City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress

So for the benefit of people out there that got really quiet, like we're all ready to get ready, we cannot start before 7 o'clock because we told people that we would start at 7 o'clock. So I'm up here just counting down seconds until we can start our meeting, even though we're all ready to begin. So that's the why of why we haven't started yet. Okay, so it is seven o'clock and I am calling to order the San Diego City Council meeting today is September 21st, 2026. Like I said, it's seven o'clock. If you would please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, rise if you're able to.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Today we've got the appointment And swearing in as several new members of the Youth Advisory Commission is item 10a and is my intention to move this up to section 4, recognitions in the interest of time, if there are no objections. So I'm looking for objections. Seeing no objections, we will adjust the order accordingly. The City of San Leandro conducts orderly meetings to fulfill its mandate and discriminatory statements or conduct that would potentially violate the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. California Penal Code Sections 403 or 415 are per se disruptive to a meeting and will not be tolerated. So please see the City Council Handbook and City Council Meeting Rules of Decorum for more information. Madam Clerk, your announcement, please.

Thank you, Mayor. And I would like to note quickly for the record, all members of the City Council are present in person here in the Council Chambers. If you would like to make a public comment during the meeting, you can do so in person or via Zoom. If you are present at the meeting, please complete a speaker card and submit it to the city clerk before the item is presented. Then wait for public comment on that item to be called. If you wish to participate in public comment via Zoom, you can use the raise your hand tool when the item is called. During the public comment session, speakers will be invited to speak and will have a set time to share their comments. A countdown timer will appear for their convenience, and when the time is up, the microphone will be muted. All raised hands outside of public comment will be lowered to avoid confusion. Once public comment is opened, hands may be raised to speak. There will be a 30-minute window for public comments on items not on the agenda, which will take place under item seven, public comments, as per the published agenda. After this time is up, the council will proceed with the rest of the meeting's agenda. If you have not had the opportunity to speak during the initial 30-minute period, there will be another chance to do so after item 12, city council reports.

So for item three, just be aware that we did not complete our closed session agenda, so we will be continuing that discussion after we complete our time here. However, we will need to return at the end of that just to identify any reportable actions that were taken. So for people online, please be aware. Was there any reportable action taken during the first part of our time together? I think the answer is no. Correct, Mayor. No reportable actions were taken in closed session. Thank you. So at this point in time, we'll go to our item 10A that has been moved under recognitions. Motion to nominate and appoint members to the Youth Advisory Commission for the term ending August 31st, 2027. Madam Clerk, I believe you will introduce this item.

Yes, Mayor, thank you. This is Sarah Bunting, city clerk. The item before you this evening is a motion to appoint members to the Youth Advisory Commission with terms ending August 31st, 2027. I do have one change to note for the record. One of the mayor's nominees was unable to accept the nomination, so Tori Chu is declining the nomination, and the mayor has selected Alia Ansari in her place. Following council's action, we have several appointees here in the audience who will receive the oath of office this evening. And with that, I'm available if there are any questions.

Are there any questions at this time? Okay, seeing no questions, we will, do you have a question, Vice Mayor? No. Seeing no public comment, we will take, seeing no questions, we will take public comment at this time.

Mayor, we have not received any comment cards, and there are no hands raised on that.

So we will close public comment, and now I will take a motion. Vice Mayor.

Motion to nominate and appoint members to the Youth Advisory Commission for terms ending on August 31, 2027.

Thank you. Council Member James Aguilera?

I will second.

Is there any further discussion on this item? Seeing none, please vote.

All votes are in and the motion carries unanimously. And with that, I would like to invite the members of the Youth Commission to please come forward and we will do the oath of office. Just meet me right in the front of the room. Everybody can see me okay? All right, we're gonna get started in just a second. So the way this will work, I'll raise my right hand and then you'll just repeat after me. In the beginning, you'll say your name and then you'll either say I swear or I affirm at that part of your choice. All right. I, please state your name. Do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter. Congratulations.

And if you guys can turn around and face the audience so that parents and friends and teachers can get your picture. And if you can spread out a little bit so that everyone can be seen by the pictures that are being taken, shorter people towards the front. Don't be hidden in the back there. Just push your way through to the front.

All right, great. So all the youth members, please follow Gloria out and sign your oath forms before you go. Check in with Gloria. Follow to the Sister Cities Gallery. Thank you so much.

Okay, at this point in time, we will continue with item number five on our agenda, the consent calendar. Are there any amendments? Would members like to pull an item? Seeing none, we will take public comment on the consent calendar.

Mayor, we have not received any comment cards on the consent calendar from in the room. However, we do have one hand raised online.

Okay, so we will close public comment in person. We are now opening public comment online.

Our online speaker is Douglas Spaulding. Mr. Spaulding, if you're there.

There we go. There we go. Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay. I was just saying, my, you guys are moving fast. All right. Let me see if I can get back to the consent calendar on my little phone here. Well, I... I guess that, you know, there's a lot of money, a lot of money, a lot of money, a lot of money that goes through this consent calendar. So I always look, I always look to see what is going on. And, you know, I noticed like here it is another $575,000 in potential litigation costs in the coming year, all around the bankruptcy of, you know, the Marina Inc. development, the shoreline project. That's another day at the library, you know. So I hope that we don't have to spend that money. I would also hope that maybe, you know, if we're successful in litigation, that we're able to recover our legal costs. I know there's, you know, stuff in here that's so important, like The sewer and the bridge but like the exterior of the golf course I didn't get a chance to look at the thing but I just, you know, like I like are there things that we're saying no to, or is just like everything coming through the consent calendar. It seems to me like very rarely is an objection to spending any of this money. I'm not there in the closed session, so maybe you're like hammering it out there and talking about it in detail, but it just feels like we're spending a lot of money.

That's just my sense. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor, are there no more hands raised online?

So we'll close public comment online and come back to the council for a motion. Council Member James Aguilar.

Sure, Mayor. I'd like to move to approve the consent calendar.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Bowen. I'll second that. One more time.

I will second that.

Thank you very much.

I'm seconding it.

So I've got a motion from Council Member Aguilar, James Aguilar, and a second from Council Member Bowen. Seeing no further discussion, please vote.

All votes are in, and the motion carries unanimously.

Thank you, council members. At this point, we move to item number six, city manager report.

Thank you Mr. Mayor, good evening council members and community members. This past Sunday we had another successful coastal cleanup at Marina Park with 109 volunteers collecting 37 bags of trash, nearly double last year's total. It was great to see so many community members come together to care for our shoreline and help keep San Leandro clean and beautiful. I wanna give a big thank you to all of our volunteers who took time out of their day to keep San Leandro clean and to our recreation and parks team for working tirelessly to put this event together. It was a huge success and thank you to all. That concludes my announcement, Mayor.

Thank you. We'll talk about that some more at the very end, because that was an amazing event. So number seven, public comment on items that are not on our agenda already, but are subject to the jurisdiction of this council. Do we have any comment cards in that regard?

Mayor, we have received two comment cards from in the room, and there are three hands raised on mine.

OK, let us begin in person with our two public commenters.

Our in-person commenters are Leslie Watson, followed by Judy Richards.

Wow, this thing is fancy. So do I have to press anything or do I just start? Okay. Good evening, San Leandro City Council. My name is Leslie Watson. I live in Floresta Gardens. I only have two minutes and I don't want to lie, the last few years have made me question whether or not this body is effective enough to actually support the citizens of this city. I'm coming to you all because I'm desperate and I've exhausted all my other options. I invite you all to prove me wrong by helping my community and earning back my trust in city leadership. My neighbors and I are struggling with a feral cat colony that has completely overrun the front and back yards of at least 15 households. I've emailed my data to you this morning. Every day, we're cleaning up cat feces infested with parasites, watching cats jump on and spray urine on our cars, fight, mate, and spread fleas in our yards. The feeding situation also attracts other wildlife like raccoons, rats, and possums. I'm not talking five cats. I've estimated there's 35 cats right now, and there's still new litters being born. If you've never heard about feral cats before, they're cats that have been born and bred outside of a home without socialization with humans. They're effectively wildlife, and most feral kittens don't survive. According to the ASPCA, a pair of cats can produce two or more litters per year, which can result in 400,000 cats in seven years. Feral cats are not adoptable or safe to keep in shelters. They're often infested with parasites and disease as they grow up in the streets without vet care. And cat feces spread parasites, and the fleas they carry pose a constant disease risk, making this a community health hazard. Council members, your creation of enforcement codes would enable city workers to effectively tackle this problem so that people like me don't have to face the risks associated with feral cats. I mentioned earlier I've exhausted all my options. Here's what I've tried. I called Animal Control, who says they can't help because there's no city code on the issue, but added they get 12 phone calls a day about this for the last six years. Not this specific issue, but just feral cats in general I called Alameda County vector control who collected data to confirm the problem, but they can't enforce any of the codes I also tried speaking with and educating my neighbors and they're not following through I've emailed you my ideas for what city code could look like. Will you listen to me and add this item to a future agenda? Thank you.

