Housing Affordability and Homelessness
The lack of affordable housing is one of the most significant challenges facing our region. The soaring costs of housing in our region has serious impacts on our economy and makes it hard for San Diegans to be able to afford the cost of living in the region.
In response to this, Supervisor Fletcher is aggressively pushing to increase affordable housing being built in each of our communities. He supports programs like“No Place Like Home” which brings state funds to San Diego County to create permanent, supportive housing for individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and experiencing serious mental illness. Additionally, he is in favor of continuing to use excess county-owned land to develop into housing throughout the County. Supervisor Fletcher has also voted to expand San Diego County’s “Innovative Housing Trust Fund” which allows affordable housing developers to use County money to leverage funds and increases the construction of affordable housing units throughout the County.
In addition to behavioral health, housing instability and economic insecurity are major drivers for homelessness in our region. Supervisor Fletcher believes that the only way to make significant headway on the homelessness issue is through region-wide and multi-prong approaches that address the various reasons leading to homelessness.
Due to his passion for behavioral health and his regional expertise on the issue, Supervisor Fletcher was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to his Council of Regional Homeless Advisors. Through this role he worked with other leaders from around the state to develop a cohesive, best-practice approach to tackling California’s homelessness crisis. Recommendations developed by the Council were presented to the Governor, who will use these guidelines in shaping homelessness policy in California. Supervisor Fletcher is committed to bringing this statewide knowledge to San Diego, through his role as the Vice-Chair of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, San Diego’s regional experts on homelessness.