Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Mike Callagy, County Manager
Subject: Use of Measure K funds for Home for All Community Engagement Program Grant
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Measure K: Adopt a resolution approving $15,000 in grants of Measure K funds to the City of San Carlos to support city participation in the Home for All Community Engagement Program.
body
BACKGROUND:
Between 2010 and 2014 approximately 24 new jobs were created for every new housing unit added in San Mateo County. To address the gap between new jobs and available housing, Supervisors Don Horsley and Warren Slocum invited 54 community leaders to join the Closing the Jobs-Housing Gap Task Force in the fall of 2015. The Task Force adopted an action plan supporting development of all types of housing and created the Home for All collaborative to implement housing initiatives. With increased housing creation over the past several years the jobs-housing gap ratio has dropped to 12:1 for the period of 2010 to 2017.
A key component of Home for All is building community support for additional housing through community engagement. To this end, in 2018 four cities (Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, Portola Valley, and Redwood City) participated in a pilot Community Engagement Program of intensive, housing-related community engagement activities. Each city received a grant of Measure K funds to support their participation.
The results and feedback from residents, city elected officials and staff, and a contracted program evaluator were overwhelmingly positive and included increased engagement by large numbers of residents who have not previously been involved in any civic process, increased capabilities of cities and groups of residents to productively discuss housing-related challenges and solutions, a better-informed public, and increased trust in public processes.
In late 2018, Home for All invited cities in the County to apply for a second year of the Community Engagement Program. Five cities were selected to participate: Brisbane, Pacifica, San Mateo, Foster City, and Hillsborough.
In 2019, San Carlos was also invited during the late summer to participate in the second year of the Community Engagement Program.
DISCUSSION:
Participation in the Community Engagement Program is accompanied by a $15,000 grant to assist with program expenses such as community meeting logistics, publication and outreach expenses, and child care. In addition to intensive involvement in all program-related activities, cities are also requested to participate in the formal program review process carried out by a professional program evaluator and to participate in the Community Engagement Learning Network meetings held by Home for All for all cities on a bi-monthly basis. Planning and program activities are most intensive for approximately six months and structured follow-up continues for at least an additional six months.
This grant agreement is dated November 1, 2019 in order to begin work with the City of San Carlos as soon as possible to meet the goals of the program within the established timeframe.
PERFORMANCE MEASURES:
|
Performance Measures |
FY 2019-20 Anticipated |
|
Host two community conversations on housing |
2 Meetings |
|
Percentage of residents engaging for the first time in a civic process by participating in the community conversations |
50% of participants |
FISCAL IMPACT:
The FY 2019-20 Recommended Budget includes $15,000 in Measure K funding for community engagement grants, which is sufficient to cover the San Carlos pilot project grant.