DATE: June 3, 2021
TO: Homelessness-Housing Task Force
FROM: Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT
Title
Provide Feedback on Let’s House Hayward! Strategic Plan Implementation Strategy and Federal Stimulus Homelessness Expenditure Recommendations
End
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That the Homelessness-Housing Task Force provide input on the Let’s House Hayward! Strategic Plan draft Implementation Strategy and Federal stimulus homelessness expenditure recommendations. End
SUMMARY
On January 28, 2020, the Council approved the City’s Strategic Roadmap, which includes the priority area to Protect, Preserve, and Produce Housing. That priority area includes the project to create and implement a homelessness reduction strategic plan. On September 22, 2020, Council authorized an agreement with Homebase to prepare the five-year Let’s House Hayward! (LHH) Strategic Plan.
Since the project launch in October 2020, Homebase has conducted extensive best practice research and collected a wide range of data and input from City stakeholders. On April 20, 2021, staff conducted a Work Session with City Council to solicit feedback on the vision, goals, and priority projects identified in the LHH plan. During this meeting, Council provided important feedback on potential gaps in the current plan and opportunities to be more comprehensive in the City’s response to homelessness. A summary of Council’s feedback and how that feedback will be addressed in the final LHH plan and is summarized in this report.
Since the April 20, 2021, Council Work Session, Homebase has hosted three working meetings with members of the LHH Steering Committee, which consists of community experts and leaders. Each working meeting focused on one of the LHH goals:
Ø Goal 1: Formalize a Coordinated and Compassionate Citywide Response to Homelessness and Develop Wider Community Understanding and Engagement
Ø Goal 2: Increase Availability of and Reduce Barriers to Homeless Crisis Response Services
Ø Goal 3: Ensure Access to and Retention of Affordable Permanent Housing
Homebase integrated the feedback from the Steering Committee with best practice research and extensive community and staff feedback (discussed in more detail at the April 20, 2021 Work Session) to produce the Implementation Strategy presented in Attachment II.
The recently passed America Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), also known as the COVID-19 Stimulus Package, included over $65 billion in direct federal relief to cities to address the economic and fiscal impacts of the COVID crisis and to assist in the recovery of local communities, including $38 million in local relief for the City of Hayward. On April 27, 2021, Council adopted a resolution authorizing the acceptance of the federal stimulus allocation under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and provided comments on a detailed expenditure plan and process for allocating the funds. Staff proposed that $10 million - $14 million be allocated to housing and homelessness projects and programs.
This report will discuss a more detailed expenditure plan for federal stimulus allocations to address homelessness consistent with the LHH Implementation Strategy. The stimulus expenditure plan for housing programs is presented in a concurrent report on this same Task Force agenda. Once various Council Committees and Commissions provide further feedback on the specific projects and programs to be funded with stimulus dollars, staff will return to Council in July 2021 with a budget appropriation for expenditure of stimulus funding.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment I Staff Report
Attachment II Implementation Strategy
Attachment III Evaluation Indicators