DATE: April 20, 2021
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT
Let’s House Hayward! Strategic Plan: Review Update on Planning Process, Vision, Goals, and Priority Projects for the Let's House Hayward Homelessness Reduction Strategic Plan
RECOMMENDATION
That Council reviews this report and provides feedback on the vision, goals, and priority projects identified in the Let’s House Hayward! (LHH) Strategic Plan.
SUMMARY
The Council has long identified homelessness, housing affordability, and eviction prevention as key community concerns. Most recently, Council included Preserve, Protect, and Produce Housing as a priority in the City’s Strategic Roadmap, and listed “Create a Homelessness Reduction Strategic Plan modeled on an empowerment approach and best practices, as well as after Alameda County’s EveryOne Home Plan,” as a key project for achieving the goals of that priority area.
In November 2020, staff partnered with Homebase to develop the Let’s House Hayward! Strategic Plan. Over the past five months, Homebase has engaged a diverse set of community stakeholders, including individuals with lived experience of homelessness, to produce a set of community-informed goals and strategies for reducing and preventing homelessness in Hayward. Stakeholders expressed consensus that acting now on homelessness response is imperative for preventing an even greater expansion of homelessness that may result from the economic, social, and public health impacts of COVID-19. Further, many have called out the important context that, as with homelessness in Hayward, the negative impacts of COVID-19 have disproportionately impacted Black, indigenous, and people of color.
Once approved by Council, the LHH Plan will guide funding and policy decisions over the next five years as Hayward continues to take a leadership role in reducing and preventing homelessness. This report provides an overview of the draft vision, goals, and priority projects identified in the planning process. The vision and goals were drafted using community input and were further vetted with the LHH Steering Committee, a group of community experts and leaders. The priority projects are categorized into two separate tiers based on their implementation readiness. Staff requests that Council provide their input and feedback on the draft vision, goals, and priority projects.
Staff will work with Homebase to integrate Council feedback. In June, staff will present the completed five-year plan to the Homelessness-Housing Task Force, then return to Council later in the summer for final approval.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment I Staff Report
Attachment II Presentation