Funding woes force Housing Commission to lay off dozens as housing demand climbs

Increased costs across the region are increasing demand for services from the San Diego Housing Commission, but the agency will need to respond with a 14% smaller workforce.

The agency eliminated twenty-six vacant positions, and dismissed 32 staff members in February. Those staff members will receive severance packages and other benefits. 

Lisa Jones, the Housing Commission’s CEO, explained the layoffs at a board meeting Friday, blaming the “very difficult decision” on changing funding priorities at the federal level and budget uncertainties from state and local governments. 

Jones said the commission made several efforts in the last months to contain costs, like eliminating cost of living adjustments and bonus incentives for senior staff, but it simply wasn’t enough. Cutting ancillary programs and raising the rent for households in affordable units couldn’t prevent the reduction in staff.

“The tough reality is this was necessary for us to remain a reliable source of assistance in the coming years for the tens of thousands of families in our programs,” Jones said. 

The core of the issue stems from the commission’s financial resources either declining or remaining the same while costs rise. At the same time, the agency is seeing higher demand for services, as households cope with rising costs hitting their bank accounts.

“SDHC, like many other public housing authorities, and really many other public sector agencies across the country right now, is experiencing financial challenges like we’ve not seen in the past,” Jones said. “This is just a new space for us to be navigating.”

Two years ago, Mayor Todd Gloria proposed cutting $15 million of San Diego Housing Commission funding as part of his plan to plug the city’s budget shortfall, as Voice of San Diego reported at the time.

Jones said 60% of the eliminated positions were supervisory level or above. This makes their leadership staff leaner but ensures frontline staff will continue serving San Diegans. 

Its street outreach teams remain fully staffed. However, those street outreach teams often cannot provide shelter for unhoused individuals who want it. 

In the same meeting, the board heard that requests for shelter rose while the percent of completed requests — the share of times a person received shelter after a request — declined.

A new streamlined process that makes putting in multiple requests for shelter easier than before contributed to the request increase. Later this spring, the agency is providing cleaned up data to clarify how many people want shelter and how many are actually receiving it. 

Jones said she does not anticipate further workforce reductions in the future. For now, the city’s housing agency is focusing on maintaining services for current clients in rental housing voucher assistance programs, homelessness services and affordable housing units.

She acknowledged that thousands of low-income families on the waiting list need help too. But the commission is limited in what it can do while trying to remain stable long-term with declining funding.