Recommendation to request City Manager to work with relevant departments to take advantage of upcoming, available external funding with the goal of creating permanent, non-congregate bridge housing for people experiencing homelessness and report back within 30 days on how the City can leverage external funding opportunities to support permanent non-congregant housing options in Long Beach.
Q Mr. Clarke, we're going to go to the regular agenda and we're going to do item 24, just so the next two items are 24 and 25. So we'll start with 24. Communication from Councilwoman Zendejas, Councilmember Pierce, Councilwoman Mongo, Vice Mayor Andrews. Recommendation to request City Manager to take advantage of upcoming available external funding with the goal of creating an emergency housing incentive program. Okay. This comes from us, and they have to destroy your item. Yes, Mayor, thank you. First of all, I would like to thank my colleagues for joining me in and helping put this item forward. I'd also like to thank a city staff, especially Theresa Chandler, for all her outstanding work that she's been putting into this day in and day out. As you know, based on the results of our homeless count that we that were released this month, Long Beach saw a 7% increase in our numbers of unsheltered people from 2019 to 2020. We should also be clear that this does not reflect the thousands of people who have likely become house homeless during this time of COVID 19 . Even after an outbreak of COVID 19. I was hearing from my residents every day that they're looking for solutions to help address homelessness. And each day, my colleagues and I would say the same thing. This means that. As a community. We all know that homeless is is a huge problem and it needs to be addressed. This said, our current circumstances have left us with opportunities to rethink what emergency housing looks like. In California, Project Roomkey has helped draw a line between the needs of our unsheltered neighbors and our historical low motel occupancy rate during COVID 19. Whether someone wishes to stay with with a partner, a family or animal companions, or if the fear of violence and health issues is in a shelter project room key and the ability to use the motels as emergency shelters has really helped during this time. Unlike emergency shelters which have low occupancy rate, our project ROOMKEY units are at 97% occupied. So which which also indicates that there's a big need for them and that folks are actually being. I mean, folks are actually taking advantage of having this opportunity. Our city staff. I mean, our city has around 5000 hotels and motel rooms right now, the majority of which are being kept empty right now due to the crisis that we're in. The goal here is to create incentives for additional motels in Long Beach to participate in a program that continues expanding access to room for everyone in our city in need. It is of utmost importance to note that we would benefit from the the motel owners and operators by compensating them for rooms and that otherwise would actually just be sitting there without occupancy. So we're healthy. Not only are we helping are those experiencing homelessness, but we're also helping those businesses who are in dire need of business. We also have the opportunity to offset some of these some of these costs. With efforts and working together with the state and federal funding that is that is going to be available and is available at this time. In terms of funding, I think it's important to note that while items request. Staff to to come back in 30 days. Many opportunities are are very short time. So we must act quickly on this. This month alone, $5,500 million became available from the state of coronavirus relief funds for motel acquisitions and non congregational bridging housing. The funding begins to be has begun to be distributed and it is a first come, first served basis. So this is why it's also very important to act now. There's also additional 450 million of the state coronavirus relief fund that will be available for cities who have not previously received their own unique allocation of CRF dollars. Long Beach included. The city is also set to receive 13.8 million in phase two emergency solution grants from the Federal Government of Housing and Urban Development. These funds can be put towards non congregational shelters as well. And finally, it is the. The case of the state's coronavirus relief fund. In that case, if it cannot help for the long term ongoing expenses of such a program, 350 million of these, say General Fund, is is most likely to become available to cities and could be used for this. And important means. There are several avenues for federal and state resources available. But again, we must act quickly to make sure that we that we get what we deserve and what is needed to help our. Neighbors experiencing homelessness. Again, with that said, I really, really appreciate my colleagues for joining in on this item with me. Thank you. Councilwoman. I have a box cued up, so we'll just go Vice Mayor Andrews and then right into Councilmember Pearce. Thank you very much, Mia. I first of all, I think council and data will engage me on this item. You know, in my opinion, this woman in District six has been the most proactive in building and accepting affordable housing in the district. You go down Long Beach Boulevard, you'll see it. We're still building. Revamping current motels into supportive housing is a very creative way to approach blight and illegal activities already occurred. And these sites. With the proper safety protocol and community engagement and this idea, I think we can approach two problems with one solution. But my hope and request is that we look and expand opportunities. We do so equally and across all nine districts so we can all truly be a part of the solution to end homelessness. And thank