It’s expensive to live in San Diego. You know this already. But it’s about to get worse.
As housing prices balloon, another basic need is getting costly: water. This week, VOSD’s MacKenzie Elmer reported that the San Diego County Water Authority predicts the cost of water could swell up to 10 percent starting in 2023.
On the VOSD Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts start at the ground level of how our most precious resource is managed; it’s really a solid explanation of San Diego’s water sources and the entities that have to work together to keep us quenched. Chief among them is the Water Authority.
(Here’s a quick video explainer for reference — San Diego 101: How We Get Our Water.)
Despite the fact that San Diego has increased its population, we consume a lot less water now than we did 30 years ago. But — counterintuitively — the water we do have is getting more expensive. Weird, right? Lewis and Keatts explain what’s at work in the water world.
Housing Commission Dramz
Perhaps the most acute problem in the region is the cost of homes and the San Diego Housing Commission is supposed to help. Its job is to provide solutions and housing and money to those who need it most. The commission works in concert with the city of San Diego, but that relationship seems to be getting more awkward by the week.
Keatts’s most recent story on the commission stems from a conflict-of-interest case involving a broker who’s accused of making a lot of money off a deal he set up.
The latest: The response to that conflict of interest has revealed a lack of trust between some of the entities involved that compromise their efforts to solve the city’s housing problems. Keatts and Lewis detail the drama in the second half of the show and explain why these odd, quasi-governmental agencies like the Housing Commission (and Civic San Diego, RIP) do what they do.
Oh, and also: We’ve got some staff news. Check it out.