San Diego Needs a Pro-Housing Constituency

London: “Policymakers hear a constituency for people who don’t want housing or don’t see the housing crisis as their crisis because they already have their house. We need to reframe the conversation.”

SAN DIEGO—Current housing constituencies in San Diego are against development, but keeping our current course will throw San Diego into economic crisis, the London Group Realty Advisors principal Gary London tells GlobeSt.com. London recently gave the presentation “Setting the Table: The Housing Crisis in Perspective; Facts and Figures” at the Housing Affordability Conference: Economic Impact and Practical Solutions, hosted by the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University San Diego School of Business. The conference was part of the Breakfast at the BMC lecture series and was the first of two parts that laid out the problems with San Diego’s current housing situation; the second part will take place in the fall and present solutions.

The conference consisted of three sections. First was London’s presentation of empirical data. Then came the economic response—moderated by Jerry Sanders from the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and former mayor of San Diego—which included panelists Mark Cafferty, president and CEO, Economic Development Corp.; Marney Cox, chief economist, San Diego Association of Governments; Lynn Reaser, chief economist, Point Loma Nazarene University; and Deborah Ruane ’14 MSEL, SVP, San Diego Housing Commission. The third section of the conference was a policy response panel, moderated by David Graham, deputy COO, City of San Diego, which included speakers Paul Borden, president and CEO, HomeFed Corp.; Ann Moore ’84 JD, partner, Norton Moore and Adams; Jeff Murphy, planning director, City of San Diego; and Mark Wardlaw, director, County of San Diego Department of Planning and Development Services.