From: Amy Wooldridge
To: Trish Spencer; Jennifer Ott; Lara Weisiger
Cc: Marcie Johnson; Lisa Fitts
Subject: RE: Agenda Items 5I and 5J
Date: Tuesday, December 5, 2023 12:58:19 PM
Hello Councilmember Herrera Spencer,
These are responses to your questions on 5I and 5J for tonight’s agenda. Per your request, by way of this email, I’m asking our City Clerk to include this response with tonight’s agenda.
5I: Local Winter Warming Services Program to Provide Hotel Stays
Your questions
: By your calculation, the per night total is $230. Why is it so expensive? What is included in this amount? What are the services being provided? How are people placed? Where are they placed? Is priority provided to Alameda residents? Confirm the amount funded by the General Fund.
Answers
: The hotel cost alone is $130 per night and the additional costs include food two times/day plus funding Building Futures staff who provide case management and housing navigation services.
Building Futures staff to connect people to services like primary care physicians, Bay Legal for assistance with Social Security, and CALAim housing navigation services. Because Building Futures also serves families, the per person program cost may be less than this if more than one person is housed in a single room such as a guardian and their child or elderly parent. The City has been funding this service with Building Futures for the last three years and their contractual cost has not increased during that time. Per the Building Futures agreement, they are required to provide a minimum of 70 days of service and could be providing up to 131 days of services for the entire term of the agreement which is 12/6/23 through 4/15/24. This variable is because the number of people in the rooms may vary throughout the season and not all may be placed immediately.
All individuals served in this program are from Alameda. A homeless outreach worker identifies individuals in need living on the streets that meet the medical fragile and/or age requirements, and they are referred to the Warming Services Program. Of the eight clients served last year, five moved to Dignity Village and one moved to Emergency Supportive Housing. This was accomplished through collaboration across providers like The Village of Love, Building Futures and Five Keys. Building Futures’ other clients completed housing applications and left the hotel program with pending housing.
The program funding includes $60,000 from the Alameda County grant and $53,000 from the General Fund for a total program cost of $113,000, which is already budgeted for FY 23-24.
5J: Winter Warming Shelter with Christ Episcopal Church
Your questions
: How many people were served last year and are projected to be served this year? Who gets served? How are they placed and are Alameda residents given priority?
Answers:
63 unduplicated individuals were served last year
Christ Episcopal Church is contracted to serve up to 20 individuals per night. Over the entire season, the Warming Shelter could serve up to 1,820 total stays and individual people can, and often do, stay multiple nights. It’s challenging to project the total unduplicated number of people served as it depends on many factors.
Alameda residents receive priority for service and beds. 100% of referrals to the winter warming shelter are individuals referred by Alameda-based social service agencies, such as the CARE Team, Alameda Police Department and Homeless Outreach Team.
Thank you,
Amy
Amy Wooldridge, she/her
Assistant City Manager
[email protected]
(510) 747-4709