The Los Gatos Town council voted Tuesday to allocate $60,000 for initiatives to support the town’s homeless population in the next fiscal year’s budget.
The unanimous vote came after last April’s allocation of $50,000 to support services for the unhoused, $10,000 of which went to a program that provides access to showers, $20,000 for a temporary restroom and $20,000 to fund a program that provides hotel rooms in Los Gatos for homeless residents during extreme weather. The council reallocated $1,417.50 in surplus funds to help keep the temporary restroom open for the remainder of the current fiscal year.
The town’s efforts to support its unhoused population were bolstered by a $50,000 grant it received from Santa Clara County last December.
The council also voted to remove extreme heat as a factor that would activate the hotel program in an effort to extend the funding for that program. Assistant town manager Katy Nomura recommended that council members remove extreme heat as a factor because the Los Gatos Library already serves as a cooling center in the summer.
“The risk that comes with extreme heat is the prolonged exposure,” Nomura said. “If it’s hot in the day and the nighttime and you’re in that situation for two or more days is usually when you start having really serious risk. The fact that they do have relief available during the day that’s available to them seven days a week, we think it would be a better use of funds to focus on the cold weather, inclement weather.”
Staff also recommended that poor air quality be removed as a factor for the program, but the council voted to maintain that factor after council members Rob Moore and Rob Rennie expressed support for doing so since the town has yet to encounter an extended period of poor air quality since the hotel program was implemented, and there might be cause to activate the program in the event of a wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The council directed staff to explore opportunities to secure case management for the town’s unhoused population.
Members of the community turned out to speak in support of the town’s efforts. “This is what local government is all about: taking care of people who live in the town,” resident Beverley Bryant said at the meeting.
Vice Mayor Matthew Hudes spoke in favor of the program as a whole, saying he was wrong in his initial skepticism of some of the elements of the hotel program.
“The town manager, assistant town manager and staff rolled up their sleeves. I think they listened to some of (my) concerns as well and made sure that the money was being spent in an effective way,” Hudes said.