John --

At our Board of Supervisors meeting this week, we talked about what I believe is the biggest issue facing Southern California: housing. Families are being priced out, seniors can’t afford to stay here, and we’re losing the next generation because we refuse to fix the policies driving costs through the roof.

Let me be clear — the two biggest reasons housing is so expensive are:

1. Fees and regulations that make it incredibly costly to build.
2. Frivolous lawsuits that delay, block, or kill new homes — often filed by environmental groups or people who simply don’t want housing near them.

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If we want our kids and grandkids to afford to live here, we must change course. Here were the key points I raised this week:

We Talk About Solutions, But Nothing Changes

I keep hearing about new “streamlining programs,” but the Board continues to pass policies that make housingharderand more expensive to build.

A prime example isVMT — Vehicle Miles Traveled.
VMT is a state rule that punishes housing projects based on how far future residents might drive. The farther theymightdrive, the more fees and penalties the project faces.

In reality,VMT has become a weapon against housing, making it financially impossible to build in most of the unincorporated county — even when homes are already planned, environmentally responsible, and badly needed.

We Have Room for 50,000 Homes — But VMT Blocks Them

Our General Plan — built on smart-growth principles — still has space for50,000 homes.

So why aren’t builders proposing them?

Because VMT makes those projects cost-prohibitive.
It’s not a planning tool anymore — it’s a barrier.

Lawsuits Are Killing Housing

Since 2011,10 housing projects — totaling more than 8,200 homes — have been sued.
Harmony Grove Village South, which the Board approvedunanimously, is now facing itssecond lawsuit.

And that’s only the projects that got far enough to be approved. Many others never even come forward because developers know they’ll be sued immediately.

This isn’t environmental protection — it’s legal abuse that keeps families from being able to live here.

Here’s What Needs to Change





1. Fix or eliminate VMT.




Preferably, we get rid of it. There’s talk of pushing to allow better buildout of what was approved in the General Plan for community villages. But, the county, and the legal system, needs to prove that will actually happen.
2. Reform CEQA.
Housing projects that follow the General Plan shouldn’t spend YEARS tied up in court.
We need real penalties for groups filingfrivolous lawsuitsdesigned to delay or extract settlements.

Everything Else Is Just Window Dressing

All these feel-good housing initiatives and “streamlining efforts” ignore the real barriers. They don’t reduce the cost of building. They don’t protect families. They don’t get homes built.

And let’s be honest:politicians love to talk about making housing affordable while passing policies that do the exact opposite.That’s how we ended up with a crisis that keeps getting worse.

We have the tools to fix this — we just need the courage to use them.

I’ll keep fighting for real solutions that actually bring down housing costs and keep our next generation here.





San Diego County District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond
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San Diego County District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond - 1600 Pacific Highway, #335, San Diego, CA 92101, United States
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