you very much for this item. I'll go ahead and start, since it sounds like the mayor already called on me. As Councilwoman Pierce, I want to thank Councilmembers and de Health for bringing this item forward. And, you know, one thing that some of us keep saying about this moment in history is that it's an opportunity for us to lift up some of the work that we've been trying to tackle for a long time. And this is also the case with housing, transitional housing and trying to make sure that we provide services for those that are experiencing homelessness. I know that this council has long reviewed opportunities to be able to add additional transitional housing, as was noted with the hearing item that we had today. And so I love this item. I would like to ask staff on the what are we currently doing? And the funding sources that councilmembers and DE have mentioned are those opportunities that we think we can make a big impact. And is that impact only in being able to provide additional vouchers and incentives? Or where are we with the bigger conversation that we've had about being able to purchase some of these motels that have been problem areas in transit, turn them over to transitional housing? This time. So I will turn that over to Theresa Chandler. I do want to say that this is an area that we're excited about. This is the very first time we've had these types of resources and be able to stand up a program such as taking over a hotel and making that our area that we accommodate some of our homeless clients. And it's been successful. We've learned a lot, and we're interested in doing a lot more. And there is now federal and state money that can help but do do both of the things that you talked about. So I will turn that to Theresa. So exciting. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Thank you, council members, for bringing this item to the forefront. As Tom said, it is a very important issue for us. And as we've had the opportunity to work with Project ROOMKEY and have it have participants in Project ROOMKEY, we certainly don't want every turn those folks into homelessness. And so we're excited at the opportunities that are coming to us through the State Project Homekey program. And so the application guidelines have not quite been released, but we will be applying for those funds. And so we do have an affordable housing workgroup within our city teams where we are putting together lists of potential sites for acquisition . And of course, you know, we can look at the sites, hotels, motels, different things across the city available for acquisition. The issue has always been how to fund the programs ongoing. So with the current funding coming in through the Emergency Solutions Grant and also the second round of HAP funding, the expectation of about $3 million to come to Long Beach. There are some opportunities where we can actually move forward with project based vouchers and other types of programing set forth and then also with future HUD funding potentially for permanent supportive housing. So this is a really exciting opportunity for us to move forward and to keep our neighbors experiencing homelessness in housing as they've been sheltered. And also just just as a city to collectively wrap our arms around folks who have previously been on the streets. Wonderful. Thank you. And, you know, we've got, I think, four motels off the top of my head that would make great locations in the second District. So I fully support that. I also just before passing it on, I want to say, you know, there's been a lot of work that led up to this moment, not only with the current COVID, but with Measure H in the county and Andy Kerr and the housing groups that have done work to get us to this point . So there's a couple of exciting moments tonight that I just want to make sure we recognize that this is what happens when you never let your foot off the gas and you just continue to try and try and eventually some things will fall into place. So thank you guys for this. Appreciate it. Thank you, Councilwoman. Next up, we have Councilwoman Mango and then Councilmember Richardson. Councilwoman Mongo. That's when Mongo. Okay. Let me move on and come back. Councilman Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. A couple of things. First of all, thanks for bringing this item forward. Councilmember and House is certainly on time given given all the efforts the city and the region has done to ensure that we don't lose focus on the homelessness issue while we face a crisis on multiple fronts. Two things I want to highlight, though. Look, I understand that the goal is to incentivize folks to participate and project homekey. And and so Homekey is what you know, a lot of the funding that's coming out is Project HOMEKEY separately from Roomkey. And I understand that there's a deadline of July 15 or the process opens July 15th, rather, for hotels and organizations to apply to participate. I know that some of this research may not come back until well after that, but I think that we should do and I hear from staff what I think we should do is use our communication channels to make sure that we promote this window that's opening, because I know that other cities are beginning to do that. Let's make sure that we promote that this grant, this opportunity is opening. And then secondly, whatever incentives that we put forward for people to participate, we can maybe talk about those now before they're even in place to demonstrate that whoever has participated will receive whatever incentives we're able to put together so that they understand that although the incentive may not be in place today, then it may take, you know, a number of weeks to pull it together. Go ahead and apply now for the program. And I think it's important that we we nuance that. Tom, Tom, do you understand what I'm what what I'm trying to articulate here? Yeah, I