SAN DIEGO — The CEO of the Building Industry Association said San Diego County is not building homes at the rate it needs to be.
The county approves building permits for the unincorporated areas including Fallbrook, Alpine and Ramona.
Lori Holt Pfeiler, CEO of the BIA said last year that the county only approved 57 building applications.
"We need housing of all kinds," said Pfeiler. "In the county predominantly they've been able to build single family homes, but if you look at the report today, last year they approved 57 homes and most of them were ADUs."
Pfeiler argued it's all the red tape and county regulations that makes things difficult.
She plans to speak at Wednesday's County Board of Supervisors meeting as they discuss their 2023 General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Report.
Pfeiler said in 2023, 1220 building permits were approved to start construction, and 1260 homes were constructed.
Pfeiler said approval to build and getting construction off the ground takes a long time. She said to have just 57 units in the pipeline is far too low.
"There's opportunities to build in the unincorporated areas that the county is not taking advantage of," said Pfeiler.
CBS 8 spoke to Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer before the meeting got began.
"Big picture, I'm proud of what we've done as a county to tackle the crisis of the high cost of rent and buying a home in San Diego County," said Lawson-Remer.
Lawson-Remer said the county earned a ProHousing Designation from the state for the first time. She said San Diego County is doing much better than other counties in the state. She said the board is focused on housing for working-class and middle-income San Diegans.
"I do know there's some developers with special interest projects, land speculators, they're not happy, they're not able to build in our precious, open space, areas we're trying to preserve," said Lawson-Remer.
Pfeiler disputed that. She said the numbers speak for themselves.
"None of our builders are looking at San Diego County, the county is dead to us," said Pfeiler.
The county released the following statement to CBS 8 Wednesday afternoon:
"The numbers cited by BIA are only part of the story. Housing regulations are complex. They include state and federal law requirements. The County has made a commitment to housing its residents. Last year, $14.5M was invested to make the housing approval process more efficient, and more initiatives are coming.
We are in the third year of the current eight-year housing cycle tracked by the state and have already achieved 68% of our goal. This is 4,557 of the 6,700 housing unit goal for this period."
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