City Makes Way For Supportive Housing
In Which: A Pastor criticizes a recent Weekes Park encampment sweep, Mayor Salinas criticizes public commenters, and We see the dollar cost of doing nothing on homelessness.
Union Pacific Lawsuit Revealed
During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the City Attorney was unusually revealing when it came to the earlier closed session. Instead of the standard “Council took no reportable action” that accompanies almost every closed session item, he revealed that the lawsuit against Union Pacific Railroad was for undisclosed environmental violations. Although we still don’t know what happened, the City received a settlement of $350,000 from Union Pacific.
Sweeping Homeless Residents From Weekes
Homelessness took center stage during this City Council meeting. During public comment, Pastor Aaron Horner of South Hayward Parish and First Presbyterian Church of Hayward spoke about a recent encampment sweep that happened at Weekes Park.
For those who don’t know, Weekes Park has been a sore spot for the City of Hayward and HARD because it’s been a popular spot for unhoused residents to camp out. Although it has been treated by many as a recent problem, long-time residents point out that this has been a feature of Weekes Park for over 50 years. South Hayward Parish, located across Patrick Ave from Weekes Park, was involved in the sweep.
Pastor Horner described the sweep as “A new trajectory on how we’ll be handling homelessness in our City.” He said that South Hayward Parish spent a week reaching out to the unhoused residents and provided services for 3 people, and multiple other service providers—including the LINK team—also came through and were able to connect with all of the people in the park.
However on the day of the sweep, Pastor Horner said that there were 25 City, HARD, and Police vehicles that drove into the park. “It looked more like a SWAT maneuver,” he said, “than a way to clean up our parks… it was overly intense for what it should have been.” As a result, three people were arrested and one woman taken to a hospital for medical treatment.
Pastor Horner described the sweep as ineffective. “Several minutes later [after everyone left], most people started to come back to the park.” He said that the recent HARD Board of Directors meeting included a discussion of fencing in the entirety of Weekes Park. “This problem would actually just spread out into the residential area,” he said, if that plan was enacted.
Pastor Horner said that prevention is important and would help Hayward residents—“Roughly 80 to 90% of the folks that are in that park are from Hayward… one of them has been in Hayward for more than 60 years and has been on the streets for more than 12 years and continues to look for support.” He stressed that this was a systemic problem—not an issue of individuals making bad decisions—and that having more shelters is needed.
In the previous City Council meeting, the Community Services Manager seemed less interested in prevention than addressing visible homelessness when local community organizations called for a student homelessness prevention strategy. Pastor Horner’s comments demonstrate how those two are directly related.
Smoothing The Way For Supportive Housing
The City Council saw, for the final time, the zoning changes that would allow for more types of supportive housing in Hayward. This has come to the Planning Commission twice and Council once already—this Public Hearing was the last chance for the Council to make any changes.
The changes from the Planning Commission were minor, mostly allowing for temporary bathroom facilities at Safe Parking sites and cleaning up some of the typos and mistakes. Although the Planning Commission tried to push for a Conditional Use Permit for Safe Parking Sites—which would require every Safe Parking site to be reviewed by the Planning Commission or Council—Staff continued to recommend an easier Administrative Use Permit—meaning Staff would approve, or not, any Safe Parking site.
The Planning Commission also tried to include creating a community liaison—a City staff position—to negotiate friction between service providers and the local residents. Staff deftly pointed out that such a thing was out of the scope of the project—creating it didn’t require any changes to municipal code. It also had nothing to do with zoning, though Commissioner Meyers seemed adamant about including it in their recommendations.
Council Questions Reveal Interests
Councilmember Ray Bonilla started questions by asking about an idea a community member termed “inclusionary neighborhoods.” These would be neighborhoods that have a mix of different income levels, a sort of reframing reframing of inclusionary housing. He asked how zoning could play a role in that idea. Staff said that many of the proposed zoning changes are in mixed-use areas—especially the Mission Blvd Corridor. “These community members are in the middle of the community,” they said, “they’re not put on the outskirts of the city and they’re really close to services that they need.”
The Deputy Director of Development Services also chimed in to say that changing zoning in that way would be a big lift for Staff. The Housing Element is due for an update in 2028, so it’s possible something could be done then, but she also cautioned against drastic changes. “We don’t want to discourage development because our standards are too high,” she said.
Councilmember Roche asked why the Staff recommendation differed from the Planning Commission’s recommendation. Staff repeated the same reasoning that they gave to the Planning Commission, that an Administrative Use Permit is sufficient. “We want to make sure we’re not putting up additional barriers for service providers to do this work in the Hayward community,” they said.
