UNION CITY — On the Ruggieri Senior Heart on Monday evening in Union Metropolis, East Bay residents and native officers gathered to debate methods to climate the storm for homeless residents within the face of probably thousands and thousands of {dollars} in federal funding cuts for housing.
Hosted by Alameda County Supervisor Elisa Marquez, over a dozen group members gathered to research the problems homeless residents and lawmakers face because the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth considers chopping between $33 to $60 million in federal housing funding from the county’s finances.
“We have a real risk when it comes to federal homeless resources,” Jonathan Russell, director of the county’s Well being Housing and Homelessness Providers division mentioned on the senior middle, which additionally supplies protected parking for homeless residents residing in autos at evening.
Because the county faces the monetary loss, officers and residents are left making an attempt to determine the best way to make up for that funding in a area that’s in the midst of a housing disaster. Officers mentioned that inexpensive housing and shelter beds proceed to be a number of the high wants for homeless residents within the county. With funds now out there by means of Measure W, a controversial $1.4 billion, 10 yr, half-cent parcel tax voters handed in 2020 to fund homeless companies and assets, native lawmakers are anticipated to make vital strides to get homeless folks housed.
Based on a 2024 depend, there have been 9,450 homeless folks in Alameda County, together with 6,343 folks residing unsheltered.
Measure W is anticipated to offer the county about $153 million per yr in homeless companies funding, which sunsets after 2030. A bunch sued the county over the tax, which held up the funds till earlier this yr when a choose in April dominated in favor of the county, releasing the cash for county use. By then, the measure had generated over $800 million.
Russell informed the gang that by February 2026, officers count on to have offered 300 new shelter beds in services all through the county.
The county at the moment has simply over 3,400 whole shelter beds between emergency shelters and transitional housing.
Different matters of curiosity at Monday’s assembly included the county’s five-year Dwelling Collectively 20206 strategic plan, accredited by the board in 2022, which is anticipated to sundown subsequent yr. The county is pursuing a brand new plan referred to as the Dwelling Collectively 2030 plan, which continues to be being developed. The county expects to launch full particulars of the plan by summer time 2026.
Members of the Youth Advisory Board, which incorporates residents between 18 to twenty-eight years outdated with present or previous expertise residing homeless, introduced information detailing younger peoples’ struggles on the streets.
Based on county information, over 9% of the county’s homeless inhabitants, or over 850 folks, is 24 years outdated or youthful, and of these younger folks about half live alone with out a mother or father or guardian on the streets.
“Youth homelessness is a lot of times invisible,” mentioned Jackson, who lives in Oakland.
Socorro Moreland, an East Bay housing activist, spoke throughout a public remark portion of the assembly to advocate for a brand new shelter deliberate to open subsequent month in Hayward by means of Covenant Home, a company which supplies shelter and housing companies to youth all through California.
“Every person deserves the chance to thrive,” Moreland informed officers.
In an interview, Supervisor Marquez mentioned she is thinking about wanting deeper into what additional funding and companies may be offered to youth and seniors within the area. She burdened the significance of Measure W funding and the county’s new Dwelling Collectively 2030 plan to deal with homelessness. She mentioned now that the county raised the cash, it’s as much as metropolis officers to step in to begin placing the cash to make use of and get folks off the streets.
“We’re doing our part, now it’s up to local leaders to do their part,” mentioned Marquez, whose district contains Hayward, Union Metropolis, Newark and components of Fremont. In Fremont, she was a staunch opponent of the latest strict, homeless tenting ban the Metropolis Council handed in February this yr that criminalized tenting wherever within the metropolis.
She credited Fremont for just lately constructing its Homeless Navigation Heart, which supplies non permanent shelter and housing companies to dozens of homeless residents. However Marquez mentioned cities must be growing extra ordinances that assist put folks in houses, not ones that punish them for being on the streets.
“We have to be part of a shared vision,” she mentioned. “We have to exhaust all viable options, and I don’t think that was done (in Fremont),” she mentioned. “I prefer more solutions … instead of harsh extremes.”
