Solutions for the Housing Crisis

As a family of two working parents with two young children, my wife and I are grateful to be able to call San Diego our home. In order to ensure that our neighbors, children, and even grandchildren can continue to enjoy this beautiful city, we must take urgent and important steps today — so that they too, can one day call San Diego home.

Over our last 16 years of living in District 6, things have changed dramatically. The cost of housing, interest rates, and other economic factors have made housing more challenging for all San Diegans. No single solution exists to solve the housing crisis, and so the leadership necessary to avert this crisis will lie in coherent ideas, decisive action, and strategic collaboration across our region.

On City Council, I am committed to prioritizing middle-income as well as affordable housing that will serve working families both in District 6 and throughout San Diego. Together, me must change the equation so that both homeownership and rents are more affordable for both our neighbors and for our future generations.

To tackle this crisis, we need serious candidates with serious solutions, and whose leadership and experience can build the coalitions necessary to move the needle. I am especially proud to have the support of affordable housing advocates throughout our region.

Together, District 6 will lead the way towards ensuring that we may fulfill a promise to our children and our grandchildren, that San Diego has a place for them as well.

-Kent Lee

Kent will respond to the housing crisis by:

  • Prioritizing middle-income housing to support working families

  • Rethinking housing financing to lower costs and support first-time homebuyers

  • Strategically realigning regional housing, infrastructure, and transportation objectives

Prioritizing middle-income housing to support working families

With only 59 middle-income units built throughout our region since 2010, San Diego must prioritize the development of middle-income housing that supports our working families.

On City Council, Kent will fight to:

  • Streamline city processes, and remove bureaucracy, in order to prioritize middle-income housing

  • Maximize the use of public land, in partnership with other agencies and municipalities, to specifically support middle-income and affordable housing

  • Develop a strategy to preserve both deed-restricted and naturally-affordable housing units

  • Convert existing vacant commercial buildings, malls, and other properties for housing

  • Advocate for the infrastructure necessary to support our growing neighborhoods, including: transit, streets, parks, schools, libraries, and much more

Rethinking housing finance to lower costs and support first-time homebuyers

Kent believes that a significant piece of the equation that must be considered is in housing finance — both to help lower costs that may be passed onto residents, as well as the opportunities we have to support first-time, middle-income homebuyers competing for homes. 

Kent believes we can change the equation on housing by establishing a middle-income housing fund with public, private, and philanthropic partners, in order to:

  • Support middle-income housing projects at reduced costs compared to private equity or traditional lending

  • Preserve both deed-restricted and naturally-affordable housing through incentive programs

  • Partner with local companies, foundations, and more, in order to identify, plan, and build workforce housing

  • Encourage  state and federal partners to further support first-time middle-income homebuying programs that will reduce the significant upfront down payments currently needed to purchase a home.

Strategically realigning regional housing, infrastructure, and transportation objectives

Kent believes that not all neighborhoods are ripe for development, and that we must ensure alignment of our regional housing, infrastructure, and transportation objectives in order to ensure the smart development needed to help grow San Diego responsibly.

On City Council, Kent will:

  • Work with our regional planning agencies as well as various municipal partners to ensure we work strategically in accomplishing our objectives

  • Implement the Kearny Mesa Community Plan with a specific focus on encouraging housing at mixed-income levels alongside a more walkable community

  • Work to meet State-mandated objectives as well as our own Climate Action Plan to ensure we retain local control over housing while addressing our climate challenges as a region

  • Avoid building in areas that are unable to support growth or face significant safety risks with nearby airports, such as along the north side of Miramar Rd.

Kent is the right choice because no other candidate better understands, listens to, and is capable of delivering on the housing needs of District 6. His seriousness will address the expressed and supported needs of the communities, and he has demonstrated the ability to build the coalitions necessary to deliver on these promises. Electing Kent will stimulate the building of smart housing so that we can tackle the most important problems of today, while also creating a future where all of our children and grandchildren will be able to call District 6 home as well.