Environmental Health Coalition welcomes the San Diego Organizing Project (SDOP) for a guest editorial in this issue of the Toxinformer for its perspective on the housing problem and discussion of solutions. In times like these, the poorest feel the pinch the greatest, as many residents in EHC communities can attest. Many fear eviction from their barely affordable dwellings if they have to ask for even the most basic services, like addressing problems with lead-based paint. Others fear redevelopment because it tends to eliminate low-cost rental units. Housing is a health problem and health is a housing problem, plain and simple.
SDOP is a faith-based federation of 23 area congregations representing more than 40,000 families in the City of San Diego. For more than 23 years, SDOP has brought together people from across the city to work for a common goal. For the past year, SDOP has worked tirelessly on efforts to find solutions to San Diego’s worsening housing crisis.
It has taken a year’s hard work by dedicated volunteers from the San Diego Organizing Project (SDOP), but momentum is now building for solutions to the affordable housing crisis in our community. A recent poll commissioned by SDOP conducted by Competitive Edge Research and Communications Inc. shows concern for the growing lack of affordable housing in San Diego is now the number one issue confronting our city. The matter has risen above traffic, crime, education, and infrastructure needs in the minds of the 600 active voters surveyed.
The San Diego Organizing Project began its
research on housing over a year ago, when members of its congregations
began voicing concern for the skyrocketing costs of rental and cost of
homes. Since then, SDOP met with over 4,000 individuals and families to
understand the difficulties they were encountering. The testimonies we
heard were dramatic, including:
- A Logan Heights resident in her 70s who cannot retire because she cannot afford the increasing rent for her home;
- A working middle-class professional man with an important position at an area university who cannot afford to buy a home in the city;and
- A San Ysidro woman who receives a five-day notice that her rent is increasing by $400. She and her family must move and now live in a cramped apart- ment with her two brothers paying $1500 per month rent. There is no privacy for them.
There are many more stories. Families are facing indefinite, unstable futures. Some are forced to leave San Diego altogether. In fact, 77% of respondents to SDOP’s housing survey fear their children and those in the next generation will not be able to afford to live here because of the increasing cost of housing.
In the last year, SDOP spoke with over 75
key organizations that could have important roles in the solutions needed
to increase affordable housing opportunities. We researched creative
strategies at the national level to determine what other major cities have
done. The process we followed resulted in SDOP’s Housing Call to
Action, a four-point plan that begins a process toward improving
inventories of affordable housing. Our strategy includes:
- A declaration by City Council of a housing crisis in the city;
- A Mayor’s task force responsible for creating a Comprehensive Housing Strategy for the city by November;
- Immediate protection of renters from landlords’ exploitation, including unjust eviction and abuse of tenants’ rights; and
- Creation of new resources to promote first-time home ownership opportunities and the building of more affordable multi-unit rental housing.
For over 23 years, the San Diego Organizing Project has brought together people from across the city to work for a common goal. On June 17 under SDOP’s leadership, over 1,400 people from 47 San Diego congregations united at a citywide meeting with business, labor, and public officials. All covenanted with one another to continue our work in support of improved affordable housing.
Progress has already been achieved. The public dialogue on housing has heightened. Almost daily, news stories appear in area media reflecting the impact of housing on the city’s future economic health. Our survey indicates that most voters want our city government to respond to the housing crisis, even current homeowners not directly affected. We have received support for our Call to Action from seven City Council members, and all City Council candidates representing Districts Two and Four. Mayor Dick Murphy scheduled a public hearing on August 6th to address housing needs in San Diego.
Momentum is building in our communities and housing is now is a front-burner issue. The San Diego Organizing Project will continue to advance the issue in all appropriate venues. We invite all stakeholders to join us in working together for all families. With a common vision, achievable goals, and the necessary public and political will, we can truly claim San Diego as "America’s Finest City" for all of its residents.