Morning Report: ‘I Can't Afford To Buy A Home Here'

By Voice of San Diego, the Voice of San Diego

October 27, 2022

With its plan to spend potential bond money on employee housing, San Diego Unified could become the first local education agency — which can be either school districts or county office of education — to provide employee housing in the county. It’s a strategy to retain and recruit teachers that’s spread throughout the state, spurred by the high cost of housing.

In the latest Learning Curve, Jakob McWhinney speaks to one SDUSD teacher who says it’s a good start, but that more is needed. Whitney Chase has taught at Madison High School for more than a dozen years, but she’s still renting. Chase says that for teachers like her the solution to housing instability isn’t affordable rental units, but home ownership.

“I’ve lived and I’ve worked in this community for 14 years, but I can’t afford to buy a home here,” Chase said. “And I think that’s really sad.”

Read more in the latest Learning Curve

ICYMI: We pulled together our coverage and analysis of the most interesting races on this year’s ballot for readers in one handy spot. Get caught up here. Our VOSD Podcast hosts also broke down most of the races in our latest episode. Listen here.

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Jail Doc Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter

The San Diego County District Attorney has charged a second medical professional in connection to the death of a young woman in Las Colinas jail in 2019.

The Union-Tribune reports that Dr. Friederike Von Lintig is accused of neglecting Elisa Serna, who hit her head on a wall during a seizure. According to a lawsuit filed by the family, Von Lintig and a nurse ignored obvious signs that Serna was in critical condition, as she urinated on herself and lay dying on the floor of her cell.

Both have pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

A state audit released earlier this year found that San Diego County had the highest jail mortality rate among large California counties. In a statement to the newspaper, the Sheriff’s Department said it supported the decision to file charges against Von Lintig.

In Other News

• U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with local officials studying waysto reroute rail tracks away from the fragile Del Mar bluffs. “We are currently living with alignments that in some cases were set up more than a century ago, and it just doesn’t meet today’s needs,” he said. (Union-Tribune)
###licome to an end. Reuters reports that the United States will no longer enroll new migrants and those waiting in Mexico will leave the program as they returned north for their court dates.
• The County Board of Supervisors approved the first draft of a proposal to transfer cannabis licensing duties from the sheriff’s department to the planning department. Chair Nathan Fletcher said the change would free up deputies to focus on enforcement of illegal cannabis businesses. (Times of San Diego)

The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney and Jesse Marx. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.

Voice of San Diego is a nonprofit news organization supported by our members. We reveal why things are the way they are and expose facts that people in power might not want out there and explain complex local public policy issues so you can be engaged and make good decisions. Sign up for our newsletters at voiceofsandiego.org/newsletters/.