UH Residents Rally for Smarter Development and Affordable Housing
On Saturday, Sept. 6, CCUH organized a rally attended by more than 45 University Heights at 1526 Meade Ave. to raise their voices about the proposed demolition of a 135-year-old Queen Anne Free Classic home. The plan would replace it with a five-story, 19-unit apartment complex featuring one level of enclosed parking, a rooftop terrace, and likely only one to two deed-restricted affordable housing units.
Photo by Jeffrey Taylor – rallygoers at 1526 Meade Ave. on Saturday, Sept. 6
The building permit (originally PRJ-1103742, replaced with PRJ-1132866) is in process at the City of San Diego Development Services Department (DSD) under the Complete Communities Housing Solutions (CCHS) program. This program allows construction of multi-story buildings up to eight floors without off-street parking within a Transit Priority Area (which includes virtually all of UH) if the site is zoned for at least 20 dwelling units per acre and the project includes the required number of deed-restricted affordable units. In this case, only one to two affordable units are anticipated in the 1526 Meade Ave. project.
Thanks to the 2023 City Council Policy 600-24 updates, projects that would previously be presented during public meetings of community planning groups like Uptown Community Planning Group no longer go through that process. Approvals are now made by City staff with no public notification — including to adjacent neighbors.
CCUH, the working group of UH community organizations, spearheaded the rally and reached out to local media. Both KUSI/Fox5 and CBS8 aired stories about the rally, which captured some of the key messages and questions that were raised:
Where is the affordable housing?
With only one to two affordable units expected, this project does little to address the affordable housing crisis.
Where will residents park?
Based on a satellite view of the parcel, only seven or eight parking spaces could be accommodated on one level of enclosed parking. Where will the other residents find parking in a neighborhood with extremely limited on-street availability?
What about infrastructure?
What improvements to parks, water, sewer, power, and libraries are being made to handle the growing number of residents in our already densely populated community?
Where are the starter homes & larger apartments?
Nearly all of the units coming online in recent years and planned for the future are small studio and 1 bedroom rentals.
Where are the incentives for homeownership — homes, condos, townhomes — and where are larger two and three bedroom apartments for families?
David Moen, a neighbor around the corner, expressed his frustration: “We’re expecting our first baby. We moved to this community, just around the corner from the school, with the idea of raising a family in this great environment. Where is my kid going to play, who are they going to play with? I can’t imagine families living in these micro-units.”
For more details on the results of the Complete Communities program, see the article “What Future Do We Want for University Heights” on page 6.
According to real estate tracker CoStar, as of early September, the Balboa Park area, which includes UH, showed an average monthly rent of $2,076, down 0.2% from a year ago, with a vacancy rate of 5%. While the good news is that rents are not going up as fast as they were in prior years, this also indicates that the recent influx of new units hasn’t meaningfully addressed the need for more affordable housing, nor has it made a noticeable impact on average monthly rents. In fact, it may be creating additional problems.
Unintended consequences?
Older “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing” (NOAH) is being converted into higher-end, more expensive “luxury” housing. At the corner of North Ave. and Adams Ave., three older rental properties including a bungalow court with an estimated combined total of 38 units with an average rent history of $2,000 for 500-600 square feet, were purchased by investors. Tenants were evicted in late 2024 and early 2025 to make way for remodeling and upgrades, including shrinking some existing units and converting garages to create additional “micro-units”. While the new rents are not yet known, they are expected to be higher than before, in line with current market rates.
CCUH will continue to actively monitor new developments and notify the community when they are discovered. Stay informed by visiting www.cc-uh.org and sign-up for email updates.
The coalition will also continue to advocate for smarter development that truly addresses the affordability crisis — more affordable housing, including a focus on “missing middle” housing for families and starter-home opportunities. Our community has thrived because of our diverse mix of housing types for all ages and families.
