Letters from the Public — San Jose City Council, October 24, 2023

From: Kathryn Hedges < >
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2023 12:52 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>; citya[email protected]; [email protected]; The Oﬃce of Mayor Ma Mahan <[email protected]>; District1 <[email protected]>; District2 <[email protected]>; District3 <[email protected]>; District4 <[email protected]>; District5 <[email protected]>; District 6 <[email protected]>; District7 <[email protected]>; District8 <[email protected]>; District9 <[email protected]>; District 10 <[email protected]> Subject: Agenda Item 8.3

Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Councilmembers:

I am a registered voter in District 3 in Downtown San Jose. I am also a member of the Aﬀordable Housing Network and SURJ and know members of our accountability partner Survivors Of the Streets. AHN and SURJ have not had me to form an oﬃcial posion statement on Agenda Item 8.3, but I believe my personal opinions on aﬀordable housing and racial equity touched on by this agenda item are in line with their typical posions on those issues.

1. I strongly oppose any addional funding to Home First aer the recent ﬁring of several experienced, competent staﬀ members at the Sunnyvale shelter, who were all Black. (The White employee they ﬁred was the General Manager, not staﬀ.) I met those former employees at the County Board of Supervisors when I joined other groups protesng the extension of County contracts with Home First. They seemed like people who cared about their clients and apparently the remaining staﬀ are not as compassionate. Besides the ethical issue of awarding contracts to a contractor that appears to engage in racial discriminaon against employees, I am concerned that this acon may signal racial prejudices they may have against Black clients that would aﬀect service equity. There is also a signiﬁcant pragmac concern that an organizaon that is ﬁghng fair employment lawsuits may be unable to hire the best employees, will be distracted from their responsibilies to clients, and may not even connue to exist for the full 5-year contract term.

2. I am disturbed by reports of how Home First infanlizes their clients and engages in pey tyranny such as forbidding anyone at the Sunnyvale shelter from speaking the name of their beloved former shelter manager. Why should the City contract with providers who can't treat their clients with respect? Residents feel they are not being treated as full human beings, and that is unacceptable.

3. Besides the issues with Home First as a contractor, the report goes into detail about the necessity of providing permanent aﬀordable housing so that interim housing clients can move into permanent housing.

It is clear that if there are no paths out of interim housing, people will either fall back into unsheltered homelessness if they "me out" of interim housing or they will be stuck permanently in interim housing

10/23/23, 3:21 PM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
https://outlook.office365.com/mail/[email protected]/inbox/id/AAQkADUxOWI4ZjE3LTRkNDEtNGUzMS04MjAwLTIzNzdiYTdkMjc5NAAQA… 2/2 This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources. and there will be few vacancies to get new people oﬀ the streets. (And EIH does not seem like a viable long- term living situaon.) The Mayor and his cronies need to stop campaigning against aﬀordable housing and promong "Haven of Hope" in Texas as a model to emulate here.

4. Regarding speciﬁc aspects of the report, such as security, I defer to the people with lived experience in SOS and the Homelessness Response Group. My general impression is that EIH sites are like prison camps where residents aren't supposed to make friends, domesc violence and violence between residents is condoned, visitors from residents' support networks are banned, and morale is so bad that staﬀ can't get residents to aend programs without bribes. There is a lack of access to prevenve medical/mental health care so that people don't get help unl they're in some sort of crisis and someone calls 911. People worry about being kicked out when they me out of the EIH even if they're not in the locaon with the CalTrans lease restricon on residency. Just as in permanent supporve housing, people who act out a lot are housed indiscriminately with people who are physically/mentally vulnerable. It sounds like a hellish living situaon and I support whatever improvements the residents and others with lived experience recommend.

Please do the right thing and replace Home First with a diﬀerent contractor. None of the homelessness service providers are ideal but Home First is far below the rest. Also, please vote for the recommended improvements and any addional changes requested by the people aﬀected by these issues.

I don't approve of the City's suggeson that residents should save money by self-policing the EIH sites because they need to be recovering, not working. Obligaons for community watch shis would interfere with access to outside services and appointments as well as be inappropriate for their mental state coming out of homelessness.

It would be dangerous to try to defend against outsiders with ill intent when they lack training or authority.

Kind regards,

Kathryn Hedges

AFFORDABLE HOUSING NETWORK of Santa Clara County
P.O. Box 5313, San Jose, CA 95150 -

October 24, 2023
RE: ITEM 8.3 OCTOBER 24, 2023

Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,
Affordable Housing Network of Santa Clara County urges the Council to refrain from allocating further funding to HomeFirst Services unless recent allegations of racial discrimination are addressed and resolved. The San Jose Silicon Valley NAACP and Unhoused Response Group have brought to light several extremely serious instances of discrimination against African American employees that require immediate attention. The City cannot claim to be adhering to a racial and equity policy if it fails to demand that its contracted service providers stop mistreating employees based on the color of their skin.

Sincerely,

Sandy Perry
President

San Jose City CouncilOctober 24, 2023

San Jose City Council
October 24, 2023