San Diegans who want to volunteer to help clean and rebuild homes destroyed by the catastrophic January floods can still pitch in, including at two restoration efforts happening this weekend.
Since Jan. 22, volunteer groups have stepped in to provide critical support in mucking out homes, helping with mold suppression and assisting thousands of displaced residents rebuild. Volunteer-led cleanups are held just about every week and weekend in affected neighborhoods.
“The community members who have been doing this work since Jan. 22 deserve reinforcements, they deserve support from the broader community… and they deserve for us to do more,” said San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, who along with Councilmembers Henry Foster III and Vivian Moreno put out a call to action for volunteers ahead of this weekend’s events.
People can volunteer on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and can sign up at togethersandiego.org/volunteer. Those with experience working in plumbing, roofing, carpentry and electrical are especially encouraged. Exact locations are sent to volunteers after they sign up.
The goal this weekend is to finish building two homes, said Valerie Brown, the president and chair of the Community Recovery Team at the San Diego Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD).
But in general, the plan for each event is based on the number of volunteers. “It’s a reality of availability,” she said.
With summer around the corner and people taking vacations, Brown said it’s harder to get volunteers, but the need is still there.
It’s been almost five months since the combination of a winter storm and aging flood infrastructure brought destructive flooding to a swath of San Diego County, affecting about 2,400 households.
Residents are at different stages in their recovery, with some still mucking out their homes and cleaning debris. In the coming weeks, though, volunteer teams will focus most of their efforts on repairs, Brown said.
For many residents, rebuilding is their only path forward, said Elo-Rivera, especially if they can’t afford to move. And while residents have felt a sense of urgency to fix their homes since January, the timeline is now even tighter, with the county’s hotel voucher program ending next week. More than 1,200 people are still using the program, according to county data.
“That reality has settled in for a lot of people — meaning there’s no other option,” Elo-Rivera said. “There’s no alternative place in the San Diego region for a lot of these folks to live.”
The city isn’t directly involved in the volunteer efforts, but the city and county have taken steps in recent days to provide more housing aid to flood victims.
Last week, the county allocated $4.2 million to the city’s Housing Commission, which Elo-Rivera said will go help residents repair and return to their homes, or relocate if they can’t move back into them.
And on Tuesday, the city agreed to a final 2025 budget that added another $3 million in flood aid in a last-minute compromise deal.
