Speaker 1: These funds are to develop viable urban communities, primarily for low and moderate income persons. So as a reminder, these are funds for 80% and below am I. So, for example, a household of four would qualify under 80% at 71,600 or below. It should provide decent housing, a suitable living environment and economic opportunity. These funds assist approximately 5000 to 7000 individuals every year. There are some requirements for these funds to receive the CDBG funds, we have to submit an annual action plan that details the programs and activities and resources to address our needs that are identified in our five year consolidated plan. In addition, there is a priority among the needs of non housing, community development, social services, also known as the public service category. The Social Services and Human Relations Board provides a refined priority statement. This is included as Exhibit one in your pocket. This year, we decided to do something a little bit different. We did a community needs survey. It was conducted online for a period since October 26, 2015 to November 30th, 2015, and there was a press release and a public notice. We did really well. We were seeking responses from residents in the community. Usually it's organizations that apply for funds, and we got 62 responses. I believe 56 of those were actually from residents. We ask questions related to HUD and the counties needs categories such as housing, homeless, public services, economic development and public facilities. The result was a three top needs with housing, public facilities and infrastructure and economic development. So the needs process starts with step one, which is the Socials and Services Human Relations Board hears from the public what those needs are. That meeting took place on January 7th. They refined their needs statement for the public service category, again included as Exhibit one. Step two is today. I would like for City Council to approve the needs categories that will be included in the notice of funding an RFP that will be released approximately on February 8th. And that's it for my staff presentation. If you have any questions.
Speaker 0: Counsel, do you have any clarifying questions? All right. Well, we do have speakers on this item. So I'm going to go ahead and call the speakers, Doug Biggs and Liz Rella and Allison de Young and James Treasurer Jerry. Need to get 3 minutes.
Speaker 3: Good evening, Madam Mayor. Members of the City Council. My name's Doug Biggs, and I'm the president of the Social Service Human Relations Board. The Social Service Human Relations Board advises the City Council on Social Service and Human Relation needs in the city of Alameda. And since 1997, we've been involved in the CDBG process by reviewing and commenting on the public service needs and funding recommendations. And as we have in previous years, this year we met, we looked at some of the analysis that we've done in the years, including the homeless count, the quality of life count. We held a public hearing of our own to receive input. And out of that we developed a needs statement and that meeting was held on. In January 7th and the needs that we're focusing on for this year. And it's been provided to you as exhibit one of your your package. The Shrub recommends that funding should be directed to services for families and individuals who are vulnerable and in crisis, including domestic violence survivors, seniors and other groups. Faced with challenges to meet basic needs through programs that provide food and shelter for all residents with particular attention towards programs that address providing shelter to currently unsheltered homelessness. Funding should also address homeless prevention, including but not limited to short term rental assistance, support, utility assistance and support for those in need of rapid relocation. That's the needs that we're focusing on. And I want to step back and kind of mark where we're at in the evolution of CDBG funds. Years ago when I started on Shrub, we were funding some amazing programs that were looking at enrichment activities for youth. Girls Ink was doing some marvelous stuff. Boys and Girls Club had some just tremendous programs out looking at how we can improve our community by improving the lives of the youth we're serving. That funding is gone now. So CDBG funding is eroded to the point that we are now looking at the thinnest of safety net services that we can provide. And I want you to think about what we're saying here for a minute. We're no longer talking about how we can enrich the lives of our the members of our community. We're talking about how can we save the lives of some of the people who are the most adversely impacted by domestic violence, homelessness and other trauma? That's a huge degradation in the quality of life that we deal with on a daily basis. And those of you that I appreciate, the members of the council who have come out on our council attended meetings around that, you know, that we're in a crisis situation out there, and we're we're we're not moving away from it. It's going to get worse and worse. And in the face of that, we're left with less and less CDBG funding. So it's a daunting task we have this year at the very thinnest of safety net that we could look at focused on and supporting for the year. And I wish that that wasn't the case. I really do. Thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Liz Brown, the.
