San Diego Union Tribune: San Diego issues $54M in bonds to boost affordable housing

Aiming to boost San Diego’s scarce supply of subsidized housing for low-income residents, the City Council issued $54 million in tax-exempt bonds this month to developers building or renovating hundreds of such housing units across the city. The bonds will help finance projects with rents below market rates in Otay Mesa, Southeastern San Diego, City Heights, Carmel Valley and Torrey Highlands. Significantly fewer subsidized housing projects have been built in California since the elimination in 2011 of redevelopment agencies, which were required to spend 20 percent of the revenue they generated on affordable housing. San Diego officials have declared the region’s shortage of affordable housing a crisis, and have approved several pieces of legislation this year that aim to accelerate construction of units low- and middle-income people can afford.