Rents in San Diego rise slower where more homes are permitted
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, June 26.>>>>Rents are rising slower where more housing is being built.
More on that next. But first... the headlines….#######
Parks in the City of San Diego are getting a major financial boost.
It comes courtesy of a $8.5 million settlement with SeaWorld over unpaid rent in 2020.
About $560,000 of those funds were used to catch up on revenue shortfalls in the previous fiscal year.
Mayor Todd Gloria says the rest will go towards improving the safety, cleanliness, and accessibility of parks.
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Meanwhile, Mayor Gloria is taking on a new leadership role.
He has been elected Vice President of the United States Conference of Mayors.
The USCM is the official, non-partisan organization of cities with
populations of 30-thousand or more.
Mayor Gloria will serve through June 2026.
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The future of the San Diego Water Conservation garden could hinge on a vote this afternoon by the San Diego County Water Authority board.
The board has been the garden’s biggest financial supporter since it opened in 1999. But, water authority staff is recommending the board either cease its financial support immediately, or pay the garden 100-thousand dollars this fiscal year, and 50-thousand next year… and then end its support.
Longtime volunteer Harold Bailey says the board should reject both recommendations and keep funding the garden as it always has.
“Unless water is the theme, it's conservation at the forefront. So by not taking that into account, I think they're just trying to make an offhand decision and save a few dollars.”
As of Wednesday morning, more than 23-hundred people had signed a petition calling on the board to keep supporting the garden.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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Rents in San Diego County increased by 52 percent since 2018, but they’ve grown the slowest in the zip codes where the most new homes were permitted.
Public Matters reporter Jake Gotta breaks down the numbers.
All these luxury buildings are going up Downtown. But do they really help people who are struggling to afford rent?
Turns out, the answer is yes!
Thousands of homes have been built downtown in the past few years. More than 10,000 were permitted in the 92101 ZIP code between 2018 and 2024
Rents downtown definitely still went up in that time, but only by 31% according to Zillow data. That’s the lowest rate in the County among 42 ZIP codes with data going back that far.
Meanwhile, the places in San Diego County where rents grew the most permitted far fewer homes.
Here in Coronado, only 133 homes were permitted in the past six years. In that time, rents grew by 75 percent!
It turns out there’s a connection between building new homes, and stopping rents from going up!
Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, who represents downtown, has seen the impact this can have.
“If we could have rents be stable, maybe decline a little bit, or increase just marginally, and people are earning more money in their paychecks, that delta means more money in their pockets and that’s what we need to do.”
It’s all because of supply and demand. Housing shortage means higher rents. More houses mean lower rents.
Even if they’re all big luxury buildings like these. Jake Gotta, KPBS News
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The San Diego City Council will soon vote on a $25 minimum wage for employees at hotels, event centers and theme parks.
Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says it would take effect next year.
AB: Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera first introduced the proposal in February. It covers workers at sports venues like Petco Park and Snapdragon Stadium. As well as those at the San Diego Zoo, Seaworld and the Convention Center. At a committee meeting Wednesday, hotel and tourism industry representatives said a $25 hourly minimum wage would hurt their sector when it's in a precarious economic position. Elo-Rivera said he doesn't buy it.
SER: We've heard these scare tactics before. We'll lose jobs, we'll raise prices, it's not the right time. We heard it when we raised the wage to $15, we heard it when we passed sick leave. Every time they say the sky will fall, and every time they're wrong.
AB: Elo-Rivera's office will continue refining the ordinance, which it hopes to present to the full City Council in September. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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A homeless shelter in the Midway district was cheered as a model worth replicating. Now it’s closing.
For our latest Why It Matters segment, Voice of San Diego’s Lisa Halverstadt explains what’s going on.
The city and county battled over responsibility for a homeless shelter. And people who live in the shelter are caught in the crossfire.
At least 15 people staying in the shelter are now back on the street.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria left nearly $5 million in annual funding for the shelter out of his budget as he tried to address a shortfall. He wanted the county to fund the shelter.
The City Council voted earlier this month on a city budget that gives the shelter two months to ramp down. It’s now set to close by Aug. 31.
Gloria and city officials promise they’ll help folks in the shelter find another place to go.
As of last week, 85 people had moved out including 50 who went to other shelters. Fifteen moved to the street. Sixty people were still staying at the shelter
Meanwhile, other homeless San Diegans are having a harder time getting shelter. I’m Lisa Halverstadt for Voice of San Diego and that’s why it matters.
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The special election for San Diego County’s district 1 supervisor is getting personal.
The two candidates: Democratic Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and Republican Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, have been firing heated accusations at each other.
South Bay reporter Kori Suzuki went through some of the major claims and discussed his findings with me.
DEBBIE:
Let’s start with one of the biggest claims. Paloma Aguirre says, “John McCann says the county ‘should cooperate’ with President Donald Trump's immigration deportation raids, like the one in South Park.”
