ENCINITAS — Former city management quietly withdrew a nearly $3 million state grant application to address local homeless encampments late last year, failing to notify the newly seated City Council despite prior council approval, public records show.
The Encinitas City Council, then led by former Mayor Tony Kranz, unanimously approved the grant application on June 12, 2024. The city applied later that month, seeking $2.9 million from California’s Encampment Resolution Funding Program (ERF-3-R), pledging more than $5 million in additional resources.
The proposal outlined ambitious goals to enroll all existing encampment residents in services by February 2025 and to move 60 individuals into permanent housing over three years.
Letters of support submitted with the grant application came from local leaders and nonprofit groups, including the Community Resource Center, state Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas) and the Regional Task Force on Homelessness. The proposal aligned with state guidance, emphasizing a housing-first approach, case management, and interim shelter placements.
At the time of the application’s withdrawal, key staff involved included former City Manager Pamela Antil, former Planning Manager Patty Anders and then-Development Services Director Kerry Kusiak.
The city’s withdrawal email to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) — sent by Anders two weeks after the election on Nov. 19, 2024, and before the newly seated council could be informed or act — was brief: “The City of Encinitas would like to respectfully withdraw our ERF-3-R grant application.”
No further explanation was provided at the time, according to records obtained by The Coast News.
“I was very disappointed to learn that the city’s application for the grant had been withdrawn, because that’s not normally something that would happen without council action,” Kranz said. “The transition in city leadership during the time this decision was made was very unfortunate, as both the outgoing and incoming administrations were equally focused on addressing the challenges of homelessness. Not receiving the state resources to help with the efforts makes the work more difficult.”
While it is unclear who directed Anders to withdraw the application, current and former city officials said any such decision would have required council approval.
Antil officially left her role with the city the following day on Nov. 20, 2024, in what was described publicly as a mutual agreement to part ways. Antil could not be reached for comment.
The city confirmed there was no record of the council being notified.
“There are no records of any written communications between staff and the City Council regarding the decision by the City Management at the time to withdraw the ERF application,” the city stated in response to questions from The Coast News. “Moving forward, staff will ensure City Council is notified of any future grant application withdrawal.”
Despite a lack of explanation at the time, the city has since stated that the decision to withdraw the application was prompted by a Nov. 15 request from the HCD, which sought clarification on the city’s plan to increase permanent housing, an aspect not included in the original grant proposal.
At the time of the application, the city said federal Housing Choice Voucher funds were available to support eight individuals. But by October, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had rescinded those funds due to national budget constraints.
City staff stated that, with no viable permanent housing strategy in place, former city management opted to withdraw the application.
Still, no formal explanation was presented to the public or the elected body that had unanimously authorized the grant application.
Mayor Bruce Ehlers, who supported the original application as a District 4 representative, said the council should have been informed.
“I’m disappointed the grant was canceled without any notification to either the former or newly elected council,” Ehlers told The Coast News. “I’m also troubled by the lack of transparency. It feels like a rogue move. I don’t support city staff or management reversing a clear council direction. Honestly, it’s pretty brazen.
“I’m very curious to know who made the decision, because it wasn’t done publicly. We know the city has no record of it coming back to the council. My guess is that whoever ordered the withdrawal assumed it would never come back. Fortunately, someone dug deeper and saw it didn’t make sense.”
The city is now drafting internal protocols to require council notification in the event of any future grant withdrawals, officials said.
Councilmember Jim O’Hara said the goal of the current City Council and staff is to ensure the situation isn’t repeated.
“Moving forward, the council and city staff are committed to handling matters like this with transparency and making sure it doesn’t happen again,” O’Hara said.
Meanwhile, the motivation behind the decision and the lack of transparency surrounding it have raised questions from residents. Some have suggested the withdrawal was politically motivated, a parting shot intended to prevent the incoming council from taking credit for a large-scale homelessness resolution project.
“We’ve made significant changes in department leadership, and I appreciate the current city management’s proactive response to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Ehlers said. “But it still doesn’t fully explain what happened.”
1 comment
This may have been the smartest thing “the city” has “pulled off”, even though it was done behind the curtain… by whom, we may never know. The former council and mayor must have realized, after the fact, that their “consent” strategy, to slide through the egregious grant application for homeless housing in Encinitas, was sneaky and unpopular with Encinitans and Encinitas businesses.
Bottom line, this state “GRANT”, aka “free money”, would have been used for exactly what the residents and businesses DO NOT WANT – A. homeless individuals living in Encinitas and B. free housing for the homeless in Encinitas. No thank you Sacramento. No thank you past city council. No thank you Community Resource Center. Encinitans refuse becoming a homeless outpost and want the CRC gone as well. Good old common sense policy.
Thankfully the newly elected city council and mayor have wisely rejected the failed “housing first” model, and instead support “rehab first”. That is, rehab before housing. This is real compassion.