OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

San Diego Land Use and Housing Committee Meeting - June 5, 2025

Land Use & Housing CommitteeThursday, June 5, 2025
BodySan Diego, California
SessionLand Use & Housing Committee
DateThursday, June 5, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record

STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

We had um three minutes on the clock remaining uh for any speakers who wanted to join on a non-agenda public comment.

0:07

Now thank you, Chair.

0:09

Yes, we are we are moving to the virtual queue for non-agenda public comment, and I've started the five-minute timer backup at two minutes and thirty seconds.

0:18

We have one hand raised for a non-agenda public comment.

0:23

The original, please unmute and provide your comments.

0:25

You'll have two minutes.

0:27

I think you guys need to tell people what just happened.

0:30

Um you're not providing any information as far as what this evacuation was, why you guys just came back, and now the people are disenfranchised who are part of the meeting who have no idea that you are back in in session.

0:44

So I think you need to be transparent uh with the people as far as why that took place.

0:50

Um, as far as homelessness goes, it's it's unfortunate because you care more about getting money than actually solving the problem because if you actually solved the problem, no money would come in.

1:01

It's uh racketeering.

1:03

So it's like you sit here and you create all these programs, you um you know, contract with all of these NGOs, you know.

1:11

But at the end of the day, I mean, there's not people aren't being put into housing, they're more just being, you know, pacified.

1:19

Um, and they're actually being abused in 10 city, like I've told you guys time and time and time again, and you give more money to these NGOs, which goes into the pockets of the CEOs while they provide a minimal, if anything, uh kind of a service.

1:36

Instead, you guys don't want to mitigate the fact that there are sexual assaults happening from employees at Tent City.

1:44

These people are being abused and traumatized due to you getting more funding.

1:50

So it's like, you know, you get all this funding, so it seems like you're doing a service to the people when in reality, you know, it's a business, so you need those people to be there.

2:01

You need them to be homeless to then you know have the funds come in as long as you count these people.

2:07

Seems to be more worried about counting, getting the funding and having this circle just jerk be going on with all of these people who you know claim that they're providing something, but if that was really taking place and this wasn't a racket, then homelessness would be getting solved on a massive scale.

2:27

However, it isn't, and it gets worse, especially the people in 10th city aren't even being offered any kind of services to get out of there, but they're being tormented and tortured, and I feel like your plan is to kill them, and that's how you want to then you wouldn't get the money, right?

2:42

Just does conclude your time.

2:43

Thank you.

2:44

And Chair, this concludes non-agenda public comment.

2:48

Thank you.

2:49

Uh, do we have any committee members, mayoral staff, city attorney, or independent budget analyst comments?

2:54

Hearing none, uh, do we have any requests for continuance?

2:58

Hearing none, we will now take up our consent agenda.

3:00

Do we have any requests to pull an item from the consent agenda?

3:03

Hearing none, we will now move forward with public comment on the consent agenda.

3:07

Nellie, do we have any public comment for the consent agenda?

3:10

Thank you, Chair.

3:11

The public comment period for the consent agenda is now open, and the consent agenda includes item number one, approval of the committee minutes of May 15th, 2025.

3:19

Item two, fourth amendment to the agreement with Path San Diego for the coordinated street outreach program.

3:24

Item three, as needed public outreach and engagement consultant services agreements with Ascent Environmental Incorporated, Cook and Schmidt LLC, Imagine Creative Services LLC, and Kearns and West Incorporated.

3:35

Item four, as needed historic and cultural resource planning consultant services agreements with DUDEC, IS Architecture, Paige and Turnbolt, and SWCA Incorporated.

3:45

Item five, as needed planning, multidisciplinary consultant services agreements with DUDEC, Ascent Environmental Incorporated, Wallace Roberts and Todd LLC, more Yakofano Goldsman Incorporated, Ramian Associates, and Diet and Bachia.

4:00

And item number six, as needed environmental services agreements with Helix Environmental Planning Incorporated, Recon Environmental Incorporated, and DUDEC.

4:09

Each speaker will have one minute per item for speakers that wish to speak to more than one item.

4:13

You will have a maximum time of three minutes.

4:15

Please indicate which item or items you're speaking to.

4:18

And Chair, we have three we have two speaker slips submitted in the committee room for the consent agenda.

4:23

We will begin with Joyce and Yada, and you've indicated that you'd like to speak to items two, three, four, five, and six.

4:30

So you will have three minutes.

