San Diego Housing Commission THREE-YEAR WORK PLAN TO Facilitate Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Development JULY 1, 2011 - JUNE 30, 2014 Prepared for the San Diego Housing Commission by: LeSar Development Consultants Jennifer LeSar, President 619-236-0612 www.lesardevelopment.com Finalized August 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER FROM SAN DIEGO HOUSING COMMISSION PRESIDENT AND CEO RICHARD GENTRY ................ 1  RECOGNITION OF CONTRIBUTORS 2009-2011 .............................................................................................................. 3  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................... 5  SECTION 1   THE ROLE OF SDHC IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING TOD PLANNING ......................................................................... 9  SECTION 2   FIVE KEY STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE AND FACILITATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TOD PLANNING ...... 17  STRATEGY 1: PURSUE SITES AND PRIORITY AREAS FOR TOD .............................................................................................. 21  Action Step #1: Develop MOU with MTS ........................................................................................................................ 22  Action Step #2: Prioritize Top Three to Five TOD Sites for Development ..................................................................... 23  Action Step #3: Work to Ready TOD Sites for Development ........................................................................................... 23 Attachment: List of Priority TOD Areas .................................................................................................................... 27 Attachment: List of Priority TOD Sites ....................................................................................................................... 29 Attachment: Regional Map of Priority TOD Sites ........................................................................................................ 39 Attachment: Aerial Photos of Priority TOD Sites ........................................................................................................ 41 STRATEGY 2: STRENGTHEN RESOURCE COORDINATION ....................................................................................................... 59  Action Step #1: Create and Execute Local MOU to Parallel Federal HUD/DOT/EPA MOU ....................................... 60  Action Step #2: Empower the San Diego Funding Collaborative to Proactively Plan for Affordable Housing ............. 60  Action Step #3: Ensure that SDHC Has Meaningful Input into Development of Funding Guidelines at the State Level within HCD, CDLAC and CTCAC ................................................................................................................................... 61  Action Step #4: Assist the City of San Diego and SANDAG to Prepare Federal and State Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Applications for FY2011 and FY2012 .................................................................................................... 61  Attachment: TOD Financing Opportunities ................................................................................................................ 63  STRATEGY 3: ENHANCE AND FORM CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS ............................................................................................. 75  Action Step #1: Form Regional Housing Council ........................................................................................................... 86  Action Step #2: Create Strategic Outreach Plan ............................................................................................................. 86  Action Step #3: Create State and Federal Legislative Strategy Recommendations to be Submitted by SDHC to Mayor’s Office ................................................................................................................................................................................ 86 Attachment List of Key TOD-Oriented Planning Areas and Key Local Stakeholders ................................................ 89 STRATEGY 4: INCREASE WORKFORCE LINKAGES AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES .............................................................. 94  Action Step #1: Monitor Process for Release of Federal FY2011 Competitive Grants, Particularly at HUD, DOT and EPA .................................................................................................................................................................................. 96  Action Step #2: Review the Affordable Housing Funding NOFA to Strengthen Workforce Linkages ............................ 97  Action Step #3: Deepen SDHC’s Role on the Workforce Investment Board ................................................................... 97  Action Step #4: Better Align SDHC’s Workforce Development Efforts with National Best Practices ............................ 97  STRATEGY 5: PROVIDE APPROPRIATE OVERSIGHT AND COLLECT DATA TO INFORM PRACTICE AND MEASURE SUCCESS .... 99  Action Step #1: Provide Adequate Oversight for Plan Implementation .......................................................................... 99  Action Step #2: Solicit Community Leadership Input on Stakeholders to be Represented on the Stakeholder Leadership Teams to be Assembled for Each Initiative ...................................................................................................................... 99  Action Step #3: Provide Internal Monitoring System that will Produce Feedback on Opportunities for Enhanced Collaboration Among SDHC’s Various Activities and Initiatives.................................................................................. 100  SECTION 3   SUMMARY OF STRATEGIES, ACTION STEPS, TASKS AND MEASURABLE OUTCOMES .............................. 101  BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................................................. 115  APPENDIX A: KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ....................................................................................................................... 