AgdaPkt 2009-03-23 - Laserfiche WebLink

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78 Service League, Downtown Business Group, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Page 2 Mateo Lodge, and the San Mateo County Center on Homelessness. Redwood City is challenged with homelessness as the County seat and the home of County jails where former inmates are released after midnight. The recent homeless count conducted in January 2009, showed that 117 adult men and women and two children were living outside. Additionally, there were 16 cars with sleeping occupants, 40 vans or RV's used for sleeping, and a total of 42 homeless encampments were found in various parts of the city. The City relies on expertise from the County's Center on Homelessness and the County's ability to receive and distribute funding for homeless programs to shelters operated in San Mateo County. Redwood City residents may be referred to shelters in other areas of the county according to availability of shetter beds. The County's Human Services Agency is also a critical part of delivering supportive services and providing case management services to homeless individuals. For this reason, staff seeks Council support to partner with the County on affordable housing activities that further the goals of ending homelessness and to provide housing and supportive services to chronic homeless persons who may refuse short term emergency shelter. The HOT Housing subcommittee's role is to explore the resources and methods available to provide readily accessible housing for chronic homeless persons. The Housing Subcommittee is charged with identifying and recommending sites to be acquired for this purpose. The Housing Subcommittee recommended that an application for funding be submitted to the Housing and Human Concems Committee (HHCC) and to the County for 2009-2010 to help acquire existing Redwood City housing units that can be used as permanent affordable housing for low income and homeless persons identified by the HOT case managers and approved by the HOT Oversight Committee. Funding recommendations made by the HHCC will be submitted to Council during a Public Hearing on April 27, 2009 as part of the approval process for the City's 2009-2010 Fifth Annual Action Plan of the Five Year 2005-2010 Consolidated Plan period. The City's pr.oject is called "Housing Firsf, indicating that some of the potentially acquired units will be used to provide permanent housing to persons currently living on the streets of Redwood City and particularly in the downtown. These individuals will then be provided with case management and supportive services to help them stabilize their lives and break the cycle of homelessness. The City's role will be to facilitate the identification of appropriate sites in Redwood City that can be used for this purpose. The Police Department and Case Managers will determine individuals most suited for the housing units that may be made available. The City would acquire property using CDBG and HOME funding and contract with other service providers to hold title of the acquired site(s) and manage the units. County Human Service Agencies and non-profit service providers will utilize multiple existing resources for case management and supportive services for the residents placed in housing units as they become available. The City's Consolidated Plan goals focus the uses of CDBG and HOME funds on expanding the supply of affordable housing. On March 4, 2009, the HHCC recommended approximately $500,000 from CDBG and HOME funds for this activity and instructed staff to make application to the County of San Mateo for an additional