April 15, 2023
Iliana Rodriguez,
Deputy County Executive
County Executive’s Office
400 County Center, 1st Floor
Redwood City, CA 94063
Re: Local Letter of Acknowledgement
Dear Ms. Rodriguez:
On behalf of the City of South San Francisco, I want to express our support for the County of San Mateo’s Encampment Resolution Funding Program project designed to move 91 people living in 29 encampments into permanent housing. The County’s project expects to serve 198 people living unsheltered, primarily on state rights of way adjacent to U.S. Route 101, Interstate 280, Highway 1, and State Route 92 in the cities of Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, Pacifica, San Bruno, San Mateo, and South San Francisco. In South San Francisco, this includes 20 people living in four encampments. The City of South San Francisco will not be independently applying for ERF funds to address the sites.
South San Francisco is a proudly diverse, modest sized city with a population of approximately 67,000 residents. Approximately 80% of our households identify as a household of color and 60% of residents speak a language other than English at home. South San Francisco’s median household income is nearly half of the County’s at $86,000, and many residents are forced to work more than one job to afford the region’s high cost of housing. As a small city in the highpriced Bay Area, we are faced with a significant homelessness challenge and lack of resources to address it on our own with efficiency. The County plan to target San Mateo’s Critical Homeless Encampment Zone addresses the way unsheltered homelessness is occurring in our region – scattered sites of varying sizes that hug state rights of way corridors. The people in the identified encampment zone share similar needs and will benefit from a coordinated response.
This proposal seeks to immediately decrease the number of individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the County of San Mateo and includes a strategic, coordinated plan that will not only support people through intensive case management but will also provide realistic paths to stability and permanent housing by leveraging many funding streams including California’s Homekey program. I fully support the County of San Mateo’s application for the State of California Encampment Resolution Funding Grant. These state resources will be instrumental to South San Francisco and a prudent and effective use of ERF funds.
Thank you,
Sharon Ranals, City Manager
City of South San Francisco