What did you find about this claim?
KORI:
Yeah. This claim by Aguirre is a little misleading.
It is true that McCann, who is a Republican, had been silent on the South Park raid until recently.
On May 31, heavily armed Department of Homeland Security officers entered an Italian restaurant in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego and arrested workers, using flashbang grenades to push back a crowd of protestors.
At first, McCann largely declined to comment on the raid. In the days after the incident, campaign officials told City News Service that he was "on Navy duty and not able to comment.
But during an election debate last week, he called the Trump administration’s use of force in South Park “unacceptable” and said he supported San Diego’s immigrant communities.
Now, it is true that McCann has repeatedly said the county should be cooperating with federal immigration authorities. In May, he told KPBS that local agencies should be able to tell immigration officials if they have someone in custody who committed a violent crime.
DEBBIE:
Okay, let’s take a look at another claim. This one is from John McCann. He says Paloma Aguirre has “been delinquent on her property taxes for over 4 years.” Is there any truth to this?
KORI:
Yeah. This claim by McCann is also misleading.
Aguirre has regularly paid most of her property taxes over the last four years. But it is true that in 2021 she failed to pay part of a separate fee tied to the purchase of her condo in Imperial Beach.
The total amount Aguirre owes now, including interest, is around $2,600. Earlier this year, after McCann posted about the tax payments, she set up a 5-year payment plan to repay that amount.
Now, this is important because property taxes are an important source of revenue for San Diego County. They make up around a quarter of the county government’s income.
Just to note though, as mayor of Imperial Beach, Aguirre makes about nine thousand six hundred dollars a year. McCann, as the mayor of Chula Vista, makes about 157 thousand dollars a year. He also owns two real estate companies, each valued at over $1 million.
DEBBIE:
Okay, here’s another claim by Aguirre. She says, “John McCann wrote a secret letter to Donald Trump to release a convicted felon. Then that felon gave John McCann a hefty contribution when he ran for mayor.” What can you tell me about this?
KORI:
This one is true.
The claim here is based on reporting by the nonprofit news organizations inewsource and Voice of San Diego.
During the first Trump administration, they found, McCann wrote a letter asking the president to commute the sentence of a South Bay business owner. Who was serving a one-year federal prison sentence, after she was convicted as part of a conspiracy to sell counterfeit energy drinks.
In 2021, Trump commuted the remainder of that business owner’s sentence. In a statement, the White House specifically cited McCann’s support as the reason for the commutation.
A year later, inewsource found, that same business owner donated to McCann’s campaign for mayor and groups allied with him. And, earlier this year, she was convicted again on new federal fraud charges.
This is significant because McCann is really pitching himself as the public safety-focused candidate and a strong supporter of law enforcement.
DEBBIE:
Okay, let’s take a look at one last claim. John McCann says Paloma Aguirre wants to raid the county’s emergency reserves. Kori, true or false??
KORI:
Yeah. This is also true. Aguirre has said she supports leaning on the county’s rainy-day savings, or reserve funds, as Republican members of Congress consider slashing federal funding for safety net programs like Medi-Cal.
The idea of dipping into the county’s reserves has divided the current Board of Supervisors.
With Democratic supervisors Terra Lawsom-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe supporting the proposal.
And Republican supervisors Jim Desmond and Joel Anderson pushing back.
McCann agrees with that perspective. He thinks it’s irresponsible to draw on the county’s savings. And thinks the county should be looking for places to cut spending instead.
But Aguirre sees this as an emergency - as what she’s called a “full blown storm” created by the Trump administration and Congress. And says this is the time to use those rainy day funds.
DEBBIE:
Thanks!
I’ve been speaking to South Bay reporter Kori Suzuki
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Local researchers say more baby boomers are consuming cannabis … especially women.
And many for the first time.
Alexander Nguyen says increasing legalization is just one reason why.
A study by the UC San Diego School of Medicine … shows a dramatic increase in cannabis use among seniors 65 and older.
- Dr. Benjamin Han is the lead author of the paper.
“This is really the 1st time we're able to really examine current use or past use of cannabis among this older population, because the numbers have increased so sharply over the past decade.”
He looked at data from the National Survey on Drug Use as far back as 2005.
At that time … the prevalence among adults 65 and older was less than 1 percent
Fast forward to 2023 … cannabis use was up to 7-point-4 percent.
Han says increasing legalization is part of the reason.
“I think there's also been a lot of interest in cannabis to treat chronic symptoms, chronic diseases, especially among older adults.”
But as a doctor treating geriatric patients … Han has concerns about seniors self-medicating with pot.
On top of that … Han says many older patients don’t tell doctors that they are using cannabis.
That’s because there is still a stigma among baby boomers.
Alexander Nguyen, KPBS news
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<<<SHOW CLOSE>>>
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
