County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas gave the annual state of the county address during a presentation on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

The newly-elected Chairwoman Vargas represents several firsts for San Diego County. For the first time in almost 200 years, a woman of color, an immigrant, a fronteriza, and a Latina are all sitting as Chair of the Board of Supervisors for the County of San Diego.

“I’m really proud to stand before you today as the chairwoman of the San Diego County of Supervisors, but I didn’t get here on my own,” Vargas said in her speech. “I stand on the shoulders of so many trailblazers that broke down barriers so that someone who looked like me could fulfill her dreams and now serve the community that I love.”

Throughout her speech, Vargas highlighted the County’s accomplishments and triumphs throughout 2022, as well the work still left to solve issues such as the homeless epidemic here in San Diego County. She shared her priorities as chair, which includes boosting housing, rental protections for tenants, and small businesses.

“One of the actions I prioritized when I first took office two years ago was to ensure the well being of our tenants and protect our renters,” she said. “This was during the height of the pandemic, and I heard firsthand of the hardships families were going through to make ends meet.”

“As a county, we immediately worked to expand access to rental assistance and close loopholes to stop unfair evictions, and I am so proud to share that our housing and community development department awarded $244 million in rent and utility assistance to over 23,000 households in San Diego County,” Vargas said to an applauding crowd.

Chairwoman Vargas stressed that her administration is still working on addressing and solving housing needs, through rental protection policies and the construction of affordable housing.

“I know that there is no one size fits all solution or political slogan that’s going to fix this complex and layered problem. The hard truth is that today there are nearly 100,000 families living on less than $35,000 a year and so many of these families are merely a paycheck away from becoming homeless.” Chairwoman Vargas said of the housing crisis in San Diego County.

To combat this, Vargas and her team worked on policies to help curb the rising costs of living, and the growing homeless population.

“I declared homeless as a public health care crisis so that the county can serve as a convener between the 18 cities and unincorporated areas. We need to create a comprehensive strategy to confront the growing homeless epidemic,” Chairwoman Vargas said. “We’re finding ways to streamline the creation of emergency housing through our compassionate housing solution, as well as creating public private partnerships with faith based and community organizations to set up shared shelters.”

Vargas also spoke on how the County is working to develop permanent affordable housing for vulnerable communities. Vargas mentioned how the County is establishing and prioritizing programs for Veteran enduring homelessness, new senior citizen centers and programs, as well as safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth.

“We live in a state that is the fourth largest economy in the world,” Chairwoman Vargas said towards the end of her speech. “No senior or child should ever wonder where they weren’t gonna lay their head at night.”

After the speech, Supervisor Nathan Fletcher released a statement saying, “Chairwoman Vargas did a great job of laying out her vision for building healthier communities and growing economic prosperity for the residents of San Diego County. I am excited to work with her to achieve the goals she outlined.”