On Thursday, April 4, Mayor Todd Gloria announced that he is seeking to turn a large warehouse on Kettner Blvd into a 65,000 square foot homeless shelter. The building — at 3570 Kettner — is at the corner with Vine Street, just next to the I-5 freeway and near Pacific Highway. Gloria says it will be space for 1,000 people, showers, a kitchen, recreational facilities and counseling services.
If his proposal passes the city council, then he plans to turn the controversial H Barracks site into a parking lot for roughly 200 spaces of designated parking to accommodate people living in vehicles.
Part of Gloria’s proposal includes the city signing a 35-year lease with two possible five-year extensions for the building, which translates into $1.9 million per year rent, plus city officials estimate the building needs $18 million in renovations and upgrades, and as the U-T reports, “Early estimates are that the large shelter would require $30 million per year in staffing and operational costs.”
A group called “Point Loma Cares” that opposed the H Barracks site was happier than yesterday, as a spokesperson said it was a “minor victory” but still they feel like they’ve been left out of the conversation and not in the loop in any high-level talks about finding shelters. They have been gearing up for a legal fight over the Barracks site.
Larry Turner, Gloria’s opponent in the mayoral race, criticized the mayor for what he called a lack of transparency, and questioned whether it’s the right site based on its location near residential neighborhoods and major transportation routes. “We need to ensure that any proposal to address homelessness is not only effective but also respects the concerns and needs of residents,” Turner said.
Others criticized the mayor for quietly negotiating the deal for the new shelter site without gathering public input or alerting nearby residents and businesses.
Gloria’s staff is scheduled to present the proposal to the council’s Land Use and Housing Committee on April 18.
Bill Walton calling on Todd to quit, LOL
https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2024/04/05/like-lbj-in-1968-todd-gloria-should-drop-out-of-mayoral-election/
Deacon Jim Vargas, president and CEO at Father Joe’s Villages:
“We applaud any and all efforts to expand shelter availability throughout our city. On any given night, over 2,000 unsheltered San Diegans are forced to sleep on our streets and, despite continued efforts, there are simply not enough shelter beds to meet our city’s needs.”
$30M in operational cost + $1.9M a year for 35 years ($66.5M) for a building in escrow for $13.25M.
Let that sink in……..
Todd meanwhile will be long gone. Has Hamm ( the building purchaser in escrow) done the political contribution route too for this ROI? Other operations might be shifted? Who knows.
More like 1.9m rent +3% per year for 35 years. Try over 133m for 35 yrs for rent alone.
Axios SD has some details:
The city is leasing the property from Douglas Hamm, CEO of development firm Creative House, who just completed his purchase of the property Tuesday for $13.25 million, the seller’s broker Robert Brown confirmed to Axios.
Brown was surprised to learn what the city planned to pay in rent, while also paying for the upgrades, saying to Axios, “They’re going to do their own tenant improvements and then pay $1.9 million a year in rent?”
He asked, sarcastically, “Do they want to rent any other property?”
https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2024/04/04/mayor-gloria-san-diego-homeless-shelter-beds
Another interesting fact about this lease. The property has been in escrow since October 2022. Seems like a really long time for a property to be in limbo. Any real estate professionals care to comment on this?
Once again Todd Gloria et al has not engaged with the community for the proposed parking lot for 200 in the H Barracks location. With the increased vehicle habitation on residential streets including those who are not homeless this could easily be an invitation for anyone with an RV to park overnight and squeezing out parking for the homeless as intended. Did anyone ask that question when this was proposed? What happens when the lot fills up?
If there a plan to manage overflow if it exceeds 200 vehicles? What resources are going to be at the parking lot? Does anyone have any answers to the basic questions? This looks like another plan without any fore thought of the consequences once it goes into place.
Don’t you think $30m operating cost is a bit much for 1000 people?
Actually, it is far cheaper than the Convention Center/Homeless Shelter costs during covid, which totaled $5,7 million per month. Not that I am justifying the cost, just pointing out that there have been more expensive shelters. The cynical among us might point out that the real reason was to keep the Convention Center Corp. in business, but an innocent such as I won’t go there.
$1500/month is less than any housing/utilities/water/security than I can find. Then figure in the city is saving money due to the fact that the homeless will not have run ins with law enforcement or residents.
So, I’d say it is a good deal.
Where does $1500 a month equate? $30m /1000= $30K/12 mos=$2500
Chris S – Please refer to Rag posts when passing articles on to other readers.
Is that a reference to the Wear article? That was originally sourced from LaPresna? Just trying to understand the process. No issue conforming.
Yup, sure was; just saying it’s better to refer our readers to our posts (if the same as original).
My calculator computes $30M/1000 to be $2500/month. What am I missing??
Prevention, it’s all about prevention, stop the bleeding! This proposal will shelter a thousand, & on the 5th of the next month 1400 more San Diegans will lose their existing affordable housing. And on the 5th of the following month another 1400, and the following month. Rents continue to increase while existing affordable housing gets demolished, and never replaced. For every 100 San Diegans that do find shelter there are 140 more San Diegans made homeless each month.
Vulnerable communities of color, aging elderly communities, historically significant communities, continue to be targeted for predatory development and continued Build-to-Rent feeding the hyper gentrification profit apparatus of the Politico-Corporate Real Estate Complex that serves but one mission, the corporate monopolizing housing.
Mankind’s most basic physiological need commodified for Wall Street Players; which by the way will really be paying nothing for this shelter; despite buying off the policy makers necessary to fill it. And to fill every other shelter designed to drain taxpayers of more $30 million shelters, and then $40 million shelters and so on, and so on, and so on…
As San Diegans we also will foot the bill for Gloria’s hand-selected consultants that will undoubtedly need $3.5 million to conduct the “study” the City Council and Mayors Office will require for this “proposed” shelter; which let’s face it is really nothing more than a backdrop for photo ops for the Gloria hole for campaign contributions and the benevolent San Diego City Council. (Insert sounds of a church choir)
This “deal” stinks! Totally under the table dealings. It must be stopped.