FAQ

Q: Where can I view additional details about EveryOne Home?

A: The full plan is detailed here: Alameda Countywide Homeless and Special Needs Plan. Supporting data and detail for the plan can be viewed in the Companion Materials.

 

Q: How does EveryOne Home differ from existing homeless services and programs in Alameda County?

A: EveryOne Home is a groundbreaking approach to homelessness. It coordinates the efforts of the county, local jurisdictions and community nonprofits to create housing opportunities with wrap-around services. It includes a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, but is broadened by including a 15-year plan for supportive housing for not only single individuals, but families as well.

It is a unique plan that acknowledges the importance of systems integration. It consolidates three plans for housing homeless people, people living with HIV/AIDS and people with mental illness into one. It recognizes that these three systems of care serve people with many similar needs, and, in many cases, the same individuals. Prior to this plan, there were three housing efforts focusing on each of the three target populations, including the Countywide Homeless Continuum of Care Plan.

 

Q: What is EveryOne Home going to cost and who will pay?

A: Some costs, such as the infrastructure to support leadership and coordination of the plan, are still being calculated. However, the county and its cities currently contribute to the Alameda Countywide Homeless Continuum of Care Council (ACHCCC) and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). We anticipate that this funding will continue but be redirected when ACHCCC dissolves and merges its functions into the EveryOne Home new leadership structure.

There also is existing funding for housing and services through the county and local jurisdictions. This plan will maximize these resources through the coordination of three systems of care that serve overlapping populations of homeless and extremely low income persons.

The plan identifies a need for 15,000 units of supportive housing countywide over the next 15 years at a cost of approximately $2 billion. Some portion of the funding for housing will come from existing revenue streams, while some will come from anticipated new revenue sources such as the Mental Health Services Act and Proposition 1C funding.

We also will be looking to the private sector and philanthropic organizations to augment funding over the years of implementation.

 

Q: Is it realistic to think we can actually end homelessness?

A: It’s not only realistic, it’s proven. Other cities with similar plans have already reduced homelessness by 75% and are continuing to make significant progress. The key is permanent supportive housing.

When homelessness began to emerge as a national social issue nearly 30 years ago, the complexity of the problem and the solutions was not realized immediately. Over the years, various models for housing homeless individuals and families have been attempted. In the 1980s, the emphasis was on emergency shelter. In the 1990s, it shifted to transitional housing as a bridge from emergency shelter to permanent housing. Today, the focus is on permanent supportive housing, a model that provides chronically homeless people with housing stability first, and then follows-up with wrap-around services. This emphasis on chronic homelessness is exemplified by the push for every locality in the country to develop a 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.

Alameda County is a part of this national effort and is committed to helping our nation become a place where all our citizens are treated with dignity. What we need are the resources, the will and the systems to do that, and we believe this plan embodies all three.

 

Q: What is supportive housing?

A:  Supportive housing is affordable rental housing with no limitation on the length of stay, linked to a range of support services designed to enable residents to maintain stable housing and lead fuller lives. Supportive housing is an alternative to more costly institutional settings and shelters. Supportive housing can help people with disabilities, seniors, families, formerly homeless people and people living with HIV/AIDS to maintain stable housing and access the services they need.

 

Q: What kinds of services are provided in supportive housing?

A: The range of services offered is flexible and depends on the needs of the tenants. Services can include medical and mental health care, vocational and employment services, substance abuse treatment, child care and independent living skills training.  Services may be offered on-site or off-site.

 

Q: Will the plan make Alameda County a "magnet" for homeless persons, attracting them here from other areas?

A: There are over 200 communities across the country, including many in the Bay Area, currently creating housing plans for homeless people in their community, eliminating the incentive for those individuals to relocate. Since adopting plans to end homelessness, San Francisco has seen a 25% reduction in chronic homelessness in the past 18 months and Philadelphia a 75% reduction in chronic homelessness in the past seven years.

While some homeless people move around to find services and housing, many others prefer to stay in communities with which they are familiar and that feel like “home.” Needs surveys in Alameda County document that people who are homeless come from, and live in, all parts of the county.

 

Q: Why should jurisdictions in Alameda County adopt the EveryOne Home plan?

A: Homelessness is an issue that reaches beyond jurisdictional boundaries and solving it requires that we work regionally. The EveryOne Home plan is an opportunity to bring resources for services and housing out of the silos in which they currently reside and coordinate them at a level that will have more impact and greater benefit for local jurisdictions and their residents.

Coordinating local housing and supportive services funding and programs will create economies of scale while providing Alameda County residents expanded access to the services they need. In addition, as jurisdictions working collaboratively, we will be even more effective in attracting federal and state funding that supports coordinated responses to homelessness.

By adopting EveryOne Home, local jurisdictions have the opportunity to be at the table with elected officials, city managers, county department heads, city staff, foundation heads and nonprofits and have a voice in the plan’s implementation and the distribution of new resources as they become available.

 

Q: What are local jurisdictions obligated to do if they adopt the plan?

A: Adoption of the EveryOne Home plan is a completely voluntary choice to participate in the creation of political and community commitment among Alameda County’s agencies, cities, nonprofits and communities to address, from a regional perspective, the needs of homeless people and people who have both extremely low incomes and debilitating health conditions.

Plan adoption does not entail explicit obligation. Rather, jurisdictions are invited to join in the work of implementation, to assess what they can bring to the plan, to participate in the development of the plan’s Governing Board and Interagency Council, and to continue their support for the Alameda Countywide Homeless Continuum of Care Council (ACHCCC) and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and eventually transfer that support to EveryOne Home when it absorbs the functions of ACHCC and HMIS.

Q: Where will the supportive housing called for in the plan be sited?

A: EveryOne Home identifies a need for 15,000 units of housing for people who are homeless or living with HIV/AIDS or mental illness over the next 15 years. However, two-thirds (10,000) of these units will be created by providing rental assistance with services in units that already exist to subsidize them at an affordable level.

One-third (5,000) of the housing units will be developed through new construction and/or the acquisition and rehabilitation of existing buildings. It is too early in the implementation process to know where new units will be built, but our research shows that the need for supportive housing exists throughout Alameda County, not only for individuals but for families as well.

 

Q: Does this plan only really benefit Alameda County's major urban areas, specifically Oakland and Berkeley?

A: The composition and size of the homeless population varies between different parts of the county, but all areas and jurisdictions have homeless people and people who have both extremely low incomes and debilitating health conditions.

Countywide, 57% of the homeless population is adults only, while 43% are families. The more urbanized areas of Oakland and Berkeley have higher percentages of adults unaccompanied by children (single adults and adults in couples). More suburban areas of Mid, South and East County have higher percentages of families with children (including single parent families). For example, on any given night, more than 1,200 people are homeless in the Tri-City Area (Fremont, Hayward and Newark). The majority of homeless people in the Tri-City Area are families. Countywide, 47% of homeless people are children under the age of 18.

For families and individuals with extremely low incomes, the high cost of housing, combined with special needs and disabilities, can lead to homelessness anywhere in the county. The housing and services created under the plan will vary to fit local needs.

 

DID YOU KNOW?

In Alameda County, the estimated average wage for a renter is $16.83 an hour. In order to afford the Fair Market Rent (FMR) of $1,250 for a two-bedroom apartment at this wage, a renter must work 57 hours per week, 52 weeks per year.

National Low Income Housing Coalition

Q: Where can I view additional details about EveryOne Home?

A: The full plan is detailed here: Alameda Countywide Homeless and Special Needs Plan. Supporting data and detail for the plan can be viewed in the Companion Materials.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS