San Mateo County buys hotels for housing

Some Redwood City residents oppose move as a burden to the area

REDWOOD CITY >> As the coronavirus pandemic continues to disproportionately affect the Bay Area’s homeless population, San Mateo County supervisors bought two hotels in the city to be converted into permanent housing.

Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to buy the TownePlace Suites on Twin Dolphin Drive and the Pacific Inn Hotel on El Camino Real as part of Project Homekey, a program started at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic to give local governments federal and state assistance to rehab hotels and old apartment buildings into longterm housing for people experiencing homelessness.

The two hotels will add 169 units of permanent housing for the county’s unhoused population at a time when public health officials urge people to stay at home and avoid contact with others to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The TownPlace Suites — which the county bought for $29.2 million — will be used to provide 95 rooms for seniors over the age of 62 with extremely low income, and the Pacific Inn — bought for $21.5 million — will offer 74 rooms plus a manager’s quarters for those experiencing homelessness.

Supervisor Warren Slocum, who represents Redwood City, said the purchase of both hotels is part of the county’s goal to reach a “functional zero” homeless population as quickly as possible. Next week, the county is considering buying another hotel in Half Moon Bay for the city’s coastal homeless population.

Slocum said the 74 units reserved for homeless people in the county will serve to meet that goal and keep people at home during the pandemic.

And with a “gray tsunami” coming as the county’s population grows increasingly older, Slocum said the county bought the other 95-room hotel specifi

cally to provide a safety net for seniors who have been badly affected by the pandemic and the state of the economy.

“We really want to do this for low-income seniors who have a risk of being homeless because these are the most vulnerable people ...” Slocum said. “I thought, ‘ Wouldn’t it be a tragedy to see them on the street?’ These hotels are turn-key ready for those folks to populate it.”

But the plan to buy the hotels wasn’t without its critics. About a dozen people gathered in Redwood Shores last week to protest the county’s intention to buy the TownPlace Suites, which sits adjacent to the San Carlos Airport right next to the bay, based on its proximity to the largely suburban neighborhoods of the area.

Opponents of the pur

chase say that the county did not give sufficient notice or provide the level of planning necessary to make the decision to purchase. Slocum said the county was under a tight deadline from the state to make the purchases before Wednesday, but residents like Redwood Shores Elementary School PTA President Shannon Guzzetta said the “process and follow-up plans need work.”

In a letter sent to the supervisors Tuesday, Guzzetta said that she and others have concerns about a lack of community dialogue and lack of “logistical details” about the plan to maintain the hotel.

She said that although the county has the money for acquisitions, she wants to know more about how it will maintain and manage the new properties.

“How will the place

ment process ensure adequate background checks for service providers and residents? How will the county maintain transparency on these matters when they have failed to engage in community dialogue at this important part of the process?” Guzzetta wrote. “How will safety be addressed, especially since Redwood City has frozen open police officer positions for the next year?!”

Another Redwood City resident who identified himself as Frank in a letter to the supervisors said that the hotel conversions are a “great concern” for the city and will “inequitably burden” the Redwood City and Redwood Shores communities.

“There are total of 20 cities and towns in the San Mateo County,” Frank said. “Other cities in the county also have housing needs, and any housing buildings should be equitably spread throughout the geographic area of the county. They shouldn’t be concentrated in one city only.”

But for Supervisor David Canepa — who represents the largely blue- collar community of Daly City — the opposition that the board has received is “disappointing” and called the arguments people use to dissuade leaders from building housing for the homeless “despicable.”

“There’s this perception that affordable housing is going to bring crime and these other elements, and that’s just absolutely false,” Canepa said. “What happened in Redwood Shores is so out of touch. It’s despicable and reprehensible and I thought it was insensitive to people who need help. We need to make sure as a society that we focus on uplifting people and giving a hand to those that need the help.”

Canepa and Slocum both said they are interested in continuing to use state and federal funds to convert largely vacant hotels like the two in Redwood City to help solve the county’s homelessness problem.

“I want us to do more and keep going,” Canepa said. “There’s a lot more people we could help.”