think we do. So we are going to apply for those dollars. And as I understand it, if we get good actors who are working with us and want to be able to do this work and they're really doing a good job, that if we come up with some kind of program in the future on this , that they would certainly benefit and be a part of that to the extent we can legally do that. Right. And and my understanding is when the application opens up, it's not necessarily cities who apply. It would be motel owners and affordable housing developers. And those are the types who would apply for funding. In addition, it may be in addition to cities, but but that's that's the challenge. We don't have our folks ready and I get a number of motel owners may say, hey, this isn't for me. But they need to understand that, number one, they can make money from this and it helps the city and we will support this this process. So so I think the communication to them and making sure that that gets our message gets out is important. Thanks a lot. I'm satisfied there. The second thing that I would say, just, you know, I want to make sure that we are and I've talked with Tracy Longo, who led our motel strategy. I want to make sure that we connect the dots between our nuisance motel strategy in the city and this project. Homekey, because there may be opportunities for some of these motels that are nuisances. There's already strategies to acquire them that we can leverage some of these resources to make sure that we are we are engaging some of these motels so that ultimately we can convert them into a much better use that has less crime, less human trafficking, less violence, and something more stable like affordable housing. I just want to make sure that we lift that a lift up that point that. And next week Councilman Mongo on the line yet her councilman Mongo. Okay. Let me go to Councilwoman Pryce and then, Councilman, your anger. Q Mr. Mayor, so I want to thank Council members and the House for bringing this item and for her colleagues that are colleagues that signed onto the item. I think it's a fantastic opportunity. I think Councilmember Pearce is correct that as unfortunate as the situations around us have been since the middle of March, they have provided some opportunities, especially in terms of grants and opportunities for us to get resources from the state and federal government and the county to try to address some of these issues that we've been talking about for years. So I think this is a great opportunity. I also want to acknowledge the great work of the United Way team who I know several of my colleagues had an opportunity to talk with in advance of tonight's meeting, and they just did a fantastic briefing for for those who are like me, who enjoy reading things. I thought that their briefing sheets were really, really well prepared and very objective. And I just want to acknowledge that we get briefed by a lot of entities and weigh in from a lot of different entities. And I found that the presentation tonight and the efforts by those who care about this topic to educate council members before the vote was really fantastic. So I just wanted to acknowledge that and thank you council members and our house for bringing them forward. Jan Ringa. Thank you. And I want to agree with the council, my colleagues, in terms of our customers and neighbors bringing this forward. It's a great idea at the time that I've gone beyond our need. We really need to have this. It's been long overdue, and I'm glad that it's here and that we're discussing this. But as we know, when we're dealing with homeless individuals, we have the additional challenge of the services on there, and they're wanting to take advantage of some of the services that are being offered to them. So with that, I'm asking the question as to are there moneys being set aside for additional services to individuals who are experiencing homelessness and who would be able to take advantage of these programs? Because as it's been said before and other previous comments and by researches and papers that we've had, we've seen it takes 14, 15, sometimes 20 contacts with a homeless person before they accept any kind of assistance. So with that, is there any. Plan or any resource is going to be going into helping them personally as well with behavioral services and other types of needs that they may have before you take advantage of these programs. Sorry for the delay. Yes, that is always something that we're looking at on how to engage folks. There's more funding through the ESG dollars as well for that that those outreach efforts and which leads into case management. And that really is what helps wraparound folks to get them connected to services. So there's always that's the first thing we look at when funding opportunities come in that have more flexibility is how we can truly connect with people. Because, as you said, it's about 17 contacts to get people to just say yes. But then the real work happens when you want it, when people are then ready to come in and then getting them to stay inside. So that's always a priority for us. Well, again, thank the council members in their house for bringing this forward to full support. