Home Antioch Antioch Continues City Council Meeting, Homeless Housing Proposal to be Introduced

Antioch Continues City Council Meeting, Homeless Housing Proposal to be Introduced

by ECT
Antioch Homeless Hotel

On Friday, the Antioch City Council will continue its meeting from July 28 after several agenda items took longer than expected to hear. Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6:00 pm.

During the meeting, the council will receive an update from the Transitional Housing Ad-Hoc Committee to provide direction to staff. It’s already been announced by Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts and Councilmember Lamar Thorpe at a press conference earlier this month they will be formally proposing to lease the Executive Inn motel on E 18th Street for the purpose of housing the homeless.  The cost is anticipated to be around $1 million for 32-rooms.

Public Comments:

  • Fill out an online speaker card located at: https://www.antiochca.gov/speaker_card
  • Provide oral public comments during the meeting by clicking the following link to register in advance to access the meeting via Zoom Webinar: https://www.antiochca.gov/speakers
  • Email comments to [email protected] prior to the Mayor announcing that public comment is closed, and the comment will be read into the record at the meeting (350 words maximum, up to 3 minutes, at the discretion of the Mayor).

    IMPORTANT: Identify the agenda item in the subject line of your email if the comment is for Announcement of Community Events, General Comment, or a specific Agenda Item number. All emails received will be entered into the record for the meeting

Here is a recap from the July 14 Press Conference

On Tuesday, Antioch Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts and Council member Lamar Thorpe announced they are bringing a proposal to the Antioch City Council on July 28 to lease the Antioch Executive Inn to help reduce homelessness in the city.

Motts, who serves with Thorpe on the Transitional Housing Ad-Hoc Committee, stated at the press conference they began this process two-years ago and called the homeless issue “very complex” and impacts many people.

“I am so thankful for the owners of the Executive Inn for opening this up for this place up for this proposal for consideration for housing our homeless here. This is transitional housing, only temporary with wrap around services with many agencies,” stated Motts who hopes this help get them into more permanent housing.

Thorpe stated they were lucky to have a local business owner willing to work with the city on transitional housing.

“This is a call not only us as a city, but this is a call to action for all of East Contra Costa County cities. We can’t continue to expect the county to do all of this work. So I hope our work here today serves as an example to Pittsburg, Oakley and Brentwood that you have to join us in this effort to ensure that we get people off of the streets and that we are working in a collaborative manner,” stated Thorpe.

After several speakers, Thorpe stated they would be bringing this proposal to the city council on July 28.

The proposal is for the city council to give direction to the city manager to begin negotiations to work out a long-term lease with the motel to house the homeless—this would be for the entire 32-room facility and could potentially be a location to place the homeless trailers.

“This is a big deal in Antioch, this is a huge deal,” stated Thorpe. “This is not some small thing. We are talking about the entire facility plus the land.”

Thorpe stated the cost would be around $1 million dollars which he said was “nothing” compared to what they spend on chasing people from camp to camp around the city using Antioch Police Department officers.

“The abatement from the community engagement team, which is two police officers, two highly paid police officers to focus on homeless in the community. Its not working. So we are proposing this solution and we are asking for the community support to get this through the council,” stated Thorpe.

While the county voucher program was good for 16-days, Thorpe stated he did not want to get ahead of services providers, but someone could stay in the motel for a week or up to 6-months so it varies on a case-by-case basis.

Back on July 1, Governor Gavin Newsom visited the city of Pittsburg where they have a Project Roomkey site. During that press conference, he announced “HomeKey”

Meanwhile, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisor John Gioia stated since the State launched Project Roomkey in April, Contra Costa County  has successfully relocated hundreds of individuals from shelters and encampments to motels and hotels. The program provides funding for these relocations. This includes residents of the Richmond Rescue Mission, and the County shelters in North Richmond and Concord.

The County is leasing 574 hotel and motel rooms to provide safer housing for homeless individuals. Meals are provided. The rooms are at 96% capacity.

Editors Note: the wind obstructed sound during the Press Conference for many of the speakers. Will add in comments should a formal press releases or statements be sent to us.

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1 comment

Teresa Jul 31, 2020 - 11:36 am

$1 million for 32 rooms = $2600 per room per month. You can rent a 2500 SF house in Antioch for $2600 a month. Why is it so expensive??!!!
Do we need a better negotiator to negotiate with the hotel owners?

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