Agenda Item No: L.3
AGENDA REPORT
DATE: June 2, 2026
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: David Gassaway, City Manager
SUBJECT: HD Presentation and Direction for Homeless Priorities
Funding Source: N/A
Contact: Samantha Burrows, (707) 428-7749
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Receive report, open discussion, and provide direction to staff.
STATEMENT OF ISSUE
City Council has identified reducing and expanding services and support systems for homelessness as a top priority. Staff is seeking direction to establish goals and expectations for the next two years.
DISCUSSION
The 2024 Solano County Point in Time Count (PIT) reported that the City of Fairfield has 615 unhoused individuals within the city limits and 1,725 unhoused individuals across the county. The 2026 PIT Count has been submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for review, and the results should be released later this year.
As of December 2025, the Fairfield -Suisun Unified School District (FSUSD) reports there ar e 470 families (877 children) experiencing housing insecurity enrolled in FSUSD. Housing insecurity encompasses homelessness, frequent housing changes and those at risk of becoming homelessness due to housing that is unstable, unsafe, and/or an inadequate place to live.
In response to the growing need for interventions to address those who are unhoused and reduce the impacts on the city, the council has authorized several short -term interventions including expanding emergency shelter capacity, creation of the street outreach team, and supporting a coordinated regional response through Community Action Partnership Solano -Joint Powers Authority (CapSolano JPA).
Due to City budget cuts due to the structural deficit, reduction in federal and state funding, and city council’s dissatisfaction with results from investment of certain providers, the council has reduced operational funds for emergency shelters in the city which has reduced the overall accessible capacity for emergency shelter within the city. Curr ently, Fairfield funds emergency shelter beds at Change and New Beginnings (CANB) and Mission Samoa which averages supporting 26 beds per night across the two programs. To address sheltering needs during winter inclement weather months, the City also funds a nightly winter shelter at BayNorth Church of Christ, increasing City supported capacity by 10 beds five months of the year. At the council retreat in January 2026, council gave direction to increase funding for Mission Samoa which will increase capacity for single adults by a couple beds in the next fiscal year.
In January 2025, the street outreach team was launched in partnership with CANB. The service was created to fill the gaps created by reduction in the Homeless Intervention Team (HIT) due to the deficit. The shift also allows HIT to focus on enforcement while CANB provides social services.
CANB’s ACCESS Team resulted in 84 individuals exited from Fairfield streets between January 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026. Of these 84 individuals, 38% (32 indiv iduals) moved into permeant housing solutions and 50% (42 individuals) moved into temporary housing solutions (emergency shelter, transitional housing or placements with friends/family on a temporary basis).
Under the direction of the council, the city h as been able to implement intervention strategies that are key in an effective homeless response system. However, there are still gaps in the system of care to achieve function al zero. A functional zero system of care reduces homelessness to a level so low that it is rare, brief, and resolved quickly with a system capacity equal to the number of people experiencing homelessness at any given time.
The biggest challenges faced by both the emergency shelter providers and outreach team is the lack of affordable housing capacity. Currently, there is a bottle neck in the system of care moving individuals from unhoused into housing due to these key factors:
1. Rents across Solano County have risen faster than income
2. Lack of affordable housing units
3. Limited housing assistance funds and housing vouchers
Affordable housing provides a housing pipeline to house individuals after interventions such as street outreach and emergency sheltering.
Additionally, the inflow (those who become unhoused) is still high, keeping the overall unhoused numbers from significantly decreasing. Inflow is driven by high costs of housing, evictions, and economic shocks. Overall , homeless growth in California has decreased to 3% between 2024 - 2025 but is still slightly rising. Between 2025-2026 there was a slight decline in homeless numbers in some communities as a result increased affordable housing supply, increase in permanent supportive housing (PSH) and funding for support services, prevention and rapid rehousing programs.
Additional short-term intervention options include:
1. Increase capacity for emergency shelter/interim housing placements
2. Increase assistance for non-sub populations (i.e. behavioral health, veterans, transitional age youth)
3. Increase transitional pathways (not just emergency beds)
4. Create prevention and diversion assistance programs
The current trend for funding to assist unhoused is focused on veterans and individuals with behavioral health disorders. While needed, this leaves gaps in services for the population who do not meet the criteria for programs with restricted funding.
