ESCONDIDO — Over the last three years, the city has approved the construction of approximately 11.3% of its state-mandated new housing units and only has five more years to build the rest.
According to a staff report on the city’s housing element based on the Regional Housing Need Assessment, or RHNA, Escondido must build 9,607 new homes by 2029, and only 1,088 units were built between 2021 and 2023.
In 2021, the Escondido City Council adopted its housing element for the sixth cycle RHNA, with a subsequent amendment in 2023, when the city’s adopted housing element officially complied with state law.
The State Department of Housing and Community Development is the governing body that assesses the housing stock situation throughout California every eight years to determine the number of new homes needed based on predicted population growth, job availability and infrastructure capacity.
In partnership with the San Diego Association of Governments, state and county governments have assigned each municipality in San Diego County a minimum number of new homes to build.
San Diego County must build 171,685 homes by 2029, and Escondido must take on 9,607 or 5.6% of that total. Broken down by household income, the city must build 1,864 very low, 1,249 low, 1,527 moderate and 4,967 above moderate units.
So far, the city has approved the construction of 843 above-moderate, 40 moderate, 111 low and 94 very low-income units.
Associate Planner Pricila Roldan presented an update on May 8 to the City Council about the city’s housing element. She noted that most new homes are multi-units and accessory dwelling units.
Council members were generally pleased with the presentation but wanted to see more new homes come down the pipeline.
“It sounds like we’re on the right track,” Mayor Dane White said, noting he’d like to see the new housing numbers “multiplied by 9.”
Deputy Mayor Christian Garcia agreed.
“We’ve got to make progress,” Garcia said. “If we could multiply that by 7 or 8, that would be great.”
Councilmember Mike Morasco lambasted the state’s housing requirements, calling them ridiculous, “nonsensical, poorly allocated or assigned,” with “zero practical application for us in Escondido.”
“From my perspective, they’re impossible to even come close to, but I appreciate the staff’s diligent work in keeping us abreast of what’s going on, where we’re at, and how poorly we’re doing as far as the RHNA people are concerned,” Morasco said.
Councilmember Consuelo Martinez asked staff for an ADU update and expressed interest in streamlining the ADU construction process for city property owners, given their impact on the city’s housing element progress.
“They’re definitely beginning to impact our requirements,” said Councilmember Joe Garcia, who served on the Planning Commission when the city’s ADU ordinance was approved.
The city will also submit its housing element progress report to the county and state.