4:34

Joy Sunetta, District Three, thank you so much, Natalie.

4:39

Okay.

4:40

Uh I'll start.

4:41

This is for later.

4:42

I'll start with two.

4:44

Thank you, Path.

4:45

We love you.

4:47

Um million dollars from the general fund, two million five hundred thousand dollars HAP grant.

4:55

Uh this is uh in regards to the FY26 budget.

5:00

So let's all be cheerleaders for HAP because we don't know its future and we want it to be permanent.

5:05

So we've all got to do what we can to uh jump on that and tell them we want it, we want it, we want it.

5:11

Love to all.

5:12

So now the rest of them, which is um 345.

5:18

Uh I want to read this paragraph.

5:21

Oh, I hope I didn't read it.

5:23

While the city plan, this is from staff report.

5:26

While the city planning department strongly believes that its city staff are the most qualified to perform city planning services and is committed to using city staff to the maximum extent possible on all city planning initiatives.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Affordable Housing█████████████████████████████████████████████52%
Procedural██████████11%
Public Comment████████9%
Public Engagement███████8%
Economic Development█████6%
Homelessness████5%
Historic Preservation███3%
Public Health██2%
Smoke Free Housing1%
Summary of Proceedings

San Diego Land Use and Housing Committee Meeting - June 5, 2025

The Land Use and Housing Committee of the San Diego City Council met on June 5, 2025, to consider a consent agenda and receive informational updates on two major housing-related reports. The meeting included non-agenda public comment following a brief evacuation due to a false alarm. The committee unanimously approved the consent agenda and heard presentations on the cost of developing affordable housing (BAE and RAND studies) and the Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) program.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved unanimously (4-0): Approval of committee minutes from May 15, 2025; fourth amendment to the agreement with Path San Diego for coordinated street outreach; as-needed consultant services agreements for public outreach, historic/cultural resources, planning, and environmental services.
  • Public comment: Joyce Suneta expressed support for Path San Diego (item 2) but voted no on consultant items (3-6), urging in-house planning. Blair Beekman supported Path and historic preservation for downtown. An anonymous speaker criticized homelessness policies and consultant contracts, alleging abuse and lack of transparency. Becky Rapp requested support for AB 5455 requiring disclosure of smoking history in home sales.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Non-agenda public comment: One speaker criticized the city's handling of homelessness, accusing officials of prioritizing funding over solving the problem and alleging abuse at Tent City.
  • Item 8 – Affordable housing cost studies: Multiple speakers commented, including Stephen Russell (San Diego Housing Federation) praising the BAE study and urging local funding sources; Lori Holt Feiler (Building Industry Association) requesting streamlined permits; Blair Beekman and Cesar Javier raising concerns about land use and sheltering. Several virtual speakers criticized data collection, smoke-free policies, and safety in affordable housing projects.
  • Item 7 – PLHA program: Joyce Suneta thanked staff and expressed excitement for SDHC’s strategic plan. Stephen Russell called PLHA a legacy program and emphasized leveraging funds. Cesar Javier alleged corruption and lack of transparency. Another virtual speaker claimed data is incomplete and homeless are not served.

Discussion Items

  • Item 8: Studies of the Cost to Develop Affordable Housing – Jacob Richie (BAE Urban Economics) presented findings that San Diego’s per-unit cost ($667,000 in 2024) is rising in line with state averages (3.7% annually). Hard costs (labor, materials) dominate; recommendations included streamlining utility inspections, creating an alternative land acquisition pipeline, and pursuing a local affordable housing bond. Colin Miller (SDHC) summarized the RAND Corporation study, showing California’s costs exceed those in Colorado and Texas, but San Diego has the lowest production costs among major California metros due to streamlining (e.g., Affordable Housing Permit Now program). Committee members discussed the need for local control, state-level advocacy, and balancing costs with values like prevailing wage. Chair Lee proposed continued stakeholder discussions.
  • Item 7: Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) Program – Monica Bibler (Economic Development Department) reported that San Diego has received up to $34.7 million over five years. To date, $24.6 million has been allocated: $19.4 million to affordable housing (Bridge to Home and Home Key) and $5.2 million to the Housing Instability Prevention Program (HIPP). Leverage ratios show city funds as 3-13% of total project costs. Councilmember Campio highlighted the trade-off between new construction (10 units per $1M) and prevention (166 families per $1M via HIPP). Chair Lee asked about future of PLHA funding; staff awaits HCD guidance. The committee emphasized collaboration between city departments and the housing commission.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent agenda passed 4-0.
  • No votes on informational items (Items 7 and 8). The committee received the reports and discussed potential follow-up actions, including continued stakeholder conversations on affordable housing costs and future allocation of PLHA funds.
  • Chair Lee indicated his office will continue discussions with stakeholders on housing streamlining ideas.
  • Councilmember Campio expressed intent to prioritize prevention (HIPP) in future budget considerations.
  • Next meeting scheduled for July 3, 2025 at 9:00 a.m.