Thank you the next speaker is Judy Richards

Hello, and thank you for your time. I am here to address a glitch or a system error in the parking citations. I was not at a noted location, never received the citation notice on the car, and the first notice of the citation was a delinquent notice received from the third party billing center months after the original citation. I reached out for citation information and photo proof with no response. I have learned there is no citation department here with numerous attempts to clarify this situation. The third party processing center is in Newport Beach and my contact with them has been limited at best. There was a statement on the back of the first notice I received. It said incomplete information will not be accepted or acknowledged. I was very confused with this statement. In no way did I assume that no response was their way of not accepting my request for further information. This makes it hard for me to communicate on requesting information. When I did reach out to a live person, there was no help. She just wanted the payment and no justification of why I got the citation. The date on the delinquent citation is February of 2006, which I received, was aware of in June of 2006 when a notice was sent from the third party company. and then I received another notice this September. The citation is not a small amount. It's $696. I'm asking to have this citation dismissed. The whole ordeal has caused me much concern and stress, and I thank you for your time and consideration for this matter.

Thank you.

And so thank you for your comment. We are having Eric Engelbart, who is in charge of parking, come and meet with you to see what we might be able to address. You're welcome. Does that complete our comment cards?

Yes, Mayor.

So we will close the public comment in person and move online.

Thank you. Our first online speaker is Alvaro Ramos.

Can you hear me? Yes. Alright. Well, I'd like to make an announcement to the San Leandro voters. Get a pen and some paper. You're going to want to take some notes about the five bad propositions on your November ballot. Proposition 39 is voter suppression. If you as a voter do not have your ID card on election day, then you cannot vote. Proposition 39 rigs elections by stealing your voting rights. Proposition 45 deregulates California Environmental Quality Act environmental reviews on destructive projects by private developers. Also known as CEQA, it's Governor Ronald Reagan's environmental legacy that he signed to protect California's natural environment. Proposition 45 delivers a bad environment and shorter lifespans for Californians. Proposition 43 restricts local taxes from funding the public services that our local communities need. And the consequence of Proposition 43 is going to be that there's going to be cuts on public safety, street maintenance, parks and recreation, libraries, and senior services. Proposition 42 and Proposition 41 are both part of the same trick. to trick voters into stopping the billionaire tax in Proposition 40. So if Proposition 42 passes, then billionaires do not pay wealth taxes. If Proposition 41 passes, then wealthy people do not pay billionaire taxes. So tell everyone you know to vote no. You gotta vote no on the five bad propositions. Vote no on Prop 39, Prop 45, Prop 43, Prop 42 and Prop 41. Vote no. Tell everyone you know.

Thank you. The next online speaker is Gloria Strom.

Can you folks hear me?

Yes.

Thank you. Council Member Bowen, I want it noted in the public record that I appreciate you and your work on behalf of our city. You show up time and time again with grace, kindness, joy, and courage. You are the best of San Leandro. You are a light. Thank you. Thank you for showing up for us. That completes my comments.

Thank you. The next online commenter is Douglas Spaulding.

And Councilwoman Bowen is so generous that if you go to the Boba and Big Ideas event, you get a free Boba. That was fun. I purchased an e-bike earlier this year, and it's been somewhat transformative. For me, I use the e-bike to go like everything around town. Assuming I plan well enough and have enough time, I can get all the way over to William Street to do bantering. I can get to the Senior Community Center to do a little computer work. I can get downtown to meetings. It's been great. And then it saves the battery on my old Volt. It doesn't have a high capacity. I can use that to go to other towns. So the reason I'm bringing this up is that Bike East Bay and Ava Community Energy are having a test ride for e-bikes on October the 11th. And it's at the Hayward-Bart station parking lot. So I recommend if you don't have one, go. You can get money to buy it. And you can also test out different models to see which one is comfortable. That's what my friend Berisha Spriggs did to get hers. And then I got information from her that helped me get mine. So that's one thing. I took my daughter to the ACT test. To do it on a computer, you have to go all the way to Turlock. So what do I do? She's taking the test all morning. I went and looked for the solar-covered canal that the Turlock Irrigation District has. And it's the first in the nation, only one of its kind. But you know what? We could do something like there in San Leandro with the Estadillo Canal. There's a few other canals. So I'd like to promote that to our San Leandro City Council and also Ava Community Energy because we can get some megawatts out of that. I second what the person was saying about citation processing. It's really impossible. There is no good due process. There's no way to dispute a ticket. And I'll save my time.

Thank you, sir. Your time has elapsed. Mayor, there are no more hands raised online.

At this point in time, we'll close public comment online as well. We don't have public hearings scheduled for today, but we do have a presentation from the Llewellyn Interim Housing Drop-in Center. And it's our annual report for fiscal year ending June 26. We've got Deputy City Manager Jessica Lobedon, I believe. Well, maybe not. Mr. Liao, I assume you're subbing in.

Well, thank you, Mayor and City Council. So tonight, Deputy City Manager Jessica Lobinata and myself are very pleased to present the first annual report on the Llewellyn Interim Housing and Drop-In Center. I also want to acknowledge our nonprofit partners that are here tonight. We have Executive Director Liz Varela and Program Manager Cecilia Flores from Building Futures. And we also have Executive Director Darren Lowndes from Housing Consortium of the East Bay. So I'm here to just provide some of the background, which many of you have heard of how we got here, and talk a little bit about the development. But I think that I'm going to hand it over to Deputy City Manager Lobedon, who will really focus on the operations. So, and as you recall, this project really began in this fiscal year, which is why this is the first report. We wanted to highlight this data piece as to how we got here. And as you can see, in particular, 2019, where we reached sort of a high in the unsheltered homeless in San Leandro right before the pandemic as well. So as many of you know, the city council then realizing the issue here and really in the region. Director Leal? Yes.

What I'd like to be able to do is show the presentation online. And so although we can see it in the room, the folks online can't see it yet. So if you could just pause for a minute. Thank you for your patience. Okay. Can we go back and just show the other numbers very quickly? Just at least someone can screenshot it if it's important to them.

and perhaps give just like a 20 second summary of what you have there sure just wanted to show this graph again of the homelessness in san leandro from 2017 to 2026 but in particular focus um how did we get uh to uh the city council prioritizing investing in uh the welling interim housing and drop-in center was from the 2019 data to about 20 you could see that we reached sort of a high in the unsheltered population uh 344 uh householder people So going back into the history a little bit, so the city council in 2029 established addressing homelessness as a top priority. And then they directed staff to look for a site for a navigation center to provide shelter, support services, and to enable permanent supportive housing. And one of the big investments, because of the federal American Rescue Plan Act funding that was available to us, The city council at that time also initially committed $750,000 for the acquisition and to really kind of stimulate this and directing staff as well as some general fund monies for operations. We've placed this in our claimed city housing element update as well as a priority to do under housing and homelessness. So just going through a timeline, as you know, with success comes some setbacks. In 2022, we did apply for what was called the second round of home key funding, but we had just got into discussion of the property with the motel, the former Nimitz Motel, and we had just set up a team at that time with Eden Housing and our stalwart here at Building Futures. So we really didn't have a lot of time, but we really felt the need and pressure because of the urgency to apply, and we did not get the funding. WHICH WE FOUND OUT. SO FAST FORWARD TO ABOUT 2023, ROUND 3 CAME OUT. SO WE ARE MUCH MORE PREPARED. WE ALSO RETOOLED OUR TEAM BECAUSE WE WANTED TO LOOK FOR A PARTNER THAT WAS MORE GEARED TOWARDS THE SUPPORT OF HOUSING. SO THAT WAS HOUSING CONSORTIUM OF EAST BAY. WE FORTUNATELY HAD BUILDING FUTURE STILL ON THE TEAM AS WELL. AND SO WE DID APPLY FOR WHAT WAS CALLED INTERIM TO PERMANENT HOUSING. AND WE WERE SUCCESSFUL IN GETTING THAT GRANT. then in 2023 we also formally acquired the property right about the time we got the grant award and so what we proposed at that time to the public and to the council was interim housing so that was taking 29 of the former 33 units that were there in the motel and then housing people and transitionally until they can get into permanent housing and then also providing which is this is the unique feature I think of our Our project was the daytime drop-in center. So if you cannot be housed, you can get food, you can get laundry, and you can also have facilities to use as well. AND SO THE IDEA WITH THIS INTERIM TO PERMANENT CATEGORY UNDER THE HOME KEY GRANT FROM THE STATE IS THAT WE HAVE TO RUN IT FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS, AND THEN EVENTUALLY WE'RE GOING TO TRANSITION THIS PROPERTY TO PERMANENT HOUSING, PARTICULARLY GEARED TOWARDS, YOU KNOW, PERSONS WHO WERE FORMALLY HOMELESS AFTER FIVE YEARS OF INTERIM OPERATION. SO WITH THE MONEY IN TOW, WITH ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS OF FUNDING THAT WE LEVERAGED, WE GOT MONEY FROM THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE, We got lots of other money, federal money from the county. We were able to commence construction in 2024. And again, I would say, and I think our team would attest, this was a very fast-track construction and rehab project. And so we were able to finish construction in early 2025 and open this project basically in late spring, beginning of the summer. Again, I wanted to highlight our partners here, Building Futures and HCEB. HCEB is not only the on-site property manager for the city, we still own the property, but as you recall, they were the developer for the project, given their experience. Building Futures, you all know, has just been a mainstay in this community, and they've been providing the on-site services and really the consultations for us as well. And I did just want to share some of the before and after pictures for you all in the public. So as you can see, here are some before of the exterior and the interior parking lot. And while the family did do some work on the project over the years, you could tell, you know, it was just kind of aging. And again, some more before photos, again, of the parking lot and as well as the interior space. It's a little very dated looking inside. And then after, boy, what a fresh coat of paint can do in some ways. And I think it was really important to establish a different scheme, color scheme. Here's the ribbon cutting that we had with federal and state officials. And of course, you all there in attendance that day to celebrate the grand opening for the ribbon cutting at that time. And as you can see, just basically new furnishings and just cleaned up rooms for a very dignified, stable shelter space for the residents who are able to use the space. We also provided both a dining area and meeting area. a computer area as well for the residents, as well as the daytime drop-in center people. So you can see these were probably formerly either rooms, or this was actually the former Chinese restaurant that was there on the ground floor that apparently made very, very popular chicken wings. So with that, I think I'm going to hand that over to our deputy city manager a little bit to talk about the interim housing.

