City Of Cupertino Process For Assisting Unhoused Residents September 16, 2022
Cupertino City Council Resolution 20-140, adopted on December 15, 2020, endorsed the Santa Clara County Community Plan to End Homelessness. The City of Cupertino’s (City) process listed below addresses Strategy 3: Improve quality of life for unsheltered individuals and create healthy neighborhoods for all . The City has received input from the community regarding concerns of unhoused individuals living on Cupertino property. Working to address these concerns as quickly and effectively as possible is important to the City . There are many social and legal hurdles that must be considered when working on these scenarios. Recent court cases have upheld the rights of unhoused individuals to occupy public property if alternative housing options and certain levels of support are not avail able to these individuals. These necessary services are not directly provided by the City and therefore the City must engage with other entities to ensure these services are available.
Many individuals experiencing homelessness simply need assistance to change their unhoused situation. For this reason, the City of Cupertino has taken an approach that focuses first on ensuring the well-being of the unhoused individuals, second on informing the individuals of the assistance available to them, and third on assisting the individual to a setting that can provide services. These steps require time to properly implement.
For emergency situations, call 911. To request a non -emergency welfare check, call 408 - 299-2311.
The City’s Process for Assisting Unhoused Individuals:
1) To notify the City of unhoused individuals or encampments, submit a request through Cupertino 311 app or www.cupertino.org/311
.
2) City contacts County Office of Supporting Housing (OSH) who engages the individual, offering available assistance services to them. In cases where individual accepts services, the individual is typically taken to facilities where assistance is provided.
3) City may request County Sheriff’s Office to engage with individual(s) and perform a wellness check. For individuals needing immediate medical assistance, the Sheriff’s Office will initiate emergency medical services. The Sheriff’s Office will notify the City of its assessment.
4) Where individuals are not willing to immediately accept services, the City continues to coordinate with OSH in additional outreach. OSH and non-profit contractors work to build trust with the individual towards having the individual accept the assistance available.
5) During the OSH outreach period, OSH provides the City with its assessment of its efforts. If continued efforts do not result in the individual accepting assistance, OSH provides the City with a determination that continued efforts will not result in the individual relocating to assistive services.
6) City initiates an encampment resolution process. This proce ss follows the steps required to notice the encampment occupants of the City’s intent to dismantle the encampment and to have the area cleared of any items that remain at the location.
The resolution process requires the City to work with OSH to secure a vailable shelter options for each individual at the location . Any items of apparent value will be stored for up to 90 days . A posted notice at the location will provide guidance to individuals on how to retrieve their belongings.
An encampment resolution is the final effort to have an encampment removed from City property. This step typi cally results in individuals relocating to another site, whether a sanctioned shelter or another unsanctioned location, and the site is cleaned up by City led forces. If individuals relocate to another unsanctioned location, the City’s process steps are reinitiated upon notification of the new encampment.
The City makes every effort to engage with unhoused individuals and to provide to them the services available to help them off the street s. The encampment resolution phase is considered a last resort as this typically does not result in the individual being assisted off the street.
The process to prioritize outreach and engagement to build trust and rapport has shown to be the most effective approach at helping unhoused individuals on a path to housing and addressing the community’s concerns.