San Diego is one of the cities affected by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to withhold funding for homeless projects — until they come up with better plans.
San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera said he gets what’s behind the governor’s decision.
“I think the governor’s response is the same response that so many of us have, which is that the status quo is unacceptable, that we’re not making progress fast enough and in too many places we’re slipping backwards,” Elo-Rivera told KPBS Friday.
“San Diego housed 12,000 people who were experiencing homelessness over the past year,” Elo-Rivera said. “That doesn’t mean ‘moved them into shelter.’ That means ‘moved them into permanent housing.’ However, in that same amount of time about 15,000 people fell into homelessness.”
He said none of the city’s homeless programs are in jeopardy this year because of the governor’s decision, but it’s more urgent to update San Diego’s plans.
“We don’t want to see any interruptions, obviously,” he said. “I think we can maintain continuity now while also adapting and ensuring that we make the changes necessary to make real progress."
Elo-Rivera says one critical step is to pass tenant protections. “We are acting with urgency to stem the tide of people who are becoming homeless, so that San Diegans can see some progress on this issue that is… having huge, huge impact on our community, on our psyche as a community and is a humanitarian crisis.”
Elo-Rivera said city leadership is committed to solving the crisis, saying, “If we needed any additional motivation that should be it, that we’ve got to take a different approach to what we’re currently doing now.”
