LEMON GROVE, Calif. (KGTV) – A long-contested project to bring tiny homes for the homeless in Lemon Grove is one step closer to reality.
“It has been 1.5 years, close to 2 years, where we've been working on this,” Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe of District 4 said. “We are committed to housing people, uh, who need this type of interim housing before, and this will be the last step before folks are able to get permanent housing.”
County Supervisor Montgomery Steppe says the California Transportation Commission approved the deal for the County to buy the land from Cal Trans for a little less than a million dollars.
Originally, the plan was to lease the land from Cal trans for a dollar a month.
“The previous federal administration was OK with signing off on a lease between the county and the state,” Montgomery Steppe said. “So when the administration changed, their priorities changed, and they said, yes, you can still use the land, but you're going to have to purchase it instead of leasing it from the state.”
Getting this temporary housing project to this point hasn’t been smooth sailing for San Diego County.
As ABC 10News has previously reported, it’s gotten pushback at its original proposed location in Spring Valley and here in Lemon Grove.
“Even the people who have been most adamantly against this, I know a lot of them personally, and they are people with good hearts, and they are people who want solutions. Even some of the people who are most adamant against this are mostly against it because of the location, and not necessarily the idea of a shelter,” Mayor Alysson Snow, City of Lemon Grove, said. “I think that's the message that I want to share with, everyone is, if we do this together, it will be a success.”
Montgomery Steppe offered a similar take to the previous pushback following this latest development.
“This is going to move forward. But we need to be a good neighbor and a good partner. Our job now is to make sure that we have a project that is successful, that is a good neighbor, that helps people," Montgomery Steppe said.
Some who live in the area understand the challenges.
“I can understand that, but 9 times out of 10, the homeless is going to walk around and be around anyway. So, if they have somewhere to go, a specific location to be at, they would love to go get a hot meal and get some rest,” Richard Hugley Jr, who told ABC 10News they live near the project site in Lemon Grove, said.
