To City Council _ Be Informed about HUD grants and the Executive Order Mr. Tibbits speaks well. He may not be as informed as he seems. It is imperative that the city Council and cast votes on data and information and not just what you feel in your heart. You are voting to spend tax payer dollars and potentially put the city at some risk.
Be informed. Below is a link to the full text of the Executive order that is going to disrupt the existing guidelines governing how the homeless are handled. Many public comments have referenced this order and what it contains. You should confirm for yourself that the analyses are real.
Executive Order 14321—Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets | The American Presidency Project
Sometimes some interpretation of government gibberish is helpful. Below is a link to the Bipartisan Policy Center analysis of the executive order and the impact it may have on Federal Policy on Homelessness and funding of programs through HUD President Trump’s Executive Order on Homelessness: A Shift in Federal Policy | Bipartisan Policy Center
For those of you that are not big readers, below is a synopsis from the Bipartisan Policy Center of
the
impact of the Exec
Note element #3 of the summary describes favoring cities that enforce bans on urban camping, loitering, squatting an open air dr use when awarding discretionary grants.
All of this is very complex. It is not known at this time how California will respond. Housing First is a principle built into every law, regulation and program in California. Will California make changes to these laws regulations and programs? Will HUD hold up funds until changes are made? Does California have deep enough pockets to make up for potential freezes to existing housing vouchers. What will happen to future vouchers for facilities like Gravenstein Commons that have not opened.
Who in the city is talking to our state and federal legislators to get advice and guidance. Who is talking to the other cities and counties who got the third wave of grants. Does the California League of Cities have a forum where these issues are being discussed? What do our consultants say. We seem to have at least two consultants being paid and Mark Krug who did the initial assessment of this project. When will we hear from them? Our prior city manager explained the complexity of these programs and the city’s lack of expertise and manpower to manage it properly. Today the city has less expertise and less manpower.
The City Council is the entity responsible. A prior council voted for this against the recommendation of city staff. The mayor is responsible for signing all related documents. There are options for the City Council to consider:
1. Pause construction until all money for construction and the promised contingency funds is in the bank for both capital contingency and operational contingency.
2. For a temporary ad hoc to meet at length with consultants, political representatives, consult the league of cities and to put together something that looks like a viable PLAN.
3. Meet privately with SVdP to discuss other options for the property that may be preferable to them as well. He has publicly stated that taking drug addicts and alcoholics is not his preference. The city needs more low-income housing, not more housing for other cities recently homeless. Sometimes new information gives everyone new ideas.