Morning Report: Where Have All the New Homes Gone?

When it comes to solving San Diego’s housing crisis, some cities are standouts.

Others are lagging behind.

In partnership with KPBS, Voice of San Diego examined housing trends across the county.

The results might surprise you.

The county’s top homebuilder is Chula Vista. With large tracts of undeveloped land and a pro-growth City Council, Chula Vista has built more new homes per capita – 38 – than any other San Diego city over the past six years.

Trailing the pack are Lemon Grove, Imperial Beach, El Cajon and Poway. Each city has its own reason for building few new homes, ranging from lack of land, to restrictive zoning.

The biggest surprise? Encinitas, a hotbed of resistance to state housing laws, actually is one of the county’s leading builders.

“We’re well ahead of most other cities,” Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers said.

Not that residents are celebrating. “They hate it,” Ehlers said of construction projects forced on the city by state housing mandates.

The entire analysis is fascinating. Read it here.

Read more stories in our In Whose Backyard here. We will be publishing more of our findings this week. 

Sacramento Report: R.I.P. CEQA?

This year’s state budget season ended with a bang when lawmakers inserted a last-minute budget provision that blows a big hole in one of California’s bedrock environmental laws.

The provision exempts certain housing and other construction projects from complying with the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA.

State lawmakers adopted CEQA more than half a century ago to rein in unchecked development.

The law has helped to preserve California’s air and water quality and natural beauty. But critics say it also has slowed badly needed home construction by empowering opponents to bury development projects in lawsuits and delays.

This year, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks of Oakland, joined by San Diego Assemblymember David Alvarez and other like-minded Democrats, successfully pushed to exempt from CEQA review construction of small-sized housing projects in urban areas, daycare centers, advanced manufacturing facilities, high-speed rail and farmworker housing.

It’s one of the most consequential changes to California environmental law in decades. Our Deborah Sullivan’s latest Sacramento Report tells you everything you need to know.

Read the Sacramento Report here.

The Water Authority Breakup 

The law firm that helped San Diego embark on an ambitious water deal and guided the region’s legal strategy for 25 years has ended things with the San Diego County Water Authority. 

In a new letter, attorneys with Brownstein Hayatte Farber Schreck LLP, told the Water Authority’s general manager that they would not provide legal services the agency wanted. This comes after the agency passed on a separate agreement with attorney Chris Frahm. 

Our resident politics nerd Scott Lewis has been following the story in our member exclusive newsletter, the Politics Report. 

He explains why the latest news matters and what impact it could have on the agency that secures our water. Read more here. 

VOSD Podcast: On the latest episode, education reporter Jakob McWhinney explains why charter schools are experiencing enrollment increases, while other San Diego schools are seeing fewer kids. Listen to the VOSD Podcast here. 

In Other News 

• San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria last week issued an executive order strengthening the city’s response to federal immigration enforcement. The order calls for know-your-rights outreach to residents and businesses, greater coordination responding to enforcement operations and requests for federal data about immigration operations in the city. (Union-Tribune)
• Dozens of public television and radio stations in California, including KPBS, will lose millions in federal funding following Republicans’ recent elimination of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, CalMatters reports. Some stations, especially in rural areas, could shutter.
• Despite yearslong efforts to make San Diego more walkable and bikeable, a new study shows the region does not even crack the top 30 in a list of most pedestrian- and bike-friendly counties. (Axios)
• Father Joe’s Villages, San Diego’s largest homeless services provider, will expand dental services following a $150,000 grant from the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation. (CBS8)
• KPBS arts and culture reporter Beth Accomando last week profiled Alonso Nuñez, whose Little Fish Comic Book Studio runs a Comc-Con Artist Intensive program to help aspiring comic book artists boost their skills and get noticed by professionals at the annual convention of all things geek.

The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch and Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña. 

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