Every year we fight for a People’s Budget that prioritizes working-class communities.
The City of San Diego is in a budget deficit because for too long Mayor Gloria has continued the trend of ignoring the need for new revenue, has made bad investments, and reduced people’s trust in the City.
In the FY 2027 Proposed Budget, Mayor Gloria is once again cutting the programs and services our communities need while pouring more money into the policing system that criminalizes our communities.
Explore the People’s Budget below. This is the bare minimum. We need CARE NOT CUTS!
Every year we fight for a San Diego County that is for the people and by the people. We fight for an economy, and government that puts power into the hands of regular people.
We believe we can create a San Diego County where everyone has what they need to thrive. Where every person has a stable home. Where every worker is treated with dignity and paid fair wages. Where no one is a paycheck away from homelessness. Where everyone has access to healthcare. Where everyone has nutritious food on their table. Where neighbors gather in public spaces and children can run and play safely. We are fighting for a County where we can swim in a clean ocean, drink safe water, and breathe fresh air. This is the San Diego we are committed to building.
CITY OF SD PEOPLE’S BUDGET
Housing is a human right. San Diego has become one of the most expensive cities for renters and rents keep rising year after year. The current Eviction Prevention Program does not receive enough funding to sustain the legal services that help San Diegans fight evictions and stay in their homes. Nationally, less than 5% of tenants in eviction cases have legal representation, compared to more than 80% of landlords. Too many families have nowhere to go and are one step away from being homeless.
More than half of City of San Diego households are renters. All renters should have access to legal representation when facing eviction. The City should add an additional $1.6 million in funding for the Eviction Prevention Program (EPP) and add the USD Law Clinic as a legal service provider to ensure support reaches more families.
Every neighborhood deserves safety and protection from climate disasters. Chronic underfunding of stormwater infrastructure has repeatedly exposed communities in District 4, 8 and 9 to flooding. This underfunding has had devasting impacts that have fallen more on people of color than others. We will not accept continued discrimination and neglect.
The City must dedicate at least $100 million in funding to improve and repair stormwater infrastructure before the next disaster hits.
The Office of Child and Youth Success (OCYS) is at risk of being completely eliminated.
If that happens there will be no consistent system to support youth and San Diego youth will lose a voice within city government.
OCYS ensures San Diegans can find resources and programming to support youth ages 24 and under.
The City of San Diego must stop the cuts and provide the $758,000 needed to maintain the Office of Child & Youth Success.
The City of San Diego is failing our youth. Instead of providing programs and services, safe and healthy housing, living wage jobs, and transit options, the City is policing and incarcerating BIPOC youth.
In 2022 the CBA, led by Pillars of the Community , PHATCAMP and Giving Hands, began advocating for Youth Drop-in Centers and youth programs. Even when included in the City budget, Mayor Gloria has consistently not allocated the full funding promised.
We demand the City restore the remaining $500,000 promised to the Stockton Memorial and Mountain View youth drop-in centers.
Every neighborhood deserves safe, accessible, and well-designed public spaces. Dangerous routes near Rosa Parks Elementary put children and families at risk.
The City must fund pedestrian beacons near Rosa Parks elementary ($40k) to make sure children and families can walk safely. The City must also fund a Deputized Senior Engineer within Parks & Rec ($300k) to streamline small projects, meaning repairs to parks could get done faster and more efficiently.
Libraries are are some of the few public places open for all residents that provide cool spots during the summer, youth programs, literacy programs and resource hubs for working-class, communities of color, homeless, youth, senior, and immigrant community members. Parks & Rec provide needed green spaces, sports programs, summer camps, art programs, youth and senior activities and so much more. Libraries and parks & rec are essential spaces and services.
The drastic cuts made last year to libraries harms the people that need these services the most and now the Mayor is proposing even more cuts.
The City must store restore funding and services at libraries and parks and rec to at least FY 2025 levels. We cannot afford to lose even
We demand that 2% of the police budget is reclaimed and that Mayor Todd Gloria uses those $14 million dollars towards public investment that will increase community wealth, health and justice for all, especially for working class and communities of color.
Check back for ways to talk about the issues, examples of comments and an explanation of how to call in or speak at the hearing.
Every year we fight for a San Diego County that is for the people and by the people. We fight for an economy, and government that puts power into the hands of regular people.
We believe we can create a San Diego County where everyone has what they need to thrive. Where every person has a stable home. Where every worker is treated with dignity and paid fair wages. Where no one is a paycheck away from homelessness. Where everyone has access to healthcare. Where everyone has nutritious food on their table. Where neighbors gather in public spaces and children can run and play safely. We are fighting for a County where we can swim in a clean ocean, drink safe water, and breathe fresh air. This is the San Diego we are committed to building.
