SAN DIEGO, CA — Prosperity Now convened national, state and local leaders today for its San Diego Regional Summit, bringing housing affordability and scam prevention into the same conversation about economic security. Across three plenaries and eight breakout sessions, speakers examined how to keep homes affordable over time, make better use of community land, strengthen state consumer protections and prevent financial losses before they occur.

Held at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego, the Summit brought together community organizations, housing leaders, financial institutions, government, philanthropy and businesses. The conversations connected national and state policy with local projects and the experience of organizations working directly with residents.

Actress, writer and producer Julissa Calderón set the tone in the opening plenary by describing prosperity as the freedom to make choices without fear that one decision will put basic bills out of reach. “Prosperity equals freedom,” she said. The conversation continued with Sonja Diaz, founder of Unseen, and Noerena Limón, CEO of Casita Coalition, connecting housing, work, public policy and lived experience. Housing repeatedly emerged as a force shaping a person’s commute, health, neighborhood and access to opportunity.

“Families experience housing, financial services and economic opportunity as connected parts of their lives,” said Marisa Calderon, President and CEO of Prosperity Now. “Housing costs determine whether a paycheck is enough. A scam can erase years of progress in minutes. San Diego gave us practical ideas for keeping homes affordable, putting community land to work and stopping financial harm before it happens. Those ideas matter far beyond one city.”

The Summit’s second plenary, “Protecting Prosperity: How States Can Make Markets Work for People,” featured Rohit Chopra, Secretary of California’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, in conversation with Calderon. Chopra said California’s size and laws give the state leverage to influence companies operating nationwide. “We have seen so many examples of California leading the way,” he said. He described a focus on systemic harms and repeat offenders, from pricing and disaster recovery to protections for small businesses. On technology-enabled fraud, he called for companies to share responsibility when digital tools are used to deceive people into sharing credentials or sending money.

Breakout sessions carried those questions into practice. “Stopping Scams Before They Happen: A Community Approach to Prevention” focused on the early-warning systems and coordination needed to reach people before money is lost.

“Scams move fast, so prevention has to move faster,” said Alexandra Villarreal O’Rourke, CEO of Alumbra. “Our work with Prosperity Now is about connecting early signals from technology and financial institutions with the community organizations people already trust, so warnings reach families before money is lost.”

“Advancing Solutions to Affordable Housing” opened with the scale of San Diego’s need. The San Diego County 2026 Affordable Housing Needs Report estimates that 129,829 low-income renter households do not have access to an affordable home, and a renter needs to earn $50.12 an hour to afford the average asking rent of $2,606 for a two-bedroom apartment.

Chrissi Johnson, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Prosperity Now, framed the session around a question of scale: “You can scale a process, but you can’t scale persistence. So how do we get housing unstuck?” Using Cuatro at City Heights, Community HousingWorks and Ventana al Sur as examples, the discussion examined how resident input, partnerships, financing, approvals and services move homes forward, and what would make successful approaches easier to repeat without reducing accountability.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria opened the closing plenary, “The Missing Rung: Scaling Community Ownership Without Waiting for Congress,” by placing housing at the center of the affordability conversation. He noted that the city’s population has doubled from about 700,000 to 1.4 million during his lifetime, while annual housing production fell from roughly 15,000 homes to about 4,000 and has only recently climbed back toward 10,000. “If you double your population or reduce your housing production by two-thirds, that is a perfect recipe for a housing affordability crisis and for a homelessness crisis,” Gloria said.

Dave Uejio, Chief Operations Officer at Prosperity Now, asked, “What if affordability could be permanent?” Frank Wells of Bright Community Trust pointed to nonprofit land trusts and renewable 99-year ground leases, while Aaron Martinez of Urban Land Conservancy called for patient, flexible capital to secure land. Wells also challenged the claim that no land is available, pointing to single-story buildings surrounded by parking. “This is a constraint of policy choices,” he said. Together, they showed how land, capital and long-term stewardship can keep homes affordable.

The San Diego gathering was the first stop in Prosperity Now’s 2026 Regional Summit Series, Together on the Path to Prosperity. The series continues with the Minneapolis Regional Summit | VITACon on October 6, 2026, and the Atlanta Regional Summit on November 5, 2026. Learn more about Prosperity Now’s upcoming events here.

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