1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: November 15, 2022
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Patrick Prescott, Community Development Director VIA: Simone McFarland, Assistant Community Development Director By: Marcos Gonzalez, Housing Development Manager
SUBJECT: Approval of a Five-Year Homelessness Plan (2022/23 – 2027/28)
RECOMMENDATION
Approve the City of Burbank (City) Five-Year Homelessness Plan (2022/23 – 2027/28) (Plan) with action-oriented solutions, goals, and metrics to address the needs of Burbank’s unhoused residents and help those at-risk of becoming homeless (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND
On April 5, 2022, City Council was presented a proposed five-year Homelessness Plan (Plan) that built on the successes of the previous three- year Homelessness Plan that assisted people experiencing homelessness through a collective network of services and partnerships. The Plan was developed through a collaborative effort between LeSar Development Consultants and the Burbank community (a vast representation from nonprofit and faith- based groups, service organizations, residents, businesses, health providers, local government agencies, and others) . The Plan included seven guiding principles provided by the City Council . A summary of the guiding principles, meetings, creation of the Plan, and strategies were described in the Homelessness Plan staff report dated April 5, 2022 (Attachment 2).
DISCUSSION
During the April 5, 2022, meeting, City Council provided feedback on the proposed Plan, and requested changes that included adding specific measurable goals . Subsequently, staff revised the Plan which includes several key changes:
• Rewriting much of the document to incorporate City Council’s feedback.
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
2 • Creating a Plan that is Burbank centric with local action strategies, goals, and metrics for the next five years.
• Adding the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count data. • Blending all these changes into an easy -to-read Executive Summary, General Overview, Strategic Playbook , and Future Financial Summary of Needs. The Strategic Playbook is the heart of the Plan and was designed to provide clarity and a way to measure progress in executing the Plan on an annual basis. • Using City Council’s Principle #7 as the primary objective and 5- year metric to measure our community’s and staff’s success in reducing homelessness within Burbank. Principal #7 reads: “ The City of Burbank is committed to reducing the number of Burbank’s unsheltered homeless population id entified in the 2022 Los Angeles County Homeless Count by 50% by Fiscal Year 2027/28.
City Council also requested the inclusion of specific strategies to address at -risk subpopulations such as, older adults, people with disabilities, and families with children.
To prevent or aid vulnerable subpopulations from exit ing homelessness, staff added a goal to develop a systemic pathway to emergency services, shelter, supportive services, and housing. This will be ac hieved by identifying and supporting a lead service organization for Burbank.
The City Council specifically requested a stronger relationship with Burbank Unified School District (BUSD). BUSD is now participating in monthly internal homeless ness group meetings with City Departments, outreach team s, and Providence St. Joseph Medical Center.
Lastly, the Council requested a staffing and budget scenario that could support the City’s implementation of the five-year Plan’s actions. The budget information is now provided as Part 5 of the Strategic Playbook. Some actions are already occurring and will continue based on current budget allocations , while other sections of the Strategic Playbook are aspirational due to their reliance on additional funding and staffing. Both areas are noted within the Plan. For the aspirational actions to occur, there needs to be a commitment of additional financial and staff resources due to the City’ s inability to recoup funding commensurate with the Measure H funds the City pays to Los Angeles County.
Measure H
In March 2017, voters resoundingly approved Measure H, a .25 percent increase to the County’s sales tax to provide an ongoing revenue stream for an estimated $355 million per year, for ten years. The money funds services, rental subsidies, and housing. Funds for infrastructure items such as building shelters are not included in Measure H. Since 2017, the City of Burbank has contributed approximately $45.1M to the overall funding of Measure H programs without a direct allocation back to the City. Burbank has applied for 3 grants and to date has received $1,543,745 , a fraction of the total amount paid. This funding has been used for improvements at the SAFE Storage and Navigation Center.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact related to adopting the revised Five-Year Plan and Strategic Playbook. There will be associated impacts to the City to implement the aspirational actions within the Plan, and those will be presented at future City Council meetings.
CONCLUSION
The Burbank Five-Year Homelessness Plan and specifically the Strategic Playbook will act as a guiding document to change the everyday experiences of our unhoused neighbors and help address the City’s continuous homelessness challenges. Approval of the Plan demonstrates Council’s ongoing commitment to reduc e the number of Burbank’s unsheltered homeless population identified in the 2022 Homeless Count by 50% before the end of June 30, 2028.
ATTACHMENTS
1 – City of Burbank Five-Year Homelessness Plan (2022/23 – 2027/28) 2 – Homeless Plan Staff Report dated April 5, 2022