Mayor Todd Gloria touts housing gains and budget progress, unveils convention center funding request

Mayor Todd Gloria delivered the 2026 State of the City address at San Diego City Hall on Thursday, saying his administration has made deep cuts and operational changes that reduced a $318,000,000 structural deficit and that the city is accelerating housing production and infrastructure work.

Gloria framed his agenda around finance, housing, homelessness, public safety and infrastructure, saying, “I set the bold goal of trying to close the structural deficit in 1 year,” and reporting that the administration "solved for $270,000,000" of that deficit through spending reductions, restructured leadership and other measures.

The address centered on housing as the city’s core challenge and solution. The mayor said preliminary data show San Diego permitted roughly 7,500 homes in 2025, compared with a two-decade average of about 4,300. He cited completed community plan updates that add capacity for about 105,000 new homes and described programs he credited with accelerating production, including the administration’s "Bridal to Home" program and an "affordable housing permit now" effort the mayor said has greenlit thousands of units.

Gloria announced several public‑land redevelopment priorities. He said the Midway Rising project — the 48‑acre sports arena site — "will be moving forward," and described plans for more than 4,200 homes, 14 acres of new parks and an arena; he said he will bring the project to the City Council for public hearings and a vote this spring. He also said the city will pursue converting other city‑owned properties such as 101 Ash, the old central library, and the indoor skydiving facility into housing and will seek an exclusive negotiating agreement with the San Diego Community College District on Golden Hall.

On homelessness, the mayor said the Regional Task Force reported a nearly 14% reduction in unsheltered homelessness in the city and that the administration connected more than 1,350 people to housing in 2025 and nearly 7,000 people over his five years in office. He noted a new safe‑parking lot near the airport with 190 spaces that enabled renewed enforcement of the oversized‑vehicle ordinance. "A sidewalk is not a home," Gloria said, stressing the administration’s emphasis on shelter, outreach and housing‑plus‑services partnerships.

Gloria credited an agreement with Caltrans, supported by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, for letting city crews clear encampments on select freeway ramps; he said crews removed 208 tons of trash, connected 95 people to shelter or services and saw a preliminary 48% drop in encampment‑related fires.

The mayor warned of funding risks at higher levels of government, saying changes to HUD funding at the federal level and cuts at the state level to the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program (HAP) threaten recent progress and urging state leaders and gubernatorial candidates to make HAP a permanent part of the state budget.

Gloria also highlighted public safety and infrastructure metrics: he said overall crime in the city fell 6% this year, murders were down 22% and vehicle thefts declined 22%. He listed infrastructure work completed last year — about 468 miles of road resurfaced or repaired, more than 44,000 potholes filled, 2,161 miles of roads repaired to date (roughly one‑third of city‑maintained streets), a planned 370 additional miles of road work and a target to complete more than 2,000 streetlight repairs this year; he added that sidewalks were replaced at more than 1,500 locations.

On tourism and economic development, Gloria said Measure C (the 2020 voter‑approved tourism tax increase) was upheld after legal challenges and has generated $35,000,000 since last May. He said he will ask the City Council to approve a five‑year, $118,000,000 modernization plan for the San Diego Convention Center and to authorize $21,000,000 to start the project. Gloria also touted events and bids to host major conferences and competitions as signs of the city’s global profile.

The address concluded with a call for accountability and continued work; Council President Joe Acaba adjourned the special meeting and announced the next regular council meeting for Jan. 26, 2026. The projects and proposals Gloria described — including Midway Rising, Golden Hall negotiations and the convention center funding request — will proceed to the City Council for hearings and potential votes.