San Diego leaders are making another push for the 1,000-bed homeless shelter at Kettner and Vine in Middletown. NBC 7’s Kelvin Henry reports on the closed-door meeting.
San Diego city leaders are making another run at negotiating a deal for the proposed "Hope @ Vine" homeless shelter. They held a closed-door meeting on Monday to iron out details to potentially use the site at Kettner and Vine in Middletown.
The proposed shelter was introduced in April 2024 to address the homeless situation in the city of San Diego. The site is expected to be a multi-million dollar endeavor. If a deal is reached, the shelter would house about 1,000 people experiencing homelessness.
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City councilmembers and negotiators for Kettner Vine Creative House LLC held Monday's closed-door meeting to discuss price and payment terms for potential acquisition of an interest or estate in the property located at 3554 Kettner Boulevard.
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Before entering into the closed-door session, members of the public weighed in on the proposed site. Some people in the community are opposed to the proposed shelter because of the location and cost to the taxpayers.
“I don’t want to see us waste our precious resources on a solution that’s not going to deliver results," San Diego resident Edward Moore said. "I would rather us take the money that we have, bolster the programs and augment them, and take small steps in directions we know are guaranteed to succeed."
This discussion comes months after the city council delayed a decision in July, and little public discussion took place during the election season.
Specific details about the latest negotiations haven’t been released to the public because they refer to confidential items during the closed-door session, but Charles Modica, the city’s independent budget analyst, said city leaders should consider all options.
"Council should consider any and all proposals (including but not exclusive to real estate proposals) in the context of the City’s overall finances and the $258 million shortfall projected for the upcoming fiscal year,” Modica said.
