San Diego Taxpayers Educational Foundation Launches New Courses in Affordable Housing Policy
Courses available through Point Loma Nazarene University and UC San Diego Extension focusing on improving housing availability
SAN DIEGO (February 26, 2019)—The San Diego Taxpayers Educational Foundation (SDTEF) now offers courses covering the basics of affordable housing in California, including housing needs and the housing development process. Enrollment is now open for the two courses—one available online through Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU), one available in-classroom through UC San Diego Extension.
The online course through PLNU, which begins on March 11, is open to anyone, from local taxpayers and journalists to community leaders, elected officials and future candidates for office. Described by SDTEF as a “Housing 101” introductory offering, the course explores topics such as key government and industry players in affordable housing development and the ethical argument for affordable housing. Participants complete the course through four self-paced online lecture modules, which come with required reading, exercises and examinations.
The for-credit UC San Diego extension course, which will launch later this spring, is a hybrid online and in-classroom class with pre-course and post-course online work modules. SDTEF designed this course for government agency staff and professionals working in municipal and other government agencies that focus on housing services. Topics on the syllabus include an economic deep dive into affordable housing policy, the housing market in California and ideas for improving housing availability.
“The only prerequisites for these courses are basic civics knowledge, and more importantly a strong interest in effective governance and a desire to understand how taxpayers dollars go through a long process to provide affordable housing,” said Haney Hong, SDTEF’s president and trustee, who is the instructor for both courses and adjunct faculty at both UC San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University. “Housing supply policy and its effects on the homeless are two of the biggest issues in the San Diego area, and we want to make sure our leaders and voters alike have the knowledge they need to make decisions that will impact our region for generations.
“We’re grateful as always to our colleagues at Point Loma Nazarene University and UC San Diego Extension for working with us, and enabling the Taxpayers Educational Foundation to offer these courses,” said Hong. “We look forward to helping students learn more about affordable housing policy and process, so they can do their part to make housing attainable for all San Diegans.”
Hong was also recently appointed to the UC San Diego faculty. Separate from these new housing policy courses from SDTEF, he will also teach POLI 168: Policy Assessment this spring quarter.
Scholarships are available to qualified students for the PLNU online course. Please contact Rosey Williams (rwilliams@sdcta.org) with questions about scholarships.
Register for the PLNU online course here by March 7, 2019: https://commerce.cashnet.com/coursereg?CNAME=CEL-BOND
Watch for information on the UCSD Extension in-classroom course, coming soon.
For more information, contact Rosey Williams at rwilliams@sdcta.org.
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The San Diego Taxpayers Educational Foundation (SDTEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded in 1988 with the purpose of conducting studies and researching activities for the support and benefit of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. The mission of the SDTEF is to conduct fiscal and economic research and analysis of governmental revenue and expenditure policies in San Diego County. The Foundation educates San Diegans on these important issues through for-credit and not-for-credit educational programs.