City Council balks on vote to give mayor new authority during homelessness, housing

The San Diego City Council returned an agenda item to staff Monday which could have given the mayor new authority to act amid a homelessness and housing emergency to give city employees more time to understand the ramifications of such a move.

The item, which was pulled by City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera at the beginning of the 2 p.m. meeting, could have given the green light to Mayor Todd Gloria to expedite housing permitting and homelessness spending.

The action was proposed by Elo-Rivera as the city faces hundreds of San Diego's shelter beds becoming unavailable for various reasons in coming months.

"Although significant progress has been made over the last few years to increase programs and services for individuals experiencing homelessness in the city, the number of individuals experiencing homelessness remains far too high," a staff report on the item reads. "Having the ability to be nimble and to create new programs where needs arise is critical to the city's efforts in addressing this crisis."

Elo-Rivera said the item will return to the council "as soon as possible."

If passed by the council when it returns, the action as written would grant the mayor the power to -- during a declared local housing and/or homelessness emergency -- make orders and directives to address the emergency, procure contracts to uphold standards of living for homeless San Diegans, suspend certain regulations to procure contracts, including City Council approval for contracts under $5 million, and accept and spend any grant monies to respond to the emergency.

The exact limitations are kept somewhat vague, presumably to allow the mayor leeway to handle the situation as he sees fit. However, such authority can only be wielded if the city enters a crisis, defined by:

• The total unhoused (sheltered and unsheltered) population in San Diego, based on the annual point-in-time count, is greater than two times the total number of shelter spaces or beds in the city (currently the city has 2,508 shelter beds and more than 3,400 unsheltered homeless); and/or
• There is a citywide increase in the unhoused population by more than 20% in a single year as reported in the annual point-in-time count conducted by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness.

The number of homeless in the region increased by around 20% between 2022 and 2023, but a less dramatic increase in the city of around 4% was recorded in this year's count.

Monday's meeting followed just days after the city put out a call asking for property owners to offer up locations as future shelter sites.

The request for information, comes as several shelters are slated to close in coming months and Mayor Todd Gloria's efforts to establish a proposed "mega shelter" remain under negotiation.

"We've doubled capacity at our sheltering options, but clearly more needs to be done so that San Diegans continue to see encampments being addressed and our unsheltered neighbors get connected to services that will help end their homelessness," Gloria said. "While ample affordable housing is the only true solution, we must address the current crisis on our streets as we build thousands of new supportive units."

Future developments at Golden Hall, Father Joe's Paul Mirabile Center and the Rachel's Promise Shelter, along with the scheduled closure of several temporary shelters, means that the city's current shelter bed count of 2,508 could drop precipitously in coming months. Those three named shelters represent more than 650 beds.

Larry Turner, Gloria's opponent in the November Mayoral election, said the item was a power grab.

"This proposal isn't about solving our city's housing and homelessness crises -- it's about giving the mayor unprecedented power to act without oversight," Turner said. "Mayor Gloria wants to use his failures as justification to seize even more authority, and that's not just irresponsible, it's dangerous."

Turner said the mayor was trying to accomplish through brute force what his administration could not do through the system in an effort to avoid accountability.

In July, Gloria announced discussion will wait at least until September on his ambitious 30-year lease proposal for a 65,000-square-foot commercial building and its potential transformation into a massive homeless shelter and resource campus.

The shelter, Hope @ Vine, was proposed at a cost of $1.95 per square foot, with annual 3.5% rent increases and an estimated $12.5 million in facility maintenance costs over the term. The council baulked at that price point and said it needed more details.

Under the proposal, the city would have authorization to spend up to $18 million to modernize and adapt the existing structure into a "transformative campus," with the ability to create separate shelters for distinct populations including seniors and families.

Site improvements call for a commercial kitchen, laundry facilities, dining areas, indoor and outdoor recreation areas, showers and restrooms. Proposed onsite services include job training, meals, housing navigation and behavioral health services with annual operating costs anticipated to be $26.4 million.