Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Executive
Subject: Response to 2023-24 Civil Grand Jury Report “Hospitality with Hope: Transforming Hotels into Homes”
RECOMMENDATION:
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Approve the County’s response to the 2023-24 Civil Grand Jury Report “Hospitality with Hope: Transforming Hotels into Homes.”
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BACKGROUND:
On June 20, 2024, the 2023-24 San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury issued a report titled “Hospitality with Hope: Transforming Hotels into Homes” (Report), requesting that the County respond to nine Findings and seven Recommendations set forth in the Report.
Pursuant to Penal Code Section 933, the County’s response to the Report is due to the Honorable Amarra A. Lee, Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, no later than September 18, 2024, which is 90 days after issuance of the Report.
DISCUSSION:
Staff recommends that the Board of Supervisors submit the following responses to the Report in compliance with Penal Code Section 933.05:
FINDINGS
Finding 1:
The County and its partners should be commended for acting swiftly, taking advantage of Homekey funds and executing the Hotel Plan when the statewide opportunity arose four years ago.
Response: The County agrees with this Finding.
Finding 2:
The County’s Hotel Plan added a significant number (315) of non-congregate units across three cities, providing housing and services for over 500 formerly unhoused individuals in a quick and cost-efficient manner.
Response: The County agrees with this Finding.
Finding 3:
Each of the five converted hotels is distinct, providing either permanent housing or interim housing, serving diverse individuals and offering services based on individuals’ specific needs.
Response: The County agrees with this Finding.
Finding 4:
Data and interviews with County staff and nonprofit service providers indicate a need for housing families.
Response: The County agrees with this Finding.
Finding 5:
While the goal of Homekey is to make all the converted hotels permanent housing, data and interviews with County staff and nonprofit service providers indicate interim housing with services will be continuously needed to help transition individuals who have been unhoused for an extended time.
Response: The County agrees with this Finding.
Finding 6:
The County experienced some communication hurdles with its partners, cities and neighbors regarding the Hotel Plan.
Response: The County disagrees with this Finding as it relates to the interim housing Homekey sites. For the interim housing sites, the County implemented a multi-pronged approach to communicating with its partners, cities, and neighbors, which included attending city council meetings, holding community meetings and hosting an open house at El Camino House where members of the community could tour the site. In addition, County staff canvassed the affected neighborhoods to invite residents to the community meetings and worked closely with city staff. For permanent supportive housing sites, the County reached out to the city manager prior to the purchase of both sites, held community meetings with neighbors, and established websites for the various projects to keep the communities informed and residents to pose questions. In addition, the County continued to meet with neighborhoods and does quarterly checks ins to discuss concerns. Finally, MOUs were signed with the City of Redwood City for both sites located in their jurisdiction.
Finding 7:
The placement criteria of the Coordinated Entry System (“CES”) does not always match the unhoused individual with the most appropriate facilities and services.
Response: The County partially agrees with this Finding. The Coordinated Entry System (“CES”) prioritizes individuals based on vulnerability scores and only a small fraction of unhoused individuals who are assessed through CES are matched with housing placements due to limited availability. In general, there are not enough subsidized housing programs to meet all the individualized needs presented. As a result, some individuals may be referred to a housing placement based on their vulnerability score in CES that is not the most appropriate to meet their individualized needs because a more appropriate placement is not available at the time.
Finding 8:
Homekey imposed strict short timelines for property inspections, so some pre-purchase due diligence processes could not occur. Thus, the County and nonprofit operators had to modify the properties later, which made operating the properties more difficult in the initial months and added cost.
Response: The County agrees with this Finding.
Finding 9:
The County has not communicated what performance metrics it has developed to evaluate whether hotel conversions are meeting objectives.
