Morning Report: Apartments Account for Majority of New Construction

New apartment units accounted for nearly 60 percent of all new homes built in San Diego County between 2018 and 2024, according to an analysis by Voice of San Diego and KPBS. 

Accessory Dwelling Units accounted for the second largest category of new homes at roughly 17 percent. 

San Diego County isn’t building nearly enough new homes to keep up with demand in any category. So in one sense — at least as housing advocates see it — any new housing is good housing. 

But there is a growing awareness that much of the new construction that’s happening isn’t helping families. The majority of apartment units and ADU’s being built are likely one-bedroom and studio housing. (This information isn’t captured in the state housing data analyzed by Voice.)

Working families need 2- and 3-bedroom units to be able to raise a family. 

The core of the housing crisis is the “inability to build housing for families,” wrote Gary London, a real estate adviser who has analyzed housing data, in an email to Voice. “They are the ones exiting San Diego.” 

Read more stories in our In Whose Backyard housing series here. 

Politics Report: Padres Poll

Last week, the Padres sent out a statement about the city of San Diego’s decision to raise parking meter rates around Petco Park during major events to $10 per hour.

The increase was big and unexpected.

And the Padres had some feelings about not being consulted.

“The city made this decision without meaningful input from key stakeholders, including the Padres organization. We have not yet received information regarding how the new parking revenue will be reinvested locally but look forward to better understanding the city’s plan,” a written statement from the team said.

Editor Scott Lewis reports that a reader got a poll from Competitive Edge Research and Communication that seems to offer a glimpse into what the Padres may be thinking about their role in local politics.

Read the full post here.

VOSD Podcast: On the latest episode, our crew explains why the city of San Diego is cracking down on RVs in Mission Bay. Also on the show, environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer joins us to tell the tale of how bobcats terrorized animals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. 

Coming up: Former Mayor of Coronado Richard Bailey is joining us on the podcast next week. If you have any questions for our guest, email scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.

Listen to the full show here. 

El Cajon City Council to Discuss Crisis Call Responses

At El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells’ direction, the City Council will discuss the police department’s move to stop automatically responding to certain mental health crisis calls on Tuesday.

Voice of San Diego recently broke the news that El Cajon police a few months ago quietly halted automatic deployments when someone threatens to harm themselves, if there’s no apparent crime or danger to others.

The move, which the department said was meant to lessen liability for officers in the wake of a 2024 federal appeals court ruling, has sparked concerns from county officials and mental-health advocates. The shift has also meant clinicians from the county’s Mobile Crisis Response and the Psychiatric Emergency Response teams sometimes didn’t respond to calls or get police support when they sought it.

In a July letter to the El Cajon officials, County Supervisor Joel Anderson urged the City Council to hold a public discussion.

Late last week, City Manager Graham Mitchell told Voice that councilmembers hadn’t requested an item at their Tuesday meeting and Wells said he wanted to gather more information before getting something on the agenda.

Wells told Voice he changed his mind soon after a Friday interview. He said he’s asked Mitchell to brief the Council on Tuesday and looks forward to hearing public comments.

“I don’t expect a whole lot of policy changes to happen out of this meeting but hopefully we’ll gather some information and find out where everyone’s at on it,” Wells said. 

In Other News

• A San Diego man alleged in a lawsuit that sheriff’s deputies texted his mugshot to the man’s co-workers after the man was arrested in the Gaslamp Quarter on New Year’s Day on suspicion of public intoxication. Damion Hartsfield said he suffered reputational harm from the texted mugshot and was not intoxicated when he was arrested. (Union-Tribune)
• Bad news, good news: The number of businesses in San Diego County declined by 2.5 percent last year, a loss of 1,361 business, according to the Assessor’s office. But skyrocketing property values boosted the assessed value of all taxable property in the county to a record $806 billion. (Union-Tribune)
• San Diego’s public jazz radio station (KSDS, Jazz 88.3) is facing the loss of $200,000, or 20 percent of its budget, following Congress’ recent elimination of federal funding for public radio. So far, the decades-old station at San Diego City College has recouped half the loss from fundraising. (KPBS)
• An unvaccinated teenager who recently traveled overseas was diagnosed last week with San Diego County’s first confirmed case of measles. The teen may have exposed others on Wednesday and Thursday last week at Scripps Torrey Pines Urgent Care and Rady Children’s Emergency Department. (Times of San Diego)
• Weird but true: Police said a 23-year-old man was shot after getting into a fight with a fellow hiker on a trail in Mira Mesa – then bit off the top of his 47-year-old assailant’s finger. Police said they are still determining the cause of the altercation. (CBS8)

The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry, Jim Hinch and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.  

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