DATE:
March 3, 2026
15
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
CENTRALIZING COUNTY SPACE MANAGEMENT TO AVOID UNNECESSARY LEASING COSTS AND CAPTURE ONGOING TAXPAYER SAVINGS (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
The County of San Diego (County) is preparing for a difficult fiscal year largely caused by significant federal funding reductions. Particularly as the County's upcoming budget cycle approaches and decisions must be made, maintaining public trust requires demonstrating that every reasonable efficiency, consolidation, and cost-saving opportunity is pursued before any service reductions are considered.
One clear opportunity for long-term savings is the County's leased office space. The County manages a substantial real estate footprint, spending approximately $59 million annually across over 70 active leases to support County operations and service delivery. With dozens of lease decisions made each year as agreements expire or needs for new space arise, even small improvements in how space is evaluated, utilized, and consolidated can have significant long-term fiscal implications.
Because lease decisions are often driven by the needs of individual departments, the County does not always have a consistent, countywide process to evaluate whether existing space could meet a need before entering into new, multi-year leases.
We know that a coordinated approach produces results because we have already proven the concept. By leveraging telework and implementing space-sharing guidelines at the County Operations Center (COC), we consolidated approximately 15 departments and freed up an entire office building. This strategic move allowed us to house 800 employees relocated from the Health Services Complex without the need to construct another office building, avoiding an estimated $150 million in capital costs. Those savings were achieved not by cutting services, but by aligning our real estate footprint with evolving work patterns.
However, that level of coordi...
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