Publication: San Jose Mercury

Money will help move homeless hotel residents into housing

Gov. Gavin Newsom poured another $62 million into his waning Project Roomkey program Monday, part of an ongoing effort to prevent any of the more than 22,000 homeless Californians sheltering in pandemic hotels from ending up back on the street.

The money, which comes from the state’s Disaster Response Emergency Operations Account, will go to counties that have put up homeless Californians in hotels during the pandemic. The emergency cash injection comes as the pandemic hotels are starting to close in the Bay Area and beyond.

The bulk of the funds — $35 million — will go toward rehousing Project Roomkey residents. That money is for rental subsidies, case management, housing navigation and landlord incentives, and other housing expenses. Another $24 million will help prop up the existing Project Roomkey program, allowing residents to remain in their hotel rooms until they can obtain permanent housing. The last $3 million will go toward technical assistance — helping counties contract with experienced housing providers and create rehousing plans.

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“While allocating more funding for Project Roomkey helps in the short-term,” said Budget Committee Chair Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), according to the news release. “I look forward to collaborative budget discussions with the administration about reducing homelessness, focusing on smart investments and long-term housing solutions.”

Publication: ABC 30/Fresno

There are more than 500 cases of COVID-19 among inmates at the Corcoran prison - that's about 11% of the prison population.

The number of inmates infected with the coronavirus at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran (SATF) has skyrocketed in recent weeks.

There are more than 500 cases of COVID-19 among inmates, or about 11% of the prison population.

There's concern that number could rise.

"They're all in the same prison but different yards are having different experiences," said Michelle Hoyt, whose boyfriend is an inmate at SATF.

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This week, San Francisco Assemblymember Phil Ting and other members of the state legislature made it clear to prison officials that the practices of masking and distancing need to improve.

"We're going to ensure that the secretary (of CDCR) and the receiver (CCHCS) fully communicate that and ensure that they follow up with each of the wardens and each of the staff to make sure that staff are properly wearing masks at the various facilities," Ting said.

Publication: KCBS Radio News

We’ve been reminded about the importance of wearing masks for months now.

So why has that message apparently not been getting through to employees in California’s prison system? There have been deadly COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the state’s prisons, including a one that led to 28 deaths at San Quentin State Prison.

Another in Chino caused 27 deaths.

"The majority of custody staff refused to wear PPE and when this was reported to supervisors, the repeated response was that the mandates were unenforceable because these were adults," Inspector General Roy Wesley said an employee at one prison told his investigative team.

Correctional Health Care Services Director Dr. Joseph Bick was asked to explain the lack of compliance to members of the state Assembly, who questioned representatives of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Tuesday.

"I think what we see in our system really mirrors what we see across our country for a variety of reasons where there are people sowing doubt and confusion about whether masks are helpful or whether they’re harmful," Dr. Bick explained.

He clarified that he personally knows how important masks are.

Answering questions from Assemblyman Phil Ting, the Inspector General said enforcement is something that did not receive emphasis from headquarters until recently.

Ting: "When you say recently, are you talking about last week, last month?"

When pressed, Wesley said: "I’m talking last week."

"I think (the staff) simply didn’t have the wherewithal for whatever reason to make this a priority," he added.

Department Secretary Kathleen Allison told the hearing she has made expectations crystal clear to wardens.

Publication: Associated Press

When Henry Brown got his ballot in the mail last month, the 74-year-old California musician didn’t agonize over his decision. He filled it out and mailed it back on the same day.

“It’s more convenient, less stressful,” he said.

And it could soon become a permanent part of elections in the nation’s most populous state. This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, all of California’s more than 22 million registered voters got a ballot in the mail at least 29 days before Election Day along with a postage-paid envelope to send it back. 

Now, California’s Democratic leaders are weighing whether to make those changes permanent.

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But with more than 25 million eligible voters, mailing ballots in California is more expensive. The Department of Finance said it cost $65 million just to mail ballots to all of the voters this year who don’t normally receive one — about 5.6 million people.

The state could do that this year, in part, because it had millions of dollars in coronavirus aid form the federal government. The state budget included $111.6 million for the election, with more than half of that coming from the federal government. Most of that money won’t be available for future elections.

Local governments typically pay for elections, but they get reimbursed for things the state requires them to do. 

