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Housing Needs Assessment Draft Housing Element 2-23 2.9.7 Persons Experiencing Homelessness Results of Alameda County's January 2019 point-in-time (PIT) count showed a significant increase in residents experiencing homelessness over the previous year and revealed that one in five unsheltered people had lost their housing during the past year. Factors contributing to the rise in homelessness include a lack of available housing affordable for low- and moderate-income households, increases in the number of persons whose incomes fall below the poverty level, and reductions in public subsidies. Homelessness is often compounded by a lack of job training and supportive services to treat mental illness, substance abuse, or domestic violence. State law (Section 65583(1) (6)) requires municipalities to address the special needs of persons experiencing homelessness within their jurisdictional boundaries. “Homelessness” as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), describes an individual (not imprisoned or otherwise detained) who: ▪ Lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and ▪ Has a primary nighttime residence that is:  A supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);  An institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or  A public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. This definition does not include persons living in substandard housing (unless such housing has been officially condemned), persons living in overcrowded housing, persons discharged from mental health facilities (unless the person was homeless when entering and is considered to be homeless at discharge), or persons who may be at risk of homelessness (for example, living temporarily with family or friends.) The City’s Zoning Ordinance permits supportive, transitional, and group housing, which includes homeless shelters, in the Residential Multi-Family (RM District), Downtown Area-2 (DA-2 District), Downtown Area-3 (DA-3 District), Downtown Area-4 (DA-4 District), Professional Office (P District), South Area-1 (SA-1 District), South Area-2 (SA-2 District), and South Area-3 (SA-3 District) zone. Group housing excludes use classifications such as residential hotels, motels, convalescent facilities, and residential congregate care facilities. Table 2.21 displays data from the Alameda County physical PIT homeless count for 2019. According to the PIT count estimates, 74 persons in San Leandro were experiencing sheltered homelessness while another 344 persons were recorded as unsheltered, for a total count of 418 persons experiencing homelessness in 2019. Compared to surrounding cities, San Leandro had an estimated unsheltered person count that is lower than the cities of Hayward (487) and Oakland (4,071), but greater than the cities of Alameda (231) and Union City (106) in 2019. However, San Leandro had a higher per capita rate of persons experiencing homelessness than Hayward, Alameda, and Union City.