Mayor Todd Gloria announced an initiative Wednesday intended to expand housing options in neighborhoods by integrating small-scale residences such as townhomes, rowhomes and cottages into an area’s existing character.

The Neighborhood Homes for All of Us initiative is also intended to support community land trusts — nonprofit organizations that acquire land to create permanent affordable housing.

“Since Day 1 of my administration, I have been focused on building more homes that San Diegans can actually afford — and getting them built faster,” Gloria said at a news conference Wednesday. “‘Neighborhood Homes for All of Us’ is the latest piece of that puzzle. This innovative program will break down the barriers that have gotten in the way of building the type of housing that I believe is ideal for young families and first-time homebuyers for whom the dream of homeownership has long felt out of reach.”

Around 80% of land zoned for housing in the city is restricted to single-family homes, which continue to increase in price, Gloria said. And a significant portion of new housing being built consists of apartment buildings with primarily studio and one-bedroom units, leaving working-class families fewer and fewer options for homes.

Neighborhood Homes for All of Us is intended to increase the housing supply and allow community land trusts to keep housing affordable in disadvantaged communities for low- to middle-income families.

“San Diego is an incredible place to raise a family, and more families need the opportunity to do that in San Diego’s existing, highly desirable single-family neighborhoods where their kids can learn and play in a great community,” City Planning Director Heidi Vonblum said. “But today, that comes at a price that is out of reach for too many. Integrating more options for families requires careful and thoughtful planning, with input from existing and future community members across the city, to ensure these new home opportunities for San Diego’s families are built in ways that best enhance and benefit San Diego’s amazing neighborhoods.”

The initiative will roll out in two phases. In the first phase, beginning this week and continuing through next summer, San Diegans can help determine what the neighborhoods can look like. The public will be able to see renderings showing small-scale neighborhood homes within San Diego’s existing communities, along with new regulations that “provide a clear pathway for building these homes,” according to a statement from Gloria’s office.

Phase 1 will also include an open house and ways for the community to provide feedback and concerns.

Phase 2, scheduled for the second half of 2026, will be for city staff to develop regulations allowing for the building of more neighborhood homes in a way informed by the public feedback.

The initiative is partly funded through a Regional Early Action Planning grant from the San Diego Association of Governments.

The first of five affordable housing projects for San Diego Unified School District teachers was approved on Wednesday night.

The school board voted unanimously in favor of working with the developer who bid on the project at the Instructional Media Center on Cardinal Lane. The Affordable Workhouse Housing project promises 100% affordability, with 108 one-, two- and three-bedroom units, and some surface lot parking.

“It’s a practical solution to a very real problem, and it sends a message that we are committed to stability, not just for employees but for the students,” one speaker said.

Board members say the project will be fully funded by the developer, DECRO Corporation based in Culver City, and that the estimated annual rent revenue is $125,000 dollars. It is expected to increase 2.5% each year.

Some in the neighborhood are concerned.

“We are one way in and one way out. We are built in a canyon,” neighbor Callie Grear said.

“Parking here is horrible,” neighbor Paul Grear said. “Everybody is parking in front of our street. I can’t even park in front of my house.”

“The safety of our neighborhood is in jeopardy with this plan,” neighbor Patricia Torres said. “We are already overcrowded. We are asking this board to reconsider building on this site.”

Despite the pushback, board members unanimously voted in favor of moving forward with the developer on this project. Unless exempt, it will first undergo city scrutiny. There are still four other locations still on which SDUSD wants to build.

A vote for housing on those other four properties has been postponed until January so that the school board can hold a workshop and appropriately question the developers that are bidding on those projects.

In all five projects, San Diego Unified hopes to build 555 units in the next 10 years.

After nearly six hours of public comment and council discussion, the San Diego City Council voted Tuesday evening to approve the continued use of 54 surveillance use policies by the San Diego Police Department.

The council voted unanimously for 52 of the policies, which included items such as SWAT robots and vehicle trackers. The remaining two items proved far more contentious.

“Smart Streetlights” and automated license plate reader technologies were the final two approved — by 6-2 and 5-3 votes, with Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell absent.

Hundreds of San Diegans spoke at the meeting, with the majority in opposition to ALPR technology, but the council took the advice of the SDPD to continue its use, physically tied to the Smart Streetlights contract approved with Ubicquia in 2024.

“These technologies have delivered consistent results, even thought we’ve had them for just a year and a half,” said Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell, who tried to downplay a recurrent fear by speakers the technology could be used by the Trump administration.

“The federal government already has all of us on their list. Thank you Elon Musk.”

