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SOHO President's Message
By David W. Goldberg
September/October 2024
 David Goldberg in front of the Marston House, which is undergoing a million-dollar restoration. Photo by Sandé Lollis |
As the push continues to lower San Diego housing costs by increasing housing supply, two points stand out. Firstly, preservation of existing and historic housing stock is part of the solution, not part of the problem. Secondly, the focus on simply increasing total housing supply is grossly misplaced. Protecting and increasing the aggregate supply of affordable housing is what’s necessary.
The conundrum: Developers want to build more profitable market-rate housing, not affordable housing. When existing and historic housing is demolished, their replacements almost always cost more than what had been there before.
Affordable housing lost through the years includes single-room occupancy (SRO) units, one of the most basic forms of shelter. This loss has hit unhoused people especially hard. More recently, the conversion of thousands of homes and apartments into short-term vacation rentals, in violation of zoning regulations in force at the time, has further eroded our affordable housing supply.
We must also tackle the ongoing loss of naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH), or existing multifamily rental properties that are affordable without public subsidy to low-income households. According to a major new California Housing Partnership report, that should get everybody’s attention, San Diego has lost nearly 13,000 NOAH units since 2020, with 30,000 more currently at risk. This is simply unacceptable.
Although somewhat counterintuitive, recent state and local legislation allowing for increased density on properties previously zoned for single-family homes is further compounding the problem. By changing the underlying economics, these properties are now attracting well-funded investors and businesses that can pay top dollar and make full cash offers, squeezing more individuals and families out of the housing market. Despite the known drawbacks of earlier residential zoning, that system helped keep housing in the hands of onsite homeowners.
Housing affordability is a complex issue without easy solutions, but proven remedies lie in our historic buildings and older building stock. Preservation is not the problem here. Demolition and policies that wipe out existing housing stock are the real villains.
By now, you probably know that SOHO is managing a $1 million exterior restoration project of the Marston House for the City of San Diego. Work is well under way by Spectra Historic Construction, a prominent construction company in the Western United States for historic preservation, restoration, and rehabilitation.
Working with Spectra, SOHO’s specifications require that all work shall conform to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. This is music to a preservationist’s ears!
Spectra has worked on many historic structures in Balboa Park as well as some of California’s most important historic buildings, including Charles and Henry Greene’s 1908 Gamble House in Pasadena. Look at their website and impressive project list and you’ll see what I mean.
The Marston House scope of work consists of brick masonry reconstruction, including the rebuilding of the formal garden’s arched wall and gate; brick floor and paver terrace restoration, and restoration of all of the wood trim, doors, and windows.
Spectra’s quality of work demonstrates the importance of using a construction company with a proven track record in historic restoration and a commitment to best practices. For example, they took care to find a color for replacement brick mortar that harmonizes with various brick mortar colors used over the house’s 119-year history. They also precisely custom-milled replacements for deteriorated and missing wood elements.
This restoration is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. While looking at the carriage house from the main house’s front entrance, I was struck by the transformation. Decades of deferred maintenance had been addressed. Plywood braces supporting sections of brick walls in danger of collapsing were gone. Large sections of missing brick had been replaced.
Thanks to SOHO Executive Director Bruce Coons’ exacting supervision and Spectra’s expertise, the carriage house (a.k.a. the Marston House Museum Shop) now shines like a well-maintained older building that has gracefully aged. It literally took my breath away.
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