Speaker 5: Executive director of Building Futures. Mayor and Council. I'm happy to be in front of you once again. Building Futures has been a service provider and a recipient of Alameda CDBG funds for at least the last 15 years. We provide homeless domestic violence housing services here in Alameda. And what we do in Alameda is we run the Midway Shelter for women and children.
Speaker 1: We operate we are the leaders of the domestic violence task.
Speaker 5: Force here in Alameda. We also provide housing services. So some of the services Doug just talked about of homelessness, prevention and rapidly rehousing people. We also run Bessey, Common Core on the base. It's 52 units of housing. So I just want to say the CDBG funding is so pivotal, pivotal to those services that we offer. It is the core seed of those services. We use these funds to leverage the rest of the money and sometimes it's ten fold how much we give back. So I want to I just want to echo Doug that we are we're filling in the gaps. We're making the connections. What we do is use this money to bring in county, state and federal money into Alameda so that we can serve. Alameda is so important, especially during this economic time. I also want to reach out that we not only could we not do these services without the CDBG funding, we could not.
Speaker 1: Do these all these services without the really huge support of city staff and the.
Speaker 5: Community here. They really pitch in and they fill in even more like this is CDBG funds.
Speaker 1: Community support is like this. Much more dinners, volunteering.
Speaker 5: Donations, just amazing amount of community support.
Speaker 1: And so I just really want to say that all the clients we serve do feel part of Alameda. So thank you very much. I. Good evening. I'm Alison Young, representing Eden Air, the nonprofit organization that operates 211 Alameda County. For those of you who don't know 211 is the three digit number, phone number that's free available 24 hours, seven days a week in multiple languages for access to health, housing and human services. From our unique databases of more than 2900 programs and 82,000 housing units countywide, there are two one. One is available to everybody. It's most used frequently by the underserved and at risk populations. Last fiscal year, 211 provided nearly 4600 Health, Housing and Human Service referrals to City of Alameda. City of Alameda Calls 2371. Alameda calls, to be precise, and we're on track to exceed those numbers in the current year. Alameda callers request information about such critical needs as food, utility payments, employment and physical and mental health care. However, as you can see from one of the two handouts we sent, the top need by far as housing. The percentage of calls requesting housing related information has been on the rise since 2014. City of Alameda callers are in need of affordable housing, emergency shelter, but also other housing related information that includes rental and deposit assistance, utility assistance, landlord tenant mediation and eviction defense. During the intake process, 211 staff collects information from callers that results in referrals, often over and beyond. The original need called for. For examples, callers may learn they're potentially eligible for programs such as Cal Fresh, Medi-Cal and General Assistance, which quite literally can enable them to have more money to put toward housing expenses in 9 hours, the only agency in the county that maintains such a large updated database of housing units. And we're also the only agency that calls emergency shelters twice a day, every day for updated availabilities. Two on one takes these housing and other calls 24 seven to help alleviate the burden on city staff. You'll see from the second handout. We included several calls to sort of illustrate the breadth of the types of calls we get from city of Alameda. And I wanted to close quickly with just one more example. A woman called for assistance with tenants rights, information and counseling because she felt her landlord was trying to evict her. He was making it difficult for her to stay in her home by avoiding repair replacement of a malfunctioning leaking water heater. Two on one referred the caller to Echo Housing and Bay Area Legal Aid for Tenants Rights and for building code violations to the city of Alameda Economic Development Division. So we just want to thank you again for your support of two on one Alameda County since its inception in 2007. We very much use these funds to leverage with the other cities, the counties and the private sector. So we're grateful for your support.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you. And then our last speaker on this item, Marjorie Rocha.
Speaker 5: Good evening. Mayor and City Council. My name is Marjorie Rocher. I am the executive director of Echo Housing. And Echo Housing provides tenant, landlord and fair housing services to the city of Alameda, and we provide those services for about eight or nine years now. We provide information, counseling and mediation for such issues as illegal housing discrimination, evictions, repairs, rent increases, security deposits, any type of issue that really has to do with rental housing. We also provide workshops, presentations and trainings on fair housing issues and tenant landlord issues because we believe that an educated public is really important, particularly so tenants and landlords will know about.
