When Alameda County adopted a $2.5 billion plan to address homelessness, it sought to stem the tide of a crisis that has intensified since the start of the pandemic. But nearly two years into the multifaceted effort, more people are still becoming homeless than are being housed.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this week to approve a countywide state of emergency on homelessness that will give officials one more tool for turning the tide.
"We can't just allow people to continue to live like this," Supervisor Nate Miley said in an interview.
In Alameda County, the number of unhoused people grew by 22% to 9,747 people between 2017 and 2022, the majority of whom live in or outside cars. According to the county's declaration, many of the unhoused have at least one disability, and the maximum social security disability check of around $1,000 is woefully inadequate to afford housing in the hyper-expensive Bay Area,
Furthermore, experts who work with the unhoused community say there aren't enough services to support those with mental health issues, and that the rise in fentanyl usage has contributed to the crisis.
Alameda County has the power to declare a local emergency when residents of the county are facing "conditions of disaster or of extreme peril." Given the growing numbers of unhoused people, and what the report calls the "devastating" impacts of homelessness, supervisors are confident that it qualifies.
Between 2018 and 2021, over a thousand people experiencing homelessness in Alameda County died, with an age-adjusted mortality rate nearly six times higher than the rest of the county. Almost half of those people were Black. A recent county survey showed that while Alameda County's population is 10% Black, approximately 43% of its homeless population is Black.
For Miley, those numbers illustrate how the homelessness emergency is not merely a humanitarian issue, it's also a social justice issue.
The resolution directs the county's Office of Homeless Care and Coordination to develop an emergency response to homelessness and report back to the board within 60 days. It also will provide the county with what is broadly defined as "additional tools," including the ability to request funding from the state and federal government, fast track hiring to support programs, and streamline creation of housing.
According to the report, the response will inevitably require "the county and all cities within the county to join forces." Marguerite Bachang, executive director of Operation Dignity, an Oakland-based nonprofit organization focused on serving veterans and the homeless, said she thought such coordination was one of the best things an emergency declaration could accomplish.
"If the state of emergency could somehow help the county, the city and the housing authority work more closely together like they do in some other counties, that would be tremendously helpful," Bachang said. "This crisis is only getting bigger, and to meet the momentum you've got to think differently."
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