REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
County Presentation - New Cold Weather Shelter Facility at 999 Hamlin Court, Sunnyvale (Information Only)
Report
BACKGROUND
For this agenda item, staff of the County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing (OSH) will present information about the County's planned retrofit of its property on Hamlin Court, to be used as the new North County site for the Cold Weather Shelter Program (CWSP). This Report to Council provides background information on this new CWSP facility and the coordination between the City and the County related to this effort.
The County has provided annual funding and in-kind support to the CWSP for many years. The CWSP is a county-wide winter shelter program operated by Home First Santa Clara County, a non-profit organization formerly known as Emergency Housing Coalition (EHC). The CWSP operates from the end of November through the end of March each year. The former National Guard Armory at Maude and Wolfe Road in Sunnyvale was used for the CWSP for over twenty years.
Following the national policy shift toward "housing first," which focuses on permanent housing for homeless people rather than nightly shelters, the Armory was redeveloped in 2014 with City and County funding (Parkside Studios and Onizuka Crossing) and now provides a combined total of 115 units of permanent, supportive rental housing for very low income households. Forty-seven of these units are now occupied by formerly homeless tenants. Since that site was redeveloped, the City has supported the County and local stakeholders in their efforts to obtain a new North County site for the CWSP.
On July 15, 2014, staff prepared a Cold Weather Shelter Update (RTC No. 14-0675) in response to the County's request for assistance in identifying a replacement facility for the North County CWSP.
On September 1, 2015, Council directed staff to work with the County of Santa Clara on a proposal for the County to establish a temporary shelter facility o...
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