The Land Use and Housing Committee of the San Diego City Council endorsed a proposed law that would require the owners of apartment buildings with government rent restrictions to notify the city, tenant groups and developers of low-income housing if they decide to sell.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the goal is possibly preventing a sale to someone planning to tear down the rent-restricted apartments and replace them with market-rate housing when the restrictions expire.
San Diego has 22,000 rent-restricted apartment units, the Union-Tribune reported. City officials say preserving existing low-income housing is just as important to solving the local housing crisis as incentives and legislation to spur more new construction.
Modeled on similar legislation in San Francisco and Berkeley, the law would give both a right of first offer and a right of first refusal to groups the city deems qualified to keep the apartments rent-restricted in perpetuity.
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