Recognizing the need to provide housing for all income levels in every city, the state of California established the Housing and Community Development Department in 1965.
Today, some 60 years later, there are still cities in California without a single unit of affordable housing built, including Del Mar, the affluent seaside enclave with pristine beaches, ocean-view mansions, and wealthy residents.
Despite the HCD’s requirement that every California city produce its fair share of affordable housing — 101 units in Del Mar’s case plus 12 penalty units for missing past deadlines — how is it that Del Mar doesn’t have even one unit of affordable housing built after all these years?
Why has HCD been so lenient with Del Mar? When are they finally going to drop the hammer?
Del Mar’s housing woes go way back. Notably, Del Mar failed to meet its housing needs in the 4th housing cycle (2007-2014) and didn’t rezone for 10 affordable units. As a penalty, it was required to accommodate those units and 12 more in the 5th cycle (2014-2021). The city missed the 5th cycle rezoning deadline within 3 years, prompting yet another warning.
Finally, in 2021 at the tail end of the 5th cycle, Del Mar took action to address its 4th and 5th cycle rezoning issues. Yet, four years into the 6th cycle (2021-2029), Del Mar missed the 6th cycle rezoning deadline within 3 years.
Despite its failures, the city claims it is trying its best to comply with state housing law.
Last spring, it began talking to the 22nd Agricultural District, which manages the Del Mar Fairgrounds, about building up to 61 units of affordable housing on fairgrounds property. The units, while well short of the 113 total units needed, are the centerpiece of Del Mar’s plan to meet the state’s requirement.
However, a couple months later, fairgrounds officials called off talks, which caused the city of Del Mar to miss a key Dec. 31 deadline for identifying affordable housing sites.
Talks eventually resumed, but last month, fairgrounds officials suspended talks once again, over an unrelated tiff with city leaders, marking the second suspension in less than seven months.
And at its meeting on March 3, the Del Mar City Council voted to once again ask the fairgrounds to resume talks, for the third time.
Enough is enough.
The unstable relationship between the two parties and their on-off-on-off again talks have cast doubt about whether any affordable housing will ever be built at the fairgrounds.
Meanwhile, the city is turning a blind eye to other proposed affordable housing projects that would help it comply with the state’s housing requirement.
The notable example, of course, is the much publicized Seaside Ridge. This project alone would deliver 259 units of housing, 85 of which would be for those with moderate, low and very low incomes. This project, which could be completed as soon as 2029, would go a long way toward helping the city satisfy its mandate.
But instead of processing it, the city now faces a lawsuit by the developer — one that closely resembles a suit filed recently by a developer in La Cañada Flintridge against that city for unlawfully denying a housing project there. The developer was victorious at the trial court level; however, the city quickly filed an appeal. Last week, recognizing that a successful appeal would be unlikely, the city withdrew it. The project will now move forward.
Also, HCD sent a letter to Del Mar in December telling them that “it must continue to process housing development applications submitted during the time the city’s housing element was out of compliance” per the state’s Builder’s Remedy Law. The Seaside Ridge project was submitted during the time Del Mar was out of compliance.
Across California, the housing crisis persists in part because cities like Del Mar continue to obstruct the department, slow playing any attempt to follow the law. When HCD has come knocking, a mea culpa is issued by the city, but nothing ever changes.
It’s time for HCD to once and for all hold these bad actors accountable.
Only then can California say it is truly serious about solving this crisis.
Ricardo Flores is executive director of the nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation in San Diego.
