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THE PROBLEM
12%
of the unsheltered population of San Diego County are youth. That number represents more than 1,500 youth.
source: sdyouthservices.org
San Diego, like many cities across California and the country, is facing a major housing crisis. While in recent years leaders have begun trying to address this human rights crisis, we've simply been fighting the symptoms. To take steps in tackling the housing crisis, we must address and target the root causes.
Some of the root causes of the housing crisis we seek to address through our projects are as follows:
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Lack of commitment to smart development, that will begin to address the systemic issues we face from decades of inaction on housing and transportation planning and development.
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Failure to plan for our city's growth in the past and present.
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The stigmatization of and misinformation around increased density, multi-family homes, and public housing.
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History of exclusion in land planning and housing and transportation policy decisions, especially of youth and other marginalized communities
WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
108,036
is the number of housing units the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) determined San Diego would need to build by 2029 in order to adequately serve our rapidly growing city. However, in 2022, San Diego built less than 10,000 new units. As we continue to plan and develop our city, we need to meet the urgency of the situation and catch up with our goals.
What is the solution to such an overwhelming and long-term problem?
We need to build a lot more housing. We need more high-density housing, and we need to improve our infrastructure and public transportation simultaneously.
We play our part in advancing this solution by organizing youth in San Diego, stakeholders that have been historically excluded. Youth are overwhelmingly pro-housing, but our voices and perspectives are often left out of the decision-making process due to intentional and circumstantial barriers to entry.
Our strategy is to increase the capacity, confidence, and ability of impacted groups, predominately youth, to be a part of the solution. Together we will:
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Host educational community events
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Foster a supportive pro-housing community by organizing
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Connect youth stakeholders to the broader pro-housing community
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Bolster passionate young leaders in the pro-housing movement
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Find ways to maximize the benefits of current investments in infrastructure as our city continues to grow and develop
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Inspire creative collective action to call for smart future-oriented solutions
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Counter-overrepresented anti-housing voices currently dominating the narrative
TIME FOR SOME HOPE...
San Diego is Pro-Housing! No, literally...
At the end of 2022, San Diego was one of 6 cities to earn the State Pro-Housing
Designation. However, the fight is far from over. We must continue to push for
pro-housing policies and ensure the progress we've already made to earn such a
designation is not lost. Join us in this effort.
At Our Time to Act, we have HOPE for the future of housing and transportation in San Diego. We believe that more housing options for our fellow residents mean preventing exclusion in this beautiful place we call home.
If you also believe that there is HOPE for our future, we would love for you to join us in the fight. There are plenty of ways to get involved. If you want to learn more about our work and how to get involved in housing justice, please check out one of our past info-videos. As part of our #HOPESD campaign, we will be recording and storing (linked below) all info videos so please feel free to watch them based on your own pace and interest. If you want to become even more involved, please consider joining our newsletter to keep up to date on ways to support the cause, or meet with our Housing Projects Director, Nicole Lillie, to see how you can get more involved.
Public comment opportunity to put knowledge into action.
Want to learn more about the housing crisis, and how to solve it? We have you covered.
Schedule a one-on-one with our Housing Projects Director.
Keep updated with our progress and other projects.
FIRST #HOPESD INFO SESSION
Find more videos on our Youtube Channel!
HOUSING RESOURCES
We understand that much of the work we do in housing justice is pushing for long-term solutions to lasting and systemic problems. Due to the nature of housing and land-use policy and development, the housing crisis is impossible to solve overnight. While this can be discouraging, we believe we cannot let this get in the way of our fight for a better future. If we don't start now, we will never achieve a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable housing and transportation future for San Diego.
That being said, we are also aware that many of the problems we intend to solve are everyday realities for many San Diegans, especially youth. Below are resources that serve to address the housing crisis in the short-term and provide some relief to the issue of housing insecurity and the challenges that can arise as a result of it.
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FACES BEHIND THE MISSION
NICOLE LILLIE
she/her/hers
Director of Housing Justice
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