The San Diego City Council has taken steps to confront the city's cost of living crisis by voting to establish a new committee tasked with this pressing challenge. Highlighting the urgency of addressing high housing and transportation costs that have made the city one of the most expensive in the nation, Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who has been a strong advocate for setting independent policy agendas, will chair this Select Committee on Addressing Cost of Living, as reported by KPBS.
Without the day-to-day burden of existing council committees, overwhelmed by the reviewing contracts and policies from the mayor's office, the new committee will focus on reducing living expenses, including product unavailability to seniors and non-native English speakers, like digital-only grocery coupons. According to an NBC San Diego interview, residents like Margo Velez, once forced to sleep in her car while juggling two jobs, embody the struggle lawmakers seek to alleviate with such measures.
Elo-Rivera, recently stepping down as council president to devote his energy to affordable living, is ready to grapple with this issue alongside committee members Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Councilmember Henry Foster III. Their first order of business will target unfair practices, like the discrimination against those unable to access digital coupons, which Elo-Rivera believes unjustifiably inflates grocery bills. To counter this, the committee, working with the City Attorney’s Office, is drafting an ordinance requiring grocery stores to offer paper versions of digital coupons, as Elo-Rivera told KPBS.
Meanwhile, the city council faces the substantial task of transforming policy into tangible outcomes for residents already burdened by a towering cost of living. While federal politicians like San Diego Rep. Scott Peters strive to make housing more affordable through development facilitation, Elo-Rivera is cautiously optimistic, acknowledging that changes will not happen immediately. The committee is exploring various legislative options, including a ban on algorithmic price-fixing in the housing market, which could lighten financial burdens in due course. As Velez expressed in a statement obtained by NBC San Diego, the promise of San Diego remains clouded by the cost of living, pushing some residents to consider leaving despite the city's weather and community.
