Three different tax increases are being proposed in San Diego to deal with the housing and homelessness problem.
Several months ago, Councilman David Alvarez proposed a one percent hotel tax increase that would go to an advisory vote to see if voters want to use the extra one percent for homelessness programs. The increase would raise the hotel tax from the current 10.5 percent to 11.5 percent.
“There’s been some polling to show that voters have an increasing appetite to spend more local funds on homelessness, and the city has been spending a lot more money on the cause,” Voice of San Diego staff writer Lisa Halverstadt told Politically Speaking.
Another hotel tax increase is being proposed by a business and labor coalition. It would raise the hotel tax between 1.25 and 3.25 percent. The increase would also support a convention center expansion and road repairs.
“They’re out going and gathering signatures and going through the initiative process,” Halverstadt said. The signatures must be turned in by Tuesday, and if there are enough it will go on the November ballot.
Potentially, both hotel tax initiatives could go through.
A property tax increase is being supported by affordable housing advocates to support a $900 million bond. Proponents of the plan say the bond could fund approximately 7,500 homes for low income and homeless San Diegans.
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“This coming week is a big one for all three of these measures. Both City Councilman Alvarez’s and the housing bond measure are going to be going before a key city council committee this week,” Halverstadt added.
The committee will hear an update on the measures and could decide whether to forward any of them to the full city council for a vote. The city council must decide by early August whether to put the measures on the ballot.
