Page 1 of 12
31
Jesse Arreguín
City Councilmember, District 4
ACTION CALENDAR
September 27, 2016
To:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From:
Councilmember Jesse Arreguín
Subject: Approval of Location of Homeless Storage Facility
RECOMMENDATION
Approve the location for the Homeless Storage Facility at either Old City Hall or the
Veterans Building.
BACKGROUND
In December 2015, the Berkeley City Council approved Ordinance No. 7,449 N.S. which
amended Berkeley Municipal Code Section 14.48.170 to prevent objects and personal
belongings larger than two square feet from being placed on the sidewalk. The
ordinance states that it could not be enforced until the City creates a storage facility with
at least 50 lockers. Currently, there is a proposal to create a one year pilot program for
a storage facility at a cost of $235,000.
In February 2016, an off agenda memo was sent providing updates on the creation of a
storage program. It had suggested reopening the lockers behind the Veterans Building
and constructing a structure to house additional storage. Since then, the concept of the
proposal has changed. Currently, staff are proposing the program be located at the
basement of Old City Hall, citing budgetary restraints for the change of location.
However, residents in the MAAGNA neighborhood which is next to Old City Hall have
expressed deep concern of the location over safety issues, among other problems.
On August 29, a community meeting was hosted by the office of Councilmember
Arreguin to hear neighborhood concerns. Also present from the City was Jim Hynes,
Assistant to the City Manager; Phil Harrington, Public Works Director; Paul
Buddenhagen, Health, Housing & Community Services Director; and Lt. Michael Durbin
and Sgt. Kevin Schofield from the Berkeley Police Department. Approximately 35
neighbors attended the meeting, urging staff to rethink the location and look into
mitigating any negative effects that the proposal could bring (see Attachment 3 for
complete notes of the meeting).
Given the controversy that has been created over the potential location of the site, the
City Council should weigh in on this matter in order to create a transparent process that
is open to the public.
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7140 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7144
E-Mail: [email protected]
Page 2 of 12
ACTION Calendar
September 27, 2016
Location of Homeless Storage Facility
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Beyond the $235,000 allocated for the pilot project, additional costs would be
associated with the Veterans Building location.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
No adverse effects to the environment.
CONTACT PERSON
Jesse Arreguin, Councilmember, District 4
510-981-7140
Attachments:
1: Ordinance 7,449
2: February 26, 2016 Memo on Storage Facility Update
3: Notes from August 29, 2016 Community Meeting on Storage Facility
4: Staff Handout on Pilot Program
Page 2
Page 3 of 12
Attachment 1
Page 4 of 12
Page 5 of 12
Attachment 2
Office of the City Manager
February 26, 2016
To:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From:
Dee Ridley-Williams, Interim City Manager
Subject:
Update on Storage Units -- Pilot Program for Homeless Community
The following is an update on our progress in implementing the storage program to
support homeless individuals in Berkeley.
The plan is a pilot project that will be evaluated at six (6) months. The funding noted is
for the entire year period. The plan is to re-open the lockers currently located behind the
Veteran’s Building and to add a structure in the same location to house an additional fifty
(50) 64-gallon storage containers. The structures containing the lockers and storage
containers would be locked and secured with staff providing clients with access to their
belongings. We are continuing to assess additional sites to ensure we locate the program
in the most appropriate place.
Staff will have a more consistent presence and greater control over this program than
they had with the previous locker program. This should help reduce issues such as drugs
and vermin that had marred past efforts.
As envisioned, the program would be available to clients seven (7) days a week from
7:00am – 10:00pm. For safety and program effectiveness there would be two (2) staff
persons on site at all times. It is anticipated that staffing would be through a contract
with a nonprofit agency as was the case with the locker program. For this effort the staff
will only work on the storage program, whereas oversight of the locker program had
been an additional responsibility added to staff’s regular duties.
Projected costs for the program are as follows:

One-Time Funding needs: $50,000 – Public Works construction of additional
space to locate 64-gallon containers, bring the current lockers into operational
capacity, and add security cameras and additional lighting.
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7000 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7099
E-Mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/manager
Page 6 of 12
Page 2 of 2
February 26, 2016
Re: Update on Storage Units -- Pilot Program for Homeless Community

