San Diego County Supervisors Nix Plan for Homeless Cabin Site in Spring Valley

The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted 3-1 to rescind a proposed sleeping cabin site for homeless people in Spring Valley after hearing from about 15 residents at the meeting and more earlier concerned about safety issues.

Supervisors in March voted in favor of building the Willow RV Senior and Family Parking and the Jamacha Sleeping Cabin sites off Jamacha Road, with the $10 million cost provided by the state. Supervisors at that time also approved $8.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act money for the project, according to information on the Tuesday board agenda.

Board Chairwoman Nora Vargas — whose district includes the proposed sleeping cabin site — proposed ending the project after speaking to residents, including a woman operating a daycare business near the site.

“I heard them loud and clear,” she said Tuesday, adding that reducing homelessness must be shared responsibility across the county, with solutions being community-oriented.

Sites “can’t just be where working families are,” she said. While the homeless site seemed like a “really wonderful opportunity”, the county “fell short” in terms of listening to residents, Vargas said.

“I think we can do better,” she said.

Solutions need to be community oriented. In a statement after the vote, Vargas said it was important to consider the impacts on existing neighborhoods, particularly on families, schools and parks.

The county will work with the city of Lemon Grove, based on an amendment from Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, to find an alternative site in that area.

According to her office, Montgomery Steppe earlier this week submitted a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom to keep the $10 million.

Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer was opposed, describing the vote as the “wrong decision.”

“There is no alternative plan and no guarantee the state will give us the $10 million,” she added. “This feels like a big loss in the fight against homelessness. Clearing homeless encampments and moving people into tiny cabins is a better option than having people continue to sleep on the street.”

San Diego County has already spent nearly $500,000 on the sleeping cabin design, Lawson-Remer added. During public comment, Spring Valley residents said the Jamacha Road location was too close to schools.

Several speakers described dangerous encounters they’ve had with homeless residents, some of whom were intoxicated or tried to break into area homes. “You’re taking a community that is already struggling,” one woman told the board.

While there needs to compassion for homeless people, there also need to be parameters, including that they stay sober, she said.

The woman said instead of a hand-up, “it sounds like we’re giving them a hand out, and we’re just sticking people (somewhere) and saying we did something, but we didn’t really do anything,” she added. One resident said that one time, a homeless woman came to his home and threatened his family with a knife.

Another woman said her neighbor, who runs a day care business, had to usher children back into her home when she saw homeless people committing lewd acts.

Montgomery Steppe said she knows the Jamacha Road location well, as it’s near the highway exit she takes to go home.

She noted that while personal responsibility matters, people can be homeless due to economic circumstances, such as a woman she meet during a recent point-in-time count.

That woman, a former school district employee, was evicted from her home for 22 years due to an ownership change.

“Every time I drive (that route), I think of her,” Montgomery Steppe said.

The county has a responsibility to engage with residents impacted by homeless projects, “and I don’t see that was done here,” she added. “We’re not necessarily able to come to the middle, because we started off on the wrong foot.”

Supervisor Jim Desmond was not present at the meeting when his colleagues voted on the issue, but was later in attendance.

City News Service contributed to this article.