Speaker 8: Their rights and responsibilities.
Speaker 5: We appreciate the city's past support and we look forward to future support from the city to provide this these very important services to residents of Alameda. And if you have any questions.
Speaker 0: Or here.
Speaker 9: I think it would be valuable given the amount of time we've been spending on the rental issue to get the data that you have. Okay. And have our. Our staff analyze it in light of what we've been discussing, because we we don't keep. Track of data as a city because we don't have this type of service, it's contracted to you. And our housing authority and I think our staff that's working on the ordinance and you as our contractor, I think I'd like this council to consider giving direction to obtain those data and to. Look to see if they can inform us on. What are our next steps might be?
Speaker 4: Sounds good to me.
Speaker 0: So you could forward the data to the.
Speaker 4: Well they can communicate one staff specific.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Specifically there'll be a communication between staff. I'm sure they'll reach out to you.
Speaker 5: Okay. Thank you. Debbie Potter, who's sitting right behind you, I think. All right. Thank you.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 0: All right. She's our last speaker on this item council comments. Oh, come on. Think there are.
Speaker 3: Evening. Mayor Council members my name is James Sajan, the executive director at Legal Assistance for Seniors. I want to come tonight to first thank you for the support you've provided really to legal assistance for seniors over the years. And I wanted to give a brief overview of the services that we provide in the area of our legal practice. We provide services in full representation, including home visits in all of our areas, in the areas of elder abuse, including including removing an abuser from the home when appropriate, almost immediately a guardianship helping seniors gain guardianship of minor children to take care of them, remain safe in their home. Public benefits, including Social Security, some health care, and a limited immigration practice. And when I hear a little bit about creating that safety net, I really want to emphasize that our services are really providing basic critical services that are allowing your seniors to remain in their home with independence and dignity and without a lot of these services that could jeopardize their ability to remain in their homes. Besides direct legal services, we provide community education to seniors on a variety of topics, including Medicare, elder abuse, guardianship, all of the areas that we practice. And those are typically out in the senior centers and community senior living facilities. And we also hold the county's health insurance counseling and advocacy program counseling at this point. To this point in the fiscal year, we've counseled almost 200 people in Alameda County regarding their Medicare rights and decisions to be made regarding plans for their care. I have been in conversation with Claudia Young about that, and she's brought me up to speed about some of the rental issues that are coming up in Alameda. And I would like to.
Speaker 2: Provide an idea that.
Speaker 3: LAS may be part of that conversation moving forward. I'm not sure quite how we fit in in terms of referring or if there's a way that we can leverage the services we provide to help and provide assistance to the city. You know, we're open to that conversation. Once again, I can't thank you enough for the support you have provided. And I can't emphasize how, despite legal services coming with a certain intonation, how critical these services are for seniors and how they really provide the safety net for seniors to remain in their homes. And if there's any questions, I'd love to answer them.
Speaker 0: Also. Doesn't appear to be any, but thank you very much.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 0: It hit me that he's our last. And that's all right. Did you ask.
Speaker 4: Me? I was just going to say, I want to thank everyone, our speakers and and all the people who are providing these very much needed services to our most vulnerable citizens. It certainly makes me feel better knowing that a population that can't always speak well for itself, whether it's people on the verge of homelessness or seniors who might feel isolated and, you know, not know where to turn to for help. Rapid rehousing to keep people from becoming homeless and on the streets is being provided for. And yet every year we know that those critical funds get cut back still further. And so is Liz Varella from Building Futures for Women and Children said that you have to leverage and these providers are very adept at leveraging what funds they get through the through from us through the federal government to get more funds and to to do sort of a triage. And that's what this the the the community development needs statement is all about. They've prioritized what they think are the most critical needs. We wish we had more money to go farther. As Doug Biggs noted, there were years in the past when we could actually look at enrichment and, you know, adding on some things it would be lovely to have. Now we're just trying to keep people's lives together again for these most vulnerable populations. So I am fully behind this proposal and I'm ready to support it with a motion. But I suspect some of my colleagues would like to comment, too.
