HomeMy WebLinkAboutextreme-weather-planning-for-unsheltered-hch-ccab-2023-07ALAMEDA COUNTY HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS
1404 Franklin Street, Suite 200
Oakland, CA 94612
TEL (510) 891-8950
FAX (510) 832-2139
www.achch.org
7/14/2023
Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless Consumer/Community Advisory Board
Climate Change and Extreme Weather Planning for County Residents Experiencing Unsheltered
Homelessness
The ACHCH Consumer/Community Advisory Board (CCAB) is an advisory board made up of
community members including people with lived experience of homelessness. The ACHCH CCAB
provides advocacy, feedback and input into ACHCH health center operations, assessment and
planning, as well as carrying out community, state and federal advocacy around issues of
homelessness and health care.
Ten persons with lived experience of homelessness, recruited by and including members of the
ACHCH CCAB, have participated Listening Session carried out by GSA to support the development of
Alameda County’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan for Government Services and Operations
(GOCAP). Members of the ACHCH CCAB continued their work after the meeting, and on 11/12/21,
the CCAB approved the following draft statement with recommended next steps around Alameda
County, climate change and extreme weather:
The key insight of this group was:
• People who are unhoused want to see action – budgeting, planning, response, and
mitigation of the effects of climate change -- because unsheltered people are
vulnerable, exposed and directly experience the impacts of extreme weather.
• People who are unhoused have great resilience and strength. They need trusting
relationships and resources from city, county and community partners in order to
survive and overcome extreme weather emergencies.
• As long as homelessness exists, County, city and community can support existing
encampments to build resilience through supporting basic needs and safety, rather
than ignoring or criminalizing them.
• Safe, affordable housing for all residents is the key to building community resilience to
be able to meet the challenges of climate change.
Based on these key insights, the ACHCH program would like to propose the following framework for
Alameda County planning and response to the extreme weather events that we are already
experiencing as a result of climate change, and which disproportionately impact people
experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable populations:
1. Recommended County-Led Planning and Preparation for Vulnerable Populations
Experiencing Extreme Weather Events:
These were the climate related issues identified as having been experienced and ranked
roughly in order of level of concern:
a. Drought and Water Supply Issues
b. Extreme Cold
c. Extreme Heat
d. Smoke and Wildfire Effects
e. Flood/Extreme Rainfall Events
f. Power Shutoffs
a. Drought, Heat and Water Supply
• Access to potable drinking water is a key concern to unsheltered persons. With
increasingly hot weather and drought conditions, cities and County should ensure
that unsheltered persons in camps have access drinking water through:
i. Distribution of potable water to established encampments along with
portapotties and hygiene stations.
ii. Engage with EBMUD to allow legal access to fire hydrants adapted for use
as a source of drinking water.
iii. Ensure sufficient funding/stock/storage of bottled water for distribution
by outreach providers to unsheltered persons.
iv. Being prepared