Recommendation to adopt resolution declaring a shelter crisis; suspending applicable provisions of local law, including those contained in the City's zoning ordinances and regulations; and authorizing the operation of a winter shelter at 5571 Orange Avenue, for the period of December 6, 2017 and March 31, 2018.  (District 8)
Okay. We've done consent already. We're now moving on to item 41, please. A report from Health and Human Services. Recommendation to adopt a resolution declaring a shelter crisis and authorizing the operation of a winter shelter at five, five, seven one Orange Avenue for the period of December six, 2017, and March 31st, 2018. District eight. Mr. West. Mayor, council members. We're here tonight to talk about our winter shelter, to declare an emergency, to put that in motion. The last several years, our winter shelter has been at Atlantic Farms in District nine. Thank you, Vice Mayor at Artesia and Atlantic. This year that spot is no longer available to us. So we've been looking wide and far to find a spot inside the the city to handle that. And we have landed on a facility. It's our old North Library on Orange Avenue on the west side, just between South Street and market. And we appreciate Councilmember Al Austin's support in this. So without I'm going to turn this over to Kelly Collopy, our director of Health and Human Services, and also Theresa Chandler of the Homeless Services Bureau, to walk us through the process. Good evening, Honorable Vice Mayor and Council Members. Thanks for this opportunity to share a little bit more about the winter shelter. So as you know, it's been getting pretty chilly in the mornings. This morning I was out and there were a lot of people wrapped up in coats, hats, gloves and a lot of blankets. And so we're really, you know, we're really excited that we have found the winter shelter opportunity so that the folks who are on the streets will have an opportunity to keep warm. While it may seem that this is sort of a last minute find, I want you to know that we've been searching everywhere that we could possibly look for the last three months, looking throughout the city of Long Beach as well as in neighboring jurisdictions. We had worked with the realtor, the Economic and property management team. LAS We've reached out to our faith based organizations. Everyone we could to identify this site as our previous Atlantic Farm site was not available this year, and the only one that met criteria and that was available was the city in the Old North Library. We're so thankful the building is available. The site being discussed today will be used for the winter shelter this year only it will not be used in the future. As a winter shelter site, the city of Long Beach is releasing an RFP for another use of that building. So it is a short term, less than four month opportunity to be able to house folks who are currently on the street. So I want to thank all of you in the community who have expressed your support for this opportunity. And I'm also hoping that this presentation helps address the concerns of others who expressed their concerns. So the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, otherwise known as Lahsa funds and administers the Winter Shelter Program. The Winter Shelter Program is expected to operate from December 12th of this year to March 31st, 2018. The shelter is funded to provide about between 100 and 140 beds for single men and women experiencing homelessness. It is for adults. Only families who need support will need to call two, one, one and or will be going through the Homeless Family Solutions Services in San Pedro to help find a crisis bed placement license, relax and contract with the providers through a competitive application process. And this year, they selected U.S. Veterans, an initiative otherwise known as U.S. vets, to operate the shelter. US Vets is the nation's largest nonprofit provider of comprehensive services to homeless and Ariz veterans. Well, this mission is to successfully trans transitioned military veterans and their families by providing housing, counseling, career development and comprehensive support. U.S. vets is running the winter shelter, however, not be only for veterans, though we will be doing outreach through with them for veterans services. They'll be collaborating closely with our homeless services team, The Continuum of Care and the SPI coordinated entry system to do outreach, case management and provide housing options to individuals who are staying at the winter shelter. US Vets has an extensive experience operating winter shelters in Long Beach and around the Long Beach community. Their executive director has worked for Alaska and oversaw the winter shelter program countywide. So has a lot of experience in how to operate a shelter. In terms of the city to support the winter shelter. The city expands the hours of the multi-service center. So now will operate from 730 in the morning to 5:00 at night, Monday through Friday, to accommodate the increase in clients who will be accessing services due to the shelter. It also serves as the transportation pick up spot for Long Beach. And so through that people will be meeting there, they will be getting on the bus and going to the shelter. Through that, we're able to provide them more support services, more employment services, behavioral treatment, medical services and housing linkages. So there's a lot of additional supports provided to homeless individuals as they're waiting while they're waiting to be get on the bus. But also, once they get to the shelter itself, the shelters open between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 a.m.. It is not open during the day in the event of rainy weather. Sometimes it can be extended. When those when participants are there, they get dinner, breakfast and case management services and linkage to care. Participants are not allowed to walk up. They must arrive by bus or they must arrive. They can be dropped off by the police or fire department, but they cannot just walk up to the site. U.S. vets will provide the transportation to and from the shelter, from the pick up locations. One of those will be the multi-service. One or the other is in San Pedro. They'll provide security and oversight at the pickup locations, as well as at the shelter. The Street Outreach Network, which is our Continuum of care team. And the many groups that go out together will be proactively reaching out to individuals on the streets and coordinating transportation to the Multi-Service Center to facilitate and facilitate the access. And they'll be working with individuals throughout the city to make sure that they know of the service and of the service that can be provided. Their winter shelter is really an important part to Long Beach for our ability to help house folks. It helps us to build a much stronger relationship and to connect with homeless individuals because they're there almost every night. Many people stay throughout the process and so rebuild trust and relationship. And that's what it takes to start to bring people into service and to help people. HOUSE So this is very important to our to our operation to ensure community safety. The shelter operates as what we call a closed facility. Once participants are checked in, they're not allowed to enter or exit at will. They are now they are not allowed to leave until the bus arrives to pick them up in the morning. Individuals who do not comply with these rules are not allowed back in the shelter in the future. In addition, US vets and MSI will work closely to communicate any issues with individuals accessing the program to make sure that we don't have walk offs from the site. Police and fire are also at the shelter, sometimes to assist individuals who may have mental health or medical crises and that may, you know, higher level of care. And they also, as they're doing their street outreach, will be able to bring people to the homeless shelter. So I want to thank you for the opportunity to share about the shelter that closes our remarks. And Theresa and I are available to answer any questions. Thank you, Councilman Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank staff for the very comprehensive report. Before I go into my comments and deliberations on this, I'd like to hear from the public. That's okay, Mr. Mayor. Sure thing. Is there any public comment? Please come forward. Okay. Let's try this again. You got to stop multitasking. I'm Erlinda, Chico. Phill, deputy for supervisor Janice Hahn and I have a letter of support to read into record. Dear Mayor Garcia, I urge your support in using the Old North Library located at five, five, seven one Orange Avenue for this year's Winter Shelter. The winter shelter will be funded by the county and operated by US vets from December six, 2017 to February 28th, 2018. This shelter would be able to house homeless individuals during the coldest time of the year. This will fill a much needed void of shelter beds for homeless individuals in the region. Homeless individuals who come to the winter shelter will not only be able to find a safe place to sleep, but will also be provided with two meals and referred to resources and programs. I am committed to working in partnership with you and all members of the City Council and the residents of Long Beach to ensure that the operator is able to provide care in a way that is acceptable to the community in which it operates. Thank you for your consideration in advance. Sincerely, Janice Hahn, Supervisor, Fourth District County of Los Angeles. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Karen Rayford. Resident of First District. I am speaking tonight on behalf of seniors that I eat lunch with every day at the Long Beach Senior Center and the lunch program. Many of them are homeless and the lack of transportation to the shelter is a big concern. I know usually there's pick ups at First Congregational Church. Many of them are in walkers and wheelchairs. Some of them are sleeping on the sidewalks outside of the senior center. And that's the regular residents place that's creating a lot of hazards as well as not a good condition for them either. The the walkers and the wheelchairs, it's very, very difficult for people to get to the multi-service center because the bus stop is not close and many of them can't get to San Pedro. They don't have the finances to pay for the bus. They need to be considered when making arrangements for the winter shelters and please get notices to the seniors centers because they don't know. And there they've been actively looking as to when the shelter is going to open. And it's not just the one on Fourth Street, although there's regularly about 25, 30 seniors that are homeless there. And some of them are too proud to go to the shelter and really need the services. So all of the senior centers. Thank you. Thank you. And Speaker. Jim Howard Well, first of all, there is a desperate need for the homeless shelter tonight, the cold weather shelter. And I've operated a number of shelters over the years. And I went out and visited the site, looked at the site and read what they had planned to do with it. And I think the plans are very good. I think the concepts are all they are. They allow you to successfully operate one. While the more difficult ones that I had to operate was actually located 100 yards from the Culver City Council person, and we managed to operate it over many years without any complaints at all because we did use the same concepts that you're doing now with transportation to it, not allowing people to walk in and also treating people while they were in there. And I'm quite familiar with us vets worked with them on partnerships over the years, competed with them at times too, but got operation and got operators. So I think you really have a good plan for successful cold weather shelter. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Gary Barr, eighth district. I just want to put. My comments here. And I represent a lot of the neighbors and neighborhood. Of that library. Okay. Al Austin, the councilman. I believe that he misrepresented. Because he said we have a homeless crisis in our city. And I'm finding that we're going to be bussing in from San Pedro, which is not. I agree, homeless need a place to go. But why are we not. Dealing with our city homeless? Not San Pedro. Okay? Not L.A.. Okay. All these things need to be done. Okay. We have Theresa. Chandler, manager of Human. Services Bureau, stated in the Press Telegram. It is has been a case in previous. There's only people allowed to use these shelters. Are those bused in from other parts of the area? Okay. That is not City of Long Beach issue. Okay. I'm sorry. I pay a lot of taxes here. I've been here for over 40 years. And this is not what we intend to do. Treat our homeless. Not the counties. If you want to do the counties, then put it to a vote. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker, please. Hi. I'm Reverend Heather Minor, and I serve as minister to North Long Beach Christian Church. We are on orange and market and so many of our constituents go to our live in the neighborhood of the North Library. And one of the things I understand about North Long Beach, it is a place that has great heart. I remember one of our members came and she saw somebody walking down the street and she gave her shoes to them and came in to church barefoot because that person needed the shoes more. And that's just the sign and symbol of what North Long Beach really is. And this shelter's just have a piece of who we are as North Long Beach, and I speak in favor of it. Having worked with homeless for over 20 years, starting when I was young in my twenties, in an emergency shelter situation. And I understand that homeless shelters get people off the streets and into services, into conversations that allow them to. Access services so out of the alleyways and into a. Place where they can find a movement towards wholeness. And, you know, I'm thinking that the cold right now is a great blessing to many because it allows them to make that choice to try to do the thing that. Will get them better. So God bless the cold and there. Is room in our inn. So let's open those doors. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is Myra Salinas, and I'm a property owner near the proposed location for the temporary homeless shelter. I am a District eight resident and I have a few concerns regarding the shelter. First and foremost, the residents of the area that we're going to be directly impacted didn't receive notice of the shelter or the proposed location for the shelter. We found out about the proposal from the Gazette newspaper, which a lot of people in the area may or may not have access to. That was my first issue when I did find out I contacted Austin's office, left a message, and I did get a call back the same day. This was last Friday, and I received information that was explained, as was just previously explained. But my concern still is that in our specific neighborhood, we have high crime rates. We already have existing homeless, an existing homeless population that are not going to be directly helped with this shelter because they're going to have to figure out how to get to the other side of town, onto transportation that's going to bring them back and provide that shelter for them. I'm not against helping homeless individuals. My concern is as a resident that is directly going to be impacted by this shelter, anybody who refuses to cooperate and is going to resist or walk off, if I understand that that's being mediated or taken in consideration, but I can't imagine that it's going to go as smoothly as it's proposed. And my my concern as a property owner is regarding the increase in crime, potential substance abuse increase to a neighborhood that's already been impacted. So I, I like I said, I'm not against helping the homeless. You know, we I understand that there's a need for it. I didn't know that there was L.A. County money that was funding this particular shelter. And if that's the case, adding to what was previously mentioned, I can imagine that there's no other location that's not in a residential community, as was in the past. I really five out of the last six years, the shelter was in a commercial area. And I don't know whether there was problems or not because obviously we were not made aware of even this this decision. I just think that as a property owner and concerned for increasing crime to our neighborhood, that's already impacted. I, I think that another location should be considered. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker. Good evening, Honorable Mayor. Members of the City Council. My name is Andy Curt and I'm a resident of the eighth District. And I think, Councilman Austin, for your leadership of our district and in particularly on this issue of homelessness in our community. I'm also currently Supervisor Hahn's appointment as fourth District Representative on the Measure H Citizen Oversight Board. So this issue has been really important for me for a long time. I'm also a former member of the city's Homeless Services Advisory Committee. And so I really understand the hard work. Of. Kelly Colby and Theresa Chandler and the whole team that works for the city. And I do realize how hard they work to try to identify a location for this critically needed winter shelter. And so I'm here today just to say to highly recommend that the city council move forward with their recommendation to to to utilize the former North Lynn Library as this year's winter shelter. It is as, as Kelly mentioned, getting very cold. And we really need to take care of this population and our city. And just to address a couple of the concerns that I heard today, first of all, with with regard to this just being a city issue versus a county issue , I just like to remind folks that this really is a regional problem and we need to work in collaboration with the county. We