good evening mayor vice mayor members of the City Council before I talk about some of the outcomes of the program I'm going to invite up executive director Liz Varela just to give a high-level overview of the interim housing portion of the program are very proud of this program we have worked

We have been in San Leandro working on homelessness and domestic violence for close to 40 years. But we have worked closely in real close partnership the last 12 years working with folks that are unsheltered, our unsheltered neighbors, doing the warming shelter, street outreach. We really started from scratch here in the city. We didn't have much services. And so having this happen is a culmination of so many meetings and so much visioning. And so we're really super proud of this. And we're so excited that the city took that leadership and did all this work on buying the building and applying to the state. It was very exciting. I think what's really impressive about this is if you all remember before this there was no shelter for men in the Mid-County area and so this is what this offers and also the drop-in is really important. I think what we're most proud of is that this is a place where people can come to be treated with dignity and respect and be welcome and well cared for and really focus on housing. All the pictures you'll see are folks that were homeless from San Leandro. These are folks that you might not know, or standing in line at Safeway, you wouldn't even recognize that they're homeless, but these are folks that were sleeping in cars or on the streets in San Leandro. And so Jessica will talk about our stats, but we're really proud of our stats too, but wanted to tell you a little bit about the shelter. What's really cool about this shelter also, as opposed to Sister Me Home that's here we run, and San Leandro Shelter, is everyone gets their own room. So that means everyone really can focus on their own healing, and they're focusing on their next step, which is housing.

Thank you, Liz. So as we've discussed, the shelter has 29 rooms that serve as temporary stable housing to help homeless individuals transition into permanent housing. And this is a photo of some of the current and former residents of the program as well as the staff at Building Futures. Who the program reached this year? And again, this is just information for the shelter portion of the site. 66 individuals were served across 61 households, so that encompasses coupled adults sharing a room or individuals with adult children, as this program is just for those 18 and up. Nearly 82% entered as chronically homeless, and of the population, one veteran was served who also was chronically homeless. A majority of the individuals served are those in the age range of 45 to 54, as well as a majority served are men. Here we have a race and ethnicity breakdown of not only the shelter clients, but we've also compared it to the broader San Leandro homeless population. based on data from the 2024 point in time count, as well as the San Leandro general population. And when we break down this data and compare it against the broader homeless population and the general population, it's really to look and see if there are any disparities between who is identifying as homeless and who is accessing services. Broadly, the numbers for our shelter clients match the proportion of the broader homeless population in San Leandro, with a slight under-representation of Hispanic Latino in our shelter. For our health, disability, and safety profile at entry, There's a lot of data on this slide here, but really the main takeaway is that nearly 90% of those clients at interim housing had three or more health conditions present at entry. Nearly 90% experiencing a mental health disorder, 77% substance use disorder. So this is a complex population that is being served at the site. For those at the site, a majority, 74%, have been homeless for two years or longer. And those, again, a majority are coming from literal homelessness. There is a small portion who are coming from emergency shelters or who have received vouchers. But by and large, it's individuals coming directly from literal homelessness, which is defined as a place not meant for human habitation. And for length of stay and exit destinations, the average length of participation or stay in the program is 186 days, around six months. And a majority of those who are exiting from the program this past year have exited to permanent housing. So we're very proud of this accomplishment that 23 people have moved into permanent housing. And a majority of that housing is permanent supportive housing, which is housing with an ongoing permanent subsidy. We have had some returns to homelessness, and this is broadly for individuals who have not been able to achieve program compliance after working with them repeatedly on following rules and following the good neighbor policy. We've also had one-off situations with individuals who have had other housing, but by and large, individuals are exiting to permanent housing. And I'll invite Liz Varela back up once more to give a brief overview of our drop-in center.

So I want to point out that this drop-in center really was what we were talking about for the last 12 years. We work with April Showers, and we're so inspired by April Showers and what they did. And we needed that every day. And so we still work with April Showers. They are awesome. But we wanted somewhere that people can come five days a week, spend eight hours a day. And there's laundry. You can get meals. We have onsite support services. People can get their mail. People can use a computer. People can take a nap. People can hang out. And what's most important is people get to really meet a case manager. So one of the other things we thought of when we started this site was let's leverage this, let's bring as much other kind of funding into the drop-in and the shelter as we can. And so we are also get funding from the county to be a coordinated entry hub. And so when people come to get their laundry, get a meal, Take a nap, get their mail. They also get connected to county services and be part of coordinated entry and really get to focus on their housing. So we really focus on getting people document ready so that they're on the list for housing. And that's really what we're there to do through street outreach. And our drop in is. Let's be as aggressive as possible in getting people document ready and signed up for housing. And so what the drop-in has us do is both treat people with dignity and respect and give them what they need to live a dignified life, but also use that relationship and engagement to get them the services they need and get them the housing they need. And I just want to point out really quick that Cecilia and her staff are super dedicated We have lots of training and support for our staff to make sure that we're treating clients with low threshold, meeting them where they're at, very nonjudgmental, letting them be who they are so that we can get a relationship so they can get housed. And so the site is perfect for that.

So some data for the daytime drop-in center. This past year, 669 unique individuals came in and accessed services at the drop-in center. That's across 666 households. So again, we've got some coupled adults or individuals with children. Again, a majority of those who are accessing this service are chronically homeless at nearly 70%. A higher proportion of veterans served at drop-in center than are served at the interim shelter program. And also some youth served, still 18 and plus, but this is in the transitional age youth category. For the age distribution, a slightly younger population than the interim housing with the majority of clients in the 35 to 44 range. And again, seeing a majority of individuals served as men. Again, here we have the race and ethnicity breakdown, both of drop-in clients, San Leandro homeless population at large, as well as the San Leandro general population. One notable increase in those served in drop-in clients is a higher proportion of black African American accessing drop-in services than the San Leandro homeless population As well again as a slightly lower population of Hispanic Latino accessing services compared to the broader homeless population Like the interim housing site, the client health and disability profile indicates a complex population being served. This is duplicative data, and so we see that there's many different disabling conditions that clients are facing, 91% having a disabling condition. Also, one statistic is that nearly 68% had three or more co-occurring conditions at entry. One piece of data that we're not able to directly track with drop-in clients is those who are moving into permanent housing. And that's just based on the countywide data tracking system that we must use. We'd have to manually go back and search every client to see what their housing status is. But we do have some notable achievements that we've been able to measure more through qualitative data. At one point in time, we had 14 individuals at drop-in move into permanent housing, supported by building futures through the move-in process. Several of the clients who access drop-in services are pending permanent supportive housing placements. So it is a program that is still connecting people to permanent housing, even though it is not the shelter side of the program. We do have clients who have moved into housing who are returning to the site to access services and continue their relationships with Building Futures. And then we also have a list of our key partnerships with several of the nonprofits who we partner with to come to the site and continue delivering really integral services that are key in individual successes in moving into housing. I will just note that another key partnership has been the neighbors in the areas surrounding the site. We've started, city staff have started meeting with our neighbors on a monthly basis just to ensure that there's no ongoing impacts of this site in the neighborhood. So I wanted to say thank you again so much to our partners who deliver these services on a day-to-day basis. These are not easy programs to run, and we really appreciate it, so thank you to Building Futures and Housing Consortium of the East Bay. And with that, we'll take council questions.

So we do have this as an informational item, right?

Yes.

And so what we're going to do is we're going to take public comment on this item, and then we'll come back and we'll get any questions or suggestions. So do we have any public comment?

Mayor, we have received one comment card and there's presently two hands raised on mine.

Let's proceed in person, please.

Thank you. Our in-person speaker is Ginny Madsen.

So I'm Ginny Madsen, and I'm here tonight because I promised my friend Kathy Ralph, who I know wrote you, she does a lot of hands-on work, but this still, this is so important, and I'm really worried this is gonna be an extremely wet winter, and we don't have a place for the, what, 58 people who are still unsheltered at the last count. to go dry out. I'm concerned about that. I've written to Kathy with my ideas. There's a courtyard at the Nimitz. I don't know. I can only hope Liz is prepared for this because people are going to be showing up in bad states. I started looking at this in 2015 when I met my friend Karen, 83 years old, being pushed out of her place, and we started looking at what it was going to be like to be homeless. And we were both stunned to learn that you pretty much had to be homeless for two years, prove it, in order to get any kind of assistance. It's better now, there is more assistance, but that number still exists, two years. I just tell anybody who asks me, call 211 right away. But finally, the Nimitz gives people a place to go in and literally, I don't know, get on the list. Because you have to be there for two years. Karen didn't make it. She's gone. But I still do this for her. It can be done now.

Thank you. Mayor, are there no more cards from in the room?

So I'll close public comment here in person and open it up online.

The first online speaker is Alvaro Ramos.

Yes, I just wanted to remind us all that we're in an election year and it is also a good time to have a discussion about the kinds of barriers that unhoused people, I imagine there's a spectrum, although I'm no expert on the topic, of the barriers that folks probably would get into in trying to participate in this election year. But it's also notable because I know that there is a housing proposition on the ballot and, you know, I'd imagine people might take an interest in that. And of course, also to combat the amount of voter suppression that we've got going on. We can't tell people how to vote, but we can determine their eligibility and make voting more accessible for people this election year. And comment.

Thank you. The next online speaker is Douglas Spaulding.

Thank you so much. Well I guess congratulations in order to Deputy City Manager Lobodan elevated from director of the Human Services Department. But it begs the question, what has happened to the Human Services Department? Reading between the lines, reading the tea leaves, it seems that has that department gone away? It seems there's a reorganization. Senior services sent to the Senior Community Center, which makes a lot of sense. I love seeing Pedro over there. And homeless issues going to the city manager's office properly. But is that increasing the profile of these issues? Or is this like other things we've waded through where the Friends of San Leander Creek kind of gets tossed aside and our former sustainability manager gets elbowed out. I'm a little concerned about it. I think if there was more transparency, I wouldn't have the same concerns. Look, the Navigation Center, as has been spoken for with its drop-in services, is really a model program. And we need to keep it going. It doesn't, you know, serve all of the needs, but it serves a lot of them. It's been fantastically supportive and it's going to close in 2030. We need the next navigation center. And, you know, another year has gone by and I heard no ideas about where it might be, how we might pay for it. You know, it's not like homelessness is going to go away by the year 2030. And as the previous two speakers spoke, mentioned, you know, we need services for other folks like the warming shelters, like safe camping sites, because, you know, one shoe doesn't fit all. The statistics, I think, are pretty interesting and pretty good. You know, everybody comes through the navigation center gets countered. But I think we should go look at San Jose. I heard an item on the radio where Matt, what's his name, was talking about the algorithm they use using police department, fire department, lots of different metadata. We should do that.

Thank you, sir. Your time has elapsed. Mayor, are there no more hands raised online?

Okay, so we will close public comment and then come back to council members for questions or discussion to share their thoughts. Beginning with Council Member James Aguilar.

Sure, thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I think a couple of things. Fantastic work. It was not easy. And as someone who saw that work start before I was on council and to see it through on this annual update, it's beautiful. And the numbers just reflect the success of your work. And so I appreciate the work you've done. I have a couple of questions. It's a fantastic snapshot of the present. And so I think a couple of things I want to hear are what challenges do you see upcoming? What opportunities do we see upcoming at least maybe in this next year?

Testing. Great, thanks. Thank you for the question. To clarify, you said in the coming year? Yeah. I think that There's a lot of opportunities that we're seeing this coming year. Now that we've run the program for, I mean, it has been a little over a year as it was ending, I think, in July. But we've learned different lessons, I think, particularly around ongoing engagement of the businesses and our neighbors next to the site. Sometimes these programs, even to the best of our ability, they may have impacts in the community and that is absolutely something that we want to make sure is addressed. So that's one of the areas that we see is both an opportunity and a potential challenge, but we've made a lot of great progress on setting up strong relationships and having ongoing conversations as well as looping in our partners with the police department for issues that extend beyond the purview of the site. That's what I can think of off the top of my head.

No, that's great. Thank you. And then a question of curiosity. I heard this idea of getting someone document ready. So can you talk to me about what that looks like, what that one-on-one service looks like?

Sure, I'm actually going to look to our partners at building futures to provide some Information on what getting somebody document ready looks like as it is quite an intensive process So getting document ready is really getting all the documents you need to apply for housing

And so the county does not put you on the housing list to get matched to housing until all your documents are ready. So you need your birth certificate, social security card, all the things that if you're homeless, you have lost. So, so really take your, so driving, we often take people, drive people to DMV to get their, their car. We set up their mail so they can get the mail at Llewellyn. Like we do a lot of work around getting them document ready. One of the things is, being qualified as chronically homeless. That means you have to be able to prove that you've been homeless more than a year, and you have to document a disability. So then you have to get connected to a doctor. So all that stuff is quite intensive, and that's why when we say we engage people, create a trusting relationship to make them feel like they can do it and we can support them takes a while so if you're like why have i seen this person on on the street for so long it's because it takes a while for us to engage in a relationship and get them document ready and say come into the come into the drop-in, use the computer, take a shower. So all that takes a little bit of time. So when we do it, we're very proud. There was one day this year, and it will be in our annual report, where we housed eight people in one day. They just all got matched, and there was a new building open, and they all were posing with their – in fact, a lot of the people in those pictures were people who came back and wanted to pose in the picture because they were so proud of themselves that they got housed. And so it's such a big deal to get someone from – LIVING ON THE STREET ALL THE WAY TO HOUSE.

COUNCILMEMBER BOWEN, PLEASE.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. FIRST, THANK YOU TO CITY STAFF AND TO LIZ AND THE BUILDING FUTURES TEAM FOR THIS INCREDIBLE WORK. I WANT TO MAKE A QUICK NOTE ABOUT THE PRESENTATION. I'M NOT ON THE ZOOM, BUT I APPRECIATE US MAKING SURE THE PRESENTATION IS ONLINE FOR FOLKS AT HOME. ONE OF THE REQUESTS THAT I'VE BEEN ASKED BY SOMEBODY LISTENING WHO PAYS ATTENTION TO THE COUNCIL MEETINGS BUT IS HEARING IMPAIRED IS IF WE'RE ABLE TO POSSIBLY PUT THE PRESENTATION UP WHILE COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE HAVING DISCUSSIONS SO THEY CAN KIND OF FOLLOW ALONG BECAUSE WE ALSO REFERENCED THE MEETING, THE PRESENTATION, BUT THAT'S JUST, I WANTED TO, I JUST, I REMEMBERED IT AS YOU GUYS MADE THAT COMMENT. SO I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS. The Navigation Center will transition to permanent housing in 2030. That's five years after it opened, correct?

That's right. About that time. I mean, give or take a year or so because logistically.

Sure. So two questions around that. Who would manage permanent housing once that happens? And two, what is currently in place in terms of a second iteration of a navigation center or is that a TBD conversation to be had?

I'LL ALSO DEFER IF MY COLLEAGUE WANTS TO ANSWER THE SECOND PART. BUT THE FIRST PART I WOULD SAY THAT WHAT WE MADE VERY PUBLIC WAS THAT AS YOU DO THE TRANSITION TO PERMANENT AFFORDABLE, WE WOULD LIKELY LOOK TO DO SOME SORT OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR QUALIFIED PROBABLY NONPROFIT HOUSING DEVELOPERS THAT HAVE SPECIALTIES IN THIS AREA. And then they would, there's more funding sources for permanent housing in some ways. So they would not only develop it, but they would also own and manage it. Okay.

When you say would develop it, do you mean that there could potentially be even more units?

Yes. So that is the idea. That is one of the attractions, I think, to the city council when we're in the process of purchasing is because of the ability to potentially up-zone now through the state laws and our own regulations. So you can get a denser, affordable rental housing project there.

Great. Thank you. Thanks. I can address the second part of the question. So it is certainly on our radar that in an ideal world, we will find a second location for a successor navigation site. There are some practical challenges with that, notably the cost for either land acquisition or as well as the ongoing operations. This was something that we shared with council at the priority setting retreat earlier this year. So we will continue to have that on our radar and be looking for successor locations, particularly with the upcoming availability of county funding through Measure W or other state funding opportunities. So that's something we'll continue to look for.

That's great. Thank you. Really appreciate that. So I forget which slide it was on, but an average six-month stay, and I'm not sure who this could go to, but what could help folks transition into permanent housing sooner? Tom sits back down. It sounds like it's a lot of matching folks through like a county process and obviously you're doing a great job of getting people document ready, but what is a big barrier, whether it's something that we can address or just so that we understand where we can push for in terms of being able to get people into housing?

is really low. It's way higher in our other shelters. So this is incredible. Another thing that's incredible is the 64% exit to housing. That's huge. That's way better than our other shelters. That's better than the county average to getting people housed. And I think it's because who's being matched to the shelter, they're already chronically homeless, we've already been working with them for a while, we have all that housing help that's right there. And so because this is so service rich and engagement rich, I think you see those two really successful outcomes.

That's great. And I think that's a fantastic, obviously something to really celebrate, but then also to build that as a model for how to like, apparently fill in this gap, right? Between getting folks that are ready to be in permanent housing and finding ways to get the match. So thank you. It's really, the county really is the one that's matching. We just got to get people in the list ready to go. That's our job. Wonderful. And then a follow up question around services. On page 20, there were a list of services that are provided. And one of the ones I was curious about is mental health services. are there mental health services and are the different partner agencies that are listed, the community partners that are listed on page 25, I know the ARU was listed on that, but in terms of more comprehensive support so that sort of all of the different stakeholders are aware of what folks need and then making sure that they're getting mental health services.

So the ARU has been incredible when we have someone who has a mental health crisis like never before. We call them, they show up, and they help us, and we have a real close relationship. That has never happened before. So to have ongoing, there is a dearth of mental health services in this county, and so we leverage. We work with some of those folks on there to get that, but that is not something that needs to be strengthened today. in this county, in this city, and on this site.

Okay, I would, yeah, that's why I wanted to bring that up, because there's absolutely the crises, but again, just, And anybody in general, I am very supportive of constantly getting mental health services, but certainly people in situations that are going to be more stressful. So I'm really supportive of that recognition and the need to continue to add more. Two more questions. The 66 individuals stayed.

If we can actually come back around, just because it's been about six, seven. If we can go next to Council Member Simon, please.

Thank you for the presentation. This is... This is incredible. This awesome job in every sense in the word. I do want to acknowledge all the staff that put in so much time and not just your regular work schedule, but I know you've put a lot of extra hours, extra days, weekends, everything into this to make this happen. So thank you. Building Futures and Housing Consortium of the East Bay, you are so much appreciated. and even the motel owner. I remember the motel owner was a part of this and helped the deal and made sure they were waiting for us and ready for us. So thank you, hotel motel owner for that. I also wanna reiterate the 2030 timeline and would hope that we can get ready and us council could figure out the funding, the land acquisition, the other issues that are out there and the operation, because it's gonna come real fast 2030. and a service like this is making a huge difference. This is in my district, District 4, the greenhouse, and our community is seeing a major improvement over at the greenhouse in the general area, so we definitely have to have another one. I would also like to recognize Steven Taylor, who was killed in 2020, and Justice for Steven Taylor, Ms. Addie Kitchen, and they had a large part in being community activists and pushing and helping to support this movement. It took a big community effort to make this happen. I do have a question and then I have a couple more comments, but my one question is, I understood the getting document ready and showers and washing clothes, I'm trying to understand how do you physically get a room, one of these 29 rooms? How do you get that room and then move on to the more permanent, but this particular room?

So the county has a coordinated entry system. So when someone comes into our drop-in center or we meet someone out in the street, we do an assessment and they get on the list. So they get in either crisis queue or the housing queue or both. So we go, we do street outreach all the time, we have people come by the drop-in, we get them on the list. And so whoever is on the crisis queue is the top of the, been homeless the longest, maybe the oldest, has the biggest health problems, that you pull off the top of the crisis queue to match the shelter. Cecilia will pull the list, she'll pull the top person off the list, and if we can get ahold of that person, they can come into the site. And we're pulling, our area is San Leandro and Alameda. So we will pull people from San Leandro and Alameda, and vice versa. So Alameda has a site just like ours, And they'll pull from San Leandro and Alameda. And so our folks get sheltered either in San Leandro and Alameda and vice versa. And so that's how we get our folks. But you'll see a lot of our people are really from San Leandro. That's really the majority of people who we see and who we are serving.

Then getting a hold of people, do they have cell phones or how do you get a hold of them?

So some people have cell phones and we try to get people connected and don't lose your cell phone. Or we know where their encampment is and our street outreach team will go find them and look for them. There's also a way that you can look for people on the HMIS team where you put an alert out. If anyone sees this person and they got linked to housing or they got linked to shelter. So there's a few different ways.

Okay, and then I have a question on slide 15, the race and ethnicity slide. And kind of heard about the disparities between the San Leandro general population and the other two charts for black African American and as well as Hispanic Latino. Any idea why or what's going on, why there's such a big disparity?

Well, as we know, Racial equity is a problem. So systemic racism is a big factor in folks becoming homeless. So you will see that in the numbers. So because of all the things that people face, that are black African American and Hispanic, Latino, they will become homeless at a higher rate than maybe you'll see in the general population. And I think one of the things I'm really proud of with us being in San Leandro and us seeing a big Hispanic Latino homeless rate is that we have a lot of staff that speak Spanish. And I think that's not always true in homeless agencies. And that's one of the things we pride ourselves is having that language access so that we're able to really serve those folks in a holistic way.

Thank you.

I'll just add in briefly that we didn't want to overwhelm this slide with too much data, but also when you look at the broader Alameda County homeless population, you see disproportionately high rates of black African Americans experiencing homelessness, as well as American Indian and Alaska Natives.

Thank you. So I'll come back around to you if you can. So we'll go back to Council Member Victor Aguilar.

Thank You mayor To staff this is Thank you for the amazing work that you have done. I this is literally have been this has been a dream come true I know all the hard work. This is Why I'm here to help make sure that we help the most vulnerable and This is this has been fruitful. I think my question is in looking at the stats what are we doing when someone comes with kids, like a family? I was looking at the numbers as to the age gaps, I mean the ages, and why weren't 0 to 18 listed on here? I just want to understand that aspect.

So we are a coordinated entry hub for Mid-County West, so Alameda and San Leandro. We do not see families at this site. We see families at our fairway site, our main site. So we do see families. You won't see that here because it's not funded by the city of San Leandro. The reason why we are not seeing families is here is we want this to be low threshold. We want anyone who is single and homeless on the street to come and be careful. We're not saying, shh, keep your voice down. When children are present, we need to have a whole different kind of site and a whole different oversight. And we were definitely adamant that this needs to be harm reduction, low threshold. And safe and welcoming for folks that are coming off the street. Not be quiet, put your clothes on, you know, that whole thing. We just want to make sure. So we have a site, our fairway site is both a domestic violence coordinated interest site and a family site. So we're handling those folks. They're right there. We have shelters that we can put families in right away that are homeless in San Leandro and Alameda. So we have that covered, just not at this site.

Gotcha. So we're documenting families that come in that are being... DIVERTED OR ROUTED.

YES. IT'S IN A DIFFERENT PART.

GOT YOU.

OKAY.

WELL, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE WORK THAT YOU DO. I THINK, YOU KNOW, THE NEXT MAJOR STEP IS TO FIGURE OUT HOW WE'RE GOING TO FUND THE, YOU KNOW, ONCE THE FUNDING RUNS OUT, HOW WE'RE GOING TO FUND THIS. BUT THOSE ARE MY QUESTIONS. THANK YOU, MAYOR.

THANK YOU. COUNCILMEMBER BULLETT, PLEASE.

YES. THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION AND MORE IMPORTANTLY ALL THE HARD WORK THAT HAS GONE INTO THIS. Thank you for the one veteran that was housed. How many other veterans are in the system, if you have that number? Okay, that's fine. I'm positive there's more. Okay, the slide says one, but you're saying? Through the shelter.

I can reiterate for the record that we have housed other veterans through the shelter, right, Cecilia? Through drop-in. Yeah, but one through shelter.

Got it. I want to follow up because I was unclear on two things. Council Member Simon said, how do they get into these rooms at this shelter? I don't know why it didn't connect with me. I didn't hear the answer to that, I guess. And so I'm trying to figure out, is there rooms, so someone comes in to the drop-in shelter, or the drop-in day, are there rooms that they can stay in that night at the shelter?

No, there's not. Because there's not enough shelter for people, they get assessed and prioritized. So those people on the list that have the highest acuity, they get pulled off the list. So often people have to wait. That's why street outreach is so important and dropping is so important, that we get assessed as many people as possible to get them on the list so that we can attach them to shelter. And they might get put in our shelter or they might get put in another shelter, but it's so important that we get out there and we do those assessments to get them on the list.

So someone comes in, if there happens to be someone moving out into permanent housing and they do rise to the top of that, they could get a room there that evening?

Probably not.

No, not that many. Probably not. Probably not because there's going to be other people on the list.

There's a huge line.

Right.

We really do in this county, and this county's done a great job in the last two years of adding in more and more and more shelter, but that just needs to keep happening.

So the six months that was asked about, that's once they get into one of those rooms. It's six months from that point that they would get into permanent housing. Right. How long is it they come into the shelter that they get into one of the rooms in either San Leandro or Alameda, roughly? I know they could not have some. It depends. It depends on the severity.

It depends on who they are and where they fall on the list and if it's our shelter or some other shelter.

How long is the list?

300 people so it's so one of our things that we're very proud of is sometimes like the list is as long as the homeless count so that we are so we say we kind of think to ourselves ooh so if there's if there's 300 people do we did we get to everyone like are we really out there signing everyone up and engaging with everyone close and that's what's really important is getting all those people in the list the pit count that we did this year right

How many did we hit in San Leandro?

It has it on the first slide. 296.

So with that 296, it's fair to say they could all be on the list if the list is 300. So we're making progress, and at least we know who's out there in our city, where they're at, and hopefully we can move through the process. Yeah.

I think the population we have the hardest time with, and everyone does in the whole county, is folks that are really seriously mentally ill and will not engage with anyone. That is like the whole county's goal is to figure that out and to really get enough, those kind of outreach services available to that kind of folk, that kind of person.

I see there's, okay, no, nothing.

We've got a little bit of additional context.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Boat. Just so I can make sure for the record in the room and those online, your question was if the The 296 is on the list of 300, and I'm not sure that's exactly accurate. Okay. It's just general.

I'm saying it could be really close.

It's not. So it also depends on, mind you, this is a point in time. It's a specific day and time. So the person we speak to... may never be in San Leandro again, and someone could be in San Leandro, and could be on the list, or never talk to one of Liz's or the staff.

It's true, but it's like, is our capacity, like, is it even, or are we like, we're only, on our list in San Leandro is only like 40 people, and then the count is so much. That's what I would do now.

We're doing a good job.

Because the population is so huge, they might not have it. I mean, they may not.

Right.

Yeah.

It's hard for them to get it. But one last thing, I'm sorry, Mayor. I just want to... follow up with what every one of my colleagues has said. We have to do something now so that in 2030 we are prepared. And so it's upon us, this group here, to start figuring that out now.

Coming to the Vice Mayor.

I also wanted to start my time with gratitude to all the folks involved, from previous councils to previous staff and the ones working to get us to where we are today. On behalf of the people served and the community, just thank you. I have three questions and one is around the state of the kind of overall service provider landscape. I'm concerned about whether there is an increase of service providers or a decrease of service providers or is there a consolidation of service providers. I'm just wondering about like when we're heading, if we're looking to expand beds and shelter across the county, and the demand is high, is it met with a set of service providers ready to take? And is it a question of money, or is it a question of capacity, or both?

yeah I can I can address some of this question so I would say that Alameda County has had a long-standing group of service providers some of whom have the specific cities that they work in and specialize with those populations and those cities. Building Futures, for instance, has a very long-standing presence here in San Leandro, as well as in the city of Alameda. In the past, I would say, 10 or so years, there have been some newer providers to the landscape of nonprofit service providers who have come from neighboring counties, such as San Francisco or Contra Costa County, But I will say that specifically in some of the previous requests for proposals that the city has issued for homeless service providers, we've not seen new providers coming to the table and some of our providers are stretched thin and at their capacity to not be able to provide the services that we're requesting. Specifically, I'm discussing for safe parking services. So, I hope that answers your question that there are a lot of providers who have been in this community for a long time. We've seen some, I would say, minor growth in the last decade or so, but there's quite a bit of need when it comes to this particular service.

Thank you. And I think that leads to my kind of overall question. And I'm thinking about our state and federal advocacy and what that would look like. Because I think what I'm hearing is that the need is really high And it's not unique to our county. I think our county does experience in comparison to other counties in California. But just looking ahead, I'm thinking about how to integrate this feedback and our experience and running both a dropping center or not us running, but like. a drop in center and a shelter in our city and what that could mean for our advocacy. And I just want to elevate that as we head towards the end of the year. And as we think about our state and federal advocacy platform, That we're kind of folding this in, because I'm really concerned about the lack of capacity that there is just in the overall system to meet the need that exists today. And that is just something that I, I'm going to kind of keep in mind. And as we talk about our platform that it gets kind of integrated on that. I WANTED TO KIND OF DOUBLE CLICK ON THE GO KIND OF TWO LEVELS DEEP IN TERMS OF THE SERVICES PROVIDED TO FOLKS AND I'M THINKING ABOUT MY EDUCATION IS IN EDUCATION, HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND SO I'M THINKING ABOUT What are those efforts look like in terms of getting people into jobs and careers that essentially kind of they're able to build the futures that they want for themselves? Can you tell? Are there any kind of workforce development, training, higher education, post-secondary enrollment? What does that look like? I know it might be difficult to do it at the shelter, but once they get into the permanent housing, how do we keep them there? And I think one of them is workforce and education. Can you talk a little bit about what that looks like and kind of getting ahead of the problem before...

So one of the things, permanent supportive housing is for people who are chronically homeless that have a disability. So often those folks aren't those folks that are starting a career. But they do need something to do. So you definitely need to get them into volunteerism and those kinds of things. We just got an upgraded funding for our coordinated entry hub at Llewellyn, and it includes funding for employment services. And so those folks who aren't chronically homeless that aren't on the on the Permanent Support of Housing list do need to get jobs because that's the only way they're going to get housing. So we're starting to focus on that a little bit more. Like this year, we've provided a guard card class, those kinds of things, and like had like weekly employment workshops, those kinds of things. So we are doing that. The capacity issue is this county doesn't have a very strong employment agency, which is one of the goals of the county to get that, or to work on the capacity of existing providers to provide that.

I'll just add, and this will be the end of my comments, is that the post-secondary landscape right now is very much focused on students of high need. So there are a lot more resources than there were five years ago. in helping students and there's six million Californians who have some college no degree and some of them are trying to get back and some of them fall into homelessness for a variety of reasons. But what I'm trying to get at is that in the community college segment or the CSU segment and even the UC segment if folks are interested in going in that pathway, there's just a lot more support services and looking at student support services more holistically. Whereas if a student, if a person decides to enroll, even in a workforce development program in their community college, they're eligible for other services offered by the college. So you're able to kind of triage something else. I'm just offering it. I'm sure you know and are aware of it, but it's just the universe. That's my slice of the universe. So I just wanted to elevate that. Again, I just want to close by thanking all of you for your time and dedication to a high need population. Appreciate your work.

Okay, so we'll go around for a second time if folks have some additional questions or comments. And if not, then I'll jump in. So Councilmember Simon.

The photos on pets was really nice. Is that standard for shelters to allow pets?

Again, jump in just to save Liz from getting up and down. We did design this program intentionally to be low barrier housing first. And so one of the models and tenants of that is people, pets, and possessions. And so ensuring that this shelter allowed pets so that people, that wouldn't be a barrier to people entering into the program.

That was really great to see because the pets are like family to so many people. So that's nice. Thank you for doing that. The second is... After 2030, this becomes affordable housing, has to be built, I understand there. How does that compete with the land at the corner of Beatrice and Washington that was also designated as affordable housing? Do those two compete against each other, or how does that work?

Not necessarily. And, again, I think the timing will tell because we have five plus years to get this going. So I would say that, again, this is going to be sort of publicly sort of bid out to qualified nonprofits. So when you do the RFP, you'd want applicants to come in with a plan. So I think in some ways it wouldn't be. I think right now that other project has some issues that it's working through. But I wouldn't necessarily say that they're going to cancel each other out. We need more housing in general, affordable and market rate. So at this point, the more the better. Okay.

