Sean’s vision is simple — a San Diego where every person in every neighborhood has an opportunity to reach their potential and thrive.
Sean believes San Diego’s greatest asset isn’t its weather or beaches, but its people. Sean is committed to fighting for the hardworking San Diegans who are the heartbeat of this city yet are finding it more and more difficult to see a future here.
Sean’s Priorities.
Sean’s experience growing up in a family that moved in and out of the middle-class helped him understand how hard it can be to make ends meet. That’s why Sean’s number one priority for his second-term is taking on the cost-of-living crisis that is making it so tough for so many San Diegans to get by.
In the past 4 years, he’s been tackling the cost-of-living crisis by passing the Tenant Protections Ordinance which keeps bad landlords from evicting good tenants and jacking up rents. He’s also helped families save on transportation costs by providing free transit passes for all San Diego youth. He’s introduced a price transparency law for grocery stores so everyone can have access to lower prices. San Diegans need Sean Elo-Rivera to continue this work.
From fighting for higher wages for workers and reducing childcare costs to taking on corporate greed that is driving up housing and grocery costs, Sean is working to make San Diego more affordable and provide every neighborhood with the respect of quality City services.
In the midst of a decades-long housing crisis, residents throughout San Diego’s District 9 are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. This issue is personal to Sean, as he experienced homelessness as a student, and felt the impacts of his family being displaced from a small studio when their rent doubled.
Sean’s commitment to his “Housing For All” plan has prioritized making homes more affordable, providing tenants stability, banning discriminatory practices, and being unrelenting in advocating for the proven practices to address and reduce homelessness.
At the core of our environmental policy platform is the belief that every person deserves to live in a clean and healthy neighborhood and climate action cannot wait. Unfortunately, generations of racist policies and practices have created a San Diego where health and life expectancy are directly linked to what neighborhood a person lives in.
As your Councilmember, Sean has pushed to take bold action to combat the climate crisis and ensure every San Diegan has access to clean air and water, quality parks, and safe streets. He’s also gone above and beyond his role at the City by serving on regional boards of the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), and as Vice Chair of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). In each of these roles, Sean is fighting to make sure San Diego gets its fair share of resources and is treated with the respect all residents deserve.
Every person in every neighborhood deserves to feel safe and know they will be treated with fairness. However, despite safety being a universal need, it is also a subjective feeling. What one of us needs to feel safe may differ greatly from what others need. Similarly, justice requires an understanding of what individuals and communities need for fairness to be achieved.
Our efforts to provide safety and justice to all San Diegans is rooted in the recognition that we all have different needs that should be honored. For some, emergency response is the top priority for safety while others are most concerned about their built environment or knowing that their basic needs are met. This “all of the above” approach has led to Sean successfully supporting many safety and justice efforts.
Whether he is serving as a high school coach, elementary school teacher, or executive director of a youth-serving nonprofit organization, Sean’s greatest passion is providing people an opportunity to reach their full potential. And in his current role as City Councilmember, he has leaned into expanding opportunities for people of all ages.
Sean’s dedication to expanding opportunity has extended beyond his role at the City to include his service on the San Diego Workforce Partnership Policy Board, where he actively works to expand employment opportunities. In addition, in 2022, he was appointed by State Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins to serve on the California Cradle-to-Career Data System Governing Board, where he is charged with overseeing the creation of a statewide system that will help students reach their goals.