Speaker 0: And variety.
Speaker 7: I thank you, Madam Mayor. First of all, I'd like to thank Trump for putting this together. Doug's here, right? And Jen Williams, is there anyone else from Shrub? Can this Shrub members that are in the audience stand up? Just you two.
Speaker 4: Which is the Social Services Human Relations Board, not a Bush.
Speaker 7: I just think I want to give you a hand for for all the work you do now. And also I think the groups that came out today. And thank you for the services you're providing, you know, building futures, Eden I and R eco housing and legal assistance for seniors. You know, sitting up here, I'm thinking, oh, I wish we could do more. And maybe perhaps my colleagues, instead of wishing we're going to be having a a budget review coming up in June, I don't know where we're going to stand financially, but as we as we look at our budget again, I wonder if it'd be worth considering actually trying to do more instead of just saying we wish we can do more, you know, actually getting some results and including some temporary funding that some of these groups or other community groups can use to leverage other funding. So if my colleagues don't have any objection to that, maybe staff could put that on the list of things to consider when when we get the one year budget update, because I think we can do more. And if we're in a time, you know, where, you know, we're having surpluses or our budgets are coming in better than we expected, I mean, we should be able to find a way to take care of our most vulnerable populations because we're not really preserving the social service safety net. You know, has Councilmember Ashcroft said, you know, we're just plugging the gaps and triaging, you know, and working where we can. And I'm really pleased that this year, or at least able to find some funding for relief to some tenants that have needs for emergency relocation and then are getting evicted. So I'm also prepared to support this, but I really instead of wishing we can do more, I hope that, you know, we can commit as a council to do more.
Speaker 0: Councilmember De Saag.
Speaker 2: Just quickly, I want to say a special thank you to the service providers, as in the big picture of things, when you look at the amount of money that we're allocating through this process, oftentimes it's really not that much relative to the magnitude of their operations, and yet they still come and make a pitch for we're providing services. So we really appreciate the fact that, you know, you've hung in there all these years. And even if the amount of funds have been dwindling, you know, we appreciate the service that you're providing, the residents of Alameda. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Vice mayor.
Speaker 9: I heard housing related services three times through the presentation. I think it's money well spent that were about to approve the plan for. I would like us to again do the follow up. Once the implementation is is being decided looking strategically on. How these at least those three independent providers can. Assist us in taking care of this, the population that's vulnerable right now. With that, we hear testimony from on on rental issues so that we know we've allocated the money, but we also can make sure that it's being spent in an efficient manner and. It addresses the problem that we're experiencing now. And I'm hoping our our implementation plans are nimble enough to to adjust to what the crisis of the day is.
Speaker 0: And I appreciate all the comments from council as well as the public that spoke. I wanted to add that I've had the opportunity to attend these private meetings and hear from the providers the presentations that are made there, as well as participate, at least from member Ashcraft when we go out for the homeless count. And I really want to commend Shrub, the providers. The work is critical and I would support this issue coming back as part of our parking lot when we look at the allocation of funds in the future to see. But what we could do to further support, that being said.
Speaker 4: So I would love to move that. We approve the Housing and Community Development Needs statement for the Community Development BLOCK Grant CDBG Annual Plan for Fiscal Year 2016 17/2.
Speaker 0: All those in favor. I motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Next item 6.
Speaker 1: P.m. La Carey to consider Call for review and adoption of resolution upholding the Planning Board resolution to deny a use permit to allow the sale of beer and wine at a convenience store located at 1716 Webster Street.
Public Hearing to Consider Approving the Housing and Community Development Needs Statement for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Annual Plan for Fiscal Year 2016-17.  (Housing 236)