4 things to watch in 2024 on San Diego’s housing, homelessness beat

A ban on camping in public, a rush to expand shelters, a shortfall in housing construction and a program that disproportionately hurts poor and unhoused San Diegans.

It’s been quite a year on the housing and homelessness beat in San Diego.

Last year’s census of San Diegans experiencing unsheltered homelessness revealed a 32% increase — from 2,494 in 2022 to 3,285, the highest count in at least the past decade. Experts and advocates say the increase is driven by a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents across the region.

As we head into the New Year, here are four issues that will continue to shape San Diego’s response and impact to housing and homelessness in 2024.

Camping ban

Last summer, San Diego officials passed a controversial law that makes it illegal to camp citywide if shelter beds are available, and anytime, regardless of shelter availability, near schools, parks, transit hubs and along waterways.

Hundreds, if not thousands, have both condemned and applauded the ban, packing a public meeting, attending protests and signing at least four online petitions.

Known as the unsafe camping ordinance, the ban was championed by Mayor Todd Gloria and Councilmember Stephen Whitburn as a more effective tool than existing laws to move unhoused people out of tent encampments and into shelter.  

Those in favor cited the need to do something — even though experts say a ban doesn’t align with best practices — to respond to a dramatic increase in unsheltered homelessness and the threats to public health and safety posed by tent encampments. 

Critics, including some councilmembers, have expressed several concerns about the city’s ability to enforce the ban with a police department that is already stretched thin. And some advocates say they have already seen the ban push unhoused people from neighborhood to neighborhood, including more remote and difficult areas to reach to avoid enforcement.

San Diego police started enforcing the unsafe camping ordinance in August. A spokesperson for the police department said officers have made two arrests — the same person arrested twice — and issued 16 misdemeanor citations through mid-December. More than 200 people have been given a warning.

The ban comes at a time when the region’s homeless service system cannot keep pace with the surging need, as more people are falling into homelessness than the number of those who manage to find housing.

Shelter expansion

People who want shelter often can’t access it: The city’s shelter system remains more than 90% full.

That’s prompted some elected officials, housing experts and attorneys to question whether the city will have enough shelter to enforce the camping ban. Courts have ruled that cities cannot criminalize people for carrying out life-sustaining activities in public, such as sleeping or sheltering, when there is no other indoor option.

At the urging of city councilmembers, top San Diego officials rushed to plug holes in the city’s shelter system ahead of the vote to ban camping in public last summer. 

Gloria responded by rolling out an ambitious plan that outlined more than 20 locations where people would be allowed to camp, sleep in a vehicle and obtain indoor shelter, adding at least 600 new options for unhoused San Diegans through 2024.

All told, it would cost between $30 million and $66 million to pay for everything on Gloria’s list. But the city’s budget only has $7.4 million set aside to expand shelter into this year. Officials hope to bridge that gap with federal, state and private funding. 

A spokesperson said officials so far have added 62 beds to two indoor shelters downtown, and established two outdoor sites near Balboa Park for people to legally camp, totaling 544 spaces. 

The campsites, known as “O Lot” and “20th and B,” offer access to homeless services, housing navigation, food, water and showers. At least 14 people have left the campsites and moved into permanent or other forms of long-term housing, a spokesperson said. The program costs roughly $820,000 a month. 

Officials are also working to open another shelter option on city-owned land near Liberty Station, known as “H Barracks,” that could accommodate 300 to 700 people experiencing homelessness. Still in the early stages of planning, it’s unclear whether it will be a campsite, a parking lot or some other indoor option.

Housing permits

Despite investments in affordable housing and attempts to speed up construction, San Diego continues to fall behind in new housing goals.

Last month, Mayor Gloria celebrated the City Council’s approval of his second housing package, which includes policy reforms intended to encourage new development. But the Development Services Department — the group tasked with reviewing and approving all new construction in the city — is already overwhelmed by permit applications and grossly understaffed to meet demand, using antiquated technology and redundant processes to authorize new housing, according to an internal audit.

A regional housing study projected the city will need more than 108,000 new housing units to meet the demand of all income levels by the end of the decade. That’s roughly 13,500 new housing units every year — officials authorized construction on less than a third of that in 2022.

It’s become such a problem that, during his 2023 State of the City address, Gloria announced an executive order directing staff to review and approve housing projects exclusive to low-income residents within 30 days, and to continue filling vacant positions dedicated to the permit review process.

Officials responded by paying two private companies $2.5 million each to help review permit applications on new development over the next two years.

Through mid-December, officials have authorized construction on more than 9,200 new housing units, according to a spokesperson. The increase can be partially attributed to a change in methodology to more accurately capture the total number of units permitted within a calendar year, the spokesperson said.

Towing

In 2022 an internal audit raised alarms about the San Diego Police Department’s vehicle towing program disproportionately hurting low-income and unhoused people.

The audit found San Diego police most frequently impound cars for what researchers have called “poverty tows,” which includes towing for expired registration, 72-hour parking violations and unpaid tickets. These are offenses that have nothing to do with public safety and are most often applied to low-income and unhoused people.

An inewsource investigation last summer found San Diego police continue to order these poverty tows at roughly the same rate — averaging about 650 tows per month — even after the audit raised concerns.

San Diego’s towing program is costly in more ways than one. The city loses at least $1.5 million a year on these tows because people often can’t afford to retrieve their vehicles. And when people lose their vehicles, they could also lose their jobs, access to education or medical care and, sometimes, their homes.

Councilmember Whitburn, who asked for the audit after hearing about financial struggles from people who lost their vehicles for minor violations, said he would champion changes to the city’s towing program, calling it a “lose-lose proposition.” But then nothing happened.

In a statement, Whitburn said he wanted to await the outcome of a state bill that focuses on ending tows solely for unpaid parking tickets. Two of the three most common towing reasons by far in San Diego are expired registration and 72-hour parking violations. 

That state bill, dubbed Assembly Bill 1082, was held in committee and will likely come up for amendments next year. 

Meanwhile, Gloria and his team are pushing for a crackdown on 72-hour violations, requiring people to move at least half a mile, instead of one-tenth of a mile, to reset the timer. 

During a Public Safety Committee meeting in October, Gloria’s staff said the move would improve parking throughout the city, free up spaces for business, improve livability and help address thousands of complaints. They pointed to the city’s Get it Done app, which receives more than 100 complaints every day about cars parked more than 72 hours. 

The committee unanimously approved the amendment, passing it on to the full council for a future vote.