SAN DIEGO — The San Diego City Council passed a new ordinance Tuesday in a five to four vote to add housing density to areas within a mile of transit stations.

The sustainable development areas are expected to add tens of thousands of new housing units over the next ten years.

Students from University of California, San Diego are celebrating the ordinance’s passage while many San Diego homeowners and city councilmembers argue the sustainable development areas are too big and are not completely thought through, possibly cramming too many housing units in areas not equipped to handle the density.

“Nobody said absolutely no, I’ll never support this ever, but it was like let’s make it part of a larger housing conversation, make sure we get it right,” city councilmember Joe LaCava said.

But supporters and students of the new sustainable development areas say this will be a welcome shift for a group of young people desperate to stay in an area they want to call home.  

“Many have experience homelessness, many have had to skip meals in order to afford rent, just the fact that there is even if it’s not going to happen immediately, that there is the opportunity in the future for other students to not have the same issues, that would be wonderful,” one UC San Diego student said.