On Tuesday morning, Margo Velez walks through a Mission Valley shopping center. It's one she knows well because she, along with her two teenage daughters, used to sleep in the car on the adjacent corner.
"It wasn't a very comfortable or good feeling while working," Velez said, adding she worked two jobs but still could not afford rent.
Velez represents the demographic lawmakers at every level of government hope to help -- people who are working but cannot afford to make ends meet.
The San Diego City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to form a new committee dedicated to addressing the cost of living in America's Finest City, which is also one of its most expensive.
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“To bring our costs down a little bit here, a little bit there that will add up so that we can finally make this place a place where everyone sees a future for themselves because it's really tough to do that right now,” said Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera.
Elo-Rivera is chair of the committee. The former council president said he passed the gavel so he would have more time to focus on policy that makes San Diego affordable for working people.
“It is the thing that threatens people's ability to believe that they have a future here,” said Elo-Rivera.
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Councilmember Henry Foster is vice chair of the committee, and Councilmember Marni von Wilpert rounds it out.
Politicians in D.C. also list lowering the cost of living as a top priority. San Diego Rep. Scott Peters founded a "YIMBY Caucus" in Congress to facilitate housing development, which he said is the best way to make California housing more affordable.
With attention on the dollar reaching a fever pitch from City Hall to Capitol Hill, some San Diegans may wonder when they will feel those policies reach their pocketbooks.
Elo-Rivera said it will not happen overnight, but that the new committee is already exploring one piece of legislation that could help people save money at the grocery store, and another that would ban algorithmic price-fixing in the housing market.
“It's a little bit at the grocery store. It's a little bit when we fill up our gas, take a little bit through unfair practices when we're paying for our housing. And our job as a committee is going to be tackle tackling those things one at a time,” said Elo-Rivera.
Now, the council will have to put its money where its mouth is, in the form of policy that reaches households and keeps workers in San Diego.
"The only reason why I stay is because of the weather and the beautiful people you meet,” said Velez. “But it's getting to the point where I'm almost ready to leave and seek elsewhere."
