Title
Recommendation for City Council to Accept a Report Regarding the EveryOne Counts! 2022 Upcoming Point-In-Time Count of the Homeless Population in the City of Alameda. (Community Development 10061833)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Staff is recommending that the City Council accept the report of the EveryOne Counts! 2022 Point-In-Time Count (PIT Count) of the homeless population in the City of Alameda (City). The PIT Count is a U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandated accounting of the local homeless population conducted every two years. EveryOne Home, the Continuum of Care (CoC) collective impact organization that addresses and aims to end homelessness in Alameda County (County), is responsible for coordinating the PIT Count. The data collected informs the funding that the County will receive for homeless services. A more thorough PIT Count could result in greater funding levels and informs the level of services needed to assist the homeless population in Alameda.
BACKGROUND
The PIT Count is a HUD mandated accounting of the local homeless population conducted every two years, on a single night in January, the coldest period of the calendar year. EveryOne Home, the CoC in the County, is responsible for coordinating the PIT Count. The next PIT Count will be held on January 25, 2022.
The PIT Count provides a snapshot of data available on the size and characteristics of the homeless population over time. The data also informs the funding that the County will receive for homeless services and the level of services needed to assist the homeless population in Alameda. The PIT Count was not conducted in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic and was deferred to 2022.
The City will take a lead role in organizing PIT Count efforts in Alameda, and will coordinate with service providers and others that work with the homeless population.
According to the 2019 PIT Count, there are now 8,022 people experiencing homelessness in Alameda County, an increase of 43% from two years ago, and the highest increase among Bay Area counties. The City of Alameda’s homeless population had an uptick of 13% to 231 people, compared to the last count conducted in 2017.
DISCUSSION
This year, the CoC has worked with the County to develop a new structure with careful consideration of COVID-related safety. The new approach will rely heavily on existing service provider outreach teams while also recruiting some community volunteers. Volunteers will be asked to sign up with people who are in their social pods. This year, no central gathering place will be used and teams will meet directly in the area they are surveying. The County will also be using a special app for cell phones to help collect PIT Count data.
The PIT Count will start with a count of shelters on the evening of January 24, 2021 and then the visual count will begin at 5:00 am on January 25, 2021. Teams will move in groups to do a visual count without interacting with individuals. Teams that are formed with service provider staff will include an unhoused guide who will receive compensation of $20 per hour. Community volunteer teams will not include a guide due to COVID safety reasons.
Included in the count are individuals living on streets, or in tents, make shift shelters, vehicles, parks, abandoned buildings, bus or train stations, camping grounds, emergency and domestic violence shelters, community cabins, transitional housing programs, safe parking and seasonal/overflow shelters. Not included in the count are individuals staying place-to-place (couch surfing), residing in doubled up or crowded conditions, in rehabilitation or mental health facilities, in jail or prison, or pending eviction or foreclosure.
To create a more accurate count, the PIT Count will be followed by a smaller “Person Multipliers” effort. This would count the average number of individuals living in recreational vehicles, cars, tents and makeshift structures for the purpose of better estimating the number of individuals in the PIT Count itself.
The PIT Count will also be followed by a survey of 5-10% of the unsheltered and sheltered homeless population. These surveys are designed to give information required by HUD, but they can also include limited questions from local communities. The survey process will be conducted by guides who are peers and have lived experience being unhoused.
A similar youth PIT Count will occur on January 25 in the afternoon and evening. Included in this count will be unaccompanied children age 17 and under, unaccompanied young adults age 18-24 and unaccompanied parenting children and young adults. Youth teams will be led by youth familiar with youth homelessness in the area, with a youth-serving groups organizing this effort. These youth guides would be paid $20 per hour. The youth would identify locations where unhoused youth reside. The youth count will be a targeted effort and will not occur in every Census tract. Youth will be counted in youth serving programs, including transgender serving organizations, as well as in known encampments.
As the PIT Count will provide valuable data that can be used to strengthen services for the homeless in Alameda, and as the PIT Count may result in additional funding resources for the City and the County, staff is recommending that City Council accept the report of the EveryOne Counts! 2022 Point-In-Time Count of the homeless population in the City.
ALTERNATIVES
• Accept the report of the EveryOne Counts! 2022 Point-In-Time Count of the homeless population in the City.
• Do not accept the report of the EveryOne Counts! 2022 Point-In-Time Count of the homeless population in the City. City staff will continue to participate in coordinating the PIT Count.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Staff is investing a significant amount of staff time in the Alameda PIT Count. In addition, staff has ordered a customized report from EveryOne Home that includes a two page summary infographic, custom narrative content, including supplemental customized survey data to the city level and race/equity measures with intersectional analyses. The length of the report is 60 to 70 pages. The cost is $17,000 from budgeted funds. Other costs associated with the PIT Count are paid by Alameda County.
A low Pit Count would have a potential future impact of decreased funding from the County for homeless services.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with Goal 3 of the “Road Home - A Five-Year Strategic Plan to Prevent and Respond to Homelessness in Alameda. Strategy 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 would be addressed. It will provide information that can be used to determine how to best strengthen the homeless response system infrastructure (supporting Strategy 3.2). In addition, as the PIT Count informs funding that the County receives for homeless services, it is possible that the count could result in additional funding for the City as well (supporting Strategy 3.3). It also provides an opportunity for community engagement and a mechanism for community education related to understanding homelessness, as community volunteers participate, and as the PIT Count results in a report that can be shared with the community (supporting Strategy 3.1).
This action is consistent with the Charter and Ordinance authority of the Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) “to improve social services in the community” (Alameda Municipal Code Section 2-11.5).
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) section 15378(b)(5) (not a project); and section 15601(b)(3) (non-significant environmental impact).
CLIMATE IMPACTS
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 PIT Count would provide information that can be used to better serve the homeless community, and a robust count may result in additional resources to serve the homeless population.
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the staff presentation regarding the EveryOne Counts! 2022 upcoming Point-In-Time Count of the homeless population in the City of Alameda.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager concurs with the Community Development recommendation regarding accepting the staff presentation regarding EveryOne Counts 2022.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Nelson Maxwell, Community Development Director
By:
Veronika Cole, Community Services Manager
Lois Butler, Economic Development and Community Services Manager
Financial impact section reviewed,
By: Gerry Beaudin, Interim Finance Director
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager