{"id":486372,"date":"2026-10-06T01:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T01:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/486372\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T01:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T01:58:10","slug":"south-county-goes-full-yimby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/486372\/","title":{"rendered":"South County Goes Full YIMBY"},"content":{"rendered":"

South County leaders are bullish on housing.<\/p>\n

In a series of candidate forums last week, including our own Politifest, candidates for mayor in National City and Chula Vista, along with San Diego City Council District 8 candidate Antonio Martinez, voiced strong support for high-density housing, public transit, walkable shopping districts and anything else that would lower housing and transportation costs for residents.<\/p>\n

The unified pro-development attitude contrasts sharply with ongoing battles in some North County cities against state housing mandates.<\/p>\n

Candidates\u2019 proposals ranged from using AI to speed up permitting to transforming San Ysidro Boulevard into a walkable shopping and entertainment district akin to Chula Vista\u2019s Third Avenue.<\/p>\n

Both National City Councilmember Jose Rodriguez and Chula Vista Elementary School District Trustee Francisco Tamayo said they would seek to turn city-owned land into low-cost for-sale housing.<\/p>\n

\"\"Chula Vista mayoral candidates Francisco Tamayo and Mayor John McCann participate in a debate\\y moderated by Voice of San Diego reporter Jim Hinch (center) on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, in National City. \/ Vito Di Stefano <\/p>\n

\u201cWe must take a very active and proactive approach,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

Yes, but: Leaders\u2019 enthusiasm won\u2019t necessarily lead to more building, said Saad Asad, communications manager for the housing advocacy group California YIMBY.<\/p>\n

Asad said recent changes to state law already cleared away many of the regulatory impediments that once blocked local housing developments.<\/p>\n

The main challenge now, he said, is the high cost of building in California. That forces builders to charge more for housing than lower-income South County residents often can afford.<\/p>\n

Indeed, said Asad, builders\u2019 preferred market these days turns out to be\u2026North County.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could make a difference,\u201d he said of South County leaders\u2019 pro-housing stances. \u201c[But] the constraints are harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated Posts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South County leaders are bullish on housing. In a series of candidate forums last week, including our own…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[187283,74,76,75,186111],"class_list":["post-486372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-politifest-2026","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-south-county-races"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}