are through Measure H actually doing extremely well as a city with the resources that we're going to be getting from Measure H, as far as how much we're contributing as a city because of some of the tax calculations. So wanted to remind the council and the community about that that we really are getting a great bang for the buck with the measure h tax revenue that I'll be helping oversee over the next few years. And so I think that's mainly what I say. I also wanted to speak in support of U.S. vets. I think they're just an amazing organization. I'm really excited that they're on board this year. Brenda Thread I've worked with for a long time and I know she's an extremely capable administrator and I know that that they'll do a terrific job this year. Any concerns that the community has? I grew up in the neighborhood of the North Branch Library. I know that community very well. I'm proud to have this service in my district, the eighth district, as is an uptown resident. I think we need to get out of the mentality of we're going to support these efforts as long as there's somewhere else. We need to take ownership in order to really solve. These these difficult. Challenges in the community, we have to be supportive of them in our in our own backyard and not try to block everything that happens close to us. I was here in May and. Supportive in support of. The urgent psychiatric care facility on Long Beach Boulevard that's less than a mile and a half from my home. I would be here in support of it if it was, you know, less than that just a couple blocks away. So thank you for your support. Thank you. Next speaker, I'm going to close the speakers. This is how many more folks are in line. Please, can you guys please get in line? Please let me know who's in line here. Okay. And then there's two other folks as I write for the line. Okay. And then now call closer speakers less. Please come forward. Mayor Councilmembers My name is John Silver. I'm a program manager for US Vets. U.S. Vets has been a veterans homeless service provider in the Long Beach area since 1998. As a member of the Long Beach Continuum of Care, US Vets is dedicated to the work of the continuum of care in the community, serving the most vulnerable of our of our people within our community. The homeless, Long Beach in the US, other words, has participated, has partnered with the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority and the City of Long Beach and the Long Beach Rescue mission to open this homeless, this winter shelter. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that the community is served, is served, and that the safety of the community, of the individuals that are being served and those in the community are being met. It is you know, it is a difficult decision to make as far as finding a place to put to to put these shelters. They've done everything I can what I can see to make this happen. And like I say, we've got a tentative date of 12 December. Hopefully everything works out and that we move ahead with that point. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. My name is Linda Barr, and I live in the eighth District. I just want to verify. One thing and I want to know if it's going on the record that this is going to be for this. Period from December to March. 31st. That is correct. I mean, I believe that this site is actually going out to also the RFP for a different use pretty soon. And so this would be a sort of end with the final date. Yeah, March 31st. March 31st. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Good evening. My name's James Scarborough. I live in the eighth District on Washington Street, two blocks from the proposed facility. Staunch supporter of councilman asked and it's true. This is I found out. About this two days ago. So it is a rather short notice. And our our concern would be impact to the neighborhood. And I'd like to hear how that's going to be addressed and perhaps words to the wise from Councilman Richardson on how to best operate the facility. That is our main concern, day to day operations. So at this point, we we speak I speak opposed to the measure or opposed to the to the item. I'd like to hear the plans for zero negative impact to. The. Local residents and. A protocol. Or you know, who is accountable for this such that we do have a means to address our concerns with ongoing operations and anything that does come up that there is a chain of command to deal with it. Thank you. I can't. Speaker. Frederick Gharib. I live on Washington Street represented by Mr. Alston, and I am like many other people that I have talked to within the last two or three days. I'm really surprised to hear about this in such a short period of time without any hearing conducted about on this, i. I have serious concerns about the safety. We have already a good portion of homeless population in our area, and the last thing that we need is another bigger population of homeless here. I believe this was a very. There's some talking going on in the audience. We can have. Talking in the audience, please. We want to hear the speaker continue. Sir. I still would like to have I wish we had a more hearing on this so more and more people. Mr.. Austin a lot of people are unhappy about this. And one additional question that I had from the lady provided the explanation is that what is your legal ground basis for holding people between 5 p.m. and 7:00 in the morning? If they would like to leave, on what grounds can you arrest them and bring them back? Can you call Long Beach PD to pick them up and return them back to the shelter where this library is located? I don't know if you folks know exactly the location of this library on both sides of the library, up and down on Orange Avenue, we have a whole bunch of apartment complex buildings. It's a very highly condensed population area. They have children playing in their front yards. And I'm sure, Mr. Austin and none of you ladies gentlemen live within a few blocks from that library. Otherwise you wouldn't have decided to go ahead with this. However, I would like personally I would like to Citi double its efforts towards taking care of our homeless population. I honestly believe in that. And on my way coming in, I went through the gantlet of a homeless that you all have noticed here. Thank you so much and I hope you don't pass this motion. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker, please. They're to doing some out-of-the-box thinking in dealing with the veterans that are homeless. Is there some type of paradigm that we can set up with the major downtown hotels, not the ones that are sometimes problematic and by prearranged arrangements have protocols where. At a given hour the night or when the people have to check in. If they've got one room, one room in the Hyatt, in the Hilton, the upscale hotels, or even one level above that. Where they'd be comfortable putting it in its shape, particularly in seasons that are not typically when they're not typically filled. And see if there's protocols that can be set up. They'd be on a list, and the city would make the requisite transportation paradigms with the taxi company. To pick the individuals up and take them to that room. And again, I think my sense is that every hotel might have one room that they could spare for that night for 12 hour or whatever the period, if we work out those protocols after dinner or what. And give that a shot doesn't cost anything to ask. Thank you. Last speaker, please. Thank you. Okay. I'm Dan Rogers, and let's take that given concept a whole step further. I don't. Know what you guys are working on right now, but I do. Know for a fact that what for? Did you work on last? Tell me, please. What did you work on last pick up for? My wife balanced. What? The 13th floor you left on the 13th floor. You were completely vacated during the eighth month of last year. During the eighth month of last year. In the 10th month. You could have. Taken the 10th, 10th floor and occupied the 10th floor with cream of the cream of the crop from the country. Could you not have. Yes. Yes, you could have. Oh, come on, please. Janine, answer that question. Could you not have you're just grinning at me, only you're not being asked. You can say yes, it's okay. So make sure it was addressed. That can be dressed. I'm sorry. Never mind, Mr. Bashir. He's right. Right now. My wife's company, Peachtree Engineering, is doing the eighth floor. They could do your homeless on their eighth floor. Take any of the big builders. They could do any of the floors you're talking about throughout the county. That's just the big builders throughout the country. Take his concept, take his concept and do it throughout the hotels in town. Yes, you can do it all the way. I want to go back to what I was sharing with you earlier. We can take what you want to do every single year and do it underneath the given overpass area in the ninth district that they've taken away. With respect to the freeways on Artesia, where Artesia Cross is, where I used to walk to school today. The star now David Star Jordan West David Star Jordan. Before I to go to Hamilton as before I want to get to down better avenue to go to the elementary school before Artesia got so busy before they widen the freeway, I used to live six stories from the freeway. Now my boyhood childhood is two days from the freeway. That's how much the freeway has eaten up fat jacked fun and I better I'm angry over but this young man told me I get to have 6 minutes because of a different reason. Why did you say this sequence? So you have to be sure you have to address to. I'm sorry, Mr. Garcia. I apologize. Why do you like it? I don't know why this 6 minutes mean. He said I get 6 minutes because I guess I'm changing subjects now because of something he's going to help me with. So you have 8 seconds left. I got no seconds left. I have no seconds. Lady, what are you going to show this guy back here at the Los Angeles County? Thank you. Thank you very much. Your time is up. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir. I'm in sugar. Now. Training is over. Thank you. And you're speaking over. Thank you very much. My special. Counsel. It is. Thank you, sir. So your time is up. You have to take a seat, please. At the end of this Mr. Good, you can't speak out. Okay, Mr. Goodwin, you cannot speak out. Sir, please grab a seat. Thank you, Councilman Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank all of the people who came out this evening on this item to provide public comment. I want to follow up with a couple of questions that were raised during public comment. There was a talk about some some neighbors express concern that there are currently homeless people within the neighborhood. What can be done to try to get those individuals into the shelter? And can you discuss what sort of outreach efforts will be taking place for the homeless population in the general area so that there is some sort of community benefit for the poor? So the Multi-Service Center and our and our street outreach team will be out there reaching out and doing outreach to the folks who are near the shelter and in that community. And at that time, they'll actually have an opportunity to ride in a van to where the bus pick up is so that they'll be able to have access to that. They won't have to do their own transportation to get there. So if they participate in the outreach and they want to be in the shelter, then we'll make sure they can get on the bus to get into the shelter location. And through all of this, they'll also have greater access to case management services, other kind of behavioral health services and other issues that are things that we they have not engaged in in before. So we see this actually as an opportunity to help support the homeless individuals that you're finding in your neighborhoods, to help increase their opportunity to be able to be in the homeless shelter and to increase their access to services. Such as car parks. We