It’s no secret that there’s a sunshine tax in San Diego County, but that “tax” has gotten extra pricey over the past couple of years.
On top of that, evictions are stressing out many renters.
“We figured when the property was sold, at some point, we were going to get a notice to vacate,” former Hillcrest resident George Rowles said.
And that’s exactly what happened to him. Rowles got a termination of tenancy notice just after San Diego’s no-fault eviction moratorium was lifted in September.
He and the other tenants at the property were told to be out two weeks before Christmas. He’s since found a new place in Mission Valley, but his living situation has gotten a lot more expensive.
“Trying to find something in this market, coming from where we have been, at a reasonable rent for 15 years and finding something now; my rent is literally being quadrupled,” Rowles said.
Jacob Aere
/
KPBS
Termination of tenancy notice sits on George Rowles’ kitchen table, in front of packing boxes, Dec. 5, 2022.
Situations like that are making many contemplate their future in the region, especially those with lower incomes.
“So I’m moving back home to Arkansas,” Chula Vista resident Lila Miller said. “I’m going to be staying with family for a while. I already have a job there,”
Miller was packing up her belongings on Dec. 8. She’d fallen behind on rent and got an eviction notice. The cost of living priced her out of renting elsewhere in San Diego.
“Everything else was too expensive or too far away from where I was working,” Miller said about other rental options in the county. “A lot of them were like $2,200, $2,400 all the way up to $3,000 an apartment, for a two-bedroom.”
In a housing market that is both expensive and in short supply,