SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to reject a proposal to have the county advocate for "statewide restrictions or bans on foreign investment in entry-level and single-family housing, particularly near military installations and critical infrastructure."
Supervisor Jim Desmond, who authored the proposal and was the sole yes vote, said the goal was to prioritize local homeownership and give San Diegans a "fair shot" at buying a home.
According to Desmond's office, "more than $56 billion in U.S. real estate was purchased by foreign investors last year, with 15% of those sales in California. In many cases, foreign buyers are paying in cash, which puts local residents who rely on traditional mortgages at a disadvantage."
He said his policy would focus on large foreign corporations -- not individuals, regardless of their national origin, including recent immigrants -- buying homes.
"The intent is to stop the foreign Blackstones," Desmond said, referring to the global asset management firm that has been criticized for buying up properties and contributing to the local affordable housing shortage.
Desmond said the board passed a proposal last year to address corporate "bad actors" who purchase homes and may contribute to an already difficult affordable-housing situation.
Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, who sponsored that 2024 policy, said private equity giants and large corporations "are increasingly buying up the nation's scarce supply of homes, including in the San Diego region," driving up prices for their own profit and worsening the housing affordability crisis.
Desmond said he appreciated that his colleagues wanted his item pulled from the consent agenda for discussion, along with weighing any potential unintended consequences.
Opponents during the Tuesday board meeting said the wording of Desmond's proposal seemed to single out certain minority groups.
Erin Tsurumoto-Grassi of Alliance San Diego, a fourth-generation Japanese-American, urged the board to vote no during a public comment period. She cited now-overturned California state laws that once banned Asian-Americans from owning land.
"It prevented us from owning homes, from generating generational wealth and put a target on us," Tsurumoto-Grassi said, adding such laws were the precursor to the U.S. government interning Japanese-Americans during World War II.
"We have seen this before, we have done this before, and we need to reject it now and always," she added.
Board Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe said the wording on Desmond's proposal doesn't call out firms, but instead cites "foreign adversaries of the United States."
The letter "shouldn't be representative of what this county believes," Montgomery Steppe said, adding that the three states -- Florida, Georgia and Texas -- that passed similar laws on foreign ownership are now in costly legal battles.
Lawson-Remer said while she couldn't support the proposal, she would welcome collaboration from her board colleagues, including Desmond, on improving first-time home ownership opportunities.
She noted that the San Diego City Council is looking at ballot measure that would tax second homes owned by those living out of the county.
"There's a worthy discussion on how we level the playing field," but not by excluding certain people from certain countries of origin, Lawson- Remer added.
In a statement after the vote, Desmond described his colleagues' vote as "a slap in the face to the next generation."
"Our young people are being pushed further and further away from the American Dream, and today, the board failed them," he said. "Other states have already acted," Desmond added. "Local families deserve a fair chance. I will keep fighting to make sure the American Dream doesn't become something only corporations and foreign investors can afford."
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