ALPR technology is used as part of crime-fighting strategy that involves the identification of vehicles associated with suspects, witnesses or victims. The technology utilizes police ability to focus its investigative resources to deter crime and enhance public safety, according to the San Diego Police Department.

Speakers during the meeting — and Councilmember Henry Foster III — brought up a “breach” of the Flock Safety ALPR technology when it was first installed in the city and outside agencies were able to access information.

The future of law enforcement using those controversial license plate readers in San Diego will be decided this week. For the past two years, San Diego Police have been using the technology. NBC 7’s Adonis Albright shows us the controversy surrounding the readers and why some are worried about how the information it collects is being used.

San Diego Police Department Chief Scott Wahl, in a testy exchange with Foster, admitted the unauthorized access to the data but said it was a brief mistake that was quickly rectified by the SDPD and Flock alike.

“It was an honest miss,” Wahl said. “There was nothing nefarious there.”

The department states that since ALPR was installed in the city in 2024, the technology has assisted the SDPD in more than 600 investigations, including the recovery of at least 20 firearms, $5.8 million in stolen property involving 440 stolen vehicles and resulted in more than 420 arrests.

In the first year of ALPR use, vehicle theft dropped 20% between 2023 and 2024, police officials stated.

The Smart Streetlights System, which includes the situational cameras and the ALPR cameras, have been attached to streetlight poles throughout San Diego since last year.

Total Installation, activation and relocation costs for the Smart Streetlight Program was $3,519,300, according to the SDPD.

Every councilmember acknowledged the efficacy of ALPR technology, but some were less enthusiastic than others.

“I’m not going to deny the effectiveness if you are watching everyone, all the time,” Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera said. “Flock is a proven bad actor who is unwilling or unable to stop their technology from being abused.”

There are new concerns over immigration enforcement and the use of surveillance technology, such as the San Diego Police Department’s Automated License Plate Reader technology. NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer has the details.

A major concern of public speakers and multiple councilmembers was the possibility of the ALPR technology being used by the Trump administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement specifically to terrorize the community.

“Last year, a configuration error allowed law enforcement agencies within the state of California to run license plate searches against our database for a brief amount of time,” Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement. “That breach should never have happened. We have since shut off that feature and strengthened user access, and now conduct weekly auditing of the system to ensure compliance.

“Importantly, license plate reader data is not shared with federal immigration agencies, and it cannot be used to track people seeking reproductive care. Data is only kept for 30 days, access is limited to trained users, and every search is logged and reviewed.”

The 30 days the San Diego Police Department is allowed by local law to keep the date matches La Mesa and National City as the least amount of time in the county. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office and Coronado, Oceanside, Carlsbad and Chula Vista allow the data to be kept for a year. In Escondido, that increases to two years.

“Though I sympathize with those who worry about potential misuse of these cameras, the thought of doing away with ALPRs is short-sighted and goes against the city’s mission to protect both residents and visitors alike,” said Councilman Raul Campillo. “Also missing from the conversation: San Diego has one of the strongest use policies for this technology so data is not misused or sold, and must not allow fear to harm already-worried communities by making them less safe.”

Chief Scott Wahl sits down with NBC 7 to talk about the multi-agency investigation at a Southcrest home, as well as the information obtained by license plate reader technology.

In 2025, 20 places throughout the country have voted to disable, reject or terminate the use of Flock technology due to security complaints.

The San Diego Police Department was clear on how they envisioned the technology’s usage.

“The operation and access to ALPR data shall be for official law enforcement purposes only,” an SDPD statement read. “The San Diego Police Department will also use ALPR systems to enhance and coordinate responses to active critical incidents and public threats, safeguard the lives of community members by using this technology to locate at-risk missing persons and to protect assets and resources of the city of San Diego.”

On Nov. 5, the city’s Privacy Advisory Board issued formal recommendations that San Diego cease the use of the Flock ALPR system. On Nov. 12, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted unanimously to ignore the Privacy Advisory Board recommendation.

Concerns outside the city’s borders include El Cajon’s willingness to share ALPR technology with federal law enforcement, which drew a lawsuit from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The Attorney General’s Office sued El Cajon in October for allegedly violating state law by sharing the data with federal authorities and law enforcement officials in more than two dozen other states.

The suit filed in San Diego Superior Court alleges that El Cajon has flouted Senate Bill 34, a 2015 law prohibiting ALPR-data sharing with out-of- state law enforcement agencies despite the California Department of Justice contacting El Cajon’s police chief over the issue.