The Coronado News recently asked, “Does affordable housing stand a chance in Coronado?”
I would answer, no, but it’s not our place to provide that kind of home. The question is in response to the recent City Council decision to apply an expensive fee on multi-family housing in an effort to subsidize the construction of more affordable units.
Unfortunately, academic studies such as a 2024 UCLA study on inclusionary zoning in Los Angeles, show that policies like this reduce housing construction and often result in higher rents and housing prices overall.
The City Council did not need to listen to me and my empirical evidence because six other members of the public spoke against high fees on multi-family housing from a variety of view-points: the local real estate association, a young sailor who hoped to live in Coronado someday, a developer saying these costs will be passed on to apartment dwellers, and a self-developer who split his own lot but says he could not have done it if these fees had been in place. It does not seem reasonable to almost anyone that taxing the least expensive forms of housing would result in affordable housing.
But that’s OK because Coronado’s part to play in the region’s housing market is not to provide homes that meet the countywide standard for affordable housing. If there was a two-bedroom rental for $1,477 per month, every well-connected Coronado family with a college student would pull out all the stops to get it.
No, our contribution is to build new market-rate housing because each family that moves to a much desired Coronado home will leave behind a lesser place for others to buy or rent. As this chain of housing swaps continues down the market, eventually a young family will get the starter home they so badly need.
My recommendation to the council is to monitor multi-family housing applications and, if construction slows or stops, they should re-evaluate further increases in the $25 per square foot inclusionary fee and consider making it lower. Lack of new housing only benefits existing homeowners, those lucky enough to get in the market before it skyrocketed. California needs more housing of all kinds, at all price points, until the supply meets demand. Construction will benefit the building trades as well as middle-class citizens (teachers, police, firefighters, etc.) who are being forced to live further and further away from where they work. Let’s get building, Coronado.
Glenn Hopson is a Coronado homeowner who works for the Navy. He is a member of the organization Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) Democrats of San Diego County.
