Dear Council Members,
I am writing in regards to Item #10.
I ask that you do not support this grant application.
There are several reasons that I ask you to reject this application. 1) Sebastopol already has a HomeKey project; Elderberry Commons; 2) Sebastopol, compared to other cities - namely Sonoma, Cloverdale, Windsor, Cotati and Healdsburg - has an extremely high number of homeless housing per capita – Elderberry Commons, Park Village, Safe Parking at the Community Church. In addition, the City offers showers and meals at local churches and provides a homeless outreach coordinator;
3) There is no reason for Sebastopol to add homeless housing when some cities like Sonoma, Cloverdale and Windsor who have much larger budgets and more revenue streams have no homeless housing and no Homekey projects. Cotati, a City similar in size and budget has no homeless housing and no budget crisis. See the Cotati budget:
https://city-cotati-ca-budget-book.cleargov.com/4249/budget-overview/executiveoverview I ask that the City ask SVP to pursue a mixed income development with housing for families included in the development. The location is near a school, groceries and other amenities, making it ideal for low income families.
In addition, I would ask that SVP provide the following:
1) Housing for any Horizon’s Shine residents that do not have housing when Horizon Shine is closed so we do not end up in a situation which recently happened when residents had to move out of Elderberry Commons and did not have housing; 2) Residents from Horizon Shine priority for units in the SVP development; 3) 25% of the development be dedicated to low income families; 4) Priority given to people either employed or on the waiting list for the Burbank Apartments on Bodega Avenue.
All cities in California need low and extremely low-income housing, I ask that this project be mixed use to include low and extremely low income housing and housing for low income families.
I agree that this should be a 100% residential project. There is no need to add to our commercial inventory.
Best,
Kate Haug