COUNTY WITHDRAWS PLAN TO BUY LA MESA MOTEL

Supes agree with council that matter not handled properly

LA MESA

A divided San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to withdraw an application for state funds to help buy and convert a La Mesa motel into housing for homeless people, a plan that had been opposed by La Mesa residents and elected officials.

A week earlier, supervisors had voted to pursue the purchase by applying for $19 million in Project Homekey funds, a $600 million state program to purchase motels and similar buildings to provide housing for homeless people vulnerable to COVID-19. The city of San Diego has been approved for about $37 million from the same program to purchase two hotels.

La Mesa officials, however, did not know about the county’s plans to buy a 139-room Hotel Inn at 8000 Parkway Drive until the site already had been identified last month. In discussions about the timeline Tuesday, a county staff member said a representative from developer Affirmed Housing had sent an email to La Mesa City Councilman Colin Parent on Aug. 12, the day after the site was identified, but a presentation never had been made to the full City Council.

La Mesa city officials and residents said they felt blindsided by the county’s plan during a special meeting on Monday. Council members voted unanimously, with Parent abstaining because of a possible conflict of interest, to ask supervisors to withdraw the application.

La Mesa City Manager City Greg Humora had appealed to supervisors last week to hold off on the application until they could hear input from his city.

Supervisors Dianne Jacob, Kristin Gaspar and Jim Desmond agreed the application should be withdrawn. Supervisors Greg Cox and Nathan Fletcher wanted to pursue the funding and said it was a rare opportunity to create much-needed affordable housing that could help homeless people.

At Monday night’s La Mesa City Council meeting, Affirmed Housing representatives addressed community concerns about the project by outlining security plans that would include a security guard, trained supportive service providers and onsite property managers. Wrap-around services would include extensive case management, teaching of housing skills, recovery programs, budgeting classes, job training assistance, food distribution, wellness education and transportation to off-site services.

Community meetings also would be held later this year and into early 2021 so people could learn more about the housing project, Affirmed Housing representatives said.

The comments did little to assure many community members who opposed the project.

La Mesa Mayor Mark Arapostathis appeared before supervisors Tuesday and said the City Council had heard from 165 residents, and 130 were against the project. Only 14 were for it, and others didn’t take a stance, he said.

Arapostathis also stressed that the city is working to help its homeless population and recently adopted an action plan, but the hotel plan was not a viable option.

“Today, the three people that voted in favor of the city did not vote against the homeless,” he said after the meeting. "(La Mesa) is still actively and aggressively launching programs that are intended to help people permanently find a home. A project like this would be advantageous to helping people that are unsheltered. It wasn’t the project, it was the process.”

In explaining her opposition to pursuing the purchase, Jacob said supervisors had spoken about wanting local control themselves, especially during the pandemic, and they should respect La Mesa’s own wish for local control.

Desmond said he was torn in making his decision, but was concerned about how the process had gone.

“We’re cramming it down their throats, essentially,” he said.

Fletcher said he supported pursuing the motel purchase and argued that even with more time for community input, such projects always will be opposed by some people.

“I feel for the folks in La Mesa having to deal with their constituents,” he said. “Rarely do people say, ‘No, we don’t want to deal with it at all,’ but they say, ‘Not here.’ That’s always the reality.”

Fletcher also said the project was being proposed by Affirmed Housing, which has a good track record with similar housing projects. He also argued that the county should not walk away from a rare funding opportunity.

The total cost for the purchase and rehabilitation of the motel was projected at $36 million.

Besides the $19 million from the state, the county would have provided $1.1 million toward the property’s rehabilitation and the developer would have raised the remainder through a variety of public or private fund sources.

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com karen.pearlman@ sduniontribune.com