The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved another $9 million aid package on May 1st to help residents affected by the severe flooding on January 22nd, extending the temporary housing program once again. This brings the total assistance provided by the county government for this flood to over $30 million.
The previous housing aid program was set to end on May 11th, and the new aid will extend the housing plan until June 21st.
San Diego County had previously spent $20 million on assistance for the flood-affected areas. At the end of January this year, the Board of Supervisors approved a $10 million aid package to provide temporary hotel accommodations for residents in the hardest-hit southern parts of San Diego, including communities like Encanto, Mountain View, Southcrest, and unincorporated areas like Spring Valley.
In March of this year, the Board of Supervisors approved an additional $6.6 million for extending temporary housing and $3 million for sustaining three meals a day for 60 days.
Supervisor Jim Desmond, while voting in favor of the aid plan, expressed that the flooding was a result of long-term neglect by the San Diego city government in maintaining storm drains and flood control systems, and the county government should not continue to foot the bill for this negligence.
Desmond stated in a post-vote statement, “Once again, the county government is providing basic support and resources for the people that the City of San Diego should have been responsible for. With a budget of $5 billion, the City of San Diego has only provided minimal services to the disaster victims, while the county government has now allocated around $30 million to deal with the consequences of the incompetence of the City of San Diego government.”