121  APPENDIX B: KEY CONTACTS LIST ..................................................................................................................................... 129 APPENDIX C: COMPREHENSIVE LISTS OF TOD AREAS, SITES, PLANNING AREAS AND STAKEHOLDERS ............................. 135 LETTER FROM SAN DIEGO HOUSING COMMISSION PRESIDENT AND CEO RICHARD GENTRY The San Diego Housing Commission has played a critical role in enhancing the quality of life for San Diegans for more than three decades. While many view us as the leading organization for providing funding for the development of affordable housing, operating public housing and administering the Section 8 rental assistance program that helps more than 14,000 households every year, our agency does so much more. We are actively engaged in a multitude of programs that advance economic development options and opportunities for individuals and families. Now we must push ourselves further and pursue our housing activities within a larger state and federal policy and funding environment that is linking urban development to economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. These linkages were formulated by the California voters and the state legislature, replicated at the federal level, and now must be created at the local and regional level in order to be competitive for state and federal resources now available for local and regional planning and sustainability efforts. For the Housing Commission, this means deepening our existing partnerships and developing new ones to help strategically position San Diego to be aligned with state and national funding priorities. Housing affordability and local leverage are significant point-scoring components of the funding opportunities available and present the Housing Commission with an opportunity to step forward with more visionary planning for affordable housing linked to transit, environmental sustainability and economic prosperity. Fortunately we are in good company in San Diego. At the American Planning Association’s annual conference in New Orleans in April 2010, the City of San Diego won the prestigious Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan. The award was conferred on San Diego for its visionary 2008 General Plan that lays out the City of Villages smart-growth strategy to focus growth into mixed-use villages that are pedestrian friendly, of differing scales across neighborhoods and linked to the transit system. The time has come for the Housing Commission to join more actively with its forward-thinking city partners to help create housing that is linked to our transit system. It is in this context that we offer this Three-Year Affordable Housing Transit-Oriented Development Work Plan that lays out the critical strategies and accompanying action steps, tasks and timelines that must be achieved and accomplished to align our agency and our city with the policy direction and funding programs of the state and federal governments. We look forward to helping our city and region create well-planned transit-oriented affordable housing and mixed-use and mixed-income developments that can reduce our carbon footprint and lower energy and transportation cost burdens for our working families. August 2011 SDHC Three-Year Work Plan August 2011 1 of 156 SDHC Three-Year Work Plan August 2011 2 of 156 RECOGNITION OF CONTRIBUTORS 2009-2011 This plan was written by: San Diego Housing Commission Richard Gentry, President and CEO Carrol M. Vaughn, Executive Vice President and COO Debbie Ruane, Senior Vice President, Real Estate Development LeSar Development Consultants Jennifer LeSar, President Toni Atkins, Senior Principal (2009 – 2010) Gretchen Kinney Newsom, Senior Associate Rachel Ralston, Manager (2009 – 2010) Sarah Ralston, Associate (2009 – 2010) Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors, LLC Cecilia V. Estolano, Member Katherine Aguilar Perez, Member Substantial input was provided by: City of San Diego Bill Anderson, Director, City Planning & Community Investment/Assistant Director, City Redevelopment Agency (2009-2010) Nancy Bragado, Principal Planner Amy Benjamin, Director of Council Affairs, Office of the Mayor Brian Schoenfisch, Senior Planner San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Gary Gallegos, President and CEO Coleen Clementson, Principal Planner Jane Clough-Riquelme, Senior Regional Planner Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Paul Jablonski, President and CEO Sharon Cooney, Director of Government Affairs and Community Relations, Director of Planning, Scheduling and Performance Monitoring SDHC would like to thank the following contributors to the creation of the Three-Year Affordable Housing TOD Work Plan: Centre City Development Corporation Jeff Graham, Vice President, Redevelopment Eri Kameyama, Associate Project Manager Southeastern Development Corporation Nancy Maddox Lytle, Vice President, Projects and Development Workforce Partnership Mark Cafferty, President and CEO D. Todd Philips, Director, Government Relations and Legislative Affairs San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation Andrew Poat, Vice President, Policy SDHC Three-Year Work Plan August 2011 3 of 156 Move San Diego Elyse Lowe, Executive Director Green for All Cecilia V. Estolano, Chief Strategist of State and Local Initiatives (2009-2010) Sustainable San Diego Hannah Cohen, Collaborative Organizer (2009-2010) Institute for Housing Innovations Kent Watkins, Chief Executive Officer SDHC Three-Year Work Plan August 2011 4 of 156 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The San Diego Housing Commission is a public agency that works to expand affordable housing opportunities for individuals and families in the City of San Diego. The desire and timeliness of the Commission to produce a three-year work plan for transit-oriented affordable housing development stems from the convergence of work underway at the national, statewide, regional, and local levels that now provides the Commission with a unique opportunity to further carry out the agency mission and create affordable housing that is linked to our transit system. Definition of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): A compact, mixed-use community located within an average 2,000-foot1 walking distance of a transit facility that promotes economic prosperity and environmental sustainability by providing people of all ages and incomes with improved