Category: Homelessness

By Dan Walters / Calmatters / May 20, 2025

One of Gavin Newsom’s political ploys is to depict political rivals as bullies and himself as someone who stands up to them.

Last September, for example, he devoted an entire segment of his podcast, “Politickin’,” to denouncing Donald Trump, saying he is “a bully. But here’s the thing about bullies — they’re weak.”

That was before Trump was elected and before Newsom had to play nice in hopes of securing billions of dollars in federal relief aid for fire-damaged Los Angeles County. After initially saying he would provide such aid during a visit to L.A., Trump began hinting on imposing conditions on California, such as tightening up voting requirements and loosening up on water deliveries to farmers.

Newsom then reverted to his previous role as a leader of resistance to Trump.

Yes, Trump does use bullying tactics to get his way. He uses aggressive policies — such as tariffs on imports — as a negotiating tactic. So does Newsom.

From KPBS – City News Service

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday, April 22nd, approved a contract with nonprofit Jewish Family Service of San Diego to continue running the city’s Safe Parking Program, including the new H Barracks site.

The barracks site, near San Diego International Airport, is intended to have 190 spaces for people using the program. Tuesday’s approval by the council is a one-year contract with Jewish Family Service.

By Steven Mihailovich / Point Loma – OB Monthly SDU-T / March 6, 2025

A growing preponderance of recreational vehicles being parked at Robb Field, leading to a scarcity of parking spaces for the increasing number of visitors as the weather begins to warm and softball season gets underway, was a subject of discontent at the Ocean Beach Community Foundation’s February meeting.

San Diego Police Department Community Relations Officer James Harris said he had received dozens of emails about the situation and said he visited the parking lot three weeks before the Feb. 26 meeting. He counted 105 RVs, he said, most of which he suspected were being used as housing for their occupants.

“But they’re taking up two spots and now we’ve got 210 spots gone and that’s a real problem,” Harris said. “Plus, you don’t feel safe potentially parking next to that. I get all these complaints and I feel those complaints.”

By a Concerned OBcean Finding His Voice:

I used to (and still do) consider myself a fairly progressive left-wing liberal, however given that I can no longer recognize or sit with the politics occurring at the national level, I have promised myself to dive more deeply into local policy and activism to help protect the town that I love and preserve it for my 10 month-old son. Given that I have no idea how to actually do that yet, let this rant to the editor of a grass roots and independent local newsletter be my first step.

Stream of consciously and in no particular order:

While I am, on principle, a believer in higher taxes (especially for the wealthy) and deeply appreciate the services they bring, I wish that local governments do better with the tax money we the citizens already generate (which is among the highest nationally) and not make the function of our city dependent on a tax bill to make it even higher.

By Chris Jennewein / Times of San Diego / Feb. 7, 2025

Mayor Todd Gloria on Friday, Feb. 7, dropped plans for the controversial, giant homeless shelter at Kettner Boulevard and Vine Street near the San Diego International Airport.

“After a year of negotiations and multiple hearings, we have come to the conclusion that the proposed homeless shelter campus at Kettner and Vine can no longer advance,” Gloria said. “As a result, we will present alternative solutions to the City Council on Feb. 10.”

He said three new options are:

In an Op-ed on January 1, Scott Lewis — the CEO and main editor of the online Voice of San Diego — warned his fellow San Diegans that in 2025, we have to deal with all the screaming.Scott, who lives in the OB-Point Loma area — was talking about how we need to face up to the plight and screaming of all the homeless people, now that the city is in, what Scott calls –“the eighth year of the homeless crisis.” We must all heed his warning.

By Scott Lewis / Voice of San Diego / January 1, 2025

A few weeks ago, a man in the alley behind our house began screaming. Screaming is not unusual around us, unfortunately. But usually it comes and goes – less frequent than the airplanes, more frequent than the helicopters.

One man walks around screaming all the time. Long beard, bike. Sometimes he begs on the corner. Sometimes he disappears for weeks. But he’s always back and almost always screaming.

This wasn’t him. We know him. This was deeper, closer and more disturbed. And it wasn’t going away. It scared my daughter. I went back there with the flashlight and found the man. He was ensconced in a combination of blankets and garbage. He was ranting incoherently, unaware of me even as I tried to get his attention.

I finally yelled “Hey!” He turned and looked right at me. “You’re freaking people out.”

By Lisa Mortensen

Good morning Council members:

I am really shocked that you are wasting more time and resources on the failed Kettner and Vine Mega Shelter that you will discuss in ‘closed-door’ session on Monday December 16th.  Why the ‘closed-door’ meeting?  Why are you continuing to ignore the public and allow yourselves to be arm-twisted by the mayor?

Have you not been listening to all the cogent public testimony statements at prior meetings this year from those who have lived experience of homelessness as well as mental health professionals, and individuals who have dedicated their lives representing homeless advocate non-profits?

What part of this public record are you missing?

Neighbors, business owners, homeless advocates, and other opponents of the proposed Kettner and Vine “mega-shelter” will voice their concerns about the project during public comment on the San Diego City Council’s “closed session” agenda at Monday’s 10 am City Council meeting.

The Mayor and City Council will hear new information about lease negotiations related to the proposed shelter in a closed session following these public comments.

By Mahdi E Diab / Op-Ed San Diego U-T / December 11, 2024

As a family physician treating San Diego’s homeless population, I witness firsthand how the city’s increased reliance on street sweeps is undermining our efforts to end homelessness while creating a costly public health crisis.

In recent days, I watched a patient break down in tears after losing the only photograph he had of his son during a sweep. Another patient ended up in the emergency room after police discarded his insulin and heart failure medications — medicines that cannot be replaced due to Medi-Cal’s monthly refill restrictions. While a third relapsed into addiction due to an arrest and the stress caused by losing all of their personal possessions. These are not isolated incidents but daily occurrences that illustrate how street sweeps actively harm our most vulnerable neighbors.

By Carolyn Chase

Sure would be nice to follow the money on the “homelessness” spending. With hundreds of millions of dollars going out the door, and let’s just say 10,000 unhoused – how much of that is direct help and how much is building rent-controlled units and how much is – as one activist put – the homeless industrial complex? I’m sure some has gone for good, but really…there doesn’t seem to be any serious analysis of what is a problem in Every City in the USA.

And you see it in Italy and France and the UK. Not so much in Scandinavia since not only do they generally believe that housing is a right, but they find ways to provide it. Austria also has an effective public housing program. Copenhagen in particular finds ways to provide affordable housing that isn’t bland and prone to low qualities of life, i.e. they are designed with green spaces and worthwhile architecture. It’s not rocket science – it’s design consciousness.

What we have around here in too many cases is cheap design and construction (not designed to last though the costs are definitely hard to manage) to support the bottom lines of the project.

By Scott Rodd / KPBS / December 3, 2024

Earlier this year, Mayor Todd Gloria chose one of his biggest platforms to unveil his administration’s latest initiative to solve homelessness.

“Tonight, I’m announcing a philanthropic campaign to help the city carry out our ambitious plans to end our homelessness crisis,” Gloria said at his State of the City address in January, as the name of the new initiative appeared on a giant screen behind him. “Called San Diegans Together Tackling Homelessness, this campaign already has commitments for a quarter of a million dollars.”

By Dana Williams and Eric Page /7SanDiego / November 18, 2024

A completely renovated apartment building called the Shores at North Beach, just steps from the sand at Ocean Beach, opened in mid-November, featuring 13 newly refurbished units for people experiencing homelessness.

The $6,830,005 project is being funded in part through the California’s Homekey organization, a “statewide effort to sustain and rapidly expand housing for persons experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.”

Each unit has gotten a coat of paint and new electrical, and features an efficiency kitchen and new bathroom fixtures. They also each come with a couch, table, lamp, a few kitchen items, laundry items, bath towels and toiletries, as well as a bed with bedding and two nightstands.