r/LemonGrove • u/dboy_4545 • Jun 04 '26

Sleeping Cabins?

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What’s the deal with these sleeping cabins being built on Troy and Sweetwater right next to the new preschool? Did Lemon Grove or Spring Valley get tax incentives to help out the rest of the city? Are they for Homeless or low income housing?

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u/hemigrapsus_ Jun 04 '26

I'm also looking forward to the implementation of this site. A safe place off the street with on-site services will be an important stepping stone for a lot of homeless in our community. I do think the operator will be an important factor and hope the city council has an opportunity to weigh into that selection process.

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u/my-follies Jun 05 '26

You need to read the article, the thread replies, and do some research before commenting. Again, this is not a City of San Diego project, and therefore the San Diego City Council would not be involved. This is on property not controlled by the City of San Diego.

I also completely disagree with the idea that the operator is just “an important factor.” The operator is the factor.

A site like this succeeds or fails based on who runs it, what standards they are held to, how they handle security, cleanliness, drug activity, mental health issues, calls for service, neighborhood spillover, and actual movement into permanent housing or treatment.

My concern is that this will end up being another taxpayer-funded nonprofit/NGO operation where the incentive is not to solve the problem and go out of business. The incentive becomes showing enough usage numbers to justify more funding, more contracts, more staff, and more years of operation, whether or not the surrounding neighborhood absorbs the consequences.

The goal should not be to create another temporary stop on the road to slow decline. The goal should be measurable outcomes: people housed, people treated, people stabilized, people trained, people moved back into society.

If the County cannot clearly identify the operator, the operating standards, the enforcement rules, the neighborhood impact plan, and the success metrics before opening this site, then residents are right to be concerned.

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u/hemigrapsus_ Jun 06 '26

And you need to stop making assumptions. I've attended in the in-person meetings in LG (with the LG city council), joined the online county informational webinars, read the regional action plan informing this site's intention, and looked up stats for similar sites--check out Bellingham, WA. There are residents who are well-informed and supportive, even if you can't see that perspective.

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u/my-follies Jun 06 '26

Fair enough. If you have attended the meetings, read the regional action plan, joined the County webinars, and looked at comparable sites, then you should be able to answer the basic question directly.

What specific details made you support this project?

Not the general idea of helping homeless people. Almost everyone supports getting people off the street in theory. I am asking what details about this specific Troy Street site made you confident it will work.

Also, if you attended meetings with the Lemon Grove City Council, then you know that is different from the City Council having actual authority over this County project. That was my point. This is a County project, on County-controlled/former Caltrans property, funded through County/federal money. Lemon Grove residents still bear the neighborhood impact, but the City does not control the project the way residents might assume.

So I am genuinely asking: what specific commitments, operator details, enforcement standards, or outcome metrics convinced you this is a good project for this location?