access to affordable and convenient public transportation including travel by transit, foot, or bicycle. This concept has become a key component of land use policy and planning at the community and local levels, regionally, and at the state and national levels of government as a means to reduce green house gas emissions, make better use of public transit and connect housing and employment areas in a more planned and efficient manner. The goal and context of this work plan is to put the Commission in alignment with state and federal policy and funding priorities, and regional and local planning initiatives. This work plan will aid the development of affordable housing projects that link urban development to economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. The intended outcomes of this work plan are to: (cid:131) Ensure the creation of appropriate, available and economically feasible development sites (cid:131) Help facilitate completion of 2 or 3 TOD developments with affordable housing components (cid:131) Deepen collaborative partnerships with other public and private partners that are critical to TOD development (cid:131) Garner state and federal resources available for sustainable development This work plan formalizes a 5 strategy approach for successful transit-oriented affordable housing development and lays out a series of strategies, best practices, action steps, tasks and measurable outcomes, financing opportunities, and a list of priority areas and sites for development consideration. Summary of Strategies To Facilitate Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Development 1) Pursue Sites and Priority Areas of TOD 2) Strengthen Resource Coordination 3) Form and Enhance Creative Partnerships 4) Increase Workforce Linkages and Economic Opportunities 5) Provide Appropriate Oversight and Collect Data to Inform Practice and Measure Success SDHC Three-Year Work Plan August 2011 5 of 156 At the state and federal levels, affordable housing policy and corresponding funding initiatives are placing affordable housing development within a larger context as a contributing component of smart growth and regional planning strategies that promote environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, healthy communities linked with transit, and reductions in housing/energy and transportation expenses for working families. Our regional and state smart growth and sustainability efforts for the last decade have positioned San Diego at the forefront of the TOD movement and have put San Diego in a position to be a national model for sustainable communities. This work plan for affordable housing TOD will facilitate additional progress toward our region’s sustainability and the improved quality of life for our residents. Federal Policy Direction The Partnership for Sustainable Communities was formed in June 2009 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “ensure that housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.”1 The Partnership for Sustainable Communities has six livability principles around which the partners are coordinating their policies and funding programs: provide more transportation choices; promote equitable, affordable housing; enhance economic competitiveness; support existing communities; coordinate policies and leverage investment; and value communities and neighborhoods.2 HUD’s 2010 Budget titled “Road Map for Transformation” laid out the department’s vision for promoting sustainable and inclusive growth through strategies that strengthen communities, drive down carbon emissions and reduce the burden of housing and transportation costs on working families. Fortunately, this vision is continued in the draft HUD FY2012 budget as well.3 Over the next few years, researchers at HUD are likely to expose us to new and evolving definitions of housing affordability that look at combinations of housing, transportation and energy costs as a percentage of household expenses. Working families in urban areas spend approximately 60% of their income on housing and transportation costs combined.4 HUD’s vision of serving as a “vehicle for advancing sustainable and inclusive growth patterns at the metropolitan level, communities of choice at the neighborhood scale and energy efficiency at the building scale”5 is being carried out through its partnerships with other federal agencies to “ensure that the location of affordable housing enhances access to employment and educational opportunities and makes the way we develop and redevelop our communities a key part of the solution to climate change and energy independence.”6 The HUD FY2010, 2011, and 2012 budgets each included $150 million for its Sustainable Communities Initiative to support and promote “multi-jurisdictional regional planning efforts that integrate housing, economic development and transportation decision-making in a manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the interdependent challenges of economic growth, social equity and environmental impact simultaneously.”7 The San Diego region was eligible to compete for up to $5 million in planning grant funding. SDHC participated as part of a collaborative team that included SANDAG; the cities of Chula Vista, National City and San Diego; the County of San Diego; and the San Diego Foundation. This group submitted a proposal to HUD in August 2010. Results for the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program were announced in October 2010 and only two California teams, one from the Sacramento area and the other from the Fresno/Modesto area, 1 HUD, DOT and EPA. 4/2010. Leveraging the Partnership: DOT, HUD and EPA Programs for Sustainable Communities, p.1. 2Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, Office of the Deputy Secretary, HUD. 2/4/2010. Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program Advance Notice and Request for Comment, pages 6,7. 3 The HUD FY 2012 budget has not yet been approved by Congress. 4 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. FY 2010 Budget: Road Map for Transformation, p. 23. 5 Ibid, p. 1 6 Ibid, p. 1 7 Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, Office of the Deputy Secretary, HUD. 2/4/2010. Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program Advance Notice and Request for Comment. Notice and Request for Comment, pages 1, 2. SDHC Three-Year Work Plan August 2011 6 of 156