The City Council of San Diego is gearing up to re-examine Mayor Todd Gloria's controversial plan for what could be one of the nation's largest homeless shelters, this time with updated terms and tucked away from public scrutiny, set in a closed-door meeting tomorrow. The potential mega-shelter, located in a warehouse on the intersection of Kettner Boulevard and Vine Street, has sparked intense debate about cost, legal and health risks, and whether the structure is a viable solution for the city's growing number of unhoused residents.
According to a report by the San Diego Union-Tribune, the initial lease proposal raised eyebrows with a potential price tag of $1 billion over 30 years, eliciting sharp criticism from the City Attorney's office and the Independent Budget Analyst. There were also ominous findings of asbestos and lead-based paint in the warehouse. Still, given the dire need for shelter in San Diego, where homelessness has risen steadily for over two and a half years, city officials are back at the negotiating table under the shadow of a looming $258 million budget deficit for the next year, they are now looking to address prior concerns and potentially overhaul the city's approach to homelessness.
Mayor Gloria has long heralded the project, which, according to his spokesperson, Rachel Laing, has made adjustments based on feedback from council members, city attorneys, and budget analysts. "As Mayor Gloria frequently says: Addressing homelessness is expensive, but nowhere near as costly as not addressing it," Laing stated in an email cited by the Voice of San Diego. The reformed proposal comes after critiques about a single mega-shelter and revelations that the city included funding for 1,000 beds in its approved June budget despite significant opposition.
While this move could mark a pivot away from the previous singular focus on the Middletown warehouse, critics of the plan, like Councilmember Vivian Moreno, have questioned the wisdom of such high expenditures amidst fiscal challenges, saying via Voice of San Diego, “We can’t just say we’re going to tighten the belt with one hand and then just let the belt loose with the other hand,” highlighting the tension between fiscal responsibility and addressing the homelessness crisis.
On the other end of the spectrum, the County of San Diego's efforts to build shelters have met with resistance from communities, and the practical reality of dwindling shelter beds due to impending closures has ramped up pressure on the city to respond decisively to the needs of its most vulnerable citizens. The private sector, too, represented by Doug Hamm, who owns the proposed shelter site, remains adamant about the project's potential, with Hamm's spokesperson Margie Newman Tsay expressing continued hope in a statement that the site "can be part of the solution to address homelessness."
