The San Diego Housing Commission is charged with doling out vouchers to help low-income families with soaring rents and tens of thousands of families are on the agency’s waiting list hoping for a golden ticket.
Yet our Lisa Halverstadt reveals that the agency hasn’t been able to direct new tenant-based Section 8 vouchers to struggling families since August 2022.
The rub: The Housing Commission says federal funding isn’t keeping up with need and San Diego’s surging rents have led to booming per-voucher subsidies that have meant there are fewer vouchers to hand out. Decisions to allocate more vouchers to specific housing projects, including supportive housing for formerly homeless San Diegans, have also meant there are fewer vouchers available to families on the agency’s waiting list.
Housing Commission officials say these harsh realities have forced difficult decisions and tradeoffs that they are grappling with as they work to refine their plans and budget for the next year and beyond.
Trash Fight at the Capitol
State Sen. Steve Padilla is proposing a bill that would bar the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board from handing out waste discharge permits for any landfill in the Tijuana River watershed.
One former colleague is not a fan.
The Politics Report has the latest on a South Bay trash fight that has made its way to Sacramento. Former state Sen. Ben Hueso appeared at a committee hearing to speak against the bill. His client, National Enterprises, is trying to get permits for a more than 300-acre landfill and recycling center on the far eastern edge of Otay Mesa.
Hueso says San Diego needs a landfill because others are reaching capacity.
The Senate Environmental Quality Committee had some questions for Hueso.
Read more in the Politics Report.
More politics: We have an update on Mayor Todd Gloria’s mega shelter pitch in the Politics Report. And the VOSD Podcast crew gets into the man who owns the building Gloria wants to lease to house hundreds of homeless San Diegans. Listen to the latest episode here.
Ballot Measures We’re Watching
This week’s Sacramento Report looks at two ballot measures slated for November that would change the way local governments authorize or pay for affordable housing and other infrastructure projects.
Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1, would lower the threshold to raise local taxes for infrastructure projects such as roads, water facilities and affordable housing from two-thirds to 55 percent.
Senate Constitutional Amendment 2 would scratch part of the state constitution that requires a majority of voters to authorize a local government to build or buy a publicly funded “low-rent housing project.” Think of it as the original “NIMBY” clause in the state constitution. The ballot measure’s author, state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, says eliminating the outdated provision will clear the way for affordable housing.
Also, a group of San Diego lawmakers are pleading with Gov. Gavin Newsom to help rebuild the fire-damaged Oceanside pier, saying they are “devastated” by the blaze.
“Rebuilding the historic pier as quickly as possible is paramount and will likely require financial support from the State of California,” they wrote Wednesday.
Read the Sacramento Report here.
In Other News
- County supes met in closed session late-last week to discuss the search for a new chief administrative officer. Times of San Diego reports that the county plans to conduct final candidate interviews later this month.
- Officials announced that they’ve secured $500,000 from the feds to build a public transit hub at Southwestern College. (NBC 7)
- The Union-Tribune spoke with Maria-Elena Giner, commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, about the agency’s challenges to fix its broken South Bay treatment plant.
- More than two weeks after the Oceanside Pier burned, the city is planning on opening areas to the public. (CBS 8)
- ICYMI: Our editor rounded up the Voice stories you don’t want to miss. Read Cup of Chisme here.
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
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