Five months after a brutal, hourslong, late-into-the-night hearing where few residents or elected leaders could find positive things to say about the prospect of turning an empty Middletown warehouse into one of the nation’s largest homeless shelters, the proposal is back before the San Diego City Council.

But details about the re-negotiated plan will, at least for the moment, stay hidden.

Council members are scheduled to meet Monday behind closed doors about the “price and payment terms” for acquiring the nearly 65,000-square-foot property at the intersection of Kettner Boulevard and Vine Street. Few other specifics were provided in the meeting agenda, and representatives for Mayor Todd Gloria, who’s long championed the proposal, and the site’s owner, local businessman Doug Hamm, didn’t provide additional information.

A spokesperson for Hamm said only that he still believed in the project.

The original lease could have cost the city $1 billion over the next three-plus decades. Its critics were legion.

The City Attorney’s office said the agreement introduced too many legal and financial risks. The Independent Budget Analyst worried it would take money from other services. Some experts questioned whether the facility could reasonably hold 1,000 beds, a key selling point, and city staffers didn’t independently assess the structure’s condition. Instead, they relied on a report commissioned by the landlord — which still found a high likelihood that “asbestos-containing material” and “lead-based paint” were inside.

The council voted in July to delay a final decision and many submitted changes they wanted to see in the lease, including smaller rent increases. Yet even if those demands are met, the project may still face opposition as the city stares down a deficit worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Multiple council members criticized the proposal Wednesday during a budget committee meeting.

Vivian Moreno repeatedly wondered why San Diego should drop tens of millions of dollars next year on the shelter when services in historically neglected neighborhoods could be cut. Henry Foster III said the proposal felt like business as usual when perhaps the city’s entire approach to homelessness needed an overhaul.

“Colleagues may or may not support a mega-shelter,” said Joe LaCava, who was recently elected council president. But, he added, San Diego still needs “1,000 more beds somewhere, somehow.”

Homelessness countywide has grown every month for more than two-and-a-half years and there are nowhere near enough shelter spots for everybody asking.

While officials recently succeeded in finding beds to offset the closure of two downtown facilities, other shelters are still set to shutter down the line for a variety of reasons, including land being slated for new development. Some staffers on Wednesday characterized plans to add 1,000 beds as partially a way to replace what will be lost.

That reality may push San Diego leaders to put even more pressure on neighboring cities and county officials to boost their own shelter systems.

“The city should be building parks and libraries, firehouses and police divisions,” Councilmember Raul Campillo said this month in a speech, while “the county should be building shelters and units to address homelessness.”

“But until the county changes, the city will be stuck,” he added.

The County of San Diego has in recent years proposed shelter projects in Lakeside, Santee and Spring Valley, but leaders backed down in each case after some residents objected. The Board of Supervisors is currently hoping to build several dozen small cabins in Lemon Grove, though that too has received pushback.

County officials recently moved to continue issuing vouchers that help homeless residents rent motel rooms while they explore potential changes to the program.

The total cost of the crisis, from encampment sweeps to homelessness-related police calls to emergency room visits, is unknown.

It’s not yet clear when a public hearing might be held on the warehouse shelter. Some residents are nonetheless planning to weigh in during an open comment period Monday.

Originally Published: December 15, 2024 at 5:00 AM PST