y|GEN Monthly Newsletter

Renew Your y|GEN Membership for 2026!

y|GEN Members! We still have (3) great events left for the year and our Mid-Year Mentor Program in May you can participate in.

The y|GEN (Young Generation of Leaders) Council is a group of young professionals in the San Diego building industry making meaningful connections and working together to create a more sustainable housing future. We come together to connect, collaborate, and grow - through networking, professional development, and project tours. By sharing knowledge and engaging with local projects, we strive to positively impact San Diego's housing industry and the community we serve.

RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP!

Pitch Perfect!

y|GEN Interview Prep Program

A new program being offered for yGen members this year is our “Pitch Perfect” Program where members can practice their interview skills, whether it be job interviews, elevator pitches, or other opportunities to sell your skills. We are looking for experienced practitioners to help our members practice their interview/pitch skills through one-on-one practice sessions. The program will consist of a one-day 1-1.5 hour zoom session where you will be paired with 3-4 mentees for 10 minutes. Each 10-minute session will consist of 5 minutes of practice Q&A and then 5 minutes of feedback. This will likely take place in late summer/early fall.

If you are interested in participating, please reach out to

Elena Mineo at elena@biasandiego.org

2026 Mentor Program Kickoff Event

Our Young Generation of Leaders Mentor Committee gathered together earlier this month to finalize pairings for our 2026 Mentor Program. Working after hours, the group even got hit with a power outage at the BIA Office and continued to work in the dark to get the pairings completed.

On March 25th, we kicked off our Mentor Program at Burgeon Beer in Carlbad. At this event our mentees were able to find out and connect with their mentor for the year along with meeting with their small group. With over 70 participants, this is one of our biggest Mentor Programs to date! If you are interested in participating in our Mentor Program but missed the initial application period, no worries! Applications for our Mid-Year Program will open up in May.

y|GEN Happy Hour Meet Up

at Luce

Last month our y|GEN members & prospective members gathered at Luce Bar + Kitchen in Bay Park to grab some drinks and network. Dark events are a great opportunity for our members and those looking to join and connect outisde BIA San Diego events in a more casual environment. Interested in attending our next dark event? Contact Brandon Goldberg at brandon@goldstandardmortgage.com for more information.

YIMBY Democrats & y|GEN

Event Recap

Back in January, yGen paired with the YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County to host a Winter Mixer which featured a panel discussion of the recent lawsuit on the Midway Height Limit and CEQA. The panel was moderated by Dike Anyiwo who previously chaired the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group and the panelists were Colin Parent, GC for Circulate Planning and Policy; Brook Miller, Special Counsel at Sheppard Mullin; Catherine Ferguson, Partner at Lounsbery Ferguson Altona & Peak and the VP of yGen and Vice Chair of the Yimby Dems; and Zack Defazio-Farrell, a local attorney and the YIMBY Dems Treasurer. The panel highlighted the outcome of the lawsuit which threw out the City’s attempt to remove the 30 ft coastal height limit in the midway area and the repercussions that decision will have on local housing projects. They also discussed possible changes to CEQA that could help streamline certain types of environmentally friendly housing.

Our Parents Bought a Home on One Income.

You Can’t on Two.

Your dad bought his first house at 29. Three bedrooms, $89,000. His mortgage was less than your rent. He didn’t have a strategy. He just showed up, signed some papers, and built wealth in his sleep for 30 years.

That playbook is gone.

Boomers bought homes at 3-4x their income. In San Diego today, the median home is $1,050,000, nearly 10x what most households earn here. The Fed is holding rates at 6.4% with one cut projected for the rest of 2026. Nobody is coming to rescue the market.

But here’s what nobody says out loud: we have something Boomers didn’t. Boomers started investing at 35. Millennials are starting at 25. Gen Z at 20. The homeowner-to-renter wealth gap is a staggering 38-to-1, but it’s not purely about home equity. 52% of renters own zero growth assets. No stocks. No retirement accounts. Nothing that compounds. The crisis isn’t just that we can’t buy. It’s that we’ve stopped building wealth entirely while we wait.$7,500 in a Roth IRA at 25 = $4 million tax-free at retirement. Start at 35 instead, you lose $1.5 million. Not because you did anything wrong. Because time is the one asset you can’t buy back.

Your parents built wealth by accident. We have to build it on purpose.

For more information, please contact Nilay Barefield at nilay.barefield@tfgroup.com