City approves reduced funds for agencies
By Jana Seshadri
"How can a homeless person have an address?"
This was a question frequently asked of Sunnyvale City Council members at their May 7 meeting.
Though council unanimously approved the staff's recommendation for reduced funding to both Cupertino Community Services and Support Network for Battered Women, Councilwoman Pat Vorreiter made a push for the difference to be replaced by money from the city's general fund. A formal decision for Vorreiter's suggestion would come at a later date.
"How dare we spend our funds for issues like traffic signals when we cannot provide the very basic amenities to members of our community?" Vorreiter asked.
According to Iris Ann Nelson, the chairwoman of the Sunnyvale Housing and Human Services Commission, the two agencies--CCS and Support Network for Battered Women--had not met their goals to provide service to Sunnyvale residents. Nelson therefore, recommended that the city of Sunnyvale, which provides funds to these agencies through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) fund, reduce their funding to the two agencies for the 2002-2003 fiscal year.
CCS received $14,669 in 2001, and city staff, upon the commission's review, recommended that the agency receive $10,000 in 2002--a reduction of more than $4,000. Support Network for Battered Women's fund would be reduced by $8,000--from $32,000 in 2001 to $24,000 in 2002, according to staff recommendation.
CCS provides several services to needy families, including feeding and providing shelter for the homeless every week on a rotational basis.
All human service agencies receiving funds from Sunnyvale are required to provide services to a predetermined number of Sunnyvale residents, according to housing officer Annabel Yurutucu.
According to Yurutucu, last year CCS had a goal of serving 16 Sunnyvale residents, but only served 14. Yurutucu said CCS's goals were reviewed and amended and brought down the number of residents to six for the first two quarters of this year or by Dec. 31, to make it more attainable. CCS had only served four Sunnyvale residents as of Dec. 31.
"We have to report to [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] an action plan in order to receive its entitled funds under the CDBG program," Yurutucu said. "We have to report an actual number of unduplicated beneficiaries, so the last known address of the beneficiary is used."
"How can you define residency of a person who is homeless?" countered Jaclyn Fabre, executive director of CCS. "We don't know who is going to show up at our doorstep and from where."
Hundreds of volunteers, who help make this program work successfully, do not ask the name of the person or where he or she is from before providing them with a hot meal, Fabre said. The case management worker helps the homeless find decent homes and jobs, she said. The homeless people who receive CCS's services find a sense of community, she said. Fabre urged the council not to reduce funding to CCS.
"This is a stellar program," said Cathy Edwards, a volunteer at Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church and the coordinator of the homeless program. "The case management program is absolutely essential because it has been a great community builder."
"There are homeless people in our parks and public places, and I've tried to help them," said Peggy White, pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church on Fremont Avenue.
Upon Vorreiter's suggestion that the extra $4,000 for each agency be taken out of the city's general funds, City Manager Robert LaSala suggested that the appropriate time to allocate those funds would be during the city budget meeting.
"There's a timing and a process for this," LaSala said.
Vorreiter moved to approve the staff-recommended funding for both agencies and directed the commission to give recommendations after revisiting the CCS issue. The motion carried unanimously.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
