Mayor Todd Gloria’s recent blunt criticism of the San Diego County government for falling short on mental health and homeless services seemed to be a case of not so much what he said but how — and where — he said it.
That appeared to be what county Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe said, sort of, in a strong response to a passage in Gloria’s State of the City speech on Jan. 15.
“It is also long past time for the County of San Diego to fulfill its responsibility on addressing homelessness in the region,” Gloria said.
“Mental health and addiction are often at the core of homelessness,” he added, pointing out that services for treatment in those areas “are supposed to be provided by county government.”
Gloria criticized other cities in the region, generically, for not doing enough on homelessness, as he had before, but he trained his fire on the county.
Montgomery Steppe, whose 4th District includes much of the city, alluded to the county’s shortcomings, but noted past and potential future services for those experiencing homelessness and mental health problems.
“My issue with the Mayor’s approach is not that he wants to hold the County accountable. We all must do more,” Montgomery Steppe said in a statement. “However, we would all benefit from a spirit of collaboration that is sorely needed to resolve some of the most complex issues of our time.”
The supervisor, who had served on the San Diego City Council, suggested the mayor was engaging in “blame-shifting” now that he faces a deep budget deficit and that his “signature legislation” to combat homelessness — an anti-camping ban — was a failure.
Long before Montgomery Steppe was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2023, the county had been widely accused for years of shirking its responsibility to address homelessness. And the county, which has clear authority over mental health and substance abuse treatment, is woefully short on needed mental health services and facilities.
Recently, a handful of county plans to expand homeless and mental health services have fallen though. Meanwhile, the city has struggled to provide enough homeless facilities to meet the need. Gloria has yet to achieve his goal of adding 1,000 beds he set last year.
The mayor has borne the brunt of criticism for homelessness in the region, in large part because most of the unhoused are within the city and the municipal government’s response has made little progress.
When on the council, Montgomery Steppe opposed the Gloria-backed ordinance prohibiting homeless people from settling in public areas. She said the “unsafe camping ordinance” has negatively affected neighborhoods outside of downtown and in neighboring cities.
“Most importantly, the ordinance has exacerbated the need for treatment across our region,” she said.
There have been numerous instances over the years in which city-county disputes — whether rooted in a lack of coordination, miscommunication or competition — have affected services, sometimes to the detriment of the public. Criticism and finger-pointing bubbled to the surface in some cases, but rarely so publicly.
The response to the 2017 hepatitis A outbreak was slowed by bureaucratic hurdles and jurisdictional questions. The regionwide outbreak resulted in 592 cases and 20 deaths across the county, but was most intense within the San Diego city limits.
Confusion and bureaucratic delays between the city and county affected assistance for victims of the massive flood in southeastern San Diego in January 2024, according to the Voice of San Diego.
Government officials tend to open a local assistance center near a disaster site where people can be connected to governmental and nongovernmental services. But that didn’t happen for nearly two weeks. Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations got a makeshift center up and running at the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA.
There also was a dispute over the infamous 1995 Qualcomm Stadium ticket guarantee, under which the city promised the then-San Diego Chargers to cover any shortfall in revenue equivalent to the sale of 60,000 general admission seats.
The deal, championed by then-Mayor Susan Golding, ended up costing the city tens of millions of dollars. Some county officials opposed the new lease agreement and withdrew an offer to contribute money to the stadium renovation, according to Ron Roberts, a county supervisor at the time and former City Council member.
Details of those problems aside, it’s not unusual for overlapping governments to have problems coordinating or disagreements over how to proceed on mutual matters.
Public perception also comes into play. A city tends to have a more defined presence, as does the role of mayor, than a county and its supervisors, even though they generally have broader authority over health and welfare concerns and bigger budgets. The division of responsibilities isn’t always clear to the public.
Historically, the mayor of San Diego has been a more identifiable public figure with greater individual power at City Hall — and can become a lightning rod for criticism. The five supervisors essentially are equals, save for added agenda and organizing duties for the board chair.
During the hepatitis A crisis, then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer took considerable heat. Critics said City Hall did not move quickly enough to combat homelessness and had ignored warnings by the county grand jury and others about growing squalid conditions, in part, the result of a shortage of public restrooms.
But a state audit of the hepatitis A response mostly blamed the county for not responding faster, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Ironically, the audit was requested by then-Assemblymember Todd Gloria, who had increasingly become critical of Faulconer.
Roberts said this week that Gloria’s recent criticism appears to be “a symptom of (the city and county) not working together. It’s disappointing.”
Montgomery Steppe last week said Gloria “has not, in my opinion, done his due diligence to even reach out to my office to help navigate some of the issues that he talked about or get the facts about what he’s talking about, because I heard a lot of things that were misleading.”
In a statement to 10News, Gloria’s office said “(t)he City has been at the table in full collaboration, but we continue to experience a lack of urgency from the County of San Diego . . .”
A spokesperson for Montgomery Steppe said in an email on Tuesday the supervisor has meetings set up with Gloria in the future.
Donnie Dee might be glad to hear that. The president and CEO of the San Diego Rescue Mission, told 10News the mayor needs to be the key to a coordinated effort on homelessness and related issues, and that the county has to step up its response.
“Anything short of that and we’re going to continue talking about our homeless crisis for many years to come,” Dee said.
