From:
To:
Subject: FW: Public comment, item 2-CC
Date: Wednesday, January 29, 2025 9:21:47 AM
Mary Quinn
Senior Deputy City Clerk
Office of the City Clerk
From: Brandi Nuse-Villegas
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2025 8:58 AM
To: Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Public comment, item 2-CC
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Cities should work on solutions to meet the housing needs of those who are unhoused, as the lack of affordable housing is the number one reason for homelessness in California and throughout the nation, according to multiple studies (in California, the recent UCSF and Stanford studies).
Displacement is not a solution and shouldn’t be conducted by municipalities. However, I want to note that this bill gives the impression of assumption or may create or bolster an assumption within the public that the reason for the numbers of those who are unsheltered is, in part at least, those who have been brought in from other places. Rather, the issue continues to concern causes of being unsheltered and the challenges of getting permanent housing again. Reports (UCSF and Stanford) on
Fresno show that the increase in homelessness coincides with challenges and hardships that those in Fresno have faced: a sharp increase in rent ($500 in average between 2018-23), a 9,000 housing unit lack from extremely low to moderate income housing according to the California HCD and the 2023 Fresno Housing Element Report. The 2022 Point in Time Count shows that 18% of those who responded were survivors of domestic violence and I know multiple survivors who are struggling to get into shelters (the Marjaree Mason has been full multiple times that I have taken someone and other have reported the same, thus the need for more beds) and to get into permanent housing. Many are elderly or disabled and are on fixed incomes and have lost housing due to changes in support systems or unaffordable rent. While the majority of those surveyed by the PIT are not dealing with substance abuse, those who have sought it out are on waiting lists to get in, but those who do going into treatment programs are still exited out back onto the streets, as are many who go to the shelters and timed out. (there is a 85 year old woman currently facing having to leave the shelters). We need to pursue the Housing Element focus of Housing First and focus on decreasing the number of those who are unsheltered by meeting the housing needs of our community per the HCD requirements.
As well, I think it's important to note that the MAPS program does have a service where they help people in Fresno with the costs of transportation to be reunited with family members in other cities (upon verifying the family member and the permanent housing). I hope in cases like these in which someone has family
that this bill would not create a barrier to reunification.