San Diego County leaders thought they had struck a sweet deal in Lemon Grove.
For $1 a month, the county would rent land at the corner of Sweetwater Road and Troy Street from Caltrans and build about 60 cabins for people experiencing homelessness.
The so-called Troy Street Sleeping Cabins project will likely still go forward, but the $1-dollar-a-month deal is dead. Now, thanks to a Trump administration ruling, the county will have to purchase the land, which is appraised at $955,000.
The unraveling of the rental deal was first made public at a county board of supervisors meeting late last year. Because the land was bought with federal dollars, the county’s lease deal needed approval from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
The Biden administration had no objections to the deal when it was first proposed, according to emails recently obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune through a California Public Records Act request. But the Trump administration is enforcing regulations differently.
“Under the previous federal administration, the FHWA did not object to Caltrans leasing excess land at below market rent for homelessness solutions. Under the current administration, the FHWA does not want Caltrans’ excess land purchased with federal dollars leased — FHWA wants Caltrans’ excess land sold per the federal regulations,” one of the emails states.
Following that revelation, the county Board of Supervisors gave staff the green light to begin negotiations for purchasing the land rather than renting it.
“When the option was presented to us, my direction was, let's move forward and see how we can negotiate a sale because it is important to stay the course on the work that we have been doing for the two years that I've been in office, without having to change course,” said Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe. “If we changed course, we may have to start all over again. That, in my mind, is a waste of taxpayer dollars.”
A spokesperson from Montgomery Steppe’s office said the county has reallocated unused funds from a canceled safe parking project to purchase the Troy Street lot.
This is the first time San Diego County has attempted a sleeping cabin project for people experiencing homelessness. Montgomery Steppe’s website said the project will offer on-site meals and services, such as case management, housing navigation and behavioral health support.
The FHWA approved the new negotiations in December, and now it is up to Caltrans to approve the sale.
Resident pushback
Meanwhile, there are still people in the neighborhood who are opposing the project.
Lemon Grove City Council members and community members voiced concerns at the October supervisors meeting.
Kewzah Blair and Tiffaney Jackson live in the neighborhood near the project. Blair said she understands the need to help people experiencing homelessness, but doesn’t think this is the right location.
“We don't have many resources as far as job and employment. We don't have many resources as far as rehabilitation or any kind of services that these people could receive, and so why this neighborhood?” Blair said.
“It’s also right down a block away from a school,” Jackson said.
Blair has concerns about the support services.
“People being unhoused — that's not the issue,” Blair said. “It's a matter of coming up with a tangible and a successful plan, and making sure that the community is involved, that the resources are there for everyone that's unhoused to make sure that it's going to actually be successful, and not a trial and error, right?”
Having resources on-site could address community concerns, said Bill Fulton, the co-director of the Center for Housing Policy and Design at UC San Diego.
“If you've got case management and services on site, and you've got decent sanitary housing, the risk to the surrounding community and to the elementary school is pretty low,” Fulton said. “I mean, if this works the way it's supposed to work, you probably won't even realize that it's there, or you won't realize that it is housing serving formerly homeless people, as opposed to housing serving anybody else.”
Caltrans declined an interview request but answered questions via email that affirmed the County Board of Supervisors and FHWA have approved the sale, and “the next step for the purchase agreement is approval by the California Transportation Commission,” a Caltrans spokesperson wrote.
The commission will review the purchase agreement in March. After that decision, Montgomery Steppe said she will offer updates to the Lemon Grove community on the project.
If the county can come to terms with Caltrans on the sale, officials hope to break ground on the project this summer.