And my last, I want to make a couple comments. So this Navigation Center is just awesome, every which way it's awesome. My concern is the general area and safety for the occupants and participants of the Navigation Center. And I've been talking about this for a while, And this is the walkability. How do you get there? And the freeway 880 is right there. The 880 undercrossing, and I'm just going to say this out loud, it's not safe. And why I say that is for two reasons. One is walkability. There was an ACTC... walkability audit done this year, and I know someone that was on that audit, they couldn't physically complete the audit because it was so dangerous. And this is what they told me. They just texted me. We couldn't complete the walk because the cars going onto the 880 northbound ramp never stopped for our group, including seniors, children, and disabled person in wheelchairs, too dangerous to cross over. So as you're walking from the navigation center, heading, I guess that would be east towards In-N-Out Burger, Walmart, You're physically so dangerous trying to cross that. There's a big concrete column in front of you, and then you have to peek around it as cars are flying onto the freeway. So this is not a city, I would say, issue, because this is county, that area is county, Alameda County, and our city is like sandwiched between this little sliver of county. So I'm talking to the county, talking to Caltrans, I've been working through this, but I just wanna put it out there that we really have to work together with our county partners, with Caltrans and our city to try to make this safer, because I would hate to see all this beautiful work that we're doing and then bam an accident and our walkability study couldn't even be completed it's that bad and the second issue at the same spot is there's mounds of bird feces on that sidewalk that lead between the navigation center and the bus line or bart same direction and again i'm talking to caltrans they clean it up or excuse me the county they'll clean it up every couple years or something and it's just We need a more routine annual way to clean this area up for the residents, not the residents, for your people staying there. Because you're doing such a nice job, and they go out in not a safe condition. I just want to put that out there. But we're gonna keep working, hopefully with our partners at the county, and come up with a solution, because it's not okay. But overall, you're doing an awesome job, thank you.

Coming to Council Member Bowen next.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. MY QUESTIONS WERE AROUND THE WAITING LIST AND ALSO HOW PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THE NAVIGATION CENTER. AND I THINK A LOT OF OUTREACH, LIKE STREET OUTREACH WAS IMPORTANT. THE FOLLOW-UP TO THAT WAS AROUND THE 600-PLUS PEOPLE THAT ARE SERVED IN THE DROP-IN. What does that outreach look like and is there a one pager that the safety ambassadors downtown, for example, can hand out or that I can have access to or folks in the neighborhood that email me? If we can get that.

Yeah, absolutely. We can share more flyers and information on what is provided at drop-in services. We do provide all of that information to the ARU, to the downtown safety ambassadors, to our police department. public works who's also on the ground and you know doing a lot of work in the encampments and additionally of course we have building futures mobile outreach team and our other nonprofits who do outreach direct street outreach in the community we share that information but we can ensure to share flyers with you as well thank you so much and then I just wanted to follow up on councilmember Simon's

comments about just the safety issues around that neighborhood. It's actually really timely because I was in public policy committee for ACTC and we did get an update on it. It's called the 4CP project, but it really is prioritizing that entire corridor around making sure that it is safer for people to be able to bike and walk, whether it's to the navigation center or to San Lorenzo High School or just that entire area. And they did a lot of outreach and a lot of community engagement, which your constituent was telling you about, which is really good. And so it's moving forward in the process. There's funding for it. And so there is a design period, and it's going to come before ACTC's commission meeting actually on Thursday. So if you want to be able to call in just in support of why it's such an important project, that would be great. Or anybody that lives in the neighborhood, I think that would be really great. But I'll definitely take that feedback and then share it with the commission on Thursday. Thank you.

Okay, so obviously great work. I really appreciate the data, the statistics. You're making impact on people's lives and that's what really matters ultimately. I did want to address a couple of things. This is first to you, City Manager. So it's my understanding that we have moved the Homelessness related services the human services part of the department All the same people are employed the same titles the same work is being conducted It just so happens that it's under the title of a deputy city manager. Is that accurate?

I

That is correct. The only adjustment I would make is, yes, everyone else has the same title, except... Fair enough. Who was Director Lobedon is now Deputy City Manager Lobedon.

Okay.

So there hasn't been a reduction in services. OK. Because I do think that it's important that we just clarify our record. There was also the public commenter made references to someone described as a sustainability manager. We did not have a sustainability manager. I have dealt with that before, corrected that record. So I'm not going to dive into that here. I do want to say thank you specifically for information that provides breakdown around ethnicity. And I would like to look at that slide because it was a little bit striking, particularly when it comes to the Hispanic population. So I just want to make sure that I understand this data correctly. So in our homeless count, even though only 25% of the people in San Leandro would be categorized as white, the homeless population And our pit count in 2024 was 34%.

That is correct.

And in fact, we're serving an even greater proportion in the shelter piece. And I know these are small numbers have to be low sensitive because only 66 people, if I remember correctly. But then when I go over to the far side. Nearly 30% of the population is Hispanic Latino. And that kind of mirrors the homeless population. But it's substantially smaller in the number of people that we are serving. And I see a similar... Can we look at the drop-in ethnicity?

I'm going to let the mayor finish his question.

So I'm wondering if this is related to just being small numbers, or do we have a perspective beyond that?

Mayor, would you like to look at this data or the drop-in data?

First, I wanted to start with the shelter data because these are people that are at the top of the list. They've gone into rooms.

I don't know, but one of the things I can guess is that the shelter was, because of our application to the state, was for chronically homeless folks. So that means they have to be homeless for a year and have a verified disability. And what I'm guessing is, that's why I want to see the drop in to see if it's different. Because are we serving that population? Because if it's different, it means that these folks maybe aren't as chronically acuity as homeless. That's why I want to see the difference. Because are we not serving Hispanic, Latino people? Or are they just not getting into the shelter because they're not meeting that criteria?

And I think that's a fair distinction. Might also beg the question, why they're not chronically homeless? Is it because there's community support in other ways? Just really trying to explore the why. Are they younger? So these numbers are small, but it's just something that has caught my attention that I think would be worth exploring. If we could then, as Executive Director Varela was saying, can we go then to the drop-in numbers And so I think that we see something that's similar here. It's not identical, but it's still approximately half the rate for both Hispanic and obviously for Asian, there's a significant difference, also about a 50% difference. So it's something that I just want to be mindful of. I mean, the numbers are what they are, but perhaps as we have more experience over the next two, three, four years, and then if we could also reach out to the county to see if the county sees similar factors, ratios, and other shelters that they have, that would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Here we go. Quick question from Council Member Simon.

Yeah, real quick. On that 880, I want to say a third item is to beautify it because your shelter, you did such a nice job.

Council Member Simon, that's not related to the shelter.

It would make them uplift the community if it's more beautiful on the area. Just want to say that. Okay. And working with the Art Commission on that. Thank you.

So with that, I think you've received the general impressions, concerns, obviously a lot of praise for the work that's being done. Thank you very much for all that you're doing. We look forward to the next report as more information comes and the data becomes more robust, more complete.

Thank you.

Have a beautiful evening, and thank you for sticking with us. At this point in time, we will move to our next item, which is an action item. Item 10A, we've already taken care of, as we swore in our youth advisory commissioners. But we do have item 10B remaining, and that's an amendment, an action to potentially approve Amendment Number 1 of the City Manager's Employment Agreement. And here to introduce the item, we have Human Resources Director Emily Hung.

Good morning, excuse me, good evening, mayor and city council members. So in accordance with government code section 54953, section C3, we are required to provide an oral summary when there are recommendations for salary and benefits changes paid to local executives. The action item before you is a resolution to amend city manager Janelle Cameron's employment agreement. THE CITY COUNCIL RECENTLY COMPLETED AN EVALUATION OF THE CITY MANAGER'S PERFORMANCE AND DETERMINED BASED ON A POSITIVE REVIEW TO AMEND THE EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT AND THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT NUMBER ONE PROPOSES TO EXTEND THE TERM OF THE AGREEMENT THROUGH JUNE 30, 2030. SO THERE ARE NO OTHER CHANGES PROPOSED AND THAT SUMMARIZES THE RECOMMENDATION.

So at this point in time, just so the public is aware, we have had discussion and closed session about this item. So what we're going to do is take public comment on this item to see if there's any feedback from the public at this time.

Mayor, we have received one comment card from in the room, and we presently have one hand raised online.

Let's proceed in person. So we open public comment in person.

Our in-person commenter is Mike Katz-Lacabe.

Good evening, honorable members of the City Council. My name is Mike Katz-Lacabe. First of all, congratulations to City Manager Cameron on the contract extension. I would, however, say I'm kind of disappointed in the agenda item and the backup material provided for the agenda item because what it does not do is give us the fiscal impact of the contract. So, yes, there's a copy of the original contract from 2024, which states that her base salary will be $350,000. And it talks about the salary increases that happen after that. But this item doesn't include what those salary increases are. And since they're matched to another salary schedule, you have to go and find that salary schedule in order to go and look it up and calculate it. So I think it would be great if in the interest of transparency for the community that we had the full information about what the fiscal impact of the compensation and benefits are. And I find it amusing that the oral presentation is just as bad as the information provided in the backup material to the public. And hopefully the city council gets something better. I don't know. And again, congratulations to you, city manager. I'm absolutely impressed. happy for you not to experience any misogyny in the city. That was reported by the mayor about a week and a half ago. So thanks once again, congratulations.

Thank you. Mayor, there are no more cards from in the room.

So we'll close public comment in person and open public comment online.

Our online speaker is Douglas Spalding.

