Basic Needs Coalition
Building a Unified Voice for Human Dignity and Stability
In 2025, San Diego Housing Federation launched the San Diego Basic Needs Coalition, creating a new cross-sector platform for coordinated policy and advocacy focused on what people need to live and thrive in the San Diego region. The coalition brings together housing developers, healthcare providers, food security organizations, homelessness and service providers, workforce and economic mobility advocates, and student-centered organizing groups, united by a shared understanding that stability is interconnected and cannot be addressed in silos.
In its first year, the coalition moved quickly from vision to action. Members established a shared identity and governance structure and committed to a proactive advocacy agenda grounded in dignity, equity, and lived experience. Together, we drafted and released a regional statement signed by cross-sector partners opposing federal policies that criminalize homelessness, submitted unified budget priorities to every San Diego City Council office, and consistently advocated for the county to responsibly deploy its rainy-day reserves to mitigate the impacts of anticipated federal funding cuts.
The San Diego Basic Needs Coalition represents a meaningful shift in how advocacy happens in our region. By aligning across sectors and speaking with a shared voice, the coalition is transforming fragmented efforts into coordinated action, strengthening our collective ability to influence policy and advance solutions that ensure all San Diegans have access to housing, healthcare, food, childcare, and essential services.
Our Vision
A San Diego where every person has a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home, fortifying the foundational pillars of well-being— from nutrition and childcare to healthcare, education, and economic opportunity.
Our Mission
To unite cross-sector advocates, stakeholders, and organizations to build a more integrated, compassionate, and effective system of care through unified policy advocacy and education, coordinated outreach, orchestrated service delivery, and community power.
Our Goal
To achieve systemic change by staying informed on and influencing policy and budgets at all levels of government (federal, state, county, local jurisdictions) to protect and expand affordable housing, prevent homelessness, and strengthen the entire ecosystem of basic needs services.
Who We are
Representatives from organizations across sectors focused on advocacy and advancing policy in housing, homelessness services, childcare, healthcare, and food insecurity.
Contact
Dante Golden, Senior Policy Director
Dante@housingsandiego.org
Media Coverage and Statements
11/7/2025: Funding cuts, skyrocketing rents push San Diego's housing voucher program into deepening deficit
“We are having emergency meetings within our sector on a weekly basis with our resident service providers to talk about what is happening with food, with medical care, with rent, with any other supports, with child care. We are seeing, one by one, the supports that families rely on to thrive are being taken away. This is painful.” — San Diego Housing Federation, President and CEO, Stephen Russell
3/28/2025: North Park church's affordable housing project highlights new market of 'off-site' housing credits
“Because we are seeing a significant amount of market-rate development right now, this off-site provision has actually provided a really significant revenue stream for the production of 100% affordable buildings that can be built more efficiently, can actually leverage the dollars that are being contributed, and ultimately have a really positive impact on the housing crisis.”— San Diego Housing Federation, President and CEO, Stephen Russell