Homelessness Mayoral Transition Committee Report
Our committee was charged with the task of collectively analyzing the challengeof homelessness, formulating an approach based on a broad set of perspectives,and creating metrics that would help to determine the effectiveness of thesolutions implemented by the City of San Jose. The committee concluded that twooutcomes would serve as the foundation for the work ahead. The first is to reduceunsheltered homelessness by providing a multitude of options for those alreadyunsheltered, creating solutions that would prevent homelessness, and alleviatingthe suffering of the unhoused by providing services, resources, and care for thosein desperate need. The second is to ensure the impacts of unshelteredhomelessness are reduced within our communities, enhancing public safety forall, and mitigating environmental damage.
Outcome and Success Metrics
Outcome #1:San Jose significantly reduces unshelteredhomelessness.
Success Metric A: Increase the number of people housedin permanenthousing solutions and the number of people housed in interim housingsolutions Success Metric B: The- number of people unsheltered- in San Jose on ayear-by-year basis Success Metric C: Increase in the number of peoplewho are preventedfrom becoming unhoused in San Jose.
Success Metric D: Decrease the number of people whoreceive interimhousing and return to unsheltered homelessness and the number of peoplewho receive permanent housing and return to homelessness.
Outcome #2:San Jose mitigates the impacts of encampmentson localcommunities.
Success Metric A: The rate of decrease in trash andenvironmentalcontamination around encampments and in our environmentally sensitiveareas. 1 Success Metric B: The rate of reduction in public safety responses toencampments, while continuing to protect all San Jose residents, bothhoused and unhoused-.
FY 23-24 Recommendations
Recommendation #1: Build more Permanent and EmergencyInterim Housing by:
● Focusing on delivering the emergency interim units that are underdevelopment to meet the goal of 1,000 units completed● Providing funding and resources for permanent supportive housing projectsin the pipeline● Building support in the community for emergency interim housingsolutions.● Accelerating the environmental and procurement process through cityefforts for interim housing.● Identifying larger sites for Emergency Interim Homes that canaccommodate projects at scale.● Building a campus-like living environment similar to Haven for Hope in SanAntonio at scale and with wrap around services.● Building additional emergency interim housing communities across the city.● Being more innovative by acquiring additional hotels, acquiring or leasingprivately-owned land, redesignating vacant commercial buildings or land forhomeless facilities, building more modular housing, adding congregate butprivate housing, etc.● Addressing the fiscal cliff for emergency interim housing onsite operations Recommendation #2: Increase the budget for emergencyrental relief and legalassistance programs to prevent homelessness ● Including tenant protections and programs like right to counsel or acollaborative court system, Recommendation #3: Encourage the County to implement SB 1338 / TheCommunity Assistance,Recovery, and Empowerment Act by December 31, 2023.
Recommendation #4: Budget funding for trash removaland preventingenvironmental damage:● Increase the number of enhanced service sites (SOAR) that havegarbage collection and porta potties 2 ● Expand existing city-wide garbage contracts to collect from streetcorners where unhoused live● Expand programs like Cash for Trash and San Jose Bridge● Create safe-storage sites so unhoused can store belongings in a safeway● Partner with nonprofit organizations and leverage other outsidepartnerships with community-based organizations to preserve ourenvironment.● Educate housed residents, contractors, and others about properlydisposing of items that frequently end up in encampments Recommendation #5: Maintain a daily and public inventoryof vacant emergencybeds to transition homeless from the streets to safe, secure and sanitary shelter.
FY 23-24+ Recommendations
Recommendation #1: Support Emergency Interim Housingin these forms:
● Advocate with our congressional delegation to make land available in SanJose for emergency interim housing, for additional construction andoperations funding, and for CEQA waivers to streamline construction● Continue the accelerated acquisition and construction of emergency interimhousing that meets the needs of the diverse homeless population. In thespirit of collaboration, identify surplus land that Valley Water, the ValleyTransportation Authority, the County of Santa Clara, Caltrans, and othergovernment agencies can make available for the humanitarian cause ofending homelessness in San Jose. City and other government agencyleaders should work together to develop and reserve more sites foremergency interim housing.● Ensure emergency interim housing is designed as safe, private, qualityliving, with showers, storage, and facilities for animals.● Provide safe/clean locations for RV parking and storage.
Recommendation #2: Increase production of permanentsupportive housing toensure long-term housing needs are met, assisting individuals on their path topermanent housing.