Additionally, programs do not provide capacity to assist families with spaces for larger household sizes. This results in families sleeping in their cars, tents in parks, separatin g the household causing additional destabilization, and/or depletion of limited financial resources to pay for motels.
At the council retreat in January 2026, council expressed interest in recovery -based sheltering programs. Currently in the pipeline for Solano County includes:
1. Archway Recovery Services is building a 62 -bed residential treatment center in Fairfield for those struggling with substance use disorders; scheduled to open early 2027.
2. Solano County Behavioral Health is building/adding to their Recovery Campus in Fairfield.
Additions include 14 additional crisis stabilization beds (26 beds), a peer respite program (20 beds) and a sobering center (12 service slots) which is scheduled to be completed in December 2028.
Staff researched Hope House in San Francisco, a non-congregate 58-bed recovery focused shelter program run by Salvation Army. It provides a 90-day to one-year stay that includes private living spaces, intensive on -site programing such as recovery groups and wrap -around services , and random drug testing.
Hope House does not comply with California’s Housing First requirements (Welfare and Institutions Code §8255(b)) nor previously released federal funding . The program costs, estimated at $8.1 million for 2 years ($191 per bed per night), are funded through only local funds and philanthropic dollars in a public -private partnership. It operates as a parallel model within San Francisco’s continuum of care as an opt-in shelter.
Regional capacity through CapSolano JPA has expanded with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between local cities (except Dixion) and the County of Solano. While implementing the strategic plan has been slow, three staff have been hired and a search for a new Executive Director is currently underway . The JPA staffing is starting to reduce the bottleneck of getting funding into contracts and into the community, resulting in an increase in services. However, due to the staffing turnover no new funding sources have been obtained.
There has also been a decline in homelessness investments over the last three years at the state level. Homelessness related spending in California peaked in 2022 -2023 at $6.9 billion (mostly one-time COVID-19 pandemic-era revenues and flexible federal funding). Since then, funding has declined to $2.5 billion in 2024-2025 and to $1.5 billion in 2025-26.The Governor’s current budget proposal (fiscal year 2026 -2027) projects no additional or ongoing state funding beyond what was committed in previous years. Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) funding is maintained with a 50% reduction amount from what the program received in previous years.
Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA/Prop 1) funding is in the budget, which is n ot new funding but a reallocation of existing funding, and is focused on permanent housing solutions for those with behavioral health conditions.
Additionally, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has not yet released the updated master Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) calendar for all homeless and housing programs. The known cycle of funding includes : Solano County Continuum of Care was awarded $2.1 million in HHAP 6 in one -time funding. There is no current timeline for when these funds will be released through CAPSolano JPA.
Uses for known one-time state funding:
1. Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) 6 : funds for Interim Housing/Emergency Shelter, Rapid Rehousing (including youth set -aside), and Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). HHAP funds may shift depending on changes to 2026 HUD guidance, but details are unknown.
2. Encampment Resolution Funding (ERF) : funding can be used for services that resolve encampment concerns without punitive displacement including rapid rehousing, supportive services, emergency shelter, housing navigation and placement. This funding has been unsuccessful in Solano County (Vallejo has applied for this funding twice) due to the lack of available pathways to housing.
3. Homekey+: Prop 1 funds available over the counter (i.e. applications for funding accepted until funds are exhausted) for creation of permanent supportive housing projects.
The timing of the next Federal HUD NOFA for homeless housing is anticipated to be released in June 2026 with an expected allocation of $4 billion in competitive grants. HUD has not published the finalized list of eligible project types for the anticipated funding. Historically, this funding has supported permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, HMIS, coordinated entry and planning grants. The 2025 HUD NOFA was withdrawn pending an anticipated shift in fundi ng away from permanent supportive housing and more funding for transitional housing and services.
Staff seek additional council direction on priorities in addressing homelessness to establish clear goals.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
N/A
PUBLIC CONTACT/ADVISORY BODY RECOMMENDATION
N/A
ALTERNATIVE ACTION
N/A
COORDINATED WITH
City Manager’s Office and Police Department
STAFF CONTACT
Samantha Burrows, Homeless Services Manager
(707) 428-7749
[email protected]
ATTACHMENTS
N/A