Council does not consider Balboa Park Activity Center in talks about temporary accommodation

The San Diego City Council has received the first proposals for temporary homeless shelters across the city to replace the loss of hundreds of emergency shelters.

Future developments at Golden Hall, Father Joe's Paul Mirabile Center and Rachel's Promise Shelter, as well as the planned closure of several shelters, mean that the city's current shelter population of 2,508 could drop rapidly in December and early next year.

These three accommodations have more than 650 beds.

Tuesday's information article covered municipal and private sites in seven of San Diego's nine districts, including libraries and community centers.

The location that drew the most intense public reaction was due to a misunderstanding. City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera had proposed the Balboa Park Activity Center as an emergency shelter because he believed that Golden Hall and Mirabile Center were scheduled to close in early October.

However, due to discussions between city staff and the fire marshal, Golden Hall and the center will not close until the end of December. Elo-Rivera confirmed the confusion.

But the recreation center has already been used as an emergency shelter once. After the record-breaking floods in southeast San Diego in January, needy families stayed there for four months.

Nevertheless, several citizens objected to the continued use of the center, arguing that the facility was already being used for sports and the general public. They called on the city council to find another location.

Councillor Stephen Whitburn made his opposition clear.

“The Balboa Park Activity Center is not part of this short-term action plan,” he said.

While the city has expanded its range of shelter options by 930 sites—including traditional emergency shelters, converted motels and safe sleeping spaces for people in vehicles—the number of homeless people in the city continues to exceed the space available.

The number of homeless people in the region increased by about 20% between 2022 and 2023, but the city saw a less dramatic increase – less than 5% – in this year's point-in-time count.

Sarah Jarman, director of the city's homelessness strategies and solutions department, said the fastest way to increase the number of emergency shelters is to expand existing Safe Sleeping sites, such as O Lot in Balboa Park, which already has space for 408 tents.

Earlier this month, before the meeting, Elo-Rivera withdrew an agenda item that could have given the mayor new powers to address homelessness and the housing shortage.

If ultimately passed by the City Council, the bill, as currently drafted, would give the mayor the authority, during a declared local housing emergency and/or homelessness crisis, to “issue orders and policies to address the emergency, procure contracts to maintain the standard of living of homeless San Diego residents, override certain contract procurement rules, including City Council approval of contracts under $5 million, and accept and spend all grants to respond to the emergency,” according to a city government report.

On September 6, the city issued a call through October 7, asking property owners to provide sites for future emergency shelters.

The request for information came as Mayor Todd Gloria's efforts to build a planned “mega shelter” are still under negotiation.

Gloria's ambitious 30-year lease on a 65,000-square-foot commercial building and its potential conversion into a massive homeless shelter and campus were postponed in July, with talks set to resume in the fall.

The cost of the Hope @ Vine home was estimated at $1.95 per square foot, with annual rent increases of 3.5 percent and estimated maintenance costs of $12.5 million over the life of the home. The city council was not convinced by that price and said it needed more details.

More concrete proposals for temporary accommodation will also be presented to the Council in the autumn.