Response: The County agrees with this Finding as it relates to permanent housing and is in the process of establishing performance metrics to evaluate whether hotel conversions are meeting objectives, but the County disagrees with this Finding as it relates to the interim housing sites for which contracts include performance measures and reporting requirements that are measured against the program objectives.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation 1:
By June 30, 2025, communicate at a public meeting the County’s long-term strategic plan to address how the County will: (i) continue to fund new and existing hotel conversions, services, and operations; (ii) provide facilities to accommodate families; and (iii) establish timelines for possibly converting interim properties to permanent housing.
Response: This Recommendation has been implemented. The County brought each hotel purchase to the Board of Supervisors for approval at a public meeting, during which meetings the County addressed funding of conversions, services, and operations, how and whether facilities might accommodate families, and conversion timelines. (See e.g. Resolution Nos. 078081, 079743, 078471, 079744, 080331, 078472, 080204, 078469, 078470.)
Recommendation 2:
By December 31, 2024, develop a communication program to address the concerns of future hotel acquisition communities - by engaging parties that now have operating experience in their cities and communities to share challenges, successes, and data.
Response: This Recommendation will be implemented within the next six months.
Recommendation 3:
By December 31, 2024, develop and implement a process for closer collaboration between the nonprofit operators and the County to ensure that eligible individuals are matched with the right type of housing and services.
Response: This Recommendation will be implemented within the next six months. The County has already secured a contractor to work on this process.
Recommendation 4:
By December 31, 2024, develop and implement a process for closer collaboration between the nonprofit operators and the County to ensure repairs, maintenance, and renovations occur in a timely manner.
Response: This Recommendation will not be implemented as it relates to permanent housing because it is not warranted and/or is not reasonable. For hotels that were or will be converted to permanent supportive rental housing, after a period of stabilization, the County will convey the property improvements to the operators through a ground lease along with the responsibility and funding to manage all repairs, maintenance and renovations as agreed in the ground lease. This will eliminate the County’s review and approval of individual routine repair/maintenance projects. Additionally, this will allow operators to initiate the planning and Request for Proposals process for proposed major repairs and improvements, limiting the County’s participation in these projects to plan review and final approval to ensure compliance with County standards and competitive bidding/prevailing wage requirements. This Recommendation has been implemented as it relates to interim housing sites. The County has developed and implemented a Maintenance and Repair Request Communication Protocol for interim housing sites which outlines procedures to follow when requesting maintenance or repair services from the County’s Department of Public Works for shelter site infrastructure, electrical, routine maintenance, construction projects and repairs. This includes email requests for non-time sensitive work, and reporting emergencies that require rapid response during business and non-business hours.
Recommendation 5:
By December 31, 2024, implement the use of an annual or semi-annual collaborative on-site property condition report involving the nonprofit operators and the County to detail and verify that agreed upon repairs, maintenance and renovations have been completed.
Response: This recommendation has been implemented for permanent supportive rental housing and interim housing. Units are inspected at unit turnover. The County will conduct on-site property inspections annually to detail and verify that the property is being well maintained and agreed upon repairs, maintenance and renovations have been completed.
Recommendation 6:
By December 31, 2024, ensure that a process is in place for regular meetings among nonprofit operators, mental health providers, and the County to share issues and best practices across all the properties.
Response: This Recommendation has been implemented. The County shares issues and best practices between nonprofit operators, mental health providers, and the County through its bi-monthly HomeStat meetings.
Recommendation 7:
By December 31, 2024, develop and apply performance metrics to evaluate whether and how hotel conversions are meeting objectives, and communicate this to the public.
Response: This Recommendation has been partially implemented. For the interim housing sites, each contract with a shelter operator contains performance measures by which the County evaluates performance to determine if the interim housing program is meeting objectives. The County’s homeless system data are communicated to the public via online dashboards and reports to the community, such as the Housing and Homelessness 2023 Year in Review report. Additionally, data are shared at public meetings such as HOPE IAC and the County’s Community Action Agency. These metrics will be refined to improve the process of evaluating how hotel conversions are meeting objectives. Once completed the County will communicate these performance metrics to the public annually.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with acceptance of the County’s response to the Report.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A: Hospitality with Hope: Transforming Hotels into Homes, June 20, 2024