Housing and Human Services Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Final Housing and Human Services Commission Wednesday, April 22, 2015 7:00 PM West Conference Room, City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CALL TO ORDER Chair Gilbert called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chair Gilbert led the salute to the flag. ROLL CALL Present: 5 - Chair Diana Gilbert Commissioner Dennis Chiu Commissioner Patti Evans Commissioner Chrichelle McCloud Commissioner Barbara Schmidt Absent: 2 - Vice Chair Younil Jeong Commissioner Navpreet (Ruby) Sidhu Council Liaison Jim Davis (absent) Vice Chair Younil Jeong (excused absence) Commissioner Chrichelle McCloud arrived at 7:10 p.m. Commissioner Navpreet Sidhu (unexcused absence) PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS None. CONSENT CALENDAR 1.A 15-0437 Draft Minutes of the Housing and Human Services Commission Meeting of March 25, 2015 Chair Gilbert asked if anyone wanted to pull the item in the consent calendar for discussion. No one did. Chair Gilbert asked for a motion. City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Housing and Human Services Meeting Minutes - Final April 22, 2015 Commission Commissioner Chiu moved and Commissioner Evans seconded the motion to approve the consent calendar which is comprised of the Draft Minutes of the Housing and Human Services Commission meeting of March 25, 2015. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 4 - Chair Gilbert Commissioner Chiu Commissioner Evans Commissioner Schmidt No: 0 Absent: 3 - Vice Chair Jeong Commissioner McCloud Commissioner Sidhu PUBLIC COMMENTS None. PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS 2 15-0155 Review and Recommend Approval of Draft 2015-20 HUD Consolidated Plan Housing Officer Suzanne Isé gave a brief report. She explained that the purpose of the Consolidated Plan (ConPlan) is to help plan how the City will spend the funds the City expects to receive from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) over the next five years. After some discussion, several questions of staff, and some formatting suggestions from several commissioners, Chair Gilbert opened the public hearing at 7:16 p.m. Molly Current, Fair Housing Director at Project Sentinel, and also representing the Law Foundation, thanked staff and the Commissioners for supporting the services that the two agencies provide, and for their funding recommendation. Michelle Schroeder, Attorney at Senior Adults Legal Assistance (SALA), thanked staff and the Commissioners for including goals and priorities in the ConPlan to address the supportive service needs of older adults to help them age in place. Chair Gilbert closed the public hearing at 7:21 p.m. Chair Gilbert asked for a motion. City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Housing and Human Services Meeting Minutes - Final April 22, 2015 Commission Commissioner Evans moved and Commissioner Schmidt seconded the motion to approve Alternative 1: Recommend that Council adopt the Draft 2015-2020 Consolidated Plan as provided in Attachment 1. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5 - Chair Gilbert Commissioner Chiu Commissioner Evans Commissioner McCloud Commissioner Schmidt No: 0 Absent: 2 - Vice Chair Jeong Commissioner Sidhu 3 15-0157 Consider Draft Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Action Plan and Proposed Human Services Grants for FY 2015-16 Housing Officer Suzanne Isé gave a brief report on the Action Plan, and answered questions from the commissioners. She noted that the Action Plan, which will become an addendum to the ConPlan, includes more detail about how the City plans to use the grant funds next fiscal year. This Action Plan includes the human services and capital projects that the Commission recommended for CDBG and HOME funding, and other ongoing City programs, such as the housing rehabilitation and rental assistance programs. Commissioners asked questions about the WorkFirst Sunnyvale and Tenante-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) programs, and why the staff and commission recommendations regarding the General Fund human services grants were presented as two separate alternatives in the staff report. Ms. Isé explained that staff is not able to make a recommendation that would conflict with Council Policy, such as recommending grants of less than $10,000. She also noted that the report to Council will also include the Commission's recommendation for Council to consider. Chair Gilbert opened the public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Michelle Schroeder, Attorney at SALA, spoke about SALA's partnership with Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS) to provide free legal services for seniors twice a month at the SCS facility. She thanked staff