A proposed state housing bill that would require cities to consider the needs of homeless populations as part of their housing planning efforts may soon face formal opposition from the city of Escondido.
The bill aims to force cities to better plan for housing that can specifically help the homeless, but in a letter drafted to the state legislature, Escondido leaders say it’s confusing and doesn’t address the underlying problem cities are facing when trying to house homeless people: lack of funding.
At tonight’s City Council meeting, Escondido leaders will consider sending a letter to the California State Legislature opposing Assembly Bill 3093, a bill authored by San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward and sponsored by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
What AB 3093 says: The proposed bill would require cities to more explicitly include individuals experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness in their housing plans.
It would create two new income categories for this population, and local jurisdictions would then have to incorporate these new categories in their housing elements.
A housing element is a state-required plan outlining how a city can accommodate enough new housing to meet its population’s needs. Part of that process is the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), where the California Department of Housing determines how many new homes are needed in each region and how affordable they should be.
Currently, there are four income levels identified by RHNA:
- Very low-income: 0 to 50 percent of area median income
- Low income: 50 to 80 percent of area median income
- Moderate income: 80 to 120 percent of area median income
- Above moderate income: 120 percent or more of area median income
Escondido’s area median income is $119,500, a number based on the county’s latest annual calculation.
This bill would break up the very low-income category into three parts, essentially adding two new categories:
- Very low-income: 30 to 50 percent of area median income
- Extremely low-income: 15 to 30 percent of area median income
- Acutely low-income: 0 to 15 percent of area median income
So, when identifying areas of land that are suitable for housing developments at different affordability levels, cities would have to factor in these new categories and plan for housing accordingly.
The bill would also require each region to submit data on the needs of their homeless populations to ensure that homeless people are accounted for in the RHNA process.
Why Escondido doesn’t like it: In a letter to the state legislature, Escondido leaders say they can’t support this bill unless it’s amended to address cities’ concerns.
The letter says that the bill could end up duplicating cities’ planning efforts because the two new income categories fall within the existing very low-income category, which already accounts for the needs of people earning 0 to 50 percent of the area median income.
They say it’s unclear how affordable housing in these two new categories are supposed to differ from the affordable housing that cities already plan for in the very low-income category. These “vague requirements,” the letter says, could end up causing delays in the housing element approval process, which is already complicated and time consuming.
But the city’s main concern is the lack of funding that the state and cities are experiencing when it comes to housing homeless people, which they say this new bill wouldn’t address.
“The city of Escondido shares the goal of preventing and reducing homelessness and increasing the supply of affordable housing in our communities. However, real progress will require ongoing funding that allows for the development of long-term, ambitious plans that support unhoused residents and prevent more individuals from losing their homes,” the letter says.
Del Mar Fair Board Opposes Train Tunnel Underneath Fairgrounds
Last month, SANDAG, the region’s transportation agency, revealed three possible route options for the proposed Del Mar train tunnel, narrowing the choices down from more than a dozen options.
The plan is to move about 1.7 miles of the train tracks that run along the edge of the Del Mar bluffs into an underground tunnel. It’s called the LOSSAN Rail Realignment project.
On Monday, the 22nd District Agricultural Association board, which runs the Del Mar Fairgrounds, voted unanimously to oppose one of the route options that would run underneath the Fairgrounds.
And if SANDAG did move forward with this option, the board said it would not move forward with plans to build an affordable housing project on the Fairgrounds for the city of Del Mar.
Remember: The city of Del Mar has been banking on a proposed affordable housing project on the Del Mar Fairgrounds property to fulfill its state-mandated affordable housing requirements, which requires the city to accommodate 113 affordable housing units.
The city has been working with the Fairgrounds for more than a year to build an affordable housing project on the Fairgrounds that would produce 61 lower income units.
Now, though, the Fairgrounds board says it’s one or the other.
At Monday’s meeting, Fairgrounds CEO Carlene Moore said the Fairgrounds fully depends on revenue from its events and activities, like the San Diego County Fair and the horse races. Construction of a tunnel could jeopardize these activities for several years, she said.
And construction of both a tunnel and a housing development isn’t feasible, the board agreed.
San Marcos Passes New Homeless Camping Ban
The San Marcos City Council approved a new public camping ban last week following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling late last month that gave cities more power to crack down on homeless encampments.
The new ordinance makes it illegal to camp on public property regardless of whether homeless shelter beds are available. A violation would constitute a misdemeanor and could result in fines or jail time, according to a city staff report.
In the Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling, the Supreme Court granted cities more power to arrest, cite and fine people who camp in public places regardless of shelter availability.
San Marcos has 35 unsheltered homeless people according to this year’s point-in-time count, up from just two unsheltered homeless people in 2023. San Marcos does not have a homeless shelter, but the city contributes $120,000 annually toward the Alliance for Regional Solutions, a network of eight North County cities that collectively contributes funding to homeless shelters in that part of the region. The city can refer homeless people to those shelters.
“Very often the unhoused do not want shelter. One of the things that we are hoping is that with this prohibition against encampments in public property that they will be encouraged to seek shelter and seek services and take advantage of those when they are available,” city attorney Helen Holmes Peak said during the City Council meeting.
The new ordinance was approved 4-1, with Councilmember Maria Nunez opposed. She said during the meeting that she cannot support the criminalization of unhoused individuals and she would instead like the city to focus on bringing in more resources for unhoused people.
In Other News
- A 53-year-old man has died a month after he had been arrested in Oceanside and booked into the Vista Detention Facility, marking the seventh person to die while in the Sheriff’s Department custody this year. (Union-Tribune)
- A trial date has been set in a defamation lawsuit against the International City/County Management Association, a union for city managers, and several of its board members, including Encinitas city manager Pamela Antil. (Coast News)
- San Marcos advanced a one-cent sales tax measure to the November ballot. (Coast News) And so did Escondido. (Voice of San Diego)