Letting Family Stay in Your Home? Measure A Makes That City Hall’s Business

Families help each other.

Parents let adult children stay in a home while they get on their feet.

Grandparents do the same.

Children help aging parents.

Siblings share space during a transition.

Families keep a home available for someone returning from school, military service, medical treatment, divorce, job relocation, or a difficult season of life.

In some families, you're super close to your cousins. In others, not so much.

All of that should be private family concerns.

Under Measure A, it could become City Hall’s business.

Measure A Creates a Family Paperwork Trap

Measure A includes language trying to govern family members living in a home.

Supporters may point to that and say, “Don’t worry. Family situations are protected.”

But that is not the full story.

Under Measure A, if you claim an exemption or exclusion, you still have to prove it to the City.

Every year.

With supporting documentation.

Under rules and paperwork requirements the City has not even finalized yet.

So if you let a family member live in a home you own, the question becomes:

Will City Hall agree that your family arrangement qualifies?

And if they do not, you could face the $10,000 tax.

Who Counts as Family?

Measure A does not simply say, “If family is using the home, you are fine.”

It uses defined terms and legal categories.

That means City Hall may end up deciding whether the person staying in your home counts under the measure’s definition, whether the home was occupied long enough, whether the paperwork is sufficient, and whether the arrangement qualifies.

Think about what that means in real life.

If your adult child stays there, do they count?

If your parent stays there, do they count?

If your sibling stays there, do they count?

What about other relatives?

What about blended families?

What about caregiving arrangements?

What about someone who splits time between households?

What about a family member who stays there for months, but not in a neat, easy-to-document way?

Measure A turns those family questions into City paperwork questions.

How Many Days Did They Stay?

Measure A is built around occupancy.

That means if a family member uses the home, the owner may have to prove how the home was used and when.

That could mean documenting how many days someone stayed there.

It could mean proving the family member actually occupied the home.

It could mean showing the City that the arrangement fits the measure’s rules.

That is not simple.

Families do not always live according to a City bureaucrat's spreadsheet.

People come and go.

They travel.

They help with caregiving.

They stay temporarily.

They move in gradually.

They leave for work, school, medical care, or family needs.

But Measure A creates a system where City Hall can demand proof.

Rent-Free Family Help Could Become a Problem

Many families help each other informally.

A parent may let an adult child stay in a home without charging market rent.

A family may keep a home available for an aging parent.

A sibling may stay temporarily during a life transition.

Those situations are normal.

But Measure A was not written around normal family life. It was written around tax categories, exemptions, documentation, and enforcement.

If the City decides your family arrangement does not qualify, or if your paperwork is not good enough, you could be treated as if the home is taxable.

That is how a family favor can become a $10,000 tax risk.

The Rules Come Later

This keeps coming up because it is one of the biggest problems with Measure A.

The City is asking voters to approve the tax now.

But all of the implementing rules come later.

What documentation will prove a family member lived there?

Will the City require signed statements?

Utility records?

Mail records?

Identification?

Lease documents?

Proof of relationship?

Proof of days stayed?

You may not have a brother or sister, but be closer to your cousin, aunt or nephew than any sibling. Does that count?

Measure A does not give voters clear answers today.

It gives City Hall the power to decide later.

This Is an Invasion of Family Privacy

San Diegans should not have to explain their family arrangements to City Hall to avoid a $10,000 tax.

They should not have to document how often their child, parent, or sibling stayed in a home.

They should not have to worry that a private family decision will be reviewed by a City bureaucracy looking for revenue.

And they should not have to prove every year that their own family use of their own property is acceptable to City Hall.

That is not housing policy.

That is government overreach.

Measure A Gives City Hall Too Much Power

Measure A is being sold as a simple tax on empty homes.

But the fine print is much broader and more intrusive.

It gives City Hall the power to decide whether exemptions are valid.

It puts the burden of proof on property owners.

It lets the City write key rules later.

And it can turn private family housing decisions into annual paperwork battles.

That is not fair.

That is not accountable.

And it is not how San Diego should treat families.

Keep City Hall out of family housing decisions.

Vote No on Measure A.

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