As Mayor Todd Gloria’s team sought to close a large city budget deficit and fund homeless services in the upcoming year’s budget, they penciled in $15 million from the city’s housing agency to avoid major cuts.
Yet, as our Lisa Halverstadt reports, neither the Gloria administration or Housing Commission officials know exactly where that money will come from. And the housing agency is staring down what it views as significant cuts to city homeless programs it oversees even with its assumed $15 million contribution. Proposed cuts affect eight shelters, a homelessness prevention program that City Councilmembers often tout and more.
The mayor’s take: Gloria’s team argues he had to make tough calls and that the Housing Commission at least appeared to have funds available to help minimize cuts. His team said Thursday that they are ready to collaborate on budget solutions.
The housing agency’s take: Housing Commission officials say they don’t have immediate cash to offer. Without budget changes, they argue programs could be eliminated or cut in ways that reduce their capacity to aid homeless San Diegans.
What’s next: The Housing Commission and Gloria’s office plan to confer on options. The City Council will hold budget hearings in early May and then Gloria will release a revised budget on May 14. The City Council must vote on the proposed budget by mid-June.
City Ballot Picks: Stormwater In, Public Power Out
An effort to raise taxes to fix San Diego’s crumbling and clogged stormwater system took a step toward the November ballot Thursday.
What happened: The City Council’s Rules Committee unanimously directed city staff to bring a recommendation back in June on how to tax properties based on square footage of surfaces that don’t absorb water (like concrete driveways or parking lots) to raise money for the stormwater system.
Background: Urbanization and the paving of otherwise absorbent natural soils, especially along waterways, is a big reason San Diego flooded so badly on Jan. 22. San Diego unsuccessfully tried to tax land that promotes flooding by putting a tax on the ballot back in 2022. Back then, a survey suggested there was support for a tax of 4- to 5-cents per square foot. San Diego’s Independent Budget Analysts have said it would take an almost 26-cent tax to fully cover the lengthy laundry list of stormwater needs.
City Council President Seann Elo-Rivera picked up that fallen baton this year in an effort to close a multi-billion dollar backlog of stormwater projects.
“This morning, somewhere in the range of 1,700 city of San Diego residents woke up in hotel rooms three months after being displaced from their homes at no fault of their own,” Elo Rivera said Thursday. “We need to take every measure possible to prevent that.”
Public Power Fails Next Test
San Diegans who want to wrest the power grid from San Diego Gas & Electric failed to win support from council members on Thursday.
The group, called Power San Diego, asked the City Council’s Rules Committee to put a public takeover of the city’s grid before voters in November. Power San Diego needs to gather thousands of signatures to independently attain a ballot measure, but support from the Rules Committee is another way to achieve that same goal. Other environmental activist groups like San Diego 350 turned out to hold posters that read, “Fire SDG&E.” But multiple union labor organizations turned out in equal measure to pressure councilmembers against public power.
Councilmember Joe LaCava, who chairs the city’s public energy-buying company called San Diego Community Power, said he didn’t support this ballot measure while the city is conducting its own municipalization study. Elo-Rivera said he didn’t think the proposed ballot measure was “baked enough.”
“I have no love for corporate monopolies reaching into the pockets of everyday people but this is a very complex issue,” Elo-Rivera said.
In Other News
- Carlsbad Unified School District wants to crack down on student cell phone use during classes. (Fox 5)
- The state just awarded more than $11 million to help Oceanside house its unsheltered residents. (Union-Tribune)
- Today is the deadline for Jan. 22 flood victims to request federal assistance for property damage. It hasn’t been an easy process for many who have applied. (CBS 8)
- The city finally mowed foxtails at the Fiesta Island dog park after months of requests to clear the plants that can lead to expensive trips to the vet. (San Diego Reader)
- CalMatters rounded up a list of cities, agencies and leaders across the state that have formally weighed in on a blockbuster Supreme Court case that’s expected to determine the future of homelessness-related enforcement. Not mentioned in the story: City of San Diego and local nonprofits including the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, which have both signed onto joint briefs you can read here and here.
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and MacKenzie Elmer. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Lisa Halverstadt.
Correction: A previous version of this story included the incorrect link to Power San Diego.
The city’s policies with respect to rampant infill housing will only add to the stormwater flooding problems. Where is the tax on developers for stormwater infrastructure when they put up a concrete tower with surrounding hardscape that covers virtually every square foot of land? When considering a tax for this infrastructures, will city staff take into consideration the square footage of the structures on the land, including the ADUs that have been built over moisture-absorbing backyards? Will households get credit for stormwater capture systems (like rain barrels)?