Councilmember Roche accepted that answer, but still seemed concerned. “Just so we’re working in harmony with the community…” she said. Staff said that all residents within 300 feet of the sites will be notified and can appeal it, but also said that planning staff will work with the community to address any concerns without needing a hearing.
Councilmember Syrop asked if, due to the Homelessness State of Emergency, any appeals should go directly to the City Council. Staff said that it wasn’t necessary, but that if Council ever felt that they needed to, they can pull items from the Planning Commission Agenda to deal with it directly.
Mayor Salinas Pats Backs And Throws Shade
Mayor Mark Salinas started comments by celebrating the work that City Staff has done on the Housing Element and homelessness in general. He celebrated Hayward’s response to homelessness and the housing crisis, while also slighting neighboring cities. “Over the years, I think we’ve done a great job,” he said, “[other cities], they do what they can.”
However, Mayor Salinas then took aim at what he characterized as uninformed public commenters. “We get people [coming] to the Council and they think they discovered the issue of unhoused [sic] the day before they show up,” he said. “They have no idea of the work we have done on this dais.” The Mayor regularly pushes back at any assertion that the City should do more on the subject of housing and homelessness. He has insisted, on multiple occasions, that the City has done enough—going so far as to try to eliminate the Homelessness and Housing Task Force—while also blaming other agencies for not doing enough.
“We know the work we’re doing is responsive,” Mayor Salinas said, “dignified with some of our most vulnerable neighbors.”
Council Knows There’s More To Be Done
Councilmember Syrop struck a different tone from Mayor Salinas, highlighting the scale of the housing and homelessness problem. “I also don’t want us to rest on our laurels,” he said, “Because I also think the bar is kind of on the floor as it relates to our regional approach to addressing the housing crisis.” He stressed the need to keep working until the job is done. “I want us to keep pushing the envelope wherever we can.”
Councilmember Syrop then asked about Safe Encampment sites—an idea put forward by Pastor Aaron Horner—and Staff said that it was out of scope. They described Safe Parking as a baby step, because the Planning Commission “didn’t feel like we were ready for that.” The recent composition of the Planning Commission has been surprisingly hostile to supportive services for unhoused residents, with Commissioner Stevens—resident of the Old Highland Neighborhood—especially vocal.
Councilmember Syrop urged the Planning Commission to listen to service providers and City Staff. “When we have one of our key service providers and our Community Services Manager both saying ‘encampment resolution,’ we should take that seriously,” he said, “And I hope our Planning Commission does, as well, as we begin to see how this looks with Safe Parking.”
When it came to the community liaison idea, Councilmember Syrop urged the community to organize themselves without using City resources. “The avenues for us to hear from the community already exist,” he said. Considering one proponent of the idea allegedly referred to themself as the mayor of their block, organizing a community meeting should be within their grasp.
However, Councilmember Angela Andrews felt that some kind of accountability group was worthwhile in certain situations. “I still would like to see some kind of accountability group when it comes to psychiatric and rehabilitation locations,” she said, “and if that is with Staff time, I think it’s worth it.” She danced around what her specific issue was, but she did reference County facilities specifically.
It’s possible that she is trying to prevent a repeat of the June 2023 lawsuit against Alameda County over the Hayward Assessment Center for foster youth. Staff said that Conditions of Approval could be added to any project, but pointed out that the majority of rehabilitation and psychiatric facilities are locked-door facilities in industrial areas where there are few actual residences.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
Councilmember Dan Goldstein focused on “the cost of doing nothing versus the cost to solve the problem,” he said. He cited numbers from a different City, but the cost difference should be similar for Hayward. “Doing nothing cost them $62,473 per person per year,” he said. “To do nothing is very expensive.”
“Doing something that actually solves the problem costs us about $42,706 per person per year.” He stressed that while the cost difference is stark enough, the non-monetary cost of doing nothing is also horrific. “[Doing nothing] comes with a human toll.” And while that should be enough to move anyone, focusing on the dollar difference is an effective tactic for convincing the less-empathetic that addressing homelessness is a worthy use of resources.
The general feeling from Council, however, was one of gratitude for the work being done already. “I admire what we do as a City to care for people,” Councilmember Goldstein said. Councilmember Roche also celebrated the City’s work. “I do think what we’re doing here is being as responsive as possible to provide the opportunity for supportive housing of all types to be built.” Her comments highlight that the City is only making it possible to build supportive housing, not building it directly.
Councilmember Zermeño went further, seeming to say that this was the ultimate solution to homelessness. “If the other 182 Bay Area cities did what we are doing,” he said, “this issue really wouldn’t be an issue.” It remains to be seen how many service providers will make use of the new zoning—Hayward has allowed it, but it is up to others to build it.