Projections from regional planners indicate current housing plan estimates in San Diego County fall more than 150,000 homes short of keeping up with the population growth expected by 2050.
The San Diego County Association of Governments (SANDAG) estimates more than a half-million homes are needed by 2050 to keep up with population growth, but planning permits in local cities only allow for just over 367,000, falling short of what the county will need, SANDAG Principal Planner Coleen Clementson said.
"Most of [the population growth] is homegrown; most of it is people here having babies," Coleen Clementson said. "About 60 percent of the growth is from natural increase and the other 40 percent is from people moving here."
SANDAG said they are now working with city planning directors to determine ways to incorporate additional housing plans into their projections. The data will be used to update San Diego County’s regional growth forecast which aids in infrastructure planning, Clementson said.
SANDAG recommends planners begin considering development options like increasing density or allowing granny flats -- a separate, unattached residence that can be rented out.
"It’s not an impossible feat, Clementson said. "It’s just trying to figure out how we do that in the best way and working with the local jurisdictions to identify the best strategies to make sure the housing is in the right places where we’re making transportation investments."
City planning committees will have to sign off on any new developmental plans, but SANDAG hopes through coordination they can find the additional approximately 150,000 units needed by 2050.
Local
"Yeah, that is a rather large number but the local general plans as the way they are today -- if we went to the high end of what all the densities would allow -- we could definitely make that number," Clementson said.