and the Commissioners for the City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Housing and Human Services Meeting Minutes - Final April 22, 2015 Commission funding recommendation to maintain this service. Chair Gilbert closed the public hearing at 7:33 p.m. Chair Gilbert asked for a motion. Commissioner Schmidt moved and Commissioner Evans seconded to recommend Alternatives 1 and 3: 1. Recommend that Council approve the 2015-16 Action Plan as presented in Attachment 1; and 3. Recommend that Council approve the General Fund human services grants as listed in Attachment 3, subject to Council budget appropriations in June. After some discussion, Commissioner Schmidt rescinded her motion because she misunderstood the details of Alternative 3, and meant to move to recommend Alternatives 1 and 4. Chair Gilbert asked for another motion. Commissioner Chiu moved and Commissioner McCloud seconded the motion to recommend Alternatives 1 and 4: 1. Recommend that Council approve the 2015-16 Action Plan as presented in Attachment 1; and 4. Recommend that Council approve the General Fund human services grants as listed in Attachment 4, subject to Council budget appropriations in June. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5 - Chair Gilbert Commissioner Chiu Commissioner Evans Commissioner McCloud Commissioner Schmidt No: 0 Absent: 2 - Vice Chair Jeong Commissioner Sidhu Commissioner Chiu added that the reason for not going with staff's recommendation was because it did not include the compromise that they had City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Housing and Human Services Meeting Minutes - Final April 22, 2015 Commission reached at the March meeting to award grants of $5,000 each to Live Oak Adult Day Services and Maitri. Commissioner Evans and Chair Gilbert noted that they were voting for the current motion now to keep the process moving forward, but they stood by the statements they made at the March meeting, when they voted against the Commission's funding recommendations (now listed as Alternative 4) because they were not consistent with the Council Policy regarding the minimum grant amounts. Commissioner McCloud added that although she understood the minimum established, she thought it was worthwhile to try and help smaller or less well-established agencies to help them grow. Commissioner Schmidt added that she was in favor of Alternative 4 because, for the most part, it fell in line with "Scenario B" that staff had presented at the March meeting. 4 15-0429 Recommendation Regarding Proposal for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing (HPRR) Program Funding for FY 2015-16 Housing Officer Suzanne Isé gave a brief report regarding the funding for this new program and the request for proposals staff had issued for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing (HPRR) proposals for FY 2015-16. She noted that staff only received one proposal, submitted by Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS), despite having disseminated the RFP broadly among regional service providers. Commissioners noted they were very pleased about this new funding and the opportunity to fund a program like this. After a brief discussion, Chair Gilbert opened the public hearing at 7:53 p.m. Jay Pecot, 32-year Sunnyvale resident and SCS staff, spoke on behalf of the proposal and explained that this funding will enable SCS to provide up to 6 months of financial assistance to families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. He is very excited at the prospect of not having to turn people away and instead help them find some stability and get settled. Some of the funds will be used to staff a housing specialist to help these families find a home and stay in it. Chair Gilbert closed the public hearing at 7:57 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 5 Housing and Human Services Meeting Minutes - Final April 22, 2015 Commission Commissioner Evans moved and Commissioner Chiu seconded the motion to recommend approval to award $250,000 in HPRR funding to SCS. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5 - Chair Gilbert Commissioner Chiu Commissioner Evans Commissioner McCloud Commissioner Schmidt No: 0 Absent: 2 - Vice Chair Jeong Commissioner Sidhu NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS -Commissioner Comments Commissioner Evans thanked staff for their efforts to produce the lengthy ConPlan and Action Plan. Chair Gilbert thanked the City Clerk's staff for providing her with the script to Chair the meetings and offered to forward it to the Vice Chair, and anyone else who is interested in getting it, since she may not be at the next month's meeting. -Staff Comments None. ADJOURNMENT Chair Gilbert adjourned the meeting at 8:02 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 6