SAN DIEGO — The University Heights community heard from candidates running in the special election for San Diego County Supervisor District 4 seat.
The candidates are running to replace Nathan Fletcher after he stepped down as supervisor amid sex-assault allegations.
Dozens of people attended the Thursday night forum.
“I’m just kind of tired of the status quo. Everybody gets elected and it doesn’t get any better," said University Heights resident, Jim Manner.
Residents heard from Janessa Goldbeck, Amy Reichert and Monica Montgomery-Steppe on how they would tackle some of the biggest issue facing San Diego County.
The candidates addressed the community at a forum hosted by the University Heights Community Association. They addressed the hot topic issues such as the housing crisis and homelessness.
“I do support more long-term beds, more shelters more day centers more crisis stabilization units. I believe recovery is the path we need," said candidate, Amy Reichert.
“It is infinitely cheaper to keep people in their homes, and by the way, more humane to keep them in their homes than to try to rehome them once they hit the streets, so I want to expand that program and make it permanent," said candidate Goldbeck.
“We cannot do this without law enforcement, we cannot do it without community-based organizations, we cannot do it without health professionals – we all have to work together to solve these issues," added candidate, Montgomery Steppe.
The community also heard the candidate’s position on Senate Bill 10, a state law that would allow up to 10 units to be built on a single lot. The bill has received major pushback.
"Maybe that is going too far, but I think at the very least affordable housing… mandates has to be including in SB 10. Along with the ability for incentives for developers to build for sell housing... I am pro-housing because of the situation that we’re in," said Montgomery-Steppe.
“I think the housing crisis is a generational issue that is the underscoring of all of our equity issues in San Diego County and so we have to find ways to build. Let's put the county to work, let's put the county to work to build on county land, build workforce housing," said Goldbeck.
"We don’t need to become another Los Angeles or San Francisco. We need to be able to keep our sense of history and our community character," added Reichert.
The special election for the Fourth Supervisorial District will be held on August 15.
WATCH RELATED: San Diego Supervisors vote to hold a special election to fill Nathan Fletcher's seat (May 2023).