San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria called out other local cities, the county government and Caltrans Wednesday for not doing their share to help solve the region’s homelessness crisis. The mayor also announced a new homeownership program for middle-income residents, and promised to strip down city government and re-invent it in the face of daunting deficits. Delivering his fifth annual State of the City address, the mayor said the city’s expensive efforts on homelessness were “finally turning the tide” and that his housing incentives had notably sped up construction. While San Diego clearly faces adversity, Gloria said he’s optimistic the city can rebound like it did in the 1990s when an economic downturn caused by defense cuts led to a new focus on life sciences and wireless technology. “San Diego’s story has always been one of resilience, determination and reinvention,” the mayor said. “And so this is not the time for retreat. This is not the time for us to slow down. It’s time to double down!” While his speech at City Hall was often upbeat, Gloria was aggressive when he declared that it’s not acceptable for city of San Diego taxpayers to pay the lion’s share of regional costs for homelessness efforts. “Homelessness is a national crisis — up 18% nationwide — and it’s present in every corner of our region,” he said. “And every city in the region, from San Marcos to Imperial Beach, needs to step up.” He said every local city has buildings that can be converted to shelters, underused parking lots that can accommodate people living in cars and land where supervised overnight tent camping can be allowed. “It’s long past time for all the cities in this county to do their part and not simply rely on you, the taxpayers of this city, to continue to foot the bill,” Gloria said. He had similar words for the county government, and he blamed what he said was its failure to resolve a shortage of beds to treat people with behavioral health problems — a problem he linked to the homelessness crisis in the city. He said county officials had been slow to address the shortage of beds, despite city lobbying and a new state law. “It’s time for the county to step up and deliver the behavioral health treatment they receive many millions of dollars to provide and get the very sick people living on our streets the care they need,” the mayor said. He also called on Caltrans to do more to remove illegal encampments under freeway ramps. That agency has been ramping up its encampment sweeps in the region in recent years, and last year the governor ordered it and other state agencies to remove such camps. “The situation is dire, and we need their help,” Gloria said, noting that legally, city crews cannot access these areas to perform outreach or clear encampments. “So if the state can’t or won’t address these areas, they should give the city full authority to do this work and fully reimburse us for the costs. We’re ready to partner and do this work, but we need action now,” he added. On housing, the mayor said he would soon propose a new program to incentivize the construction of new starter homes like row houses, townhomes and condos. He said they would be geared for the working and middle class and for families with children, as well as those potentially looking to downsize. Gloria said the goal was “first-time homeownership opportunities that create generational wealth for San Diegans.” The mayor focused much of his speech on the city budget, saying that aggressive cuts are needed to make city revenues and expenses match up long term. “Steep cuts will be necessary — but I also want to be clear that I’m not interested in just slashing our way to a balanced budget,” he said. “Instead, we will reimagine how we operate — examining every service we provide and how we can make the most of our public assets.” Gloria said city officials will ask themselves why things are done in certain ways, and whether there might be a better way for each — examining, for example, why the city maintains land line telephones and offices for employees who rarely use them, and whether all the buildings the city leases are needed. Gloria said he’ll also analyze a rule prohibiting paving work in coastal areas during summer months and consider whether the city needs both personnel and human resources departments. “We can no longer do things a certain way simply because that’s how they’ve always been done,” he said. “I’ve also asked department directors to craft their budgets for next year not by simply tweaking last year’s budget, but totally rethinking their operations to preserve the highest level of service possible within a smaller resource allocation.” The mayor also hinted that the city may start raising some fees and establishing some new ones. “City facilities, streets, parking lots and city assets have great value we’ve discounted or given away for free — and it’s time to reconsider all of this to ensure we can continue to deliver the most critical services,” he said. On homelessness, Gloria reiterated his commitment to opening a new safe parking area at H Barracks near the airport. He also touted increases in shelter beds during his tenure, contending the city is starting to have success on the homelessness front. He said his housing incentives and regulatory reforms are also starting to work. The city permitted 10,000 homes in 2023, after averaging 4,300 a year over the last two decades. And preliminary analysis for 2024 shows about 8,500 permits — down from last year, but still well above average. The mayor said that’s a remarkable number when you consider high interest rates and inflation have stunted development in many other places. He also touted a drop in crime and the improvement in the city’s credit rating last summer, from AA to AA+ — the second-highest rating available. But Gloria said now is still clearly a challenging time. “I’m reminded that in the 1990s, our region faced an economic crisis with the contraction of the defense and aerospace industries — the backbone of our economy at the time — leading to widespread job losses and threatening our city’s future,” he said. But San Diego didn’t give up or accept a pathway of decline. “We leveraged our world-class universities to become a global leader in life sciences, wireless technology, clean tech and other innovation industries,” Gloria said. “I see similar opportunity ahead: to turn a moment of great adversity into an opportunity to build something better.”