CC 04-02-2025 Item No. 8. MOU for Feasibility Study_Supplemental Report1
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
SUPPLEMENTAL 1
Meeting: April 2, 2025
Agenda Item #
Agenda Item #8
Subject
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among West Valley Cities (Cupertino,
Campbell, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, and Town of Los Gatos) for a feasibility study to
evaluate the potential of any temporary housing facility or emergency shelter.
Recommended Action
Authorize the City Manager to execute the MOU for the West Valley Cities Shelter
Feasibility Study.
Background:
Staff’s responses to questions received from Councilmembers
On March 31, staff received the following questions via email from Mayor Chao
regarding Item #8:
Q1: The MOU states ʺThe feasibility study by Good City, Co. will begin in November
2024 and is expected to be completed by August 2025.ʺ But the other cities are adopting
the MOUs from Feb. 2025 to April 2025. Would the timeline be adjusted?
Staff response: Demographic data that is available for housing and unhoused needs is typically
presented at the county or regional level, such as in the Census or American Community Survey,
accounted for in the “Needs Analysis” portion of the timeline. The “Feasibility Study” and
“Project Meetings” account for the city‐specific tasks that require interviewing local service
providers for each City, which constitute the portion of tasks to be done throughout Summer 2025.
To expand the project area of study, which began with Campbell, to include additional nearby
cities, including Cupertino, would not require the timeline being adjusted.
Q2: The consultant agreement mentioned ʺMeet at key points in the project with County
OSH staffʺ, but nowhere else is the involvement of County mentioned in the MOU or the
consultant agreement. About 34% of our property tax goes to the County, but only 7%
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goes to the City of Cupertino. Therefore, the County has been in charge of shelters and
emergency shelters and the related social services for the unhoused. Would the
Feasibility Study include any data on the county shelters and how the county provides
emergency shelter? The location of existing shelters and the cost of providing services in
the County?
Staff response: The feasibility study proposed would take into account location of existing shelters
and service costs and will be using data collected from both the County Continuum of Care and
Office of Supportive Housing which are identified as key stakeholders. A component of
determining feasibility would be factoring the availability of resources currently provided (for the
County and cities), availability of resources currently available (for both the County and cities),
and how that would interact with any proposed new service.
Q3: Any shelters, emergency or not, must include social services normally provided by
county social service staff who have special training to manage the various needs of
unhoused population. Would the Feasibility Study also evaluate the staffing needs for
any emergency shelters? What services would be evaluated in the study?
Staff response: The feasibility study would include identification of service providers who could
support the management of any proposed facility, both through County staff and non‐profits
which provide this service. Staffing resources to be analyzed would include all aspects of providing
shelter, including: outreach, caseworkers, operations staff, supportive staff, and more. Included in
stakeholders for outreach are current shelter providers such as LifeMoves, PATH, Abode, etc.