5 21-0057 Subject: Homelessness Funding Report FY 2021-22
From: Human Services Department
Recommendation: Adopt The Following Pieces Of Legislation:
1) A Resolution: 1. Authorizing The City Administrator To Amend Existing Grant Agreements And Professional Service Agreements With Homeless Intervention Service Providers To Extend The Term Through Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22 And Increase The Amount Using Measure Q Funds Appropriated For Homeless Intervention Services In The 2021-23 Biennial Budget, Without Returning To Council; And 2. Authorizing The City Administrator To Award New Grant Agreements And Professional Service Agreements To Public And Private Entities Selected Through The Human Services Department's Request For Qualifications Process For The Provision Of Homeless Intervention Services In An Amount Not To Exceed One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) Each In FY 2021-22 Using Measure Q Funds Appropriated For Homeless Intervention Services In The 2021-23 Biennial Budget, Without Returning To Council; And
The property owners paying into Measure Q should have transparency of how Measure Q funds are being used, please delete "...Without Returning To Council" language. Absolutely return to council. We're in a crisis exacerbated by budget shortcomings, Covid-19...we may be best served in 2023 redirecting those funds to other options available at that time.Please strike"Without Returning To Council"
As the ED of St Vincent de Paul of Alameda County, which operates the largest emergency shelter and largest dining room in Oakland, I appreciate the City’s focus on permanent housing. But it will be years before Oakland has enough permanent supportive housing for everyone, and in the meantime, short-term shelters like SVdP are essential.
Beyond meals & storage, we offer case management & housing navigation for our guests, and thanks to our volunteer structure, a variety of existing programs, and financial support from the community, we use funding effectively, and offer wrap-around services, from showers & laundry to podiatry care.
Shelters like ours are not only resource-rich and supportive environments for people experiencing homelessness. They offer a far safer alternative to an encampment. To contrast St. Vincent de Paul’s shelter with the neighboring MLK encampment is a stark exercise.
Since the pandemic began we’ve provided 20,000 warm, safe, & socially-distanced bed nights in our shelter, served 200,000 meals, vaccinated 100 people, and given almost 1,000 COVID tests. In that time we’ve had no violent incidents and only ONE positive test result. By contrast, in the last eight months in the encampment at the end of our block, a woman was wounded in a drive-by shooting, a man was fatally shot, a man was fatally stabbed, a man was shot multiple times, and a woman was beaten to death.
Please don’t prioritize life in an encampment over vital services like ours.
The property owners paying into Measure Q should have transparency of how Measure Q funds are being used, please delete "...Without Returning To Council" language. Absolutely return to council. We're in a crisis exacerbated by budget shortcomings, Covid-19...we may be best served in 2023 redirecting those funds to other options available at that time.Please strike"Without Returning To Council"
As the ED of St Vincent de Paul of Alameda County, which operates the largest emergency shelter and largest dining room in Oakland, I appreciate the City’s focus on permanent housing. But it will be years before Oakland has enough permanent supportive housing for everyone, and in the meantime, short-term shelters like SVdP are essential.
Beyond meals & storage, we offer case management & housing navigation for our guests, and thanks to our volunteer structure, a variety of existing programs, and financial support from the community, we use funding effectively, and offer wrap-around services, from showers & laundry to podiatry care.
Shelters like ours are not only resource-rich and supportive environments for people experiencing homelessness. They offer a far safer alternative to an encampment. To contrast St. Vincent de Paul’s shelter with the neighboring MLK encampment is a stark exercise.
Since the pandemic began we’ve provided 20,000 warm, safe, & socially-distanced bed nights in our shelter, served 200,000 meals, vaccinated 100 people, and given almost 1,000 COVID tests. In that time we’ve had no violent incidents and only ONE positive test result. By contrast, in the last eight months in the encampment at the end of our block, a woman was wounded in a drive-by shooting, a man was fatally shot, a man was fatally stabbed, a man was shot multiple times, and a woman was beaten to death.
Please don’t prioritize life in an encampment over vital services like ours.