September 4, 2025

Committee Advances Proposed Fund to Support Public-Private Partnership Investments to Preserve Affordable Housing

The City Council will consider the creation of the Affordable Housing Preservation Fund by the San Diego Housing Commission

SAN DIEGO – The City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee voted unanimously today to forward to the full City Council a proposal to establish a fund that would combine public dollars with private-sector investment, including philanthropy, to keep thousands of rental homes affordable in the City of San Diego in coming years.

“Hardworking San Diegans deserve rents they can afford in homes that they aren’t at risk of losing,” said Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee, who chairs the Land Use and Housing Committee. “The Affordable Housing Preservation Fund will help us protect one of San Diego’s most precious and valuable resources: affordable homes.”

“The Preservation Fund is how San Diego fights back against the loss of affordable homes,” said Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who serves on the Committee. “While we work to build more housing, this fund will help us protect the homes people already rely on. Across the country, cities are teaming up with philanthropy to buy at-risk apartments before rents skyrocket and tenants are displaced. This is San Diego’s first step in that direction—and I invite our philanthropic partners to join us in making it real.”

The proposed fund is designed to initially support acquiring multifamily housing properties in areas near transit, schools and employment centers; preserving their affordability; generating income to reinvest to acquire additional properties in the future; and attracting private-sector investment to the fund, including philanthropic partners.

If approved by the full City Council, the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) would create and administer the affordable housing preservation fund, with initial dollars from the City of San Diego Neighborhood Enhancement Fee fund, a portion of which is dedicated to supporting affordable housing preservation.

“This is a crucial step in a strategy to ensure San Diego families can continue to afford a place to live in communities across our city,” SDHC President and CEO Lisa Jones said. “We look forward to presenting this proposal to the City Council and working with Councilmembers to establish a resource to support affordable housing preservation for decades to come.”

The Preservation Collaborative Stakeholder Group, which SDHC convened in 2022 and continues to meet, supported the creation of the preservation fund.

“We know that the loss of affordable housing stock is a primary driver of homelessness in our region. Even as our Federation members work to provide new affordable housing to meet our region’s needs, we see a critical need to preserve the existing affordable housing stock. Today’s action lays the groundwork for a long-term preservation strategy,” said San Diego Housing Federation President and CEO Stephen Russell, a member of the Preservation Collaborative Stakeholder Group.

Thousands of individuals and families are at risk of no longer being able to afford their rental homes in the City of San Diego unless actions are taken to preserve affordable housing. More than 13,000 homes are estimated to be at risk of losing their affordability by 2040—4,200 deed-restricted affordable housing units and 9,250 naturally occurring affordable housing units. Without intervention to preserve existing affordable housing units, 35 percent of all new housing production will simply replace units that lost their affordability, according to a San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) study.

Housing is generally considered affordable when a household spends 30 percent of its total income or less on housing expenses.

The proposed fund follows the City Council’s February 2025 action to adopt affordable housing preservation law, which provides a way for the City, SDHC, local nonprofits and other qualified entities to know sooner when a property owner intends to sell. They then have a greater opportunity to be able to acquire that property and ensure it remains affordable than existed under state law.

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Media Contacts:

Angeli Hoyos, Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee
AHoyos@sandiego.gov

Molly Weber, Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera
MollyW@sandiego.gov

Scott Marshall, San Diego Housing Commission
ScottM@sdhc.org