see this as an opportunity as well, and to help educate our public about the services that our Health Services Department, Homeless Services Department actually provides. And so if somebody encounters a homeless person and we have them in every neighborhood, people know where where they are, where they're sleeping. If one of our residents were to encounter one of them in their neighborhood, if they were to provide that information, would we be able to outreach and do better outreach in that particular area? Because we have actual staff in that area where. We have a homeless outreach hotline. And so when people call the homeless outreach hotline, they can report that there are homeless individuals or families. And then we send outreach workers out to meet with to meet with those folks. The phone number for that is 5625704550. With that number, people can call. You know, leave a message and then if you would like or call back, then just leave your name and phone number and we'll make sure you get a telephone call back. And then we provide outreach services to those to those neighborhoods. And if they identify that they are in work, Long Beach near there, near the winter shelter, we'll make sure that the outreach conducts them, that we can assist them in getting into the shelter. Okay. Currently, the North Library has been vacant for about a year and a half. Can you elaborate on what the security plan will be for the for the winter shelter to ensure that that the shelter is secure? But but it's having minimal impact on on the residents outside. So when a person chooses to participate in the winter shelter program at that time, they we share all of the rules of what it is to be in the winter shelter, which means that, you know, they will take the bus and that they will go in and they will stay in the shelter and that they will only exit the shelter when they are coming back on the bus. And so if people choose, if they don't if they don't want to engage in those roles and they choose not to ride the bus, they don't participate. In the past, we've had very little opportunity where people have to have taken, you know, an opportunity to leave. I think, you know, in the at the Atlantic Farms, we had no no reported incidents through the police department or others that occurred from folks who were there. And so that's that's what it looks like. The vet, the US vets provides the system of security and support. And so they are in ongoing conversations and they're making sure that people are not leaving and we do not have a legal ground to be able to hold people. So it's not that police picks people up and takes them back. It's that that the rules at the shelter are that. And people who participate and have participated in the past in the Atlantic farms have participated and paid attention to those rules. However, if we do have phone calls and there are concerns in the neighborhood, the police can and will and can can be called and will arrive to support when there is any concern of behavior going on within the community. All right. Thank you. And I'd just like to thank the city staff and for the thorough presentation. I'd like to thank you as vets, Lisa, for your efforts on this winter shelter. And I'd also like to thank the residents who've contacted my office and took the time to come here to speak this evening. I'm listening and I hear you. Please understand that one of the questions that I get as a city council member very often year round, and it's something I'm constantly grappling with. I think every one of the city council members here grapple with this is what are we doing about the homeless population in Long Beach? And and in our neighborhoods, throughout our districts of I live around the corner from Cheer Park and I have the opportunity to see people sleeping in a park in cold conditions year round. I recently, just a couple of weeks ago engaged a homeless person who was sleeping in the bushes of my neighbor two doors down. This is no longer a heating problem. This is this is a problem that exists. And it's not out of sight for most of us. The homeless population has reached a crisis proportion and we see it in all of our neighborhoods and council districts throughout the city. That is why I cannot in good conscience reject an opportunity to to to house homeless folks in a shelter in an empty city building. This is not the plan. It was not ever the plan to try to transition the old North Library into a winter homeless shelter. But the opportunity presented itself after extensive and extensive search. The city manager approached me with this a couple of weeks ago. I know there's been some conversation about learning about it last minute. There wasn't a whole lot of planning into this. This is a crisis. This is an emergency shelter. This is a situation that we as a city had to act upon. I can't in good conscience reject this opportunity that is practically a last resort to provide shelter this winter to get people off off of the streets. And it truly saved lives during the 15 years that the winter shelter program has existed in our city. It has been hosted in five different council districts, and this is the first time it will be hosted in a district. Many of those previous locations were in residential neighborhoods or had homes across the street or very, very nearby. I understand the concerns and anxiety, and I can tell you that as your elected representative, I will be working with all of the city departments to make sure that there is minimal impact on the residents. We will. And if there are concerns, I heard about protocol, who would call? There's call. You can contact you as vets who will be running the operations. You can contact my office. We will be responsive to you. The old North North Lights Library site has been vacant for nearly a year and a half and it was looking like it. I know some neighbors have complained about loitering and other activity around the building since it was closed. There will now be staff and