San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said at his State of the City address, “The only true solution to both addressing homelessness and housing is to BUILD…MORE…HOUSING.” The Building Industry Association of San Diego couldn’t agree more!
Mayor Gloria has signed an Executive Order requiring permit applications that fall under the Complete Communities program to be reviewed and permitted within 30 days. The new policy is called “Permit Now” and not long ago the BIA presented it to the mayor for his consideration. He ran with it and we’re obviously very pleased. Permit Now is a big deal.
Time costs money. If we can shorten the time from 12 months to 1 month – that’s huge! It means we get housing to families faster, housing that cost less, benefiting first time homebuyers and others.
Permit Now is smart government. It involves all department heads at the city and consultants coming together at the beginning of the application process to identify challenges and collectively come up with solutions. This allows a project to have clear direction from the beginning, not the back and forth that costs everyone time, money and frustration.
Permit Now has already worked for affordable projects in the city, now Permit Now will support market rate housing, which is where most middle-income families find their new homes and apartments.
BIA members include plumbers, painters, job recruiters, electrical technicians, cleaners, insurance brokers, and others – a whole cadre of individuals. It can take more than 100 job categories to build and apartment or a house. All will benefit from the mayor’s executive order. More housing will be built more quickly.
Mayor Gloria is focused on results. We applaud him and we encourage other municipalities to follow his lead.
