Morning report: Rendering alert! Mega Shelter Edition

Today, the city council is meeting behind closed doors for the third time to discuss lease negotiations for a warehouse that could house a 1,000-bed homeless shelter.

Discussion of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s vision for the project has been dominated by concerns about what the city could pay to rent the warehouse in Middletown. But our Lisa Halverstadt tried to answer a different question: What exactly is the city’s plan for the shelter? It would be the largest the city has ever had, aside from temporarily converting the convention center into a shelter during the pandemic.

The idea is a shelter campus with a range of services. The owner of the building has even had some renderings made that show the warehouse with green vistas.

Halverstadt has asked experts, service providers and people with experience in emergency accommodation for their opinion. The biggest concern: whether the city can successfully accommodate such a large number of people in one place.

You can read the whole story here.

Related: Father Joe’s Villages, the region’s largest homeless service provider, told the New York Times that some affordable housing plans were being put on hold due to skyrocketing insurance bills.

Political report: Vargas has a new chief of staff

Shortly after a contentious search for a new leader for San Diego County staff, County Councilwoman Nora Vargas, chair of the Board of Supervisors and SANDAG, lost her last chief of staff after just a few months. However, she has already appointed a new one.

For that, and an assessment of the backlash politicians like Vargas are facing over their plans for homeless shelters in the region, see this week’s Politics Report from senior editor Scott Lewis. (Vargas pretty quickly abandoned a plan for sleeping shacks in Spring Valley.)

You can read the policy report here.

City council wants to reintroduce equity capital into the budget

It was clear from Friday’s debate on Mayor Todd Gloria’s budget proposal that City Council members remain unhappy that some of the inevitable spending cuts are hitting programs designed to help the city’s poorest.

“This budget is balanced on the backs of those who have the least,” said Council President Sean Elo-Rivera.

Mackenzie Elmer and Halverstadt have summarized all the points they do not want to cut. But what do they want to cut?

Read her full story here.

In other news

• Brown Field is being remodeled. (NBC San Diego)
• San Diego has a new police chief. Scott Wahl has been officially sworn in. Imagine what will be in the file they will hand to the new police chief when he finally gets the job.

The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and MacKenzie Elmer. It was edited by Scott Lewis.