San Diego County leaders have paused an effort to create another parking lot for people to safely sleep in vehicles until staffers finish examining the effectiveness of a range of homelessness programs.
The multi-million-dollar Willow RV Senior and Family Parking Project would have included 17 spots in Lakeside and was set to open in about a year.
Tuesday’s 4-0 vote marks the second time this summer the board of supervisors has delayed a homelessness initiative.
“I’m not saying ‘scrap this,’” Supervisor Joel Anderson said from the dais. However, “several other properties have become available that weren’t available before that, with the same dollar amount, could help maybe four to 10 times as many people.”
The Lakeside lot was only approved in March. Yet the rules governing what local governments can and can’t do in regards to homelessness have changed dramatically in recent months.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that officials can clear encampments regardless of whether shelter is available, a decision that prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue an executive order telling state agencies to remove tents from public land and threaten to withhold funding from cities and counties that don’t do the same.
San Diego County is exploring the passage of its own camping ban, and the supervisors also passed a resolution Tuesday saying any proposed ordinance should address the potential threat of fires from encampments.
That measure could be publicly debated as soon as next month.
Leaders in the meantime continue to wrestle with how to best spend money on a crisis that has grown countywide every month for more than two years.
Officials have estimated that constructing the Lakeside lot would require about $5 million and annual operating costs could exceed $900,000. Some funds should cover on-site case managers, among other services, but directing millions of dollars toward fewer than two dozen RV parking spots nonetheless gave Anderson and some others pause.
A few Lakeside residents expressed concern during the meeting over how an influx of new neighbors might affect their community. One man said the county should have spent more time notifying neighbors about the proposal.
The vote directed staffers to still get a permit for and finish designing the lot but hold off on construction until the completion of the Assessment of Homeless Services Report, a sweeping review of all county contracts and programs. Officials expect to get a copy by Sept. 24.
The clock is ticking: Leaders hope to partially pay for the project with $4.9 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, and ARPA funds must be budgeted for specific purposes by the end of the year.
Anderson said some other sites, which he declined to immediately identify, may, for example, have more water and sewer infrastructure already in place.
The county currently has two safe parking lots in Spring Valley and unincorporated El Cajon.
Board members originally approved the Lakeside site at the same time they backed a separate plan to build 150 tiny homes for homeless people in Spring Valley. But they reversed course on the latter proposal after some residents worried the development would sit too close to existing backyards and elementary school classrooms. (That change drew the ire of the governor’s office and the state withdrew a pledge to give $10 million toward the effort.)
The county is now working to instead build 70 tiny homes in Lemon Grove. This, too, has proved controversial, and ABC 10 reported that an overflow crowd of angry residents recently derailed a community meeting on the issue. Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe wasn’t even able to give a presentation on the plan.
In the aftermath, Montgomery Steppe asked her colleagues to expand homeless outreach in Lemon Grove, and the board on Tuesday unanimously approved that pilot program.
County staffers must now partner with local officials and organizations to reach out to those on area streets. The program is not expected to cost extra money.
A progress report is due in six months.
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