Title
City of San Leandro City Council Resolution Declaring a State of Emergency on Homelessness in San Leandro
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Per the urgent referral authorized by a majority vote of the City Council at the October 16, 2023 regular City Council meeting, staff presents the attached resolution that would declare a local state of emergency related to homelessness within the City of San Leandro. Staff does not recommend adoption of the resolution for the reasons outlined below.
BACKGROUND
On September 19, 2023, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved a countywide state of emergency related to homelessness in the East Bay. The order directs County staff at the Alameda County Office of Homeless Care and Coordination to develop an emergency response plan, including determining how much funding is needed to significantly decrease homelessness and where to direct those resources. County Supervisors indicated that their hope is to fast-track funding and bypass certain regulations that may be impeding efforts to address homelessness. However, the specific details related to what the adopted Resolution means for local public agencies have largely not yet been determined. The adopted County Resolution also included a 60-day timeline for County staff to report back to the Board of Supervisors with a more clearly developed plan, which is still in process.
City of San Leandro staff have been actively monitoring this issue in partnership with their counterparts at the County of Alameda, and are awaiting additional details and/or guidance, consistent with the Board of Supervisors’ direction. City staff have provided feedback to the County on the draft emergency plan, including recommendations to expand usage of County land, County-funded Safe Parking programs, shelters and navigation centers, increased transparency around City specific outcomes, and dedicated funding for City-run programs.
At the October 16, 2023 regular City Council meeting, Council Member Aguilar made a request, which was affirmed by a majority vote of the City Council, for staff to bring forward as an urgency item a resolution that would also declare a local state of emergency related to homelessness in San Leandro. However, staff’s recommendation is that it is presently premature to adopt such a resolution at the local level since the City of San Leandro, like most other cities throughout Alameda County, continues to await further details on the Countywide state of emergency from Alameda County. Furthermore, given the extraordinarily short window of time that was authorized by the City Council to develop such a local resolution, City staff have not had sufficient time to fully analyze the issue and/or evaluate the complete ramifications of adopting a local state of emergency when the full details of the Countywide state of emergency are still being formulated. Nevertheless, in an effort to dutifully respond to the City Council’s urgent referral, City staff have prepared the attached draft resolution, in partnership with Council Member Aguilar.
For the reasons cited above, City staff respectfully urges the City Council to not take any action on the draft Resolution and to instead direct staff to continue actively monitoring this issue and to report back to the City Council with updates and further refined recommendations.
Fiscal Impacts
To be determined. Given that it is City Staff’s understanding that details from Alameda County are still in development, coupled with an exceedingly short window of time that was authorized to fully evaluate this issue area, it is infeasible to provide substantive fiscal impact estimates associated with adoption of the proposed Resolution.
ATTACHMENT
• Attachment A - Draft Resolution
PREPARED BY:
Eric Engelbart, Deputy City Manager
Jessica Lobedan, Human Services Director
Tom Liao, Community Development Director