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7.A. - Page 9 of 16 County "functional zero" vision for ending homelessness Homelessness Facilities and Needs Achieving functional zero for homeless means that all homeless residents who request shelter can be housed in an emergency shelter or in temporary or permanent housing. Prior to the start of the pandemic, there were 281 beds for homeless adults in San Mateo County at three shelters located in Redwood City, East Palo Alto and South San Francisco. At that time, the shelter waiting list varied from 5 to 75 people depending on the season. Pre-COVID-19, to achieve functional zero, the County estimated that 340 shelter beds were needed. This does not mean that all homeless residents would be off the streets. It means that all homeless residents seeking shelter could be offered a place to stay. Today, to comply with health guidelines, the capacity of the three shelters is 176 residents, a reduction of 105 beds due to the pandemic. To accommodate the residents at high risk of COVID-19, either due to age or pre-existing conditions and provide beds for the former shelter residents displaced by the capacity reduction, the County has contracted for 184 hotel rooms. Currently, 360 homeless residents are residing in either hotel rooms or in one of the three congregate shelters. The wait list for a shelter bed continues to fluctuate between 5 and 75 people seasonally. While the number of homeless residents seeking and accepting shelter varies daily, the County estimates that 400 to 450 beds for homeless adults are needed to achieve functional zero now. Functional Zero Plan Due to the pandemic, the need for shelter beds, especially those that provide privacy and allow for isolation, has increased. Those needs are currently being met at hotels, but the County is working on plans to transition hotel residents to permanent housing or back to congregate shelters in 2021. The cost of the hotel rooms is over $750,000 a month, which the County cannot continue to pay indefinitely. To accommodate all the hotel residents and the maximum waiting list, the County estimates that 225 new single room shelter beds are needed. The County will provide the needed single shelter rooms by purchasing one or more hotels, potentially through the state's Project HomeKey program and constructing a new shelter in Redwood City. If funded by Project HomeKey, one of the hotels will provide 75 rooms for homeless residents replacing about a third of the hotel rooms. To accommodate the rest of the hotel room residents, the County is contemplating purchasing modular units to accommodate 100-130 residents that could be installed adjacent to the current shelter on the site of the former women's jail at 1580 Maple. In addition, the County is pursuing the purchase of other hotels to further expand single rooms for homeless residents and fully achieve the 225 single room goal in 2021. The longer-term concept is to build a new shelter to replace both the existing Maple Street shelter and potentially the additional modular units. The planned capacity of the new shelter is 232 beds with a combination of congregate areas and single rooms. Together, existing shelters, the additional modular units and the hotel will provide 382 beds for homeless adults in 2021. If needed, a limited number of hotel rooms would accommodate additional clients needing single rooms in the near term or until an additional hotel is purchased by the County. Page 9 of 13 City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.ore 149