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Redwood City has spent nearly $4 million in services and programs to address homelessness in the past four years, an effort that is now bearing fruit, according to a staff report given to the City Council on Oct. 23 during a study session.
The report is based on the citywide March 2023 Homeless One Day Count, April 2021 Homeless Encampment Census and Survey, and February 2022 San Mateo County One Day Homeless Count. The surveys sought unsheltered residents of all races, incomes, genders, citizenship status or other identities.
On May 10, 2021, the council approved the Homelessness Initiatives Work Plan to address eliminating homelessness in the city and improve homelessness-related health, environmental, and neighborhood impacts, reduce calls for police and fire services and transition to housing. The plan also aligns with San Mateo County's 2022 action goal to eliminate homelessness in the county by reaching and maintaining "functional zero," where every unsheltered person who chooses assistance will receive interim or permanent housing.
While the city has taken strides to improve public health and safety to align with San Mateo County's broader goal to achieve "functional zero" homelessness, challenges persist. Call volumes for emergency services to the police and fire departments remain high. The numbers haven't budged much in the last three years, according to the report.
A large number of homeless individuals are primarily Spanish speakers – more than 40% in the April 2021 Census and Survey and 56% in the encampment portion of the March 2023 Homeless One Day Count.
Homelessness also strikes some of the most medically challenged. A large number of encampment residents – 32% – reported they had a disability; 13% said they had a serious mental illness, and 11% reported a substance abuse disorder during the March 2023 count, according to the report.
These populations require a more targeted approach, the report found.
Additionally, the city is grappling with a circuit of stubborn encampments and a 20% increase in the rate of unsheltered homelessness, making the journey toward a homeless-free Redwood City an ongoing endeavor.
The city has made strides. Staff is starting to address the needs of the Spanish-speaking homeless population. Trash elimination and environmental and health improvements have grown significantly since working to eliminate encampments and provide services, the report said.
The city has reduced the number of homeless encampments by 26% from a high of 34 camps as of Oct. 1. Staff helped nine people transition from living in encampments to permanent housing prior to the opening of the housing and comprehensive services Navigation Center in early August. In addition, 24% or about 22 of the 92 people on the county's waiting list transitioned from encampments to the Navigation Center, other shelters, or permanent housing.
Thirty additional people transitioned from living in vehicles or living on the street to shelter, and 28 (61%) of 46 individual and family households who were offered the Hotel Respite program transitioned to treatment, shelter, or housing, according to the report.
Neighborhood impacts
The city is working with community members where the homeless encampments have had the most impact on local businesses or neighborhoods. One successful example is the work with neighborhood residents and property owners in the Shasta-Manzanita neighborhood. The Redwood City Outreach Strategy Team, Downtown Streets Team, Caltrans and California Highway Patrol developed a strategy offering services, removing multiple encampments, holding regular clean-ups, and coordinating actions that discouraged re-encampment in the area, staff said during the study session.
Some of the neighborhood's encampment residents recently transitioned to shelter at the county's Navigation Center, while others moved to other locations. The area has since remained mostly encampment free, staff said.
But an extensive “circuit” of encampments along the Highway 101 and State Route 84 (Woodside Road) Interchange at Seaport Boulevard has been challenging since individuals declined shelter options. Some people returned to the same encampment; others established new locations rather than accept shelter, the report noted.
Reducing environmental and infrastructure damage
The encampments create potential damage to the natural environment and transportation-system infrastructure. About 70% of the encampments in Redwood City are located on Caltrans property. The city works with Caltrans and the CHP to remove encampments on state property along roadways such as U.S. Highway 101 while helping the campers find transitional and permanent housing.
"While our objective is to help unsheltered residents transition to permanent housing and our strategy is to effectively engage them with compassion and tangible service options, we also need options for cleanup or removal of encampments when individuals decline shelter and housing," the staff report noted.
Improving public health
The Downtown Streets Team Encampment Waste Services provides weekly waste services to 80% of encampments, reducing the amount of accumulated garbage and waste. In 2020, there were 186 calls for clean-up services; in 2021, 42 calls and in 2022, there were 37 calls. RVs accounted for the largest number of trash creators in 2020, with 114 calls compared to 72 for homeless encampments. In 2021, there was just one call for clean up caused by RVs and 41 for encampments. In 2022, there were no calls for cleanups caused by RVs and 37 for encampments, according to the report.
