A City Council majority is uncomfortable with Mayor Todd Gloria’s initial plan to balance the city’s budget in part with proposed homeless program cuts and $15 million from the city’s housing agency.
During a Monday hearing, councilmembers expressed concerns about proposed cuts to city homeless initiatives overseen by the Housing Commission including homeless prevention and outreach programs and an East Village day center operated by Father Joe’s Villages that would limit access to showers, mail and other services. Multiple councilmembers also had questions about Gloria’s expectation that the commission hand over funds it says it doesn’t have available.
“I cannot imagine taking away any of your budget – at all,” Councilmember Jennifer Campbell said.
What Gloria’s team says: Gloria’s office has said it’s working on budget revisions with a goal to preserve existing services. At Monday’s hearing, Gloria policy director Matt Yagyagan said Gloria’s office expects to find more funding for most programs councilmembers flagged before he releases his revised budget next week.
If that doesn’t happen: Housing Commission CEO Lisa Jones told councilmembers that her agency would likely recommend the elimination of some programs and a transition plan to have the city operate homeless programs her agency now oversees if forced to move forward with the allocations in Gloria’s proposed budget.
“We can’t run the programs on $27 million,” Jones said, referring to the homelessness funding her agency was proposed to receive minus the $15 million.
About the mega shelter pitch: A few councilmembers suggested that perhaps the city shouldn’t include the proposed Middletown shelter at Kettner Boulevard and Vine Street in its budget – at least for now – given the uncertainty surrounding it and tough budget times.
Councilmember Kent Lee, who chairs the City Council’s Budget Review Committee, was among them.
“I just question whether it is fiscally responsible to budget that full amount in general fund resources for a new theoretical purpose when we now are currently staring down proposed cuts to fund the existing shelter and outreach efforts that exist today while also proposing to cut key neighborhood services such as library programs and park and rec after-school programs,” Lee said.
Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, meanwhile, argued the city has a moral imperative to swiftly pursue more shelter options for those desperate for often-elusive beds.
“We have added hundreds of shelter beds and there is a cost associated with that, but
we see those shelters were necessary by the very fact that they are full,” Whitburn said. “We should not stop adding shelter beds until everyone who wants a shelter bed has one.”
Gloria’s office has said it plans to move forward with a 1,000-bed homeless shelter in the upcoming year – whether at the Middletown warehouse or elsewhere.What’s next: Gloria is set to release his revised budget next week. The City Council must vote on the budget for the fiscal year that begins in July by the end of next month.
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The Housing Commission has talked about AGAIN cutting back service at Neil Good Day Center if their budget is cut. At a time when we should have many tens of day centers in this County, we have exactly one…. and it is insane to talk about cutting its hours.
Whitburn carrying water for the mayor? I’m shocked.
Maybe use the money allotted to bike lanes instead.