{"id":9078,"date":"2021-07-07T13:56:48","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T13:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/?p=9078"},"modified":"2021-07-09T13:02:18","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T13:02:18","slug":"houston-association-of-realtors-tackles-issues-of-diversity-and-inclusion-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-3-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/homepage\/success-story\/pacific-southwest-sg-0721","title":{"rendered":"Pacific Southwest Association Contributes to Award-Winning Handbook for City of San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the City of San Diego, bounded by the Pacific Ocean, a large military base, and Mexico, solutions to a dire housing shortage have nowhere to go but \u201cup and in-fill,\u201d observes Rafael Perez, the Pacific Southwest Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> member who is championing Accessory Dwelling Units as the solution to so many of the region\u2019s housing problems.\u00a0 Through his initiative, PSAR supported the development of a new San Diego Companion Unit Handbook<\/a> that has earned kudos from the mayor and the Urban Design Award from the San Diego Section of the American Planning Association.\u00a0 It was made possible by a Smart Growth Grant<\/a> from the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party.<\/p>\n

PSAR Chief Executive Officer Richard D\u2019Ascoli explains that this achievement grew from the association\u2019s mission to empower its REALTOR\u00ae <\/sup>members: \u201cWe want to give them all the support they need to take the lead in improving communities and enhancing property rights as they encounter challenges and opportunities.\u00a0 This grant, in particular, enabled one of our local REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> leaders to do\u00a0important work that lifted the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> brand and highlighted the fact that our members are local experts.\u201d\u00a0 He notes that Perez has been a great asset to PSAR from the get-go: as a board member of the Casita Coalition, he is an energetic state-wide advocate for ADUs; he chairs one of PSAR\u2019s Government Affairs Committees; and he serves on NAR\u2019s Fair Housing Policy Committee.<\/p>\n

Perez reveals that the concept for a handbook started in 2018 when state laws made it easier for homeowners to build ADUs.\u00a0 In conversation with PSAR leadership, he started to formulate some ideas that would help advocates \u201cget out ahead of the movement,\u201d including seeking several designs to submit to the city for pre-approval as blueprints.\u00a0 In this initial planning, Perez discovered that he was not alone: similar efforts were underway at the City Council and among housing organizations like the San Diego Housing Federation and LISC San Diego.\u00a0 Rather than reinvent the wheel, they joined the coalition and began to develop a comprehensive ADU Handbook for the City of San Diego.<\/p>\n

The Smart Growth Grant, says Perez, positioned the REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> to join the team and contribute in a way that only REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> can.\u00a0 \u201cWhat REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> brought to the table was deep expertise.\u00a0 For example, we know all about renovation lending, so we were able to make the case that homeowners don\u2019t have to wait \u2018til they have a ton of equity in their homes to take on a project like this, that\u2019s going to add considerable value and provide an income stream. We also know what kinds of information aspiring buyers and existing homeowners need in order to get started, and to see a project through to completion.\u00a0 We have real stories from local residents who have struggled to get ADUs approved, and we put all that knowledge into the handbook.\u201d\u00a0 The closer the coalition could put the goal-line to homeowners\u2019 resources, he says, the more ADUs will get built, instead of just talked-about.<\/p>\n

The new handbook is a free resource, available in digital form on the city\u2019s website.\u00a0 It is an easy tool, Perez notes, and he and his fellow REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup>-members are proud to have it to share with clients.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve been getting great feedback from agents, and have heard reports of a hard copy being displayed on a countertop at showings, to promote the potential added-value an ADU can bring to a property.\u00a0 It\u2019s clearly branded, which shows that the REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> are active participants in creating opportunity in our communities \u2013 in this case, the opportunity to solve housing issues and help create intergenerational wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds D\u2019Ascoli, \u201cProjects like this one also strengthen our three-way mission with our state and national associations.\u00a0 We are very proud to have accomplished this in partnership with NAR.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about how the Pacific Southwest Association of REALTORS\u00ae <\/sup>is addressing the region\u2019s housing shortage by making it easier to understand the ins-and-outs of creating Accessory Dwelling Units, contact Chief Executive Officer Richard D\u2019Ascoli at rich@psar.org or 619.251.7443; or PSAR member Rafael Perez at rafael@thehomemap.com.<\/p>\n

To see the award-winning handbook, visit: https:\/\/www.sandiego.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2019-companion-unit-handbook.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Smart Growth Grant from the REALTOR\u00ae Party helped the Pacific Southwest Association of REALTORS\u00ae take part in creating a Companion Unit Handbook explaining the nuts and bolts of Accessory Dwelling Units. The one-stop resource for homeowners has earned kudos from the mayor and the Urban Design Award from the San Diego Section of the American Planning Association. ","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,296],"tags":[490,1684,432,1685,14],"class_list":["post-9078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","category-success-story","tag-alabama","tag-birmingham","tag-fair-housing","tag-fair-housing-grant","tag-grants"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}