As part of his state of the city address Wednesday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria announced the signing of an executive order to drastically speed up approval of 100%-affordable housing projects.
“What is true is that there are many people who are concerned about rising rents that might make them homeless,” Gloria told KPBS Midday Edition on Thursday. “I think there's also a lot of folks frustrated by the inability to become homeowners in San Diego, maybe concerned about their kids and their grandchildren moving away.”
But there is already pushback against Gloria's plan.
“The units that his policies are building do not provide transitional, very-low and low-income housing,” said Paul Krueger of Neighbors for a Better San Diego. This group advocates for owners of single-family homes and has objected to rules and projects increasing residential neighborhood density.
Krueger said aspects of the mayor's State of the City Address were positive, but current efforts to build more affordable housing are ineffective and misplaced.
“Until the mayor and the council acknowledge that we must build more truly affordable housing, we’re not going to make a dent in the homeless problem,” he said.
Deacon Jim Vargas, CEO of Father Joe’s Villages, said he’s feeling optimistic about what he heard in the speech, but he wants to see if the executive order will truly make a difference.
“If we can streamline the processes for housing, if we're able to do that, then we're going to cut the expenses that's associated with the construction and development of housing and we’re going to get people off the streets sooner,” Vargas said.
His organization is the region’s largest provider of homeless services.
Vargas outlined another aspect of what he said is needed to cut the number of people living on the streets.
“We need more shelter beds and we need not only shelter beds and congregate shelter beds, but we need to make sure we're responding to the needs of the individuals on the street. We need to meet them where they are,” he said.
Gloria said his administration has increased the number of shelter beds and expanded homeless outreach programs. The mayor said he’s working to make it easier to build affordable housing, but more still needs to be done.
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The number of people living on the streets in downtown San Diego is at record levels. -
We speak with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria about the commitments he outlined in his 2023 State of The City Address.
