San Diego City Wire

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria's pick to deal with the city's homeless problem, announced during his state of the city address earlier last week, is a Trump-fired former Obama administration appointee with a wobbly record for dealing with the same crisis elsewhere.

Former U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Executive Director Matthew Doherty is one of the nation's "leading experts on homelessness" being brought on board "to help us launch into the next phase" of dealing with San Diego's unhoused issues, Gloria said during his state of the city address Jan. 13 from the San Ysidro library.

"Matthew will work alongside city leadership for several months, helping us to improve our plans based on best practices and put them into action," Gloria said.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria during his recent state of the city address. | sandiego.gov/mayor/

Doherty begins consulting for Gloria's office about the city's homeless problem less than a year after landing a $95,000 contract to consult Austin, Texas, about its homelessness issues. A few days before Austin City Council approved that contract, the Austin News referred to Doherty's "arguably questionable track record regarding work to prevent homelessness."

In its Feb. 3 news story, Austin News referred to Doherty's time as USICH executive director, a post to which he was appointed by then-President Barack Obama in 2015.

"In that role, Doherty embraced a 'housing first' approach, which did not require homeless individuals to address behavioral health issues or move through programs before gaining access to housing, according to the 2016 USICH Fact Sheet," the news story said. "However, according to a Jan. 24 KXAN report, Doherty’s policy shift did not decrease homelessness. Instead, homelessness increased during his tenure."

Gloria assured San Diegans that Doherty "has a deep understanding of our city." Doherty is not a stranger in San Diego. From 2001 to 2002, Doherty was assistant manager for resident services in the San Diego Housing Commission, according to information on his LinkedIn page. From August 2010 to May 2012, he provided policy, planning and program management consultation mostly for government agencies in the greater San Diego area.

Doherty's other career stops included six years as an assistance resident services director for King County Housing Authority and three years as Yessler Terrace Center Director for the Neighborhood House, both in Seattle. In November 2019, Doherty was tweet-ousted by President Trump from his job at the USICH, where he'd overseen 19 federal agencies responsible for preventing homelessness nationwide.

"As Tweets from faster fingers than mine have been hinting, today was my last day in service as Executive Director at @USICHgov, at the administration’s request (as is their right.)," Doherty said in his own tweet on Nov. 15.

Less than three weeks later, Doherty was an independent homelessness consultant advising state of California and he got the contract in Austin a couple of months later.

Doherty has landed his job in Gloria's office at a difficult time for San Diego. In addition to homelessness, Gloria said the city faces issues with racial inequity, affordable housing and better transportation. Gloria also outlined plans for the city to emerge from the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to rebuild a city for "all of us."

"The state of our city is fragile right now, but I have faith it won’t be for much longer," Gloria said during his address. "At our core, our city is strong because San Diegans are strong. We are resilient. We are fighters. We recognize that we are all connected, even when we are apart."

San Diego's out-of-control homeless problem and Gloria's hiring of Doherty will not be the first attempt to resolve the problem. Gloria's predecessor Kevin Faulconer, who left office last month, also made resolving San Diego's homelessness problem a priority after hepatitis A spread among the city's unhoused population. Faulconer's attempts at finding a solution included expecting city police to address the issue and moving the city's unhoused into the San Diego Convention Center.

By April 2020 the city had issued a report and announced the annual counting of the number of people living on San Diego's streets had dropped 12%.

"Since the count and in response to COVID-19, hundreds more who were living on the streets have found shelter in the San Diego Convention Center and we enacted an eviction moratorium to help prevent folks from losing their home in the first place," Faulconer said in the announcement. "We will keep working day and night to overcome this pandemic and help even more people find shelter and housing in the process."

In his state of the city address, Gloria said his vision for resolving homelessness will differ from Faulconer's with less reliance on the police. Instead, the mayor said, his plan will focus on a housing-first strategy and shore up partnerships with the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to increase the number of mental health professionals, making them - not police - the first point of contact for the city's unhoused.

"Let me be clear, we must change the status quo on homelessness," Gloria said. "Some people want quick, easy solutions to one of our most complex and pressing issues, but there are no shortcuts to end homelessness. Instead it will take steadfast, unrelenting tenacity."

In an op-ed piece published Jan. 14, The San Diego Union-Tribune said Gloria's vision for resolving the city's homelessness issues is at least plausible, particularly as the mayor has been willing to admit some missteps.

“Combine such willingness to heed criticism with Gloria’s realistic language about homelessness - that there are ‘no shortcuts’ to end it - and the new mayor seems to be willing to acknowledge the true state of the city - and do something about it,” the op-ed piece said.