Recommendation to receive and file the Long Beach Safe Parking Program Feasibility Study; and Direct staff to initiate a 12-month pilot program at 2 locations within Long Beach, utilizing funding that is best appropriate.
Motion carries 32. I am 32. Communication from Councilmember Pierce. Councilwoman Gonzalez. Councilwoman praised Councilmember Warangal recommendation to receive and file the Long Beach Safe Parking Program, facility, feasibility study and direct staff to initiate a 12 month pilot program at two locations within Long Beach. It seems the public comment scene on Councilmember Pearce. Yes. I'd like to turn it over to staff for staff presentation. Then behind the veil for conversation. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. As you remember, in October of 2016, the City Council requested a report on the feasibility of implementing a safe parking program. The Health Department did so looking at five other cities. Almost all were in California. One was in Washington. They identified five best practices, basically, that everyone who participates in the Safe Parking program is working on transitioning into permanent housing. They're generally run by nonprofit agencies, usually utilizing a variety of resources. They have a well-developed relationship with local police departments. But what we found is that they haven't had to use that very much, that they operate only in evening hours. So they tend to maybe start at five or six at night and end at seven in the morning and that they do not allow for RV parking. Generally, the programs require that people engage in planning and services to reach permanent housing. The staffing is sort of a case manager and worker model and all the information is entered into the homeless management information system. So they're fully engaged. Those eligible to participate get a time limit. A parking permit might be 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. That is contingent upon their participation in services and that programs are mostly have a small number of units and multiple sites. So in many cases you only have five units, seven units, something like that. Um, so the, the recommendation was to do a pilot program with a number of sites up to approximately 20. And from that, the estimated cost is about $220,000, which include staffing, facilities, security and other materials. With that, I closed my presentation. Spaces. 20 spaces. Just to clarify, that would not be two sites. That would be two spaces. We're talking about that in. One, two or three or other site. Right. I think the. Appreciate the staff presentation. Again, a little bit of context. So this was an item that was brought forward over a year ago and staff did a great job about hiring an outside consultant to come in. We facilitated meetings with, I believe, nine different churches to find out would they be open to doing a program, program like this? If not, what were their hesitations? What did they need to see? So I think staff has done a great job talking about security and restrooms and cleanliness. I know in the second district this has been a major issue. We have a large population of people residing in their cars and that, as we've had discussions before, not only is good, it's not good for their health, but it's also not good for our neighborhoods when we have people emptying out their their waste of all types out on our street. And it is definitely something that we want to do better at. So I'm very thankful for. The nine churches most recently have had a discussion with the church on Seventh and Redondo. I know that there are some concerns about where the churches might be. I think having staff work with those that are willing and able and that we have good security measures in place is a great first step. I also really appreciate that staff has done a great job about identifying funded funding that wouldn't come from our general fund, but then would come from monies available at the state level. So I hope my colleagues will support this. I know it's something that we've been talking about for a long time. A pilot program with four locations and 20 spots with that turnover rate could really have a great impact on our residents. Thank you. And if I can make a clarification, the. Agenda item talks about two. We would like some flexibility. To go through an RFP process and determine how many. Locations actually make sense. So given the dollars that would be. Available, how, you. Know, because some people may only want three or four spaces, some may want five or six. I think finding a good fit for us, that's not too many locations. I know that. I think four five is probably the conversation that we've had with with other folks. So I would ask that, yes, we go through an RFP process. I appreciate being able to be flex flexible. I think if it's more than four locations, we should have a two from four to the council to be able to talk about where those might be. Sure. If that could be add in the motion, that'd be great. I'll go right ahead. Okay. I have a comment. Yes. I'm sorry. Okay. Councilmember Gonzalez. Thanks. So thank you for the the information. I'm glad that we're finally bringing this back. So thank you. Councilmember Pierson, you've been working on this for some time with our health department and many other organizations along with these churches. And what I would just say, and I know we're having this discussion, the 12 months in selecting a couple going from there, do we have or six months? Do we have a list of the nine churches that were in the discussions? Because it'd be nice to know who those are. And then secondly, I