July 31, 2025
READ AND DOWNLOAD THE FULL MEETING NOTES HERE
Local Updates/News
Please welcome Ryan Sears, NPHS Inc, and Jess Hudson, United Way Bay Area, to the Housing Working Group!
Debbie Arakel, Habitat for Humanity California
SGV Habitat pulled the very first permit for wildfire recovery rebuild in Los Angeles! They are actively working on the rebuild there.
Debbie sends her thanks to all the members of the HWG that signed on to the budget letter urging the state to restore funding for CalHOME. Despite the loss of CalHOME, Habitat California has over 300 home starts in the works.
Sylvia Aguilar, California Community Builders
You’re Invited! Build the Middle National Housing Convening—Pasadena, CA August 13-15, 2025
Casita Coalition’s 2025 Build the Middle convening in Pasadena will bring together leaders from across sectors to drive bold, practical solutions for building more neighborhood-scale housing— from ADUs to duplexes, townhouses, cottage courts and more, spurring the production of more attainable for-sale and rental homes. Join us in shaping the future of housing!
Learn more or register here!
CCB & Center by Lendistry completed the first cohort of the “Building Unique Investments to Leverage Development” incubator a few weeks ago! They will be launching another incubator cohort next year.
HWG Spotlight: Ricardo Flores, LISC San Diego - New Research!
REPORT #1: San Diego Community Lot Size Reduction: Market and Feasibility Analysis
LISC San Diego has been advocating for lot divisions (including small lot subdivisions) as a way to increase homeownership opportunity and reduce housing costs for a long time, and they are frequently asked “how much does it really lower the cost of the new housing?”
So, they commissioned a study from London Moeder Advisors to find out what these reforms could look like in San Diego!
Findings:
If you build on smaller lots, it is about 42% cheaper than the single family home adjacent.
The report includes mock-ups of these smaller “high density family housing” projects prepared by an architect.
REPORT #2: City of San Diego Property Tax: Impact of High-Density Family Housing Development
The next question that follows when electeds – especially local elected officials – see this type of research is “but what happens to our tax base,” so LISC San Diego commissioned a follow up report to look into that as well!
Findings:
1 home paying taxes on a piece of land produces far less tax revenue than 5-6 homes paying taxes on the same land.
If 4,000 single family properties (of 280,000 in San Diego) are converted to fee-simple townhouse subdivisions, the city will realize an additional $430 million in revenue each year.
That’s just the City’s portion of the new revenue. It will also mean more money for schools and the county.
Survey: New HWG Name
We are exploring a HWG rebrand with a more unique name that will allow us to build name recognition and group power, as a part of the HWG reorg to develop more clear and transparent policies and greater value for members.
If you were not able to attend the meeting, you can provide your feedback or suggestions for names here.
Results from the first round of feedback below!
HWG members-only website access
Don’t forget about the Members-only section of the Housing Working Group website, featuring bill and local project information, research, past meeting notes, and more!
password: housingcommunities24