Meeting Transcript

We had um three minutes on the clock remaining uh for any speakers who wanted to join on a non-agenda public comment. Now thank you, Chair. Yes, we are we are moving to the virtual queue for non-agenda public comment, and I've started the five-minute timer backup at two minutes and thirty seconds. We have one hand raised for a non-agenda public comment. The original, please unmute and provide your comments. You'll have two minutes. I think you guys need to tell people what just happened. Um you're not providing any information as far as what this evacuation was, why you guys just came back, and now the people are disenfranchised who are part of the meeting who have no idea that you are back in in session. So I think you need to be transparent uh with the people as far as why that took place. Um, as far as homelessness goes, it's it's unfortunate because you care more about getting money than actually solving the problem because if you actually solved the problem, no money would come in. It's uh racketeering. So it's like you sit here and you create all these programs, you um you know, contract with all of these NGOs, you know. But at the end of the day, I mean, there's not people aren't being put into housing, they're more just being, you know, pacified. Um, and they're actually being abused in 10 city, like I've told you guys time and time and time again, and you give more money to these NGOs, which goes into the pockets of the CEOs while they provide a minimal, if anything, uh kind of a service. Instead, you guys don't want to mitigate the fact that there are sexual assaults happening from employees at Tent City. These people are being abused and traumatized due to you getting more funding. So it's like, you know, you get all this funding, so it seems like you're doing a service to the people when in reality, you know, it's a business, so you need those people to be there. You need them to be homeless to then you know have the funds come in as long as you count these people. Seems to be more worried about counting, getting the funding and having this circle just jerk be going on with all of these people who you know claim that they're providing something, but if that was really taking place and this wasn't a racket, then homelessness would be getting solved on a massive scale. However, it isn't, and it gets worse, especially the people in 10th city aren't even being offered any kind of services to get out of there, but they're being tormented and tortured, and I feel like your plan is to kill them, and that's how you want to then you wouldn't get the money, right? Just does conclude your time. Thank you. And Chair, this concludes non-agenda public comment. Thank you. Uh, do we have any committee members, mayoral staff, city attorney, or independent budget analyst comments? Hearing none, uh, do we have any requests for continuance? Hearing none, we will now take up our consent agenda. Do we have any requests to pull an item from the consent agenda? Hearing none, we will now move forward with public comment on the consent agenda. Nellie, do we have any public comment for the consent agenda? Thank you, Chair. The public comment period for the consent agenda is now open, and the consent agenda includes item number one, approval of the committee minutes of May 15th, 2025. Item two, fourth amendment to the agreement with Path San Diego for the coordinated street outreach program. Item three, as needed public outreach and engagement consultant services agreements with Ascent Environmental Incorporated, Cook and Schmidt LLC, Imagine Creative Services LLC, and Kearns and West Incorporated. Item four, as needed historic and cultural resource planning consultant services agreements with DUDEC, IS Architecture, Paige and Turnbolt, and SWCA Incorporated. Item five, as needed planning, multidisciplinary consultant services agreements with DUDEC, Ascent Environmental Incorporated, Wallace Roberts and Todd LLC, more Yakofano Goldsman Incorporated, Ramian Associates, and Diet and Bachia. And item number six, as needed environmental services agreements with Helix Environmental Planning Incorporated, Recon Environmental Incorporated, and DUDEC. Each speaker will have one minute per item for speakers that wish to speak to more than one item. You will have a maximum time of three minutes. Please indicate which item or items you're speaking to. And Chair, we have three we have two speaker slips submitted in the committee room for the consent agenda. We will begin with Joyce and Yada, and you've indicated that you'd like to speak to items two, three, four, five, and six. So you will have three minutes. Joy Sunetta, District Three, thank you so much, Natalie. Okay. Uh I'll start. This is for later. I'll start with two. Thank you, Path. We love you.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com