The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has approved a plan to spend $10.5 million over the next three years to reduce homelessness and serve homeless residents in the County’s unincorporated areas.
The funds will be in addition to about $340 million in spending the Board approved in late November to address homelessness Countywide through 2021. Both moves will supplement the more than $83 million Alameda County currently spends on homelessness programs each year.
The latest round of funding, approved unanimously by the Board on Tuesday, will provide relief in unincorporated areas that have seen a marked rise in the number of unsheltered residents in recent years. These areas include Castro Valley, the Ashland/Cherryland community south of San Leandro and areas at the County’s eastern edge near Livermore.
The Unincorporated County Homelessness Action Plan will support added shelter space, expanded outreach and new resources including a mobile hygiene bus that will provide showers, restrooms and other services to homeless residents in the unincorporated areas.
“Homelessness has become a Countywide issue that requires solutions that reach all of our Alameda County communities,” said Wilma Chan, President of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. “This plan is an important step in that direction.”
The increased funding in the unincorporated areas will support a wide range of efforts, including programs to prevent displacement and homelessness among seniors and households at risk of losing their homes; and to provide health care and access to showers and bathrooms for people who are already homeless.
Funds will also pay for the conversion of two Warming Centers – temporary shelters open only on nights that are rainy or very cold – into shelters open every night during the winter months.
In addition, the plan calls for spending $310,000 to provide case management and other support to residents of a planned “Tiny Home Community,” consisting of six units of transitional housing on the grounds of the First Presbyterian Church in Castro Valley.
Expanded spending on homelessness comes in response to evidence showing unprecedented numbers of residents are living without adequate shelter throughout Alameda County. Last year, the County’s biennial homeless count showed the number of people experiencing homelessness in the County had grown by nearly 40 percent since 2015.
The additional spending was recommended by the County Homelessness Council, which was established by the Board of Supervisors in February to address the issue of increased homelessness. The Council includes leaders from the County’s law enforcement, social services, health care, housing and community development agencies.
