Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute an Agreement with The Village of Love Foundation to Operate the Day Center and Safe Sheltering Program for Six Months in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $550,000. (City Manager 10021833)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Day Center Program serves some of the most vulnerable populations in Alameda bringing people off the street and indoors to support their basic needs. This program is vital to the continuum of homeless services in Alameda. The current location serves up to 18 individuals indoors and 25 individuals in safe parking with access to services and restrooms as well as mobile showers and laundry one time per week. Services include emergency low-barrier overnight shelter, secure overnight parking, and indoor day center services with case management, therapeutic and life skills support.
The Day Center and Safe Parking is being relocated to Building 2, Wing 3 at Alameda Point and will provide additional meeting space, overnight beds, safe parking spaces and shower/laundry facilities onsite. Staff is conducting a Request for Proposals process for the Day Center and Safe Parking service provider and staff will return to Council to execute a new agreement with the recommended provider. Staff recommends City Council approve execution of this agreement to continue providing essential shelter services to vulnerable homeless Alameda residents until that competitive process is completed.
BACKGROUND
In 2019, the Oakland/Berkeley/Alameda County Continuum of Care Everyone Home held the bi-annual Point-in-Time Count. Two-hundred and thirty-one people of the total homeless population in Alameda County were identified in the City of Alameda. In July 2020, City Council approved opening the Day Center program at 431 Stardust Place in to support individuals in need of immediate shelter. A total of thirty-three slots were provided through a combination of shelter beds and safe parking spaces. The Village of Love (VOL) was selected to provide direct services focusing on essential resources such as shelter and food. As the program grew, services expanded to include day center services, emergency overnight shelter, safe parking, a separate trailer program, and case management support.
In 2020, the State and Federal government deployed emergency funding to support rapid sheltering of unhoused families and individuals. This funding included the American Rescue Plan Act for the expansion of services and shelter support throughout the region. Through 2023 and 2024, post-pandemic, these emergency funds were discontinued and a direct impact was seen with an increase of the level of street homelessness. In the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) count, four-hundred and fifty-five hundred individuals were identified as living on the streets of Alameda. This reflects a 72% increase from the 2022 PIT count.
On July 18, 2023, City Council approved the agreement amendment with the VOL contract to continue providing services and managing operations at the Day Center. VOL works closely in partnership with the Housing and Human Services Division (HHS) staff to coordinate services. VOL and HHS also coordinate with Building Futures for Women and Children providing an onsite location for individuals to connect to the Coordinated Entry System (CES) and be assessed for relevant available services. A bed is also reserved at the shelter for the Alameda Police Department (APD). Should APD encounter an individual in need of shelter during the evening hours, they are able to bring them to the shelter for services.
Day Center Services have grown to become the first step in the City's local continuum of care, offering fundamental basic services with a goal to connect with interim and permanent supportive housing opportunities available in Alameda and throughout the greater Bay Area. For example, this program is a conduit into the Emergency Supportive Housing program (ESH). Individuals actively engaged with case management services at the Day Center/Safe Parking are assessed, added to the ESH waitlist and move in when beds are made available.
DISCUSSION
The Day Center, Safe Parking and Overnight Shelter program is the epicenter of homeless services for the City of Alameda. It is the sole 24-hour, year-long program that allows people to come off the street and indoors without having to qualify or prove who they are. Truly a low-barrier program, individuals are offered services and support without judgement and without a commitment requirement. Everyone who enters the program is supported individually based on their unique needs. This program provides support with:
* Overnight Shelter - congregate shelter available from 8 pm - 8 am. In 2026, this service will expand from 18 to 30 beds. The new location will provide dividers creating smaller semi-private sleeping spaces.
* Safe Parking - overnight parking for individuals identified as sleeping in their car and not ready to come indoors yet. Parking for individuals with vehicles utilizing the Day Center.
* Day Center Services - offers respite from outdoor conditions, a safe place to congregate off the street, a computer lab, therapeutic group sessions, and access to support staff.
* Essential Needs - access to meals, restrooms, and showers. This service will expand at the new location with access to daily showers, more restrooms, and onsite laundry.
* Case Management - includes housing navigation and resource connection. Case Managers work with participants to assess their personal needs, develop goals, and an overall plan. This includes identifying and connecting participants to other programs such as family reunification programs, legal services, and substance abuse programs.
* Therapeutic Services - Onsite therapeutic services were recently added to the program. Participants meet one-on-one with a licensed therapist in a private space.
HHS staff works closely with VOL to ensure services are provided as expected and in accordance with their contract terms. VOL meets biweekly with the HHS-led Coordinated Outreach Team (COT) discussing outreach and housing placement efforts. They also meet monthly with the HHS-led Coalition Advancing Resources, Efforts, and Supports for Alameda's Homeless (CARES). With new staff on board, a bi-weekly meeting has ensued focused on services and case management at the Day Center and ESH.
VOL currently manages the Day Center, safe parking, and overnight shelter program in a monitored, safe, secure, sanitary, and welcoming environment. Combined, these services represent the first step in Alameda's continuum of care, moving people from the street into emergency shelter. Once individuals accept initial emergency services, VOL works to place households directly into ESH, the four City-owned homes at Alameda Point which provide transitional supportive housing, or make referrals to alternative services and entry into CES to transition people to permanent housing.
Staff recommends City Council approve executing the agreement with VOL to continue Day Center and Safe Sheltering Services through February 28, 2026.
ALTERNATIVES
* Approve the agreement amendment with the Village of Love to continue providing Day Center and Safe Parking program operations for a term of six months.
* Provide direction to staff to do a competitive Request for Proposal process for the Day Center and Safe Parking program operations. This would require either continuing to work with VOL on a month-to-month basis to keep the program services and shelter open or require program closure for several months until an operator agreement is brought to City Council for approval. Program closure would result in individuals returning to living on the streets in Alameda.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Funding for the proposed agreement is included in the FY 2025-27 Biennial Budget approved by City Council in June 2025. No additional appropriations are requested.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the Social Services Human Relations Board Charter and Ordinance authority "to improve social services in the community" (Alameda Municipal Code ? 2-11.5) and the Report on Homelessness Policies and Programs. It also supports the City Strategic Plan Priority to House All Alamedans and End Homelessness, specifically Project HH2b for Sheltering: Safe Parking, Emergency Supportive Housing, Warming Shelter and Day Center.
This action is consistent with Goal 2 of "The Road Home: A Five-Year Strategic Plan to Prevent and Respond to Homelessness in Alameda."
This action is subject to the Levine Act.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action does not constitute a "project" as defined in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and therefore no further CEQA analysis is required.
CLIMATE IMPACT
The Social Vulnerability Assessment section of the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan states:
"adaptation strategies should consider how [the homeless] will receive emergency communications and how they will be sheltered. Proper, safe housing for all is an adaptation and resilience strategy. Planning strategies should always consider these vulnerable populations in adaptation efforts."
The Day Center Services and Safe Sheltering Program provides safe, warm, and welcoming places for the unhoused in Alameda while connecting them to health, mental health, and social service supports.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation to authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with VOL to operate the Day Center and Safe Sheltering Program for six months in an amount not-to-exceed $550,000.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Assistant City Manager
By,
C'Mone Falls, Housing and Human Services Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Ross McCarthy, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1. Service Provider Agreement