COUNTY OF SD PEOPLE’S BUDGET
Young people in San Diego county deserve care, not criminalization nor confinement. Our youth deserve to have spaces, places, and supports that keep them and our communities healthy and strong. Youth are too often met with punishment instead of care and are sent into the juvenile legal system where they face violence and further criminalization. San Diego County must support young people and lay the groundwork for a Department of Youth Development (DYD). This department would be tasked with creating and providing programs and services that support young people across the county.
A similar department exists in Los Angeles County, where DYD provided the opportunity for over 1,500 youth to be diverted from the legal system, preventing further harm and police involvement. The County of San Diego must fund a one-time $250,000 feasibility study for the creation of a Department of Youth Development. This study would be the first step in creating a Department of Youth Development in the County of San Diego.
The right to a lawyer is fundamental to a fair legal system and a core value of our democracy. Escalating federal attacks have increased the complexity and quantity of people needing legal assistance.
The County must maintain the Immigrant Legal Defense Program as universal and merits-blind, and expand funding by an additional $13 million to meet demand and ensure its sustainability. For immigrants, access to direct legal representation is the last line of defense against separation of families and communities.
Our county is in crisis. ICE is terrorizing our communities. Federal attacks are stripping workers of their livelihoods and starving small businesses. We need our leaders to take action and establish an emergency relief fund immediately. This fund is essential for workers, families, and local businesses struggling to survive the devastating impact of ICE raids, and the terror the federal government is spreading in our communities.
The County needs to make sure everyone can thrive, especially when our communities are targeted and in crisis. We demand the County create an emergency fund for workers, families, and small businesses impacted by ICE raids.
Everyone deserves respect, dignity and safety on the job. Yet, wage theft is the biggest form of theft with businesses stealing more than $50 billion from workers each year in the US. Wage theft is rampant, but enforcement is slow and under-resourced. Workers wait months or years to recover stolen wages, sometimes never getting justice, while dishonest employers face little consequence.
To better support workers and working-class families, we urge the County of San Diego to hire two additional investigators in the Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement to make sure every worker in San Diego is paid what they deserve. The County must also increase the Workplace Justice Fund by $350,000 and hire a senior deputy counsel to support operating and managing this fund.
Housing is a human right. San Diego has become one of the most expensive cities for renters and rents keep rising year after year. The current eviction prevention program does not receive enough funding to sustain the legal services that help San Diegans fight evictions and stay in their homes. Too many families have nowhere to go and are one step away from being homeless. All renters should have access to legal representation to defend themselves from eviction.
The County must restore the tenant legal services contract and add an additional $250,000 in funding to include the USD Housing Rights Legal Clinic to increase the scope and access to the program. 90% of the tenants who were provided legal services through this program were able to avoid homelessness. With 8 of 10 tenants being able to remain in the same unit.
All renters should have access to legal representation when facing eviction. The City should add an additional $1.6 million in funding for the Eviction Prevention Program (EPP) and add the USD Law Clinic as a legal service provider to ensure support reaches more families.
Keep people in their homes by creating an eviction diversion program that helps tenants and landlords resolve issues before an eviction is filed. The San Diego region continues to see more people falling out of housing than exit homelessness each month, resulting in the continued growth of our unhoused population. We need to proactively prevent individuals from falling into homelessness by either keeping them in their existing housing or providing enough time to transition to stable housing.
The County must create a pilot opt-in Eviction Diversion Program (EDP). The EDP would allow tenants and landlords to opt-in to a mediation program outside of the eviction process and provide funds for back rent. This could prevent individuals from having an eviction judgement against them, save both landlords and tenants time and money, and help keep families in their homes. A similar program exists in the City of Philadelphia.
The County must adequately staff self-sufficiency services so San Diegans can enroll in and access CalFresh without any barriers or delays. Too many people are unfairly denied and going hungry because of lack of staff. We also need you to adopt an economic definition of nutrition insecurity, to have a real count of how many people are hungry and need assistance.
Public safety is secure housing, good jobs, healthcare, not racist policing. The City must divest from harmful and racist systems and invest in community programs, services, and infrastructure.
Housing is a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit. Every individual and family in San Diego should have access to stable housing that is healthy, safe, and affordable.
The economy is made by people not corporations. San Diego should be a place where everyone has enough to live and enjoy life.
Democratic governments should be transparent and community led.
San Diego should be a city where everyone can enjoy an environment free of toxic waste, with clean air, and access to energy-efficient and diverse mobility options.
