1) Prevention strategies to keep people from becoming homeless -- the most effective and cost-effective strategy to address homelessness:
- Increased (and on-going) outreach about Keep Oakland Housed services to those most at risk of losing their homes.
2) Emergency strategies to shelter and rehouse households and improve health and safety on the street:
- Creating standards for upkeep and cleanliness of encampments, including:
- Trash collection at least three times per week at larger encampments and twice per week at smaller one
- Regular servicing of portable toilets AND hand-washing stations at all encampments (three times/ week)
- Regularly scheduled deep cleaning
- Keeping encampments to one side of the street to allow safe passage
- Preserve retail corridors by encouraging encampment to other locations
- No encampments at City-owned parks unless specific park site is intentionally designated for that purpose by City Administrator—and only as a last resort if alternative is considered much more problematic (parks with tot lots shall NOT be designated as such)
- Enforcement to prevent serious criminal activities at encampments
3) Creation of affordable and permanent supportive housing units prioritized for households experiencing homelessness -- the ultimate solution, and the most resource-intensive:
- Prioritizing affordable housing, especially deeply affordable housing
- Consistently looking for new pathways and funding to create new below-market housing projects or repurpose existing buildings for that purpose
- Boomerang funds – making sure that funds ‘boomeranged’ from Redevelopment Agencies funds to affordable housing