would just sort of reiterate, whoever we pick in the to whatever hopefully the pilot program goes well and it's, you know, to our liking and we like the process and we can get that figured out. But looking forward to like a mainstay program, I would really like us to look at this equitably around the city, and I continue to reiterate that because, you know, many of our downtown neighborhoods have been the fair share. We've we've had the fair share of a lot of the services. And I really just hope that we can find other cities are doing it. L.A. is looking at each each police division. So they have about four police, probably more police divisions, but they're looking at each police division to make it citywide. Other areas are looking per district. They're even looking at field offices of council members. I know that's a whole other discussion, but just in that same thought process, I hope that we can make this as equitable as possible throughout the city, not even just for our residents. But I also think about the individuals that are experiencing homelessness that may want different opportunities in different places close to other services around the city. So just a thought on that. But again, I think you and I think that was all my questioning. So thank you very much. I'm sorry, did you answer the nine locations? The nine locations. Councilwoman Pearce has those nine locations. Thanks. My staff is supposed to be sending them to me now. It's been a while since we reached out to them and not all nine of them. So it was a great conversation because not all nine said we have spaces available. Some of them said we have three spaces. I think one in your district said, you know what, we already do so much so we couldn't do overnight. But if you want to send people here in the morning, we can feed them. And so different churches have offered different things. I know in my district because I've been doing a lot of the work on the Seventh Street and Redondo. One is one in Grace UMC. That's at third and Gina Perez is another and both of those are outside of the downtown area. So I understand the the desire we can get you the list. So that would be, I think. After they do an RFP process, that will happen. Yeah, I want to clarify that. While we've done some initial outreach just to understand the market, this would still be an open competitive process. We're looking for both a. Vendor who can actually. Provide the services and run this program, but then also applicable sites. So, you know, the nine may be interested, but there may be others there may be some on that list that. Now, you know, aren't interested anymore. So that will all go through that process. Thank you very much. Are you ready in the meeting? Councilmember Mongeau. Thank you. I would only ask that we again get a TFF back or a friendly amendment to bring a TFF back that says both the nine sites that that we can talk about or that'll come from Councilman Pearce and related to that. How much staff time it's going to take. I just really want to get in the habit of us making sure that we're assessing costs and staff time and specifically, like the item says, utilizing funding that's best appropriate. I think that staff could outline what that funding is and what the amount is and all of the I mean , I just feel like there's a lot of information that's available that's not in the item yet. And so if we could get something back either from the councilman's office or from city staff, that would be helpful. So I can answer. Two of those quickly on the floor. We are looking at approximately $220,000. That was the estimate. And we can certainly refine that as we as we move forward. And the state the funding source would really be state homeless. One time dollars. Since this is a. Pilot program, we're trying something new. We do have the ability to apply for those dollars that's gone through and gotten very. Good feedback from the continuum of care. Partners. So we're really looking for counsel. Direction. Tonight. Should that be one of our priorities? So is. This from the part of funding we've already been allocated or is this a new part of. Funding. From the 1.3 that's been identified that Long Beach would be able. To apply for. And of the 12.3 that we're eligible to apply for? What was because this wasn't in it originally or was it. We are still putting together that actual list about we believe that we would. Be able to. Make room for it. It'd be about $220,000. Okay. Appreciate it. Thank you. I'll call on myself. I'll just say that I'm supportive of this item. I think, as I said before, you know, we are in unconventional times. And so we have to look at unconventional solutions to to to the problems of the day. You know, it's unfortunate that this is a one time funded in a one time manner, because if it's successful, you know, my my question is, you know, how do we fund it? You know, the following year or if the year after that, or how do you grow it if it's a successful program? And so this is hopefully something that we will model and be a best practice and hopefully have the state of California paying attention and county to to hopefully look at sustaining because I know it's going to be successful I'm optimistic here. The and then to staff I would just say that I've done some extensive outreach with many of our faith organizations churches in my district. And I know that we have a number of them who may be interested in participating. And so we'll be getting we'll provide you with a list as well of potential sites. So thank you. So with that, any public comment on this matter? See none, please. Members, cast your votes.