Thank you so much. You know, a city manager is hard to find. And a great city manager, well, that's pretty rare, rarefied stuff. So I'm happy for us that this contract is going to extend. And we have turned over almost as many city managers as police chiefs. So the idea that you're committing to four more years, I think is really important to the stability of our city. I share Mike's puzzlement. I thought, well, you can't be doing this for no raise. And I agree that information like that shouldn't be something we have to scratch and claw and research and go to the state website and figure out what the salaries are. It should just be presented, matter of fact. So congratulations, City Manager Cameron. I look forward to seeing you work and more monthly reports. All right, thanks.

Thank you. Mayor, we have one more hand raised online. And that is Chris Urban Res Life Longoria.

Can you hear me.

Yes.

Great. First I'd like to acknowledge the Ohlone people whose territory that we occupy. I would like to congratulate our city manager Danelle Cameron on another few years here in 2030 to continue to make our city a great place to live. Congratulations, and I fully support you. Aho. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor, there are no more hands raised on line.

So close public comment on line. Coming to Council Member James Aguilar.

Sir, are you able to take a motion, Mayor?

Let me just see, is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, please proceed. Okay, sorry. So if you can just kind of signal me when it's discussion. So we'll go to Vice Mayor.

I just didn't want to let the moment pass to just express my appreciation for your leadership. I know that for those of you who have had the pleasure of working with Ms. Cameron, brevity, she appreciates brevity. So thank you for your dedication and thank you for your leadership. Thank you. And when the motion is there, I'll second it.

Council Member Simon.

I just want to echo those comments. Janelle, you're doing an awesome job. And just from managing your staff to the technical side and your people skills are really there. And it's been challenging over the past two years, I'm sure, with everything that's gone on. And I look forward to working with my colleagues to make it a better place for all of us to work. So thank you, Janelle.

So is there any other praise jumping in? Because, you know, okay. I third or quadrupled the praise. That's why we're going to extend this. So with that being said, I will take a motion.

Council Member James Hegular. And ditto the praise. It's an honor to work beside you. Mayor, I would like to move to adopt the resolution.

Thank you. Council Member Bolt. Second. Ditto the comments. So thank you. The one thing that I do want to be clear on when we talk about the raise, the raise is simply the continuation of the cost of living adjustment. We haven't changed the core salary. So sometimes when you have a contract renegotiation, there's a 10% boost or 20% boost. There's nothing like that. All we're doing is continuing the same contract with the same cost of living adjustment, just so that the public is aware. With that, we have no more discussion. Please vote.

All votes are in, and the motion carries unanimously.

So that will go to item 11. City Manager, do you have any items?

No, sir. I'm sorry. Yes. Council Member Bowen had an item.

OK. Council Member Bowen, there you go. Please proceed.

Thank you, Mayor, and I have to acknowledge former council member Brian Azevedo in his many years of advocacy for this, and so I'm actually bringing a referral to update our current code around feral cat colonies and the health, safety, sanitation, and nuisance concerns they can create for surrounding residents. This includes exploring approaches used by other cities, including San Mateo, that aligns responsible feeding and caretaker requirements, colony registration and management, spay, neuter, and mixed sedation, and appropriate enforcement and coordination with animal control and vector control that addresses any of the gaps that we can find. Thank you.

Thank you. With that, we'll go to item number 12. Are there any announcements? Council Member Bowen.

Thank you, Mayor. A few announcements. I will be at the CALCES conference this week as both an executive board member of the East Bay Division as well as a voting delegate for the City of San Leandro, and we will be voting on a resolution on Friday morning. So I will not be at Wednesday's Rules Committee meeting where the agenda item is a discussion to consider facilitated discussions. SECONDLY, I WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU TO THE CITY FOR CONTINUING TO SUPPORT COUNCILMEMBER OUTREACH TO THE COMMUNITY. THIS IS MY THIRD SEASON AT THE FARMER'S MARKET OF TABLING. AND, YOU KNOW, DEAR DOLLY PARTON PASSED RECENTLY AND IN THE SPIRIT OF HER GENEROSITY AND KINDNESS, I ALSO GAVE OUT OVER 100 CHILDREN'S BOOKS TO THE COMMUNITY. really encourage folks to do that as well. There are lots of community members with lots of beautiful books for kids that they would be really happy to read home as well. I will also be speaking on a panel at the 2026 Municipal Management Association of Northern California next week. Really excited to share some of the experiences that I've had on the city council with city managers and staff. And then finally, I really wanted to do a staff shout out to both Public Works and especially San Leandro PD for their continued work on Safe Routes to School and the efforts and challenges we've had at the school sites. I obviously speak a lot about Washington and Roosevelt and Bancroft and now that I also have a student at the high school I am very much living the life every day all day for many hours of being on these busy streets and I just wanted to share that Just today, because of the work that SLPD is doing with their campaign for outreach and education, the principal at the middle school sent out yet another message to parents to remind us to follow proper traffic laws, including not taking that left turn out of the parking lot. It is really bad for everybody, especially for the students, but it is something that's really important, and I know you're putting extra work into that, so thank you so much. It goes a long way. Also, families at Washington are putting together a bike walk bus, which is basically getting kids, families to be able to walk to school together or bike to school together because there's safety in numbers. And this is also something that is facilitated by the Safe Routes to School program at ACTC, and I would encourage all of the schools to do the program if they haven't done so already, because it is a really great way to get folks out of cars and safely walk to school. So thank you so much for the effort of staff.

Thank you. We'll go to Council Member Simon next.

Yes, I just want to show appreciation to the San Leandro Police Department. They had a coffee in the park at Manor Park this past Saturday at 9 a.m., and it was really nice to see the Lieutenant Cesarotti and the other staff that were there meet some of the new officers. It was really nice to see, and some of them live local, which is really cool. But that involvement with the community and getting to know the different cultures and everyone out there was really nice to see. So thank you SLPD for that. And then also the pickleball group at the Manor Park had a potluck as well last week and that was really nice to see. A lot of good things happening at Manor Park. The good things happening are pushing out the not so good elements that are there. So thank you community and SLPD.

Okay, so I will not duplicate any of the things already mentioned. I'll start with congratulations to San Leandro Company ZymoChem for winning the East Bay Regional World Cup Startup. Startup World Cup. That award was presented in Hayward last week. And so congratulations to them. That sends them on to the finals competition where they are eligible for a $1 million prize. I do want to acknowledge, thank SOS Meals on Wheels for their many, many years of service to the community. They have had this last week a 10 millionth meal Celebration they've delivered 10 million meals and I had the opportunity to be out on a route with one of the folks in around the Corvallis area and Just the beauty of the experience the interaction between the drivers the delivery folks and the the residents And I was particularly touched by a 95 year old Woman who finds tremendous joy in the person that visits her every day with a meal It also afforded the opportunity to connect her and the SOS Meals on Wheels folks with some other services that she needed. So I think that just finding the way to take those avenues and elevate and amplify them is particularly important. I am particularly grateful for the many different community groups, neighborhood organizations, etc., that are throwing regular events in our city. You mentioned the Washington Manor Day in the Park. There was an event at McKinley Court. There was a Chetland Chili Cook-Off. There was another event at Washington Manor. There was a Filipino gathering that I spoke to. There was like a thousand Filipino folks from across the Bay Area. had come to gather at the Marina Green. So I just think the efforts to bring people together and have shared experiences is very powerful because that's how you build connection, and that's how kindness thrives. I do want to highlight the community cleanup, and there was a fascinating fact that came out of the community cleanup two years ago when we started Beautify San Leandro. We started with zero volunteers, with zero people in our database of volunteers. Today we have 645. volunteers signed up. We hit people with emails and requests to come and participate. It's a big list. And so my encouragement is that we keep growing that list, but stop to praise and just say, wow, that's an amazing accomplishment. And that comes from focus and dedication. So special kudos to the recreation and parks team for that achievement. The last thing that I'll leave us with, September 30th. September 30th. We're talking about September 30th? I think we're talking about September 30th. So September 30th, we will have the groundbreaking for the Haas-Carrie Pedestrian Bridge. As you will recall, approximately three and a half years ago, a tree unfortunately took out the old bridge that was there. And so we've worked through so many different permitting processes. We had the benefit of a very generous anonymous donation, and we have worked through bridge design processes, and we are literally going to begin pile driving in October. and working on building the bridge abutments. That's something that facilities committee specifically recommended. If we're gonna put in a new bridge, let's put in some new abutments. So we're following a process and with just a little bit of luck in the spring, there will be a bridge for people to be able to walk over that will bring the community closer together. So we're very excited and we encourage folks to come and join us and celebrate a little bit as we break ground. this beloved bridge. At this point in time we are going to recess so that we can go to our closed session. We don't know exactly how long that will take it could be quite short or it could be an extended discussion so we will return when we return and we will report out if there is any reportable action in which case at which point we will adjourn our meeting. So for right now we stand in recess. Okay. So it is 9.17. I am calling this meeting of the San Leandro City Council back to order. We have concluded our closed session discussion. There's no reportable action. It is now 9.18 and we are adjourned.