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember councilman, among other. Councilman Mongo. I know you said that you're. Can you hear me? Yes, Mayor. Hi. Thank you. And the mayor? Was I the second year of the motion? Before I got disconnected. Before you got disconnected, you know, you queued up against a lawsuit in the queue because you didn't know you were not. Okay. Thank you for this opportunity. I really appreciate the work that Councilwoman Sun has said and her team also along with the work the city staff did. This is important stuff. I think that fining people homes is the first step. We also need to have the plans that go with the the motel room opportunities. So I like that this is a comprehensive approach. I like that the city is looking at this along with many other things, including rent abatement and other things for that fund. I think it's important to outline and oversee all the funds in their entirety. And while I appreciate the item and signed on to it, because it's important, it's also important for us to take each of those funds as they come in and evaluate all the different opportunities for working and healing and supporting the residents of our city . So I just want to keep that in perspective as we go forward. There are a lot of funds. I know the city staff put together quite a comprehensive list of of opportunities that we can use these funds. And so I want to make sure that we look at the best return on investment. I think this is a very good return. When we do house people. We also need to make sure that those individuals then move into more permanent housing to reopen those beds up for other individuals who need the transitional housing. Thank you. Great. I got it. Before I turn this back over to councilman and he has to close. Want to just add so I know there's been a lot of work in this area happening. I think this is a great piece of legislation to kind of put all that together and and move the city forward. I wanted to just maybe ask Mr. Kerley, who's probably, I'm guessing, is on the line as well. So there have been a lot of efforts this year, I know through the through the mayor's group and just through our legislative or legislative calendar, an agenda on obviously getting more funding directly for homelessness. Obviously, Project ROOMKEY has been a big part of the governor's initiative around COVID. Do you do you Mr.. Mr. Kerley, how much did we get from a funding perspective? I don't I couldn't remember the number of stuff in my head. I know we made a last minute push to get additional funding for homelessness separate of the COVID recovery money. You have that number for Long Beach by any chance for this year. Yes. Separate from the hotel motel acquisition program, they set aside 300 million total for homeless services. And we're estimating based on last year's allocation methodology, that we would receive around 3 million this year for homeless services. And those are separate from the CARES Act dollars. So they're tied to the general fund and are not tied to the December deadline for using those dollars. Those are programmatic dollars. And then how much money is in the kind of hotel motel acquisition bucket that the governor put in place? So the state fund for hotel no topic acquisition is $550 million. Okay, great. That's great. And then let me also just add and again, I want to thank our our government affairs team is. Last year, actually, the city of Long Beach sponsored legislation through Senator Amberg and Senator Embry actually introduced legislation for us to kind of fast track through the secret process, motel conversion for this kind of very reason. And so I think that that really sets us up to be ready for this infusion of resources that's coming down from the state and and other places, obviously. And so that's another great piece of all of this as well. And so I just want to want to also just throw out some thank you to obviously the governor for supporting this work. Senator Amberg for the support of his bill last year. And certainly to our own team, to you, Mr. Curley, and our our local government affairs team for just the work and to making sure that we get these resources as well. So thank you to everyone. And let me turn this over to Councilman and Dallas. Thank you, Mayor. And yes, thank you again, city staff for all your hard work. I also wanted to share some incentives with you of this program. So one of the things that we are hoping to do is that the city would cover costs for maintenance and upkeep, as well as reimbursement for damages, a wear and tear and some ongoing cause. We would also have dedicated support and case managers from from our Health Department and human services and and also services from our homeless services team. And so that would be really helpful to to help those hotels and motels more more likely that, you know, to actually have an incentive to actually participate, especially like what Councilmember Gordon said may be, you know, really focusing on those motels that are not doing so good. And and maybe this is a way of uplifting those motels is good. It's very important that we take these steps not only right now because it's just needed, but it's really, really needed because of COVID. Just the other day, we had a horrendous event where one of our neighbors that's experiencing the homeless, Kenny, was brutally stabbed. And, you know, we cannot have our homeless neighbors living in those situations and putting themselves at risk, not ever, but especially not right now during COVID. So, again, I appreciate everybody who's supporting this this item, and I look forward to working really hard to make this a very successful pilot program. Thank you. Thank you. Before I go to the public, he's he's going to hate that I do this, but I got to correct myself. It's not Mr. Curley, it's Dr. Curley. So sorry about that. He had Dr. Curly and with that good public comment. Our first speaker is Mark Cavaney. Your time starts now. Thank you. My name is Mark Shinobi. I'd like to thank Councilwoman Zen de Haas and the other council members who cosigned us for bringing it forward. I've been a resident of District two and Long Beach for 12 years and I am in strong support of the emergency housing incentives program. I see vulnerable, unhoused residents in my neighborhood every day, and this program has the potential to immediately provide them with the safe housing they need to protect them from the COVID 19 pandemic, and also provide them with the necessary services and care to put them on a path to long term recovery. It's no secret that the COVID 19 pandemic is getting worse, not better. And as Councilman Richardson and others have pointed out, the RFP for motel acquisition funding opens in less than ten days. So this item is extremely urgent and needs to be acted upon quickly. The report back on available resources should bring back an ordinance as soon as possible that outlines a plan for the funding to be used to create permanent non congregate housing for our most vulnerable unhoused. 