SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- While some cities have cashed in on state funding for affordable housing, a new report says funding for projects in San Diego has lagged behind the region’s population.
The report by the non-profit Circulate San Diego says the San Diego region secured $20 million for projects in the last round of funding from the state’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program, about $14 million less than if funding were awarded proportional to population.
The report notes that San Jose, with roughly 300,000 fewer residents, got $31.5 million in funding last round.
The AHSC program has handed out more than $1 billion in funding over four rounds. Of that, San Diego developers have received $78 million, or 7.3 percent of the total funding, according to the report. The San Diego region represents about 8.5 percent of California’s population.
AHSC is part of the state’s cap-and-trade program to address climate change. Each application must have a green transportation component.
The report says local government agencies in other regions, like Los Angeles and the Bay Area, have done a better job in the pitch process.
“We have to work together,” said San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher. “Our transit agencies, our local government agencies, our nonprofits have to work together to do a better job of drawing down these available state resources.”
The report makes several recommendations to local governments, including establishing a pipeline of transportation projects and a new website to simplify the application process.
