Hundreds of San Diegans could soon be homeless without continued federal aid, officials say

Victims of domestic violence. Human trafficking survivors. Formerly homeless residents.

More than 460 households in the city of San Diego — amounting to well over 1,000 children and adults — are set to lose the rental aid they receive from the federal government by as soon as next summer, local officials said this week at a public hearing.

The Emergency Housing Voucher program, which launched during the pandemic, had originally been expected to last through the end of the decade.

“The goal was to target some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” said Lisa Jones, head of the San Diego Housing Commission. “The likelihood that these families are going to be able to survive in housing without rental assistance when this money ends is very small.”

And that’s not the only bad news.

The San Diego City Council on Thursday listened to hours of often brutal testimony from two agencies tasked with addressing homelessness about how local deficits and rapidly changing federal policies could upend the social safety net. The city, county and state all face budget shortfalls, and while leaders are discussing a range of stopgaps, there doesn’t appear to be an easy fix at a time when homelessness countywide keeps growing.

Compounding the uncertainty is the fact that San Diego officials don’t have a clear picture from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development about when various pots of money might run dry. The Emergency Housing Voucher program looks like it’ll run out within 12 months, but there’s no piece of paper saying that definitively. And San Diego’s Housing Commission hasn’t yet been told what federal funds it can count on for the current calendar year.

Fault lines within the agency’s budget have been spreading for years.

The commission currently helps cover rent for around 17,000 households through a variety of programs, all of which are federally funded. Five years ago, each family got an average of $876 a month. By this year, the total had shot up to more than $1,400, the result of rising costs of living in what was already one of the nation’s most expensive cities. Even the Biden istration wasn’t fully covering San Diego’s tab, leaving the commission to dip into its reserves.

Officials now estimate they’ll burn through those reserves within two years, which could potentially leave another 900-plus households on the hook for their entire rent. Nearly two-thirds of that population, about 63%, is elderly or disabled.

Natalie Raschke, a mother of four who has spoken publicly about becoming homeless during the pandemic, told council that her family relied on a voucher. “Some people still aren’t back from COVID,” she said through tears during the public comment period.

Because of so many unknowns, the Housing Commission continues to not hand out new vouchers, even after families leave their programs.

Council also heard from the the city’s Homelessness Strategies and Solutions department, which should soon be bolstered by revenue from Measure C. That new hotel tax is still being challenged in court, although the city has nonetheless started collecting the fee.

At the same time, the agency is planning several cuts. The Homelessness Response Center, a downtown facility where anyone can walk in to ask for services, is being moved to either a smaller location or a virtual-only option, saving around $481,000. (The property is slated for new development.) Another $620,000-plus is expected to be saved by no longer paying outside outreach workers to visit encampments on state land overseen by the California Department of Transportation, work the city believes to have been largely ineffective at connecting people to housing.

Caltrans defended its track record. Last year, the agency cleared 943 encampments and collected more than 4,600 cubic yards of debris within the city of San Diego, according to a statement sent by spokesperson Stephen Welborn.

More controversially, San Diego still wants to shutter the 150-bed Rosecrans shelter in the Midway District because of a county plan to demolish a nearby building, which some officials believe would turn the area into a de-facto construction zone. Leaders have already stopped accepting new additions to the facility.

The mayor’s budget proposal would end funding this summer, although at least one council member appeared willing to keep paying for the beds until the March 2026 demolition.

The homelessness department is not planning to launch new shelters next fiscal year.

While there are nowhere near enough beds for everybody asking — in recent months only around 1 out of every 10 requests for shelter have been successful — new facilities for women, children and young adults as well as a parking lot for families with RVs are in the process of opening.

All together, the mayor’s draft budget would set aside about $56.2 million from the city’s general fund for homelessness, a total that is not dramatically less than last year’s.

Council Henry Foster III and Vivian Moreno expressed deep unease about the price tag. “That’s a significant amount of general fund dollars in a budget that proposes major cuts to very basic, core city services like parks, storm channels and libraries,” Moreno said.

Many of their colleagues seemed more hesitant to slash homelessness spending.

A revised budget proposal is expected later this month. The City Council is expected to approve a final budget in June.