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Assemblyman Phil Ting, the Democratic chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, said cost would be an issue. But he said mailing ballots could save money by resulting in fewer in-person polling locations and the people to staff them.

Publication: EdSource

Seven urban California school districts, including the state’s four largest, have called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to adopt and pay for more stringent, uniform health and safety requirements they say should be in place before bringing students back to school during the pandemic.

“It will take collective action and additional funding to bring students, teachers and staff back to schools in the way that is as safe as possible and sustainable for the long-term,” they said in a Nov. 2 letter organized by Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner and signed by the superintendents of San Diego, Long Beach, Fresno, Santa Ana, Sacramento and Oakland unified school districts. Adopting their recommendations would mark a shift from local control toward more rigorous state control over school reopenings.

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Calls for Newsom to take a stronger role in reopening schools, particularly collecting and publishing data on school infections and more comprehensive testing protocols, have grown louder. Last week, at a legislative hearing, Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, told Dr. Erica Pan, acting public health officer for the California Department of Public Health, that uniform testing requirements would help school districts settle negotiations with teachers’ unions on reopening.

“If you don’t come out with testing protocols for our state, it puts our districts in a very tough position,” he said.

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Publication: CalMatters

As more California public schools get set to reopen their campuses to students and teachers with a rhythm unseen in previous months, the pool of schools that have reopened so far have largely avoided triggering coronavirus outbreaks.

Most of the school districts in the state that have physically reopened have implemented hybrid schedules where kids split time learning in classrooms and remotely from home. Several others have transitioned or plan to transition to in-person learning in phases, beginning with younger students. Both are measures that public-health experts say help reduce the spread of the virus.

Data on the progress of school reopenings in California is limited, making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions on how they are faring. But at a recent legislative hearing in Sacramento, one of the state’s top public-health leaders said it’s “encouraging” that school reopenings as of Oct. 25 have resulted in only two outbreaks — defined as three or more linked positive cases — which combined led to 17 cases. Officials did not say where in the state the two outbreaks occurred.

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Schools lack guidance

Assemblymember Phil Ting said the Department of Health needs to update its guidance on routine testing as soon as possible.

“This testing issue is central to every bargaining discussion, up and down the state,” said Ting, a San Francisco Democrat who chairs the Assembly budget committee.

“We’re in the middle of the school year,” Ting told Dr. Erica Pan, acting public health officer for the California Department of Public Health. “If you don’t come out with testing protocols for our state, it puts our districts in a very tough position.”

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Publication: Long Beach Business Journal

Residents in some Long Beach neighborhoods might want to get used to circling the block a few more times as they search for a parking spot after work.

In September of last year, state legislators approved a number of bills that made it easier for landowners to add residential units to their properties without the burden of providing additional parking spaces on site.

Since then, the city of Long Beach has received 360 applications for such units, often referred to as granny flats or ADUs, records obtained by the Long Beach Business Journal show. Currently, 220 are still under review for possible approval by the Long Beach Development Services Department.

ADUs are residential units that are added to an existing structure or property, like a studio with a kitchen and bathroom built atop an existing garage. 

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AB-68, a bill passed in September 2019, prohibits cities from requiring on-site parking if the proposed site is within half a mile of public transportation, such as a bus or metrorail stop. ADUs in historic districts are also exempt from any parking requirements.

The new law was necessary because some cities refused to do their part in supplying more much-needed housing across the state, said Assemblyman Phil Ting, the author of the bill.

“When the first number of ADU bills was passed, cities started putting [in] really artificial and onerous barriers to continue to block ADUs. One of those was unrealistic parking requirements,” Ting said. “Many of which basically banned ADUs in those jurisdictions.”

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Publication: ABC 7 Bay Area

Sometimes not knowing is worse than knowing. That's how a San Francisco woman felt after her claim with EDD seemingly went into a black hole.

Everything started out as well as could be expected.

A retailer in Union Square furloughed Elizabeth Sanchez in March when it closed down due to the pandemic.

The San Francisco woman promptly applied for unemployment benefits.

"It started out okay. I got the paperwork right away that said, 'You'll get this amount. This is your weekly benefit rate,'" Sanchez said.

They sent her some paperwork to fill out. She did, but then she didn't hear anything.

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We contacted both Assemblymember Phil Ting and the EDD.

"Once you got involved... Once they got involved... As I said it was five days. Boom. Resolution and payments. It's like magic," Sanchez said.