HOUSING PANEL APPROVES PURCHASE OF HOTELS

Commissioners also OK plan to reactivate homeless shelters

SAN DIEGO

A plan to purchase two hotels to house up to 400 homeless people now living in a temporary shelter at the Convention Center was unanimously approved Friday by San Diego housing commissioners, who also approved funding for support services at the sites for the new tenants.

Because about 800 people at the Convention Center still will need shelter after the hotels open, commissioners also approved a plan to reinstate and add more beds to a homeless shelter at Golden Hall at the San Diego Concourse and to reopen, with a reduced number of beds, other shelters that were closed because of the pandemic.

The plan to purchase Marriott Residence Inns in Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa is expected to advance to the San Diego Housing Authority for final approval next month, and the housing will be available when the Convention Center shelter closes by the end of the year.

The acquisition of the Hotel Circle hotel was opposed by San Diego Heritage Partners, owner of Atwood Hotel, also in Hotel Circle. A letter from the organization acknowledged that homelessness is a problem, but argued that the converted hotel would be a magnet for homeless people and was not in compliance with the Mission Valley community plan.

Some commissioners took exception to the claim that the converted Residence Inn

would become a magnet for homeless people.

“If you’re going to point out a problem and then stand in the way of any progress we’re making, it’s not going to go over well here,” said Housing Commissioner Ryan Clumpner.

Commissioner Johanna Hester said she was deeply offended by the comment.

“Our job is to find a place for them to go so they can become part of our community, because we don’t treat them as part of our community,” she said about the agency’s role in helping homeless people.

To accommodate about 800 people who still will need shelter when the Convention Center shelter closes, commissioners agreed to add 280 beds for single adults and 38 beds for transitional age youths to the shelter operated by Father Joe’s Villages at Golden Hall.

An additional 175 beds will be available at Father Joe’s Villages’ Paul Mirable Center, 74 will be at PATH Connections Housing, 188 will be at the Alpha Project tented shelter at 16th Street and Newton Avenue, and 100 will be at the nonprofit’s shelter at 17th Street and Imperial Avenue.

Also on Friday, board members agreed to add $3.2 million the commission had received in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds to a $15.1 million rental assistance program operated by the city.

By pooling the money, the city is expected to provide rental assistance to 4,400 households within the city facing eviction because they cannot pay rent after losing income during the shutdown caused by the pandemic.

gary.warth@ sduniontribune.com