As San Diegans continue to struggle with the rising cost of housing, a new financial burden has made its way into our monthly expenses. If you own a single-family home in San Diego, you will now have to pay to have your trash picked up.
This will have a long-lasting impact on both home affordability and the rental market. In other words, it will make homes and housing less affordable.
The city of San Diego’s proposed trash collection fee, which was pitched to voters as a modest cost-recovery measure, is now estimated to be around $50 a month. While that might not seem like much to some, for many working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and first-time homebuyers, this seemingly minor monthly charge could be the tipping point that pushes homeownership out of reach.
Every $50 increase in monthly household expenses can reduce a buyer’s purchasing power by $8,000 to $10,000. That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact based on interest rates and mortgage qualification formulas used by lenders. A $600 annual fee for trash pickup may not sound catastrophic on its own, but in the context of San Diego’s already sky-high home prices, it’s one more barrier stacked on top of many others that are keeping people out of the housing market.
What’s worse is that voters were originally told the new trash collection fee would be in the ballpark of $23 to $29 per month, a much more digestible figure. But like many ballot measures, the devil is in the details and now we’re looking at almost double that amount.
It’s not the first time local voters have been led astray by misleading ballot language or vague financial projections. However, the responsibility doesn’t rest solely with the elected officials who promoted this measure, it also lies with the voters who approved it.
We can point fingers at city leaders who downplayed the full cost or failed to implement meaningful cost-cutting alternatives. However, we must also recognize that voters themselves have a duty to do their homework before checking a box. Too often, ballot designations are worded in a confusing or misleading way, and campaigns are driven by professionally produced commercials, social media ads, and mailers that tell only one side of the story.
We live in a city where more than 40% of seniors already don’t have enough income to cover basic needs like housing, food, healthcare, and transportation. Adding another $600 a year to their fixed expenses may not sound like much to a policymaker, but for many of our seniors, it’s the difference between staying in their home or being forced to make hard choices.
Renters won’t be spared either. While the fee is targeted at single-family homeowners, landlords will almost certainly pass that cost on to tenants, especially in single-family rental homes that don’t already pay private waste collection fees.
Renters in San Diego are already facing record-high costs for gas, electricity, water, insurance, and healthcare. Adding another fee to their monthly obligations only accelerates the financial squeeze. With San Diego’s median home prices consistently ranking among the highest in the nation, even the smallest new fee, tax, or charge should be examined through the lens of how it affects housing affordability.
For those who oppose the new trash fee, there is still time to take action. Property owners will receive a protest form in the mail. Fill it out with your name, address, and signature and submit it to the San Diego City Clerk by 2 p.m. on June 9. If more than 50% of affected homeowners file formal written protests, the fee can be stopped.
And if the City Council moves forward despite community opposition, voters still have a second chance: collecting signatures from 5% of San Diego’s registered voters, about 120,000 people, within 30 days can trigger a referendum. If enough valid signatures are gathered, the City Council must either cancel the fee or place it on the ballot for a public vote.
This isn’t just about trash collection, it’s about transparency, accountability, and the cumulative effect of local policies that continue to erode affordability for everyday San Diegans. We must reject the notion that “it’s just a small fee.” In a city where people are already stretched to the breaking point, every dollar matters.
Let’s hold our leaders accountable, but let’s also hold ourselves accountable. Read the full ballot text. Ask questions. Demand honest numbers. Because when it comes to affordability in San Diego, we’re either part of the solution or part of the problem.
Mark Powell is a licensed California real estate broker and the former vice president for the San Diego Association of Realtors.
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