said.
The bill would also create a $500 million revolving fund, offering low-interest loans that developers could tap to get their projects across the finish line. It is supported by the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, California YIMBY and the San Diego Building Construction Trades Council.
“There's no single silver bullet to our housing challenges, but attacking the problem from multiple angles," said Carol Kim, San Diego Building Construction Trades Council business manager. "This will be a critical step to putting housing in reach for all California workers.”
The bill was passed out of the California Assembly Housing Committee last week. The hope is that it will reach the floor for a vote by the end of May and the governor’s desk by the end of the year.
