GILROY
– Some weren’t happy about it, but the City Council heeded a
request Monday from the developers of the city’s planned homeless
transitional center to remove length-of-stay requirements on some
of the units there.
GILROY – Some weren’t happy about it, but the City Council heeded a request Monday from the developers of the city’s planned homeless transitional center to remove length-of-stay requirements on some of the units there.
Council voted 6-0 to grant an exception to the city’s transitional housing policy that will remove a two-year stay restriction on 25 percent of the apartments at the center, or about 15 units. Councilman Al Pinheiro was recused because of a business conflict.
“One time, guys,” said Councilman Bob Dillon of his yes vote, noting the city would likely get “hammered” for approving the change. “I’m disappointed. This is probably against my better judgment.”
The north Monterey Road center’s transitional apartments are meant to help the homeless stabilize and move to their own permanent housing. The city formed a special policy to govern them, including formal two-year length-of-stay restrictions meant to help appease concerned neighbors.
But officials with South County Housing told Council Monday they had learned that in order to obtain crucial federal funding for a portion of the project, they could not impose such restrictions.
Because the center will serve low and very-low income people, significant subsidies are needed to make it financially feasible, said SCH’s Jan Lindenthal. But length-of-stay restrictions would thwart the agency’s ability to pursue federal Section 8 rental subsidies – meaning a gap of about $2 million in the center’s development budget.
In a letter to the city, Lindenthal also noted there may be exceptional circumstances where families would require intensive case management over a longer period of time. But as a practical matter, the agency doesn’t expect families to stay over 24 months, she said Monday.
“Our goal is the same as yours, to allow as many people to get back on their feet as possible,” she said.
Several Councilmembers said they were not happy to see the request, noting the controversy that surrounded approval of the center.
Councilman Roland Velasco said the length-of-stay issue was a “very big topic.”
“It seems we’re heading down a road I’m not very comfortable with because of the commitment we made to (citizens) … ” he said. “I’m feeling uncomfortable.”
A frank and disappointed Dillon called the request a “time bomb.”
“If you were sitting in my seat, how would you answer to the (public) you made promises to?” he said. “This is significant.”
But Mayor Tom Springer, who spoke on behalf of the center at neighborhood meetings before it was approved, downplayed the change.
“It isn’t a permanent stay, it just doesn’t have a finite two-year window,” he said.
Lindenthal noted recent interpretations of the Section 8 regulations have only now brought the issue to light. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development issued its determination over the Section 8 funding after the city issued its housing policy for the center, she said.
And City Administrator Jay Baksa said SCH tried hard to meet city staff’s request to find other ways to work through the federal requirement – but it just didn’t pan out.
“They were calling everyone in the world,” he said. “They would have called (President) Bush if they could have got him.”
Velasco said he hopes the agency is able to keep clients rotating through.
“I don’t want to see this as permanent housing out there,” he said. “The residents out there deserve that it’s transitional housing and not permanent.”
