This Wednesday is a big one for Encinitas. Council will hear three very different issues that share one thing in common: the decisions made at City Hall will have a direct impact on people who live here. We’ve broken down each issue below, along with how you can affect the outcomes.
🏠 Homeless Action Plan (HAP) (Special meeting @ 4pm on October 28)
The City Council gets its first look at the city’s five-year homelessness action plan (HAP). The council is not voting on the HAP, and community input matters.
Five new SMART goals: enhance service coordination, strengthen outreach, expand housing solutions, promote public safety/wellbeing, and use data for accountability.
Key changes from the 2021 HAP:
· Housing First is no longer mandated
· San Diego Rescue Mission (SDRM) replaces Buena Creek Navigation Center (BCNC) beds starting 2027
· a city-run Point-in-Time Count is added.
📌 What to ask council:
- Prioritize homelessness prevention. Fully fund prevention and flexible diversion efforts for individuals and families facing eviction or who just need some help to quickly get back into housing and avoid going into an emergency shelter. Reminder, Encinitas no longer has a Safe Parking Program or any year-round safe sleeping options for people experiencing homelessness.
- Deepen local coordination. Formalize open communication lines, shared data and regular progress reviews between and among the city and all its local partners and service providers, including the San Diego Rescue Mission, Community Resource Center, the Sheriff and HOPE Team, local education institutions, Meals on Wheels, Scripps Hospital and volunteer/faith based organizations.
- Bridge the gap. Encinitas no longer has access to BCNC in January 2027. The city should ensure a north county shelter plan as soon as possible.
- Prove which program works best. Track long-term housing stability at the 6-, 12-, and 24-month marks, presented on a public-facing data dashboard.
Here’s a pre-written email comment on the HAP, addressed to the City Council. Feel free to customize it, and please remember to sign it.
🛑 ICE enforcement (Regular meeting @ 6pm on October 28, Item 14B)
Federal immigration enforcement in Encinitas has surged since early October. Staff’s own report says past agreements with DHS “have failed.” Councilmember Lyndes brings a 6-point plan:
- City property ordinance. Ban DHS from using city property and resources.
- Protect community spaces. Ask DHS to stay away from schools, churches and the YMCA, and from within a half mile of schools. Give local businesses and nonprofits legal signage.
- Transparency. Publicly report each enforcement action within 24 hours. Post DHS arrest reports on the City website within 12 hours.
- Family support network. Connect affected families to immigration attorneys, mental health care and emergency help.
- Community partnerships. Hold regular working sessions with immigrant-rights groups.
- Public timeline. Commit to public progress reports on all of the above.
📌 What to ask Council: Direct staff to move on all six points, with a public timeline.
Here’s a pre-written email comment on ICE enforcement, addressed to the City Council. Feel free to customize it, and please remember to sign it.
🏡 Mobile (a/k/a manufactured) home space rents (Regular meeting @ 6pm on October 28, Item 12B)
734 homes in 11 parks, many of them seniors on fixed incomes. Some park residents face rent hikes of ~17% on November 1. Council can stop them Wednesday with an urgency ordinance: hold space rents at October 28 levels and block the November 1 increases. Urgency takes 4 of 5 votes. One “no” and the November 1 hikes land.
⚠️ But as written, it’s not a real freeze. Park owners could still raise rents by the lesser of 4% or 75% of inflation, and they can petition Council for more. One Riviera home’s space rent is up 329% since 2004. If it had tracked inflation, it would be up about 89%. A percentage cap on top of that doesn’t fix it.
📌 What to ask Council: Adopt the urgency ordinance, and make it whole, more specifically.
- A true 0% rent freeze, along with no new fees or cost pass-throughs until a sensible permanent ordinance is in place. Owners who can show real need can petition for a fair return.
- A building ordinance over an MOU. Adopt a fairness ordinance which truly balances the scales and protects the rights of both park owners and resident homeowners.
- A neutral hearing officer, not Council, decides those petitions by a set deadline.
- A clear fair-return rule in the ordinance, so every petition is judged the same way.
- Protection for residents who organize or speak up.
For more information, see the SOS Encinitas website.
Here’s a pre-written email comment on manufactured home space rents, addressed to the City Council. Feel free to customize it, and please remember to sign it.
✋ How to Make Your Voice Heard Wednesday
- 📍 Attend in person. City Hall, 505 S. Vulcan Ave. Special Meeting (HAP) @ 4PM and Regular Meeting @ 6PM
- 🎤 Speak in person. Fill out a pink slip in chambers. Prepare a 2-minute statement (Speakers are usually allotted 3 minutes, but when there are a lot of speakers, speaking time is often shorted to 2 minutes)
- Register Support (No Speaking Required). Submit a pink slip indicating your support for the item(s) and check the box titled “don’t wish to speak.”
- ✉️ Submit an eComment. Send your written comment by 12 noon on Wednesday (consider using the template links above).
Wednesday gives all of us several ways to stand up for our neighbors and the community we want Encinitas to be. Whatever form your participation takes, please make your voice heard. When we show up, things change for the better.
With gratitude,
–Encinitas Action