Reducing youth homelessness is a top priority of my administration—and we have the results to prove it. 

Since taking office in late 2020, my administration has more than doubled the capacity of shelters and other options for people to get off the streets, like Safe Parking and Safe Sleeping. We’ve made a special effort to increase shelter dedicated specifically to youth and families experiencing homelessness.  These include:  

• Barrio Logan Family Shelter - 168 beds 

• LGBTQ+ Affirming Transition-Age Youth (18-24) Shelters – 43 beds 

• Salvation Army Interim Family Shelter – 93 beds 

• Domestic Violence Shelter (women with children) – 160 beds 

• San Diego Youth Services – 15 beds 

• Urban Street Angels Youth Shelter – 52 beds 

•4 Safe Parking lots, with one site including 18 trailers specifically dedicated for families, and three sites with approximately 210 spaces available to families 

• Rachel’s Promise Center for Women and Children (opening in April) – 101 beds for families 

We’ve also significantly expanded family-friendly Safe Parking programs—including an upcoming 190-spot lot near San Diego International Airport—to provide immediate relief for families who have lost their homes but have a vehicle. These lots provide meals, bathrooms and services to help families quickly get back on their feet and into homes. 

Finally, I’m doing everything in my power to increase San Diego’s housing supply, in particular new homes that can accommodate families, with special incentives for apartments with more bedrooms and extra speedy permitting for rent-restricted homes that low-income families can afford. 

Updating community plans creates opportunities for new housing, jobs, and thriving neighborhoods throughout San Diego. That’s exactly what's happening in University City, where Alexandria Real Estate is moving forward with the Campus Point project—a new development bringing 600 residential units just steps from UC San Diego, employment centers, and transit connections.  

The recently updated University Community Plan helped make this project possible by setting ambitious goals, including creating capacity for 29,000 new homes in the neighborhood. 

Projects like Campus Point are key to addressing our housing crisis, providing more San Diegans with quality homes in locations offering convenient access to jobs, schools, and healthcare. 

When I launched the Bridge to Home initiative, my goal was clear: help builders close the financing gaps so affordable housing projects can get built faster in San Diego. 

Today, we’re seeing real results. The City Council approved loans totaling $7.1 million for two important projects—the Serra Mesa Apartments and the Navajo Family Apartments—that will create over 100 new affordable homes, including housing for veterans and San Diegans with special needs. 

The Serra Mesa Apartments will transform the long-vacant Serra Mesa Library into 59 homes, half dedicated to military veterans facing housing insecurity and the other half for those at-risk of falling into homelessness. Nearby amenities and transit connections ensure residents have access to opportunity and stability. 

The Navajo Family Apartments will add another 44 affordable homes, including units specifically designed for residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Since launching Bridge to Home in 2021, the City has invested $90 million into 23 projects, which will create nearly 2,000 affordable apartments citywide, from Rancho Bernardo to San Ysidro. This is about delivering meaningful housing solutions—helping San Diegans off the streets and into homes. 
 

The City and Serving Seniors have mutually agreed to close the Seniors Landing Bridge Shelter in the face of ongoing maintenance issues and costs for repairs at the converted former motel. While disappointing because of the program’s success, the City, San Diego Housing Commission and Serving Seniors were able to successfully match everyone transitioning from the former facility to housing or other shelters that best meet their individual needs.    

The 30-room Seniors Landing facility had served as a transitional shelter for seniors 55+, who already had housing support and were waiting those housing matches to become available. 

Funding for this program is being redirected toward expanding a new 210-bed facility that will serve women, families and seniors. This new shelter, called the Rachel’s Promise Center for Women and Children, has a mix of single rooms, semi-congregate and congregate offerings. 

A few months ago, we also opened new two-bedroom units specifically for seniors at Veterans Village of San Diego in Point Loma.  

As always, we continue the work we’re doing to expand shelter capacity and bring more supportive housing opportunities online to meet the needs of our seniors. San Diegans who spent their lives building this city deserve to remain here with the support and services they need. We will continue our search for new shelter offerings, well-aware of how hard it is to find facilities that the community and council agree on. 

The City of San Diego has contracts with various service providers to offer shelter options to people experiencing homelessness. At our shelters, people are connected to support services and ultimately put on a path toward permanent housing.

The shelters listed below are City-funded (Note: There are additional shelters outside of this system that are operating within the City of San Diego.)   

• Alcohol Use Disorder Shelter (TURN Behavioral Health Services)  

• Alpha Project Bridge Shelter I    

• Alpha Project Bridge Shelter II    

• Barrio Logan Family Shelter   

• Community Harm Reduction Shelter    

• Community Harm Reduction Safe Haven   

• Father Joe’s Villages Bishop Maher Center    

• LGBT Center - LGBTQ+ Affirming TAY Shelter (Clairemont)   

• LGBT Center - LGBTQ+ Affirming TAY Shelter (Midway)   

• PATH Connections Housing    

• Rachel’s Promise Center for Women and Families 

• Rosecrans Shelter    

• Safe Sleeping at 20th & B    

• Safe Sleeping at O Lot    

• Salvation Army Interim Family Shelter   

• San Diego Youth Services  South County Lighthouse (San Diego Rescue Mission)  

• Urban Street Angels Youth Shelter   

• Veterans Village of San Diego (Point Loma Campus) 

City of San Diego Urging CARE Court Reforms (Voice of San Diego)  

For decades, homes couldn’t be built in this area of Chula Vista. The solution? Cede it to San Diego. (San Diego Union-Tribune) 

San Diego County advances ordinance to prevent homeless encampment fires (NBC 7)