Ongoing Program Needs: $253,575 - $347,760 – Staffing needs and
operation/administration costs of program. These figures represent the costs of
5.25 FTE needed to staff the program with two (2) employees for the 105 hours
the program would be open weekly. The range in cost is based on the
classification of staff hired. The purpose of the locker program had been to get
people into services and ultimately into housing. Therefore, case managers
staffed that program at the higher salary level. It is anticipated that we would staff
the program with Program Aides at the lower $253,575 figure.
There are no identified programmatic dollars that could be used to fund this effort.
General Funds would need to be used.
We will continue to update you as the details of implementation are finalized. A council
agenda item will be submitted on March 26, 2016.
cc:
Gil Dong, Interim Deputy City Manager
Mark Numainville, City Clerk
Matthai Chakko, Assistant to the City Manager
Ann-Marie Hogan, City Auditor
Paul Buddenhagen, Director, Health, Housing, & Community Services Department
Phil Harrington, Director, Public Works Department
Page 7 of 12
Attachment 3
Homeless Storage Facility Community Meeting
Background:
In December 2015, the City Council passed an ordinance to prohibit people from placing items larger
than 2 square feet on the sidewalk. It was written in the ordinance that enforcement on this cannot go
into effect until a storage facility is created with at least 50 lockers. As a result, City staff looked into
finding a location to have this facility. The basement of Old City Hall, which is currently vacant, was
chosen as the site for a pilot program that will start in late 2016 and will last a year, costing $235,000.
An August 29, 2016, a community meeting was held by Councilmember Jesse Arreguin with City Staff
(Jim Hynes, Assistant to the City Manager; Phil Harrington, Public Works Director; Paul Buddenhagen,
Health, Housing & Community Services Director; Lt. Michael Durbin and Sgt. Kevin Schofield from the
Berkeley Police Department (BPD)). The purpose of the meeting was to get feedback from the MAAGNA
neighborhood on the proposed pilot program. Below are the questions, concerns, and suggestions that
were raised at the meeting.
Questions:
How was the location and hours decided?
Hours are based on budget constrictions. There is a limited budget to be used on staff time. Also
because of budget issues, it needed to be one centralized location rather than separate decentralized
locations. The Veterans Building was ruled out because of concerns about mixing people who may have
drugs/alcohol with the sobriety program, and additional significant costs associated with having to
construct space at the Veterans Courtyard. The additional costs are significant due to the fact that an
entirely new large structure would need to be constructed to ensure that the facility was rain proof and
could accommodate all of the lockers and the 96 gallon containers. There would also be a need for a
small office for staff, record keeping (file cabinets) and a locked rack for storing keys to the locks for
each storage unit. There would also be additional costs for electrical work for lighting and power at the
interior of the new structure as well as lighting at the exterior to illuminate the area in the evening as a
matter of program functionality and safety. There could also be additional costs for permits
How many homeless are in Berkeley?
The last official count, which took place in January 2015, was 834. Current estimates range from 8001200.
Will lockers be inspected?
Use of lockers will be supervised to prevent hazardous and illegal materials from being stored. No bikes,
bike parts, or shopping carts will be allowed in the lockers. Other materials that could attract rodents
would also be prohibited.
What if materials are abandoned?
Page 8 of 12
There will be contact with the people who use the lockers. If belongings are left unattended for 30 days,
they will be removed in accordance with the city’s existing policy on removal of unattended personal
belongings.
How will we identify who is homeless?
There will be no discrimination against who can use the lockers. Anyone can theoretically use the
facility, although it is unlikely that people with homes will use the facility. Outreach will be made to
make sure that the homeless community are aware of the facility.
Where will the entrance be located?
On the Allston side, by Options Recovery Services and the driveway to the Public Safety Building parking
lot.
As a landmarked building, are permits required to make alterations to Old City Hall? What about ADA
compliance and seismic safety?
Generally, permits are not required for interior alterations. Berkeley Municipal Code (BMC) Section
6.12.030 of the Berkeley Municipal Code was brought up, which states that an application must be made
to the Planning Commission for altering/repairing any building in the Civic Center. BMC Section 6.12.060
also says that no building permit shall be issued for construction/altering/repairing any building in the
Civic Center without Council approval. City Staff will look into how these sections of the code affect the
proposal, along with issues around ADA and seismic compliance. Regardless, Council will have to vote on
approval of the contract for the project.
Additionally, BMC SECTION 6.12.04 should be noted in this process:
“6.12.040 Building erection or alteration--Application to include plans.
Whenever an application is made for a permit for the erection or alteration of any building or other
structure, any portion of which is within the Civic Center area, the plans therefor so far as they relate to
general exterior appearance, design, color and texture of surface materials or exterior construction or
the height of the structure or structures shall be submitted by the Director of Inspection Services to the
Planning Commission. (Ord. 5134-NS § 1 (part), 1979: Ord. 4440-NS § 2 (part), 1969: Ord. 4094-NS (part),
1965: Ord. 3992-NS (part), 1964: Ord. 2413-NS § 3, 1941)”
The planning department concurs that landmark review only pertains to the exterior of the building.
This project will not include any changes to the exterior, only the interior, and those changes will be
minimal.
How many lockers will there be and what sizes are they?
There will be 120 high-school style lockers and approximately 50-60 96-gallon containers (similar to
green waste garbage bins).
Will there be restrooms on site?
There will not be access to the restrooms at Old City Hall. The closest restrooms will be across the street
at Civic Center Park (the restrooms behind the Civic Center building).
Page 9 of 12
How will enforcement of the ordinance work?
Enforcement will take place once the storage facility goes into operation. Police will provide a warning
to those in violation and refer them to the facility. Refusal to comply will result in a citation. There are
other regulations that are in place and being enforced that deal with similar policies, such as blocking
ADA access.
Concerns:

Safety and security is the biggest concern. Allston Way is a major thoroughfare for pedestrians
walking from the BART Station to the neighborhood. At night, many homeless are in bushes,
have urinated and defecated, and have created a presence that makes people feel unsafe. This
is especially true for women who have to walk through the neighborhood at night. There were
also safety concerns over the proximity of the location to multiple schools and the Teen Center.

There needs to be efforts made to prevent loitering. Best practices of similar facilities will be
looked at, such as what is done in San Diego and Los Angeles. There are also concerns that this
will invite more camping in the neighborhood overnight and could potentially lead to another
encampment similar to Liberty City. Staff will be monitoring this carefully and will intervene on
any such illegal encampments as they have done so twice this past year.

People with mental disabilities on the streets has been a major issue in the neighborhood. There
has not been enough response from police and mental health services to deal with this. A lot of
this is due to budget constraints, but efforts have been made to allocate funds for five new
mental health street outreach workers. Police crisis intervention training has been expanded to
every police officer. HHCS is also looking into developing a comprehensive homeless strategy
that will better deal with mental health situations.

Garbage, litter, and drug paraphernalia has been found throughout the neighborhood. There are
concerns that there is nothing stopping people from dumping the stuff they cannot place in
storage.

With the homeless population being significantly higher than the number of proposed lockers,
there will not be enough lockers for everyone. Additionally, the lockers will be too small for
many belongings. It is noted that one of the purposes of the pilot project is to see whether or
not more or less lockers are needed and if different and/or larger lockers are needed.

The neighborhood is concerned about the historical context in which the City has moved
forward with proposals that heavily impact the neighborhood. They feel that during the
construction of the Public Safety Building (PSB), many promises were broken and proposed
mitigations were ignored, and they must now live with the impacts of that. The best example of
this is the construction of the massive communication tower over a weekend with no
notification or public process. With a large turnover in City staff and department heads in recent
years, much of the institutional memory of past concerns with the neighborhood has been
Page 10 of 12
erased. MAAGNA wants assurances that the same mistakes won’t be made again and that
mitigations must be kept. To clarify, staff misunderstood this comment made at the meeting
about the tower at the PSB. We thought they said it happened this past weekend, not nearly 20
years ago. In fact, there are city staff still here that do recall that issue.
Suggestions:

Lighting needs to be improved in the area (Options Recovery Services, which operates from the
City Hall Annex, has pledge to ensure lighting is properly maintained).

Those that use the facility need to be connected with programs that help them get out of
homelessness. Additionally, people who use this service should be connected to shelter to
prevent camping in the neighborhood. There needs to be a focus on permanent solutions and a
housing first policy, not temporary services and Band-Aid solutions.

More dumpsters are needed in the area. The Downtown Ambassador program should be
expanded to help clean up litter. Having less litter will create safer spaces. Staff will consider
dumpsters in the park but there is concern that these would be abused and used improperly.
There might also be concerns registered by those doing special events in the park as well as the
parks commission. More feasible is more regular litter removal by BBB and city staff.

Alternative locations must be considered. District 4, and more specifically the MAAGNA
neighborhood, bears the burden of homelessness for the entire city. Other than the Veterans
Building, other locations include the Transfer Station. Another idea is to permanently move the
storage facilities to the Berkeley Way project, however this will not be completed for at least
several more years.

There needs to be more types of lockers. Should look into providing shipping containers. Can the
Port of Oakland provide containers? Such containers would need to be refurbished for storage
use.

Need mitigations for neighborhood. People support lockers, but need to make sure that it does
not negatively impact neighborhood. City staff working in conjunction with the contracted nonprofit will be making every effort up front through the contracting process as well as through
regular monitoring and evaluation after the contract is executed and the program begins to
make sure these problems don’t occur.

The times of the facility should not interfere with commute for students and workers.

There needs to be more of a police presence in the area to deal with antisocial and problematic
behavior.
Page 11 of 12

More research should be done on the best practices of similar facilities in other cities. Look at
places such as San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver. Also look into the history of storage programs
in Berkeley.

Another meeting should be called for, sooner rather than later. The plan needs to have more
specifics and address the concerns of the neighborhood. City staff will be looking at the
suggestions and comments made by those who attended.
Page 12 of 12
Attachment 4
PILOT PROGRAM
City of Berkeley Homeless Storage Locker Program
Purpose and Program Description
The purpose of this program is to have a secure, protected space for homeless people in Berkeley to store
their personal belongings during the day. The pilot program will be located in the basement of Old City Hall
and operated by a non-profit provider. This pilot program will be operational from late November, 2016 –
September 30, 2017, and is expected to serve approximately 60-70 individuals at any given time. The
program will be monitored continuously and evaluated by City staff after the first six months of operation.
City staff will be fully prepared to modify the program operated by the non-profit provider at any time during
the pilot period in the event that health, safety or other concerns arise.
Operation
The program will be available to clients seven (7) days a week from 7:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. and from 6:00
p.m. to 10:00 p.m. This will allow for the drop-off of items in the morning and pick-up of items in the evening,
but will not provide access to stored items during the day. Program participants will have supervised access
to a maximum two lockers. Strict prohibitions on drugs, alcohol, food or any items that could attract rodents
or otherwise jeopardize health and safety will be in place. Bicycles, bicycle parts or shopping carts will not
be allowed on site or outside in the immediate vicinity of the program. Program staff will have a system for
identifying participants so that they can be assured that their belongings will be secure. For safety and
program effectiveness, two (2) staff people will be on site at all times. These staff will provide to program
participants referrals to City staff and other non-profit staff to help them with social services and housing.
Hours of operation and program rules will be posted at the entrance to the program.
Safety
The Berkeley Police Department is committed to collaborating with other city of Berkeley departments and
the community to support a smooth transition to the storage locker program. Prior to opening the storage
locker facility, the Berkeley Police Department will conduct a Crime Prevention through Environmental
Design (CPTED) assessment of the location. This assessment will provide an overview of the site
examining issues such as lighting, building access, site design and layout, foliage that may conceal criminal
activity, the location of staff, and overall building security. Furthermore, the Berkeley Police Department
will train its officers so they are familiar with the hours of operation and the procedures of the storage locker
program and staff. In addition to training on the operations of the storage locker facility, officers will be
trained on the enforcement of BMC 14.48.170 – Restricting Objects on Sidewalks. Officers will be expected
to participate in the outreach and educational component of the program prior to enforcement with the
primary goal being to gain voluntary compliance and encourage use of the storage locker program.
Costs
The one–year pilot program will cost no more than $235,000: $185,000 for staffing and $50,000 for site
improvements. Public Works will undertake site improvements and will collaborate with BPD on layout and
design following CPTED principles to ensure the highest levels of safety on site.
Benefits
Homeless individuals will be afforded a safe and dry location to store their possessions. It will also provide
impetus for homeless individuals to not store their possessions in City parks or in city commercial districts
and generally keep the city’s public commons free of objects that impede pedestrian and wheel chair
access, or otherwise pose a health or safety problem.