REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Cold Weather Shelter Update (Information Only)
BACKGROUND
For decades the Sunnyvale Armory - leased to the National Guard by the City, and in turn subleased by the National Guard to the County - served as an emergency cold weather shelter for Northern Santa Clara County for a four-month season each year. When it became clear to the City that the National Guard did not intend to continue leasing this site for an Armory, and in support of the County's strategy to combat homelessness (focus less on shelters and more on permanent housing), the City of Sunnyvale sought to repurpose the property in question. Once completed, this project will provide 115 units of permanent, supportive rental housing for very low and extremely low income families, of which 47 will be reserved for homeless applicants. While the Armory site remains dedicated to helping solve the problem of homelessness in the County, however, it is no longer available to serve as a temporary cold weather shelter.
On May 19, 2014, staff received a letter dated May 15 from the County of Santa Clara requesting assistance in its attempt to identify a replacement facility and funding options for the Cold Weather Shelter Program in North County (see Attachment 1).
On May 22, 2014, during its annual budget workshop, City Council discussed the issue of homelessness and directed staff to take two actions:
* Identify for Council the value of the subsidy provided by the City for operation of the homeless shelter at the Sunnyvale Armory in recent years so that Council could consider including this amount as a contribution toward the County's efforts to establish a cold weather shelter to serve Northern Santa Clara County; and,
* Identify issues associated with the concept of allowing Sunnyvale's Community Center gymnasium (i.e., Indoor Sports Center) to serve as a temporary cold weather shelter for four months this coming winter.
On May 30, 2014, staff respon...
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