Title
Recommendation to Accept the 2024 Progress Report on The Road Home. (City Manager 10021833)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
City Council has identified addressing homelessness as one of its key priorities in the City of Alameda (City) Strategic Plan and through the October 2021 adoption of The Road Home: A 5-Year Plan to Prevent and Respond to Homelessness in Alameda (The Road Home). In the three years since The Road Home was adopted, the City has made progress on every goal. The City Charter assigns the Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) with the responsibility of assessing and responding to the needs of individuals and families experiencing homelessness. To fulfill that responsibility, SSHRB has evaluated The Road Home progress every six months. This is the first annual report to City Council and will now be provided each year. The 2024 Progress Report on The Road Home (Progress Report) details efforts, initiatives, and progress made by various City departments and the City’s social service providers.
BACKGROUND
In January of 2021, work began on a five-year plan to address homelessness in Alameda. As part of the strategic planning process, Homebase, an organization nationally recognized as experts on homelessness with extensive technical assistance and facilitation experience, completed an assessment of existing programs and systems in Alameda and conducted extensive stakeholder engagement. In spring of 2021, staff brought a series of preliminary goals and strategies to SSHRB and City Council for review and feedback. The plan was accepted and adopted in October 2021.
Three years later, Homebase, in coordination with City staff, prepared the Progress Report (Exhibit 1) through interviews and contributions from City staff, community stakeholders, The Road Home/People Experiencing Homelessness SSHRB work group, and Dignity Village residents. The Progress Report provides a general overview of the new and expanded programs related to services for residents experiencing homelessness, and a detailed matrix on work done to date on each goal and strategy from The Road Home.
DISCUSSION
The primary purpose of The Road Home is to provide a roadmap on how the City responds to and prevents homelessness. The Road Home outlined the identified causes and the challenges and needs for preventing and ending homelessness. The stated mission of the plan is to:
• Prevent and reduce first-time homelessness
• Recognize and address disparities for individuals experiencing homelessness
• Reduce chronic homelessness
• Shorten the period of time an individual or household remains homeless
• Decrease returns to homelessness
The Progress Report provides a summary of progress for every goal and strategy identified. Some achievements to highlight from the Progress Report include:
• Two new programs to address financial insecurity and prevent homelessness through the Guaranteed Income Pilot Program called Rise Up, and the Mastick Senior Center Rent Relief Program.
• Increased supply of shelter beds by 97, including through the opening of Dignity Village, a non-congregate facility with full-time, onsite behavioral health clinical services.
• Expanded outreach and supportive services to unsheltered households through the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) and the Community Assessment Response & Engagement (CARE) Team.
• Continual and increased coordination and collaboration among City departments, City programs, and social service providers through the Coordinated Outreach Team (COT) and the Collaborating and Advancing Resources, Efforts, and Supports for Alameda's Homeless (CARES) Team.
The Progress Report also includes the Needs Assessment conducted by City staff in Fiscal Year 2023-24. Staff met with both the directors of Alameda service organizations and with their direct services staff to review the goals and strategies outlined in The Road Home, discuss challenges and accomplishments, and identify next steps. Over 20 individuals representing 10 organizations attended the meetings. Social service providers and leadership across the board expressed the difficulty and complexity of serving individuals from the street to successful permanent housing. Feedback received emphasized the ongoing need for more affordable housing, staff capacity, and funding for services which is consistent with ongoing efforts needed to accomplish The Road Home’s goals. The social service agency directors and staff also shared their challenges with the broader system of services that requires significant administration and complex formulas to qualify individuals for services in systems that do not naturally collaborate or bridge individual needs from one provider to the next. Staff turnover was shared as a challenge as well. Directors and service providers credited the City for their approach to services and ability to collaborate and foster cooperation.
Staff and the SSHRB are recommending that City Council accept the 2024 Progress Report on The Road Home.
ALTERNATIVES
• Accept the 2024 Progress Report on The Road Home.
• Provide feedback on the 2024 Progress Report on The Road Home and request that the Progress Report return to City Council for acceptance once feedback has been incorporated.
• Provide feedback on the 2024 Progress Report and accept the Progress Report on the condition that the feedback is incorporated without returning to City Council.
• Do not accept the 2024 Progress Report on The Road Home and provide staff with further direction.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact from approving the progress report.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the SSHRB Charter and the authority contained in Alameda Municipal Code Section 2-11.5 authorizing SSHRB “to improve social services in the community.”
This action supports the City Strategic Plan Priority to House all Alamedans and End Homelessness.
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
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the 2024 Progress Report on The Road Home.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Assistant City Manager
By,
Grecia Mannah-Ayon, Housing and Human Services Program Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1. 2024 Progress Report on The Road Home