Community

Berkeley must 'stay the course' on homelessness, mayor says

"Potential cuts at the federal level will compromise our local services and likely exacerbate the homeless crisis here," Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii says.

Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii at a community meeting about homelessness in February. Emilie Raguso/The Berkeley Scanner

Editor's Note: The Scanner will periodically publish guest essays from community members on issues of interest or concern. Today's piece was written by Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii. It has been republished with permission.

We are experiencing a new level of threat to the health and wellbeing of Berkeley, particularly for our most vulnerable unhoused residents.

Many of the programs Berkeley has leveraged to help transition people off the street are funded by the very federal departments that the Trump Administration and Congress are gutting — housing, health, mental health, substance use, disease prevention and more.

Why does this matter? According to the 2024 Berkeley Point in Time Count, of the 824 unhoused individuals in Berkeley (down from 1,057 in 2022), more than 32% are over the age of 55 and 43% are reported to have serious mental health illness.

"The potential cuts at the federal level will compromise our local services and likely exacerbate the homeless crisis here."

While Berkeley city staff work tirelessly in close partnership with community-based organizations to get folks into safe housing, we are still grappling with the shortage of available supportive, subsidized housing and shelter beds.

Over the past few years, Berkeley has been a leader in the region and across the state in securing funds to lease hotels, buy-back RVs, and transition people into temporary housing while they wait for a permanent supportive housing unit.

The potential cuts at the federal level will compromise our local services and likely exacerbate the homeless crisis here.

Addressing homelessness and housing and public safety are two of my top priorities.

We can’t afford to wait and see what happens at the national level. We need to stay the course in addressing homelessness locally.

During a Feb. 25 community safety meeting, co-hosted with Councilmember Tregub, about Civic Center Park, and in my many discussions with residents, advocates, business leaders and community agencies, I have communicated my mission to find safe places for people to live while we bridge services and alternative housing supports.

I am working with Councilmembers O’Keefe, Lunaparra and Blackaby on a Council item, Alternative Housing Options for People Experiencing Homelessness "to identify a list of potential locations of City properties (such as parking lots, buildings, and other sites) and private properties (to be leased or acquired) — for the purpose of establishing alternative housing options."

This item does NOT designate, target, or suggest a specific neighborhood or area to search. The intent is to explore sites across the city.
This item will NOT be looking at parks as an alternate site.
If potential sites are found, staff would need to return to City Council to present the opportunities and gain further direction to assess the feasibility and costs of moving forward.

This item will be heard at the Health, Life, Equity, and Community Policy Committee on April 23 at 3:45 p.m. where they will decide whether to recommend the item to the full City Council. If you are interested in this issue, please write, watch, or attend the April 23 Committee meeting.

The agenda will be posted in advance here.

This is not designed to be a long-term solution, but the stress of constantly moving for those who are unhoused and the pressure that housed neighbors and businesses are feeling is unsustainable. We need to look at short- and long-term solutions.

I am inspired by what Berkeley can do when we are united and work together.

Connect with Mayor Adena Ishii's office on Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook and the city of Berkeley website.

The Scanner will periodically publish guest essays from community members on issues of interest or concern. Submit your guest essay ideas to TBS.