SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

HOMELESS CRISIS PROBLEM SOLVING NOTES & call to action from (me!) ~topps #NOTonNOBLE

of course, wish i would have acted sooner,  

but, looking closer at the problem(s), 

HOMELESS CRISIS   -RESEARCH/RESULTS/QUESTIONS/SUGGESTIONS

It is 2022.  First tiny home community opened 2020.   RESULTS?

 What, if anything, is being done to prevent more homeless from populating San Jose from other areas?

    Per san jose spotlight article feb 27/2020, katie lauer

6000 homeless (obviously this # is not fixed)   (will have more opportunities to get off the streets)

                          Initial grand opening of 40 tiny homes   (bridge housing)   safe & stable place w/support services while tenants search for permanent housing    -tenants pay $20 month, to help prepare them for when they achieve permanent housing.

               [where is this permanent housing they are finding? How much is the rent?...]

Homefirst CEO Andrea Urton  (previously homeless teen)

 

COST

2.2 million to build, (approx. 55,000 per home)     /keeping in mind 40 homes/6000 homeless…

    About 1 million annually budgeted in san jose general fund to continue paying for the site.

 

RESOURCES

    City’s general fund + a one time housing authority award  (amount not mentioned)

   State’s Homeless Emergency Assistance Program funds helped  (how much?)

 Measure E  which would levy a real transfer tax on property sales of $2 million or more to boost affordable housing efforts   (did this pass?)

     Newsom/Provide California Environmental Quality Act exemptions/fewer obstacles w/like, Caltrans

 

QUALIFICATIONS for tenants

     Qualifying vulnerability index score, in a rapid rehousing program (details); have a job or are job ready

        A two-three month stay is the goal, Urton said, residents will be granted extensions as needed while they work toward permanent housing

              [results? It is now 2022..  how many transitioned out? To where? Employed how?  How is it enforced if after extensions, there is still no job/permanent housing?  -then what?  -back on the streets?]

 

SPECS

80 square foot homes x 40,  120 square foot w/wheelchair   (how many of each?)

              [how many square feet is the entire community? How many people within that square footage?

                   Population per zone ordinances…   reasons they exist….

 

QUOTES  “if we can get the obstacles out of the way, cities can move quickly to address the crisis”  Liccardo

“just need to get red tape and lawyers out of the way”   “deeply accountable to our communities..(!?!) to tackle the crisis

 

QUESTIONS/CONCERNS/SUGGESTIONS

   Of the 6000, what %  currently qualify for tiny home w/vulnerability index score (details), in rapid rehousing, job or job ready?

 

What % of the 6000 do not qualify?   How are we getting them off the street?  Where are they going?

 

What is the current protocol  (enforceable protocol?) for a drug addict living on the streets in a neighborhood or business?   Unable to hold down a job..    a crime threat due to need to finance drug habit?  What are we doing currently?  How successful/unsuccessful?   -to jail?  And then after sentence is served,  released with no money, no place to go..    -set up to fail again?

 What is the current protocol (enforceable protocol?) for a homeless person living in a car  -and said car is parked in a neighborhood/business?   Where are they being relocated?   How successful/unsuccessful?

 What is the current protocol (enforceable protocol?) for a homeless mentally ill person, loitering in a neighborhood, school, park, business, etc.    -where is this person relocated to, currently?

 How are homeless encampments removed?  Where are those people currently going?

 What is the current status of the all these services/organizations?

 What is the lowest amount of rent on record for San Jose?   Highest?

What is the average hourly wage?    Minimum wage?

What does one week worth of groceries (on average) cost for 1 person?

       [imagine/draft..   one month of just basic living expenses (average) rent, car pymnt, groceries, gas, water/pge, phone..] in San Jose?

What % of jobs available in the City allow for…      

 Why don’t we continue to utilize the acres of land available near the airport  -where homeless (unqualified for tiny homes) already live;  -make that a homeless safe zone, so to speak, and then provide portable toilets, garbage pick up, and food supplies to a central a location.  IF this were implemented..  how many more people do we remove from streets all around the city, neighborhoods, schools, freeways, etc. 

And if districts are not equal to begin with, size/population/house to business to school to land ratios;

 Why would we try to distribute homeless equally?

 

    instead of taking up more/space/resources/budget creating brand new 'affordable' [tiny] homes throughout the city, might i suggest (again) we make the homes/apartments that already exist more affordable.  -stop pushing people out and then scrambling for what to do with them next.

30% lost job..

if 68% cant afford rent...   60% 'not enough income'  47% No housing available (? where/at what price point?)  42% not enough money for moving costs

 

 google:City of San José HOMELESS CENSUS & SURVEY COMPREHENSIVE REPORT 2019              

google:    Homeless Services, City of San Jose

                     https://oir.sccgov.org/sites/g/files/exjcpb1026/files/sj-hmls-svcs-guide.pdf

 

 another spotlight san jose article///  1 families success story

community of 60, A tiny home at the site costs roughly $10,000, officials said. Each unit has four foldable beds, a heating and cooling unit and shelving. The site also provides daily meals, WiFi and other basic needs.

The site is currently hosting 20 adults and 40 children, ranging from 1 to 18 years old. The Castanedas are the fifth family who have found stability—and permanent housing—

 Roughly 10 months after launching Casitas de Esperanza, Santa Clara County is looking to expand the program. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan last week to identify new sites in the county for other tiny home communities.

In September, Santa Clara County approved a multi-million contract with LifeMoves, the region’s largest temporary housing provider, to replicate an existing shelter site made out of shipping containers in Mountain View at 10 other locations across the county.

***

different san jose spotlight article     [cost numbers bounce around.. from article to article]

Building more housing is the key to fighting the growing homelessness crisis in Santa Clara County. Two officials want to give a local nonprofit $25 million to do so.

Supervisors Joe Simitian and Otto Lee announced a proposal Thursday to grant LifeMoves, the region’s largest temporary housing provider, a multi-million dollar contract to help it replicate an existing shelter site in Mountain View at 10 other locations across the county.

 

 

posted by SANDRA HARRISON KAY @ 8:02 PM