Mayor Todd Gloria’s move to encourage construction of single-room-occupancy residences has a “back to the future” feel to it.
Those dynamics often are blamed for the city’s homelessness crisis, but that’s an oversimplification. The current state of homelessness results from a complex set of economic and social issues — but the lack of low-cost housing, SROs or otherwise, is among the biggest. Gloria’s main incentive for SROs is to grant them virtually automatic, ministerial approval in areas with access to mass transit without having to go through lengthy reviews and hearings.
But lower costs are relative in San Diego’s expensive market. Even smaller units are out of rental or purchase range for many residents. They generally are not the kind of places where people can afford to live simply on their Social Security checks, as many SRO residents did in the past. SROs and other alternative housing face an additional set of hurdles. Most developers are geared toward building traditional housing — single homes, condominiums, apartments — that tend to sell at the high end.