A PROVEN SOLUTION FOR OUR HOUSING CRISIS

Like many who live near San Diego’s urban core, I witness the tragedy of people living on our streets daily. We despair at the numbers. We are losing ground. For every 10 unhoused people who find housing, 13 take their place.

Alongside other regional leaders, San Diego Foundation has spent years searching for solutions to bring more housing quickly and responsibly to those who need it most. Housing availability and affordability is the No. 1 issue crippling our economy, communities and families.

Our immediate goal is to raise millions in investment capital to build thousands of new homes through our San Diego Housing Impact Fund. We recognize the fund will not produce new apartments and homes for several years due to the time-consuming challenges of designing, planning, permitting, constructing and finishing building development.

In the short term, what we found just south of the U.s.mexico border is a tested and proven solution for our housing crisis that allows construction to occur faster, safer and less expensively. In a Tijuana factory, Lego-like polystyrene building blocks, weighing 3 pounds each, are produced and shipped throughout Central America to build homes and other structures. The Central America construction process to build a concrete “post and beam” reinforced structure is simple:

• Grade the site.

• Pour a concrete foundation with steel rebar standing throughout the perimeter.

• Build a wall of interlocking blocks once the foundation has cured.

• Fill the channels with reinforced concrete.

• Continue this process until the full wall height has been reached.

• Set trusses and complete the roof to enclose the structure (the walls are very strong even without interior roof supports).

• Add wiring, plumbing and required structural element systems by utilizing empty cavities in the blocks or using a router to cut grooves in the foam blocks.

• Apply stucco to the exterior walls (like a stick-built home).

• Add stucco and paint to the interior walls.

• Add windows and hang doors.

• Furnish the spaces, and move in.

U.S. nonprofits have built medical and dental centers, community halls, worship centers, homes, and many other structures this way in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras for more than 20 years.

Using this simple technology has many benefits: earthquake and wind resistance, no assem