Recommendation #3: Once the city has an adequate stockof potential options,discourage access to unsafe areas to protect those experiencing homelessness. 3 Unsafe areas for human habitation exist in San Jose like areas within cloverleafs,and along busy roadways, protecting our businesses, safe routes to schools, andenvironmentally sensitive areas.
Recommendation #4: Analyze and return with a recommendationfor FY 24-25 torepair damage to parks and public property and prepare action plans for park,creek and trail and public space restoration. To accelerate and reduce the cost ofpark restoration, establish park funding and grant authority to park nonprofits,such as the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy and Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful,to contract for park restoration, clean-up and improvements to preventre-encampments. Partner with nonprofits to ensure success.
Recommendation #5: Once sufficient housing options are available, explore howSan Jose might strongly encourage unhoused residents who are offered tailoredhousing solutions to accept them (assuming that they come with the appropriateservices they need, including safe storage, pet accommodations, etc) Homelessness Transition Committee Roster / Acknowledgements
1. Pam Foley, Council Co-Chair2. David Cohen, Council Co-Chair3. David Pandori, Community Co-Chair4. Omar Passons, City of San Jose5. Amory Brandt, City of San Jose6. Jen Loving, Destination: Home7. Peter Pau, Sand Hill Foundation8. John Sobrato, Sobrato Foundation9. Rick Callendar, Valley Water10. Claudine Sipili, Destination: Home11. Laura Sandoval, PATH12. Aubrey Merriman, LiveMoves13. Trish Dorsey, Goodwill of Silicon Valley14. René Ramirez, HomeFirst15. Huascar Castro, Working Partnerships USA16. Dontae Lartigue, Razing the Bar17. Pastor Paul Baines, WeHope18. Carl Salas, Salas O’Brien19.Todd Langton, NY LIFE Securities 4 20.Morris Chubb, CB Administrative Services21.Ray Solnik, Great Clips22.JamesWolak, Apple23.Mark Lewis, AXIS Mayoral Transition Committees "Glossary"
Goals:Each committee has a mandate that includes thegoalsof the committee. Forexample, the goals of the community safety committee are to (1) increasepedestrian and traffic safety, and (2) reduce street level crime and improve the feltexperience of safety for residents and small businesses. In meetings, we've alsoused the words "pillar", "north star", and "mandate".
Outcomes:The transition committees are going to start by discussing what success looks likefrom a holistic community impact or state of well being perspective. We can thinkof these asoutcomes. To give an example, the CommunitySafety Committee maydecide that one of their outcomes is “San José residents feel safe anytime,anywhere in San José” or “San José residents feel safe walking in theirneighborhood.” Recommendations:The Committees will spend the second and third committee meetings generatingrecommendations. Each Committee will produce 3 - 5recommendations for theupcoming budget cycle, and 3 - 5 recommendations for the longer term (withinthe next two years).
The recommendations will also have a success metric attached but Committeemembers are not expected to define actual specific targets for these successmetrics. Recommendations may or may not be specific to a particular Cityprogram or service. For example, stricter enforcement of speeding in heavilytrafficked intersections or increasing the number of traffic calming solutions maybe specific recommendations from the Community Safety Committee. Eachtransition committee will rank their recommendations in order of which they thinkwill have the biggest impact on their goal and outcome. 5 Success MetricsOutcomes and recommendations should be measurable via asuccess metricsuchas a community indicator, which is a performance measure that quantifies trendsaffecting outcomes (the well-being of communities). Success metrics are typicallyexpressed as a rate or percentage and can be disaggregated by race and locationto identify disparities and and take action to close the disparities. To give anexample, an outcome may have the success metric “the percentage of San Joseresidents who feel safe anytime anywhere in San Jose.” The goal is to identifyboththe outcome and the recommendation success metricsso the City does notbecome overly focussed on measuring a particular program or service that is notultimately improving the higher level outcome. When an outcome is not clear orcannot be readily measured, other program or service level performancemeasures may be used as proxies. For example, a proxy success metric forpedestrian and traffic safety might be a reduction in the crash injury rate.Committee members are not expected to define actual specific targets for theseoutcome metrics.
Product:Theproductof the transition committees will be 15- 25 recommendations for theupcoming budget cycle, and 15 - 25 recommendations for the longer term.
The budget cycle recommendations will feed directly into budget prioritizationover the course of two council meetings. In the first council meeting,Councilmembers will provide a publicreadoutof thecommitteerecommendations. In the second council meeting, Councilmembers will rankoutcomes across all the transition committees. The Administration will use theranked strategies from Council and the product from the transition committees asinputs in the normal budget process. 6