78% of all people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach are unsheltered, which is an 11% increase from last year. 23% of people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County are elderly, which puts them at increased risk regarding coronavirus. And let us also not forget that homelessness and the coronavirus disproportionately affects the black community in Long Beach. 13% of the population of Long Beach is black, but they make up 38% of Long Beach unhoused population. The Emergency Housing Incentives Program will have a direct, immediate and lasting impact on these populations. I urge all council members to please pass this item tonight and bring a plan back for approval as soon as possible. Please take advantage of this opportunity to help our most vulnerable unhoused neighbors. Thank you. Thank you. Next year, Seagrams, your time starts now. Hello. District three. I am in full support, Stacy or Susie of this item and I hope all of you vote to pass it. Just as the person who so eloquently spoke before me stated This needs to be passed and needs to be acted on immediately. We have a lot of our community members are living, unhoused and need support. Period point blank. They need support. They need our support. This gives the emergency housing incentive program gives. And so I understand 500 units of single occupancy shelter. We need more than that. I mean, this is. Yes. 500 beds. Yes. But we need more. We need probably, like way more than double, if not triple that, to meet the needs of our community. We have the money, as we know, that ties back to the issue of police funding. We have the money if we take away the funds from the police. I know this might sound simplistic, but there is a process for this to happen. If there isn't a process created, we're acting. We're asking. You were demanding that you be creative in this moment. This is what this is what this moment is asking of us to be creative, to be adaptive, and to think outside the box. Do not continue on the road that we are on. We need new options. In order to meet the needs of our community. I yield my time. Thank you. Next year, Jordan, when your time starts now. Hi there. This is Jordan Win District two and field director for the Everyone in Lomita program. I really want to thank Council member Marion DAVIES for her hard work on the site and we worked pretty closely to help put this together and I'm really grateful for council members Mungo Pearce and Andrews who signed on to this item as well. I'm glad that the city is taking a very proactive first step at helping really build out and amplify our infrastructure for caring for people experiencing homelessness, both in the short and long term. I love the fact that the city is also looking proactively at the fact that this is going to help create immediate units while also looking at the long term implications and building out permanent fixtures to help aid in caring for those who are on the streets right now and most vulnerable. We need 500 emergency housing units as quickly as we can get them on the ground to help aid our most vulnerable populations of people experiencing homelessness, including seniors and those with medical disabilities. As was stated earlier, 78% of all people experiencing homelessness were counted as unsheltered this year, which is 1578 people. And this opportunity here to acquire motels and create these sites gives us a rare opportunity, as was noted by Theresa Chandler, to substantially reduce the number of people who are unsheltered on our streets. I do want to bring up a point of clarification on Project HOMEKEY, which is the $550 million that is set aside for motel acquisition by the state. I believe it was mentioned by Councilmember Richardson about, you know, developers applying or operators applying. I want to clarify that. It's it's the government plus the developers. So the municipality plus the operator that would need to apply or it could also just be the municipality, and then they can grant out the money given from its acquisition to developers or operators, depending on what the city so chooses. Just wanted to put that clarifying point out because the RFP will be opening up on July 15th. But keeping that deadline in mind, I do think that it is important for the city to get this item back to council as quickly as it can because that is kind of the linchpin of this program, is that $550 million in order to get those on the ground. I love the fact that councilmembers are bringing up adaptive ways to utilize these dollars. Councilmember Mongeau is completely correct in that it is important not just to have the housing but to also have the wraparound services there . It's something that has definitely been seen and learned from the Project Roomkey site that we're currently operating in Long Beach, and I definitely want to see that continuing here in the city. So once again, thank you to all the council members. Let's make sure that we get everyone in as quickly as we can. Thanks so much. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you. It's going to a roll call vote. District one. Upheld by. District two. I'm District three. I district for. All right. District five. District five. District six. Okay. All right. Yeah, I. District seven. I. District eight. II. District nine. Motion carries. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and move on to item 25, please.