Residents also have access to shower and laundry services through Dignity on Wheels three days per week; shower-only services are available two days per week.
Health services
Of 205 unsheltered homeless individuals, 91 or 44% were connected to health services, including mental health, alcohol and other drug-related services, services from the Street Medicine team and treatment programs, staff said.
Public safety
The number of calls to the police and fire departments hasn't dropped, however. City data regarding calls for service shows that calls to the fire and police departments have not significantly declined since 2021.
Staff said the continued high call levels were due in part to a 20% increase in unsheltered homelessness (as opposed to couch surfing and other sheltered homelessness) between February 2022 and March 2023, in part because safeguards and funding that were available during the COVID-19 pandemic have gone away.
The total number of calls to the fire department related to homelessness has steadily grown in the past five years: 634 in 2018 and 1,032 in 2022, a similar number to the years 2020 and 2021, according to city data. The majority of those calls were for medical issues: 817 in 2022, with an additional 130 that were fire-related and 85 classified as "other."
Police calls have also remained relatively the same. In 2018, police received 1,243 calls related to homelessness; in 2020, it was 1,577, and in 2021 and 2022, the numbers of calls were 1,427 and 1,423, respectively.
Teri Chin, city human services manager, told the city council on Monday night that she expects the numbers to decline.
"Ultimately, as we reduce the number of homeless encampments, the number of individuals living in homeless encampments, and the number of unsheltered residents in Redwood City, we can expect to see a reduction in the calls for service related to homelessness," Chin said.
Staff is also analyzing approaches to reduce unnecessary involvement by police and fire personnel. They will provide a follow-up during the fire and police studies session scheduled for the Nov. 27 council meeting, she said.
Transitioning unsheltered residents to shelter and housing
Staff said that getting people off the streets is complex and difficult and often requires multiple approaches and tries before it sticks. The San Mateo County Navigation Center, a 240-unit safe, temporary housing facility for individuals and couples with intensive support services, is expected to help many homeless people find a pathway to permanent housing. But multiple delays in the center's full opening created challenges for unsheltered residents – especially from encampments – to enter shelter services, Chin said.
A crisis in housing needs for families with children also caused San Mateo County to shift housing at the Pacific Emergency Shelter away from individuals to accommodate families' needs. Redwood City staff had expected about 70 units at Pacific to house individuals in non-congregate units when they developed their outreach strategy, but those units aren't available now, Chin said.
Vice Mayor Lissette Espinosa-Garnica urged staff to bring in a forward-thinking team member so that people who are receiving housing don't feel they are in an incarcerative environment.
Espinosa-Garnica also wanted data regarding how many homeless people are disabled, LGBTQ+ or people of color who get permanent housing. The city should also hire staff with lived experience as LGBTQ+, they said.
Having staff with that specialization "has to be mandatory," they said.
Moving forward
Staff identified some of its most effective strategies to reduce homelessness and effectively serve the homeless population.
Hiring Spanish-speaking outreach workers and case managers and people with lived experience of unsheltered homelessness, including in encampments, has been critical to the outreach strategy team, the report said.
Spanish-speaking team members found that many homeless people experience additional burdens because they are undocumented. Staff said they plan to work with Spanish-speaking homeless residents to discern what kinds of support and resources would be most beneficial to help them transition to permanent housing.
Staff will also be looking at additional housing alternatives to supplement the shortage. The Navigation Center has "non-congregate" units – where people don't have to share a room or sleep in a group setting. These units are more enticing to homeless individuals who can feel their belongings, and they will be safe, staff said.
Council members encouraged staff to continue to look for additional housing opportunities during the study session, in addition to the Navigation Center and motels the county has purchased. How to entice people to want to go and stay in the housing is also complicated by concerns by homeless individuals about their safety, privacy and their belongings.
Council member Diane Howard said she was pleased to see the program's progress.
"You're moving in the right direction," she said.
She noted the 26% reduction in encampments.
"I think that's pretty incredible," she added.
Howard said she witnessed dangerous behaviors and conditions in the camps during her visits, necessitating the urgent need to dismantle the encampments and replace them with housing and services so that people can be safe.
"It wasn't a healthy environment. It was becoming a life-and-death situation and we can't have that," she said.
