Council Prez Wants to Give Mayor New Powers on Homelessness

Council President Sean Elo-Rivera will urge fellow councilmembers on Monday to grant Mayor Todd Gloria new powers to try to more rapidly respond to the city’s housing and homelessness crises.

After back-and-forth with Gloria’s office this summer over whether formal declarations could help the city confront the impending loss of hundreds of shelter beds, Elo-Rivera is proposing a process for the mayor to declare housing and homelessness emergencies under certain conditions. Once the mayor declares an emergency, he could bypass competitive bidding processes and City Council approval on some contracts. Elo-Rivera’s pitch also calls for quarterly reports to the City Council on the status of the emergency and actions taken to address it that the council president. Elo-Rivera said these reports will help councilmembers evaluate whether to continue granting emergency powers.

“My commitment is to making sure that we have every possible tool available to the mayor, to the council and to the city to address homelessness because we are in a state of emergency,” Elo-Rivera said in July.

Where Gloria stands now: Gloria’s team initially wasn’t jazzed about the prospect of another emergency declaration. But the mayor said Wednesday he’s decided the new powers could be helpful if the City Council signs off.

“I think there may have been some impression that this would not be as impactful as I believe it can be,” Gloria said. “The council president is due a lot of credit for being willing to stretch on this and I think the end result is that we can do new shelters faster.”

Will the mayor quickly declare an emergency if the council approves? “Not necessarily immediately,” spokesperson Rachel Laing told Voice of San Diego.

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