SDHC, City in Talks To Sustain — Or Bolster — Housing Aid

This post originally appeared in the May 11 Morning Report. Subscribe here for free.

The city’s Housing Commission is now expecting to maintain — or even bolster — three rapid rehousing programs just days after staffers told agency board members about a city plan to end those contracts.

Mayor Todd Gloria’s policy chief Jessica Lawrence and interim Housing Commission CEO Jeff Davis said during a Tuesday City Council budget hearing that they expect to find a funding solution that will allow the Housing Commission to continue serving homeless families who need temporary housing subsidies via the three contracts that now make up about a quarter of the city’s so-called rapid rehousing aid.

“What I’m hearing from the mayor’s office is there is no desire to diminish the rapid rehousing programs but to keep them at their current levels or greater,” Davis said.

The update during a City Council budget hearing followed a Voice of San Diego story documenting pushback from housing commissioners who erupted last week when they learned the commission was preparing to wind down the three programs after a directive from the Gloria administration at a time when the city’s homelessness crisis appears to be booming. Gloria’s office had argued there was a misunderstanding between the city and the Housing Commission.

“We are committed to working with the Housing Commission to identify long-term resources to support the program,” Lawrence said Tuesday after City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera called on city officials to clarify the future of the rapid rehousing programs.

Davis said he expected to have more details to share with the City Council by the time it votes on the city and Housing Commission budgets in June.