Eleven years ago, my family moved into a home in Mission Hills. Like many two-income households at the time, we were fortunate: we bought at the right moment, in the right ZIP code, and raised our daughters surrounded by great schools, walkable streets, and reliable city services.
But as we thrived, it became painfully clear how few others had that chance and how little our neighborhoods were doing to welcome others. In San Diego’s highest-resource areas, we’ve gained so much: equity, access, and stability. Now it’s time to do our part and make room for others.
Today, even our own college-aged daughters can’t afford to live near where they grew up. Neither can the teachers, care workers, or service staff we rely on every day.
In April, according to Realtor.com, the San Diego areas’s median home sale price was $979,500 requiring a household income of approximately $259,000 to afford it. That math simply doesn’t work for most people, especially in areas like ours that have long resisted new housing and services.
This isn’t about blame. It’s about fairness and about choosing a better future. If our communities have the parks, schools, libraries, and transit that make them great, why should only a shrinking group of homeowners get access to them? That kind of exclusion is often subtle: dressed up as concern for “neighborhood character,” hidden behind progressive yard signs, or justified by fears about parking and shadows.
But the impact is clear: the people who make San Diego work are being pushed out of the places with the most opportunity.
In many neighborhoods, including mine, the loudest resistance often comes from just a few of the most persistent voices. “No on SB 10” signs remain posted, opposing state legislation aimed at increasing housing density near transit. The proposed supportive housing at the former Mission Hills Library, H-Barracks, and Hope @ Vine were rejected. The Sassan apartments, offering some of the most affordable rents in the neighborhood, faced ridicule for their color and cost. Even the height of the in-demand One Mission Condominiums was reduced after community opposition.
Now, a few homeowners from my neighborhood have filed a lawsuit to stop the city from charging us for trash pickup — a service renters in multifamily buildings have been paying for years. These fights aren’t about fairness. They’re about protecting every last legacy privilege, even as others struggle just to find a home.
These decisions are often shaped by community planning groups dominated by long-time homeowners, and by commission meetings held on weekday mornings when working families can’t attend. It’s no surprise that San Diego ranks near the top of U.S. metro areas where Millennials have the lowest homeownership rates compared to Baby Boomers.
I understand that change is hard, and that maintaining a certain lifestyle can feel deeply personal. Parking is tight. Infrastructure feels stretched. But these are solvable problems when we allow growth in the right places. And those places include neighborhoods like Mission Hills, Clairemont, and our coastal areas. We have the sidewalks, the services, the stability.
We can absorb some of the housing we desperately need, if we stop saying “no.” If teachers could afford to live near the local elementary school, we wouldn’t face chronic staffing shortages. If service workers lived closer to their jobs, they wouldn’t need to drive in and circle for parking each day.
Welcoming new neighbors doesn’t mean losing what we love. It means keeping it alive. More housing helps keep schools open, local businesses thriving, and future generations within reach of the lives their parents built. We don’t have to give up the things that make our neighborhoods special; we just have to stop treating them as if they’re off-limits to others.
Here’s what saying yes could actually look like: supporting affordable ADUs and gentle density near transit, welcoming shelters and services in every district, and showing up when our community plans are updated, not just when we want to stop something.
In the end, this isn’t about buildings. It’s about people and about what kind of San Diego we want to leave behind. We benefited. Let’s pay it forward.
Wesley Morgan is treasurer of YIMBY Democrats of San Diego. He has lived in Mission Hills for 11 years
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