Sunnyvale will have a new outreach team assisting its homeless residents after scrutinizing the city’s previous provider.
The Sunnyvale City Council unanimously approved a more than $900,000 one year contract with homeless service provider WeHOPE earlier this month. The contract begins Sept. 1 and includes a five person outreach team and the organization’s Dignity on Wheels program that provides mobile shower and laundry services. It also includes five hotel rooms at an Extended Stay America Suites for homeless individuals engaged with the outreach team.
WeHOPE President Pastor Paul Bains said he looks forward to the partnership, noting city officials are actively looking for ways to support the homeless population.
“Where there is a need and where there are resources to do something, we would want to work with that particular city or that particular county,” Bains told San José Spotlight.
Councilmembers are enthusiastic about the partnership and this contract’s features. Councilmember Alysa Cisneros said the increased service level will be life changing for the city’s unhoused residents.
“They’re not sugarcoating it, it’s going to be a lot of hard work, and I really like some of the things that were said, that we’re better together,” Councilmember Linda Sell said at the meeting. “I just think this is a wonderful start of a relationship with WeHOPE and Sunnyvale.”
Amanda Sztoltz, the city’s homeless services manager, explained the metrics that the city will use to measure the contract’s effectiveness. For example, the contract allows for the mobile shower and laundry unit to be parked at two locations in Sunnyvale, with each location expected to serve at least 25 people every month.
The city has an existing contract with HomeFirst for homeless outreach services and five reserved beds at the Boccardo Reception Center, a shelter the organization operates in San Jose. But the reserved beds are rarely used because the location is too far away. Councilmembers questioned the service results in the partnership, and sought out bids for a new provider.
The contract with HomeFirst ends on Sept. 30, leaving a month of overlap for WeHOPE’s incoming outreach team to work alongside the outgoing team.
WeHOPE has been seeking to expand its footprint in Santa Clara County. The nonprofit applied when the county was taking bids for a new operator at the North County Shelter, but county officials selected the Bill Wilson Center and are working to turn the 145-bed congregate shelter into one fit for families.
Bains said he wants to find a way to work with Santa Clara County officials in a future project, especially since WeHOPE already operates shelters in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. He said officials in those counties have spoken highly of the nonprofit’s case management services and track record. At the meeting, he said one of the safe parking sites run by the nonprofit had 61 out of 73 residents move into permanent housing within two years.
Sunnyvale has also been working on establishing policies for safe parking sites, which Bains said he would be interested in joining.
“We help other people excel,” he told San José Spotlight, referring to the WeHOPE acronym. “That could be our strategic partners, that could be our clients. It’s everyone who wants to participate in the process.”
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Sunnyvale Community Services Executive Director Marie Bernard highlighted WeHOPE’s Dignity on Wheels mobile unit, after the city hosted an event at Trinity Church with a variety of service providers that came to assist unhoused residents.
“Getting a shower and having clean clothes is a basic need. Having other nonprofits offering services and outreach at the mobile shower site is a powerful combination,” Bernard told San José Spotlight. “This shows that our city and our community care.”
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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