security around the building on a daily basis, providing a deterrent against such loitering. I've also pressed the city manager to invest in landscaping upkeep of the building while it's in use so it does not detract from the neighborhood. This is also it was important to note that this will be a short term use for the site only from December 12th through March 31st. Concurrently, two shelter will be there. The city will be requesting proposals, RFP for future development of the site, which should contribute, we think, to the neighborhood when the reuse of that library is determined. This is an opportunity to get people off the streets at night to receive services and hopefully get them on a path to transitional housing and other assistance that they need. If we don't provide them with a shelter for them, they'll continue to be sleeping on the streets, in our parks, in our neighborhoods. And they don't they won't be receiving any additional services. And I think that's a that's a that's a choice that I don't think we don't we want to make. I don't want to wish that upon anybody. And especially as it's getting cold, very cold, like we experienced just last night and with rain and more cold to come. Our Health Department are Homeless Services Bureau, the county La mesa. US vets are all committed to this winter shelter program, working smoothly without disruption to the neighborhood I've already met just a couple of days ago. What the North Long Beach commander and Long Beach PD is aware of. This, this, this, this, this, this plan and will be committed to to servicing the area if necessary. I'm personally committed to making that happen. And I'm I'm willing to come out and talk to to the residents to to also explain this and address their concerns. Again, this is not something that we had 30 days or two months to plan. If we hadn't had that kind of timeframe and known this was coming, I would have certainly done some more robust community outreach. I don't I do think I know for a fact that the homes were flier in the neighborhood and the Gazette newspaper and other local media picked the issue up. We thank them for doing that because that did help get the word out. I also put it out in my my my newsletter for that I put out every two weeks. There was a void there. We got the information out as soon as we could get it out. But again, I want to just say that this is, I think, an opportunity, an opportunity to save lives, an opportunity to get people on the pathway to getting transitional housing and the service says they need and hopefully getting them off the streets. The only way we do that is engaging them. Right. And having them in overnight in a in a in a winter shelter provides a lot of opportunity for our professionals. Our staff are homeless services vision to to actually do that. And so with that, I would just let the residents know I've heard you. I will be working with you, continue to work with you and monitor this, this, this shelter throughout the process. I would ask my colleagues for their their support for this as well. Thank you. Councilman Andrews. Yes, thank you, Mayor. I'd like to thank you, Councilman Austin, for you are very concerned, you know, you know, feelings about this situation, because I am concerned about this opposition towards placing that when a shelter in the eighth District, you know, we're talking about, I think an animal shelter would reaction be the same. This is the service we need. And at this point it has been placed in my district and the vice mayor's district at the time. We share the responsibility. We obviously are to become to the people, you know, because you guys realize it does house, you know, and help people who are dying in the cold during this winter months. And I would like and congratulate Councilman Austin in his opening his district for their service. And I'm hopeful that no person will freeze this year. I don't really think it's about districts. I just think it's about being the person that you should be and that's being humble and opening your heart to these individuals out here who are down in the street. Thank you again, Austin, for bringing this of lesson to the diocese. Thank you. Council member Pierce. Thank you. And I want to thank staff for your hard work on this and also U.S. vets. I recall whenever we did our homeless count and we kind of looked at where our homeless population was in the city, we found it was a very different trend from ten years ago. And the fact that it was really spread out citywide and I know that it is a challenge for each community whenever this conversation comes up. But again, echoing, you know, we have to make sure we care for all of our residents and all of our citizens. And to me, that boundary isn't a district boundary. It's not even a county boundary. You know, and it's really important that we are. As you said. So thank you very much. That we as a city are taking on that responsibility. I did want to thank you for clarifying for the residents and the community the security measures taken around the area. And I did want to ask you mentioned to could the drop off in the pick up locations? Is the Hart team one of those that is able to drop off at the winter shelter? It is great. And I also want to thank speaker. I'm sorry. It's been a long night for me. I want to thank her, Linda Chico, for coming and speaking on behalf of Supervisor Janice Hahn as a mental health commissioner. I know how important this is to the region and just want to congratulate the eighth District for taking this responsibility on. Thank you. Councilwoman Gonzalez. I just want to say I was compelled to talk because I have lived by the winter shelter and the first district actually has been the home of the winter shelter consecutively over the last few years. And it's always very difficult, I understand, for a community to and to have this winter shelter next door to their property, into their home. And what they feel is, you know, their their property, everything that they they value. And I'll tell you, the Willmar City Historic District off of I'm sorry, off of Daisy and Anaheim in that area was also in the same situation, didn't really understand what was coming to their neighborhood. And I'll tell you, after the winter shelter came and how well-run it was, how managed, how well managed it was and how absolutely safe it was felt incredibly great. So we actually welcomed it the next few years. It was so wonderful. And so I will say I would be happy, more than happy to connect council member Austin with that Whitmore City historic district. If any of your residents want to, to connect with them, to share the experiences, because I know it's always difficult, as I mentioned, and I want to thank Supervisor Hahn as well for always being a great advocate for Long Beach in terms of and her dedication to the issue of homelessness as well as our health department. You all do an incredible job. And it's not easy any any year every day. But it's you do fantastic job. I do want to clarify, though, as far as the downtown lineup, location's the first district. We've had them at First Congregational. I know it's been the second district on Ocean and Magnolia. Have we selected a downtown location at this time? No. Okay. Just checking on that. I know we usually hear about that, but yes, my my offer stands for all of you if you want to learn more to come to you as well. Like I said, Mr. Councilmember Austin, if you'd like to connect with my office and our residents on that, we'd be happy to do that for you. Thank you very much, Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you. And I know a lot of times we start off by thanking staff, but haven't been in the position to you know, the ninth District has been home to the shelter, you know, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. Given that dynamic, I know I know the burden that that the city council member is taking on. So before I acknowledge staff and talk, I want to acknowledge Councilman Austin for for stepping up, because the the difficult thing the easy thing to do would have been to just say say no. And the difficult thing to do is to. Actually try to grapple and understand the issue. And so what I'm going to hope to try to do is just give some assurance and some some some guidance as to the things that we've done. Like, I go to sleep, I rest my head in North Long Beach every night. I live there. You know, you don't have to tell me about the issues in North Long Beach. I'm driving home tonight when I go home and we work on these issues. And the way that you work through these things is with congruence and with transparency, with openness. For example, you know, we've partner. We partner. Here's an example of something that helps the minister demystify some of the of the anguish, the anxiety around the situation. We would work with the neighborhood associations to literally go to the shelter and provide food. That simple activity gave a local connection between the residents and the shelter. Number two, we would have periodic check ins where Theresa, our health department staff, would literally visit on a regular basis the neighborhood association, and give updates in terms of like how many people every night and feedback on a regular periodic basis about us as to what's happening next. The operator really makes a difference. U.S. Vets is one of the best artists to have it one year with U.S. vets. They're very responsive. They have a real heart for Long Beach, real heart for the community. I think it goes a long way. And and and then the fourth thing I would say is it's it's temporary. Don't don't forget about it. Just acknowledge it for if you have a neighborhood association, be really engaged with with PD and and the health department. And we're in a unique and Long Beach in that we're one of, I think, three cities in the state with our own health department. So you don't have to go through the county. You have staff right here that you can you can talk with. And so I hear real sincerity on the on the part of Councilman Austin. I can tell you firsthand how quality our health department is. And this is something that frankly, this is something that I think that will be a good learning experience. And it's only it's only three months. So at the end of those three months, hopefully you've had you have an activated site at the North Library, better landscaping, and you've done something to make sure that the people that are that are in our community already, I mean, you know, homeless folks, they don't they don't just disappear. They're going to be somewhere, hopefully, that we've we've taken them out of the parks, out of the right. Always know about the the area between the 1791 and talking about maybe out of those sort of themes and place them in a in a healthier environment. And the last thing I'll say is it's a larger conversation about I'm sorry. It's an important issue. I just figured I was asked to comment on it. So it's the last thing I'll say is, you know, we've been engaged in a conversation about a permanent long term shelter. Won't be won't be that site. But we're in that conversation. I think when we get to that next year, hopefully we can have the more robust conversation as entire city about where it is, what that looks like, the services that are that are connected to it. And so and so it's everyone's issue. I like I like the fact that everyone you know, a lot of people have said, hey, we've had the winter shelter. I'm glad that they've actually stepping up. It's something that it's a responsibility we just have to do as a city is providing emergency shelter in the in the Cold Seasons . So, again, thank you, Councilman Austin. I hope those comments help. Thank you. Members, please cast your vote. Motion case. Thank you very much. Okay. Appreciate that. We have a couple folks I need to head out early as well. So I'm going to move a couple things around. We have to do the two ordinances tonight and then the two properties.