Community meeting on tiny homes for homeless leaves residents concerned

LEMON GROVE, Calif. (KGTV) – It was anything but a quiet night inside a local Lemon Grove gym on Thursday night.

"It was totally chaotic. Nothing was accomplished. It was a yelling, screaming match back and forth,” a neighbor, Ken King, said.

That yelling and screaming match over newly approved tiny homes for the homeless in Lemon Grove.

King said he and others weren't given details about the plan.

"No one got informed. Nobody's being told exactly [what's] going for, who's in charge of the project, who's getting what money and what happens if the money runs out," King said.

County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe put forward the Lemon Grove site.

She told 10News that community outreach, such as canvassing and surveys, was done to provide input on the location.

“In the event that, you know, many people when be supportive, we asked for, you know, the things that concerned them.So, we could get to find a way to yes,” Montgomery Steppe said.

The tiny homes are planned for a vacant plot near the intersection of Sweetwater Road and Troy Street.

This comes after a plan to put tiny homes in Spring Valley was pulled , opening the door for Lemon Grove to be the new site. Montgomery Steppe said there would not be a chance this new site would be pulled as well.

"To hang our hat on, you know, angry community members who really oftentimes, unfortunately, do not want the answer to their questions, that's concerning," Montgomery Steppe said. "And I don't believe I would be my due diligence as a policy maker to just depend on that to resend any kind of decision the Board of Supervisors has made.”

While he's not opposed to resources for helping the unhoused, King told 10News he thinks money towards the crisis should go elsewhere.

"We're not fixing the addiction. We're not fixing the mental health issue. And, until we do that, it's not going to help by putting them in a cabin,” King said.