Gloria's 1,000-bed shelter proposal returns to city council
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The site of the proposed homeless shelter in Middletown near the airport. Photo: Andy Keatts/Axios
Mayor Todd Gloria's plan for a 1,000-bed shelter in Middletown is back, after the city council punted a decision in July and it went dormant through election season.
Why it matters: "Hope @ Vine" would be San Diego's largest shelter, but city officials have balked at the costs of both acquiring the warehouse and operating it.
Driving the news: The council will hear an update on the proposal in a private session Monday, after Gloria said earlier this month that ongoing negotiations were going well.
- The five-year budget outlook his finance department prepared last week included $33.3 million for the upcoming fiscal year to pay for a year of operating that facility.
The intrigue: This summer — and again during last week's budget discussion — council members criticized the deal in harsh terms that can't be easily addressed by minor tweaks.
- Council member Vivian Moreno said it was premature to include the shelter in the city's budget outlook.
- "With one hand the mayor says austerity, austerity is the word," she said. "But then you put $33.3 million on something this council hasn't even voted on. It's a sizable amount."
Flashback: City negotiators in July told Council Member Kent Lee that they would not be able to strike a better deal for the city with the landlord, and he said he couldn't support a deal without "significant" changes.
- "I strongly believe that the only responsible thing to do to protect our taxpayers is not simply just to prolong this discussion, it would be to reject these lease terms," he said.
- "I'm not there yet on whether this building will be usable," said Council Member Marni von Wilpert, after grilling city staff on uncertainty over the cost of turning the warehouse into a shelter, and financial risks it presented to the city.
- "This is business. It's not personal," said Council Member Henry Foster, after arguing that the city should just walk away if it can't reach a deal with the landlord that protects it from the risks of unforeseen improvement costs.
What we're watching: The mayor's office has not released the updated terms of the deal after four months of negotiations, ahead of Monday's closed-session hearing.