A plan by San Diego's mayor to turn an empty warehouse into a shelter that would have housed more than a thousand homeless people is dead.
Gloria himself announced the news in a statement sent out on Friday morning.
"After a year of negotiations and multiple hearings, we have come to the conclusion that the proposed homeless shelter campus at Kettner and Vine can no longer advance," Gloria said, in part, referring to the proposal that was first floated in April of last year.
Previous coverage on the Kettner & Vine shelter plan
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“It is inhumane to leave folks on the sidewalk," Gloria said in April when he announced the idea. "It is far better to get them indoors, connected to care."
The shelter in the industrialized Middletown neighborhood was a magnet for controversy from the time it was proposed, both by critics who highlighted its annual multimillion-dollar expense as well as neighbors who still voiced concerns about the concentration of the unhoused that would have been traveling through their community to access the services offered.
Gloria said the city would forward other ideas to the San Diego City Council next Monday, including "one privately owned property on Second Avenue that would require lease negotiations and two city-owned properties, the old Central Library and the city operations building."
The old library is at 820 E. Street downtown, while the city operations building is located on First Avenue between A and B streets, across the street from the city hall complex.
“While I continue to believe the proposed shelter at Kettner and Vine was the best and most cost-effective option for a permanent shelter program, I remain firm in my commitment to expand shelter," Gloria also said in the statement released on Friday. "Getting people off the streets and out of the riverbed and canyons is not optional. That is why we are continuing to push forward with real solutions, identifying new sites and taking the necessary action to bring more people indoors.”
The city council delayed a decision on the shelter in July after it came under fire the preceding months. In June, a city spokesperson confirmed to NBC 7 that retrofitting the 65,000-square-foot vacant commercial building would cost an estimated $18 million, and that San Diego would need to initially spend $30 million per year for its operation, not including $1.9 million annually for a 35-year lease.
The city's Independent Budget Analyst — an independent office intended to review and publish reports on the mayor's budget moves — advised the council to proceed with caution, warning that the deal could lead to another costly real estate misstep such as 101 Ash Street.
The IBA acknowledged the need for shelter space but warned that the lease was above market rate and would cost San Diego $72 million over 30 years.
"The proposal represents an opportunity to change the city's current approach to shelter by pursuing permanent emergency shelter and potentially provide needed replacement and new shelter beds," the IBA report reads. "However, the proposal also comes with an above market rate lease, as well as significant upfront and ongoing costs associated with rent, lease operating, tenant improvement and program operating costs."
San Diego mega-shelter floor-plan gallery
The proposed shelter would have included:
- 1,007 beds
- 5,060-square-foot kitchen
- 67 showers
- 67 restrooms
- Outdoor dining areas for 180 people
- Smoking area
- Pet relief area
- 1,200-square-foot outdoor play area
The city council took the proposal back under consideration in December in a closed session. Specific details about the negotiations weren't released to the public at that time because they referred to confidential items during the closed-door session, but Charles Modica, the city’s independent budget analyst, said city leaders should consider all options.
"Council should consider any and all proposals [including but not exclusive to real estate proposals] in the context of the city’s overall finances and the $258 million shortfall projected for the upcoming fiscal year,” Modica said.
After some adjustments to the city's parking meter rates and other moves, the current city deficit is still believed to be in the neighborhood of $250 million.
