Designs to change a Mountain View hotel into housing for the homeless and unstably housed were being achieved Tuesday with major skepticism and problems from nearby citizens, quite a few of whom suggested the job would existing a threat in the local community.
Various people demanded to know what will be done to hold the small children harmless at a close by elementary faculty. Many others requested if drug buyers, these with psychological ailments and even pedophiles would be allowed to live on the residence, and puzzled no matter whether the converted resort would have a unique protection or law enforcement presence.
Housing officials with Mountain Watch and Santa Clara County fielded the tricky concerns at a March 30 digital conference, the 1st outreach assembly for the proposal. But many of the issues — like who, specifically, would be authorized to dwell there — basically experienced no excellent solutions. The conversion options are nonetheless in their infancy, and most specifics are continue to in flux.
In January, the metropolis announced that the proprietor of Crestview Resort is trying to get to promote the assets and get the job done with the town to convert it into housing for the unhoused. Carrying out so would abide by a statewide $600 million work to turn motels and motels into rooms for homeless and unstably housed inhabitants and families.
The state’s so-referred to as Homekey application is out of hard cash, having said that, so metropolis officials are searching to Santa Clara County to support fork out for the acquisition of the 67-home lodge at 901 E. El Camino Real, close to the Sunnyvale border. The expense of purchasing the home has however to be determined, but the Metropolis Council agreed to earmark $3.7 million to renovate and rehabilitate the assets.
The conclusion drew both equally common aid and opposition, which include two on the internet petitions — one for the venture and 1 from — that each individual garnered hundreds of digital signatures. Some identified as it terribly necessary housing for the the very least fortunate, though other folks claimed it would worsen assets values and pose basic safety issues.
Though city workers proposed in January that the hotel be used for housing homeless persons and people not too long ago displaced from their homes, the language has changed about time. In the lead-up to the March 30 conference, metropolis officials described the proposal as a way to household “minimal-money or unstably housed persons or households.”
When questioned about basic safety, Eloiza Murillo-Garcia, method supervisor for the county’s Business office of Supportive Housing, urged attendees to try to remember that this would be an cost-effective housing project and not a homeless shelter. Inexpensive housing assignments usually do not have all around-the-clock stability guards like homeless shelters.
“The people residing at the Crestview flats will have a lease,” Murillo-Garcia mentioned. “There will be property management on web site to maintain the house and to assure the protection of the citizens within just the house.”
A single resident questioned if drug users would be permitted to dwell on the home or be allowed to smoke marijuana, and no matter whether drug checks will be administered as portion of the housing proposal. Consuelo Hernandez, performing director for the county’s workplace of supportive housing, explained there will be because of diligence in screening tenants, but it will not likely consist of a difficult-nosed tactic involving drug or sobriety tests. If something, there would be a coverage targeted on dependancy treatment and critical solutions to control the dilemma.
“There is no drug testing that transpires in the exact way that any 1 of us renting an condominium doesn’t hope our landlord to test us for liquor or drug use,” she reported.
Another resident asked if neighbors will be permitted to interview and history verify all those who apply to dwell at the converted hotel. Hernandez explained they can not, and that purposes are vetted and authorised by the assets supervisor.
Some attendees at the meeting struck a positive note, giving props to city and county officials for transferring the hotel conversion proposal forward. One said turning the lodge into housing is “wanted” in the community.
Renovations and other improvements to the house would consider among 3 and six months, in comparison to the yearslong construction cycle of other economical housing jobs in the city, said Wayne Chen, Mountain View’s assistant local community enhancement director. It is also viewed as prime true estate, creating it a unusual possibility for the city.
“We sense that this locale is actually primary due to the fact it is around transit and it is close to present services and features alongside El Camino Serious.”
But hotel rooms aren’t specifically best for long lasting household use, significantly for much larger families that will need far more space than a standard suite. Chen said more substantial units could be accommodated by tearing down partitions and combining suites, and it is really doable that just about every unit could have kitchens. Crestview earlier experienced specific kitchenettes for the rooms that were being eliminated by the lodge proprietor, but it seems the plumbing is even now there to carry them back again.
A hodgepodge of concerns about who will dwell at the Crestview Hotel, and irrespective of whether it will include a desire for Mountain Perspective inhabitants or people who are dwelling in cars, were being just deferred. Town and county team explained individuals facts have still to be established, and that the local community meeting is becoming held lengthy in advance of just about anything is set in stone.
“We are not seeking to be evasive,” Hernandez explained, responding to feedback from the community. “We are early on in the method.”
If all goes according to strategy, the county will acquire the lodge house about the study course of 6 months and work with the metropolis to decide a developer for the resort conversion. The hope is to have residents go in sometime amongst 18 and 24 months. Any one fascinated in updates on the task can go to mountainview.gov/Crestview.