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City of San Jose
Master-lease program to allow hotels/motels to lease guest rooms for the Homeless
The San Jose Community and Economic Development Committee is working towards a master-leasing program to allow hotel/motel owners to lease guest rooms to the homeless. The program would allow the City or another public entity to provide grants to qualified nonprofits so they can lease a block of rooms that can be then sublet to homeless people. The aim is to help homeless individuals with a high potential for economic self-sufficiency and a sustained history of residency in San Jose, but who have been unable to secure market rate housing due to alack of available rental apartments, poor credit, lack of rental history or lack of sufficient income. The nonprofit would be in charge of all aspects of tenant selection and administration, while the motel/hotel owner be paid whether or not the room is occupied.
Although the details aren’t finalized, this is an interesting short-term solution to helping some of the homeless population put a major piece of their lives back together by securing housing in a rental market that has far too few opportunities for affordable housing. Getting this program into place is just the first step though, as San Jose and the County will need a long-term solution to help the growing homeless population.
Where: San Jose Community and Economic Development Committee
When: Monday, February 24
Agenda: http://sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27037
Councilmember Oliverio proposes a ballot initiative to allocate 40% of general fund to SJPD.
Councilmember Oliverio, a candidate for Mayor, is proposing a charter amendment on the March 4 City Council agenda that would allocate 40% of the general fund to the police department. The police budget would encompass all salary and benefits for sworn and non-sworn officers as well as all equipment, technologies and facility costs.
Councilmember Oliverio’s proposal is similar to Proposition 98, which guarantees state funds for education. California passed Proposition 98 in 1988, which required a minimum percentage of the state budget to be spent on K-12 education, with automated annual increases in education in the California Budget. There are both positives and negatives to mandating a specific funding level based on total general fund spending, with boosters and critics of the plan. As a positive, it prioritizes spending on a big-ticket budget item like education or public safety.
One problem though, is that the funding guarantee often becomes a floor and a ceiling; if the general fund shrinks, future decision makers can still claim they are hitting the minimum-funding guarantee even though actual funding levels are shrinking from prior years. It also handcuffs future discussions about how to best allocate resources – for example in a surplus budget year it’s possible that public safety or education is fully funded and excess dollars would be better spent elsewhere, in other budget categories. Elected officials wouldn’t have this choice; funds are mandated no matter what. This can been seen as both a positive and an negative, depending on whether you have a stake in whether other budget categories are fully funded. It’s an interesting proposal, to say the least.
Where: San Jose Rules and Open Government Committee
When: Wednesday, February 19
Agenda: http://sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27067
Fire Dept. Emergency Response performance update
San Jose has come into the spotlight recently for the another public safety issue – emergency response times. This week, the Performance Measures Work Group will report on their assessment of Fire Department response-time operational policies, data collection, data storage, data import/conversion, calculation and reporting. During the assessment process, the Performance Measures Work Group identified issues with County EMS response-time reports. The Fire Department maintains that the response-time performance standard (arrive within 8 minutes 80% of the time) should be maintained to ensure good emergency incident outcomes. To that end, the Fire Department will continue to evaluate an implement operational changes, which are anticipated to improve response times.
As we’ve written in this space, the state of public safety as measured by response times is bad. Long response times are a serious health risk for San Jose residents. Let’s hope the anticipated changes will speed up response times.
Where: San Jose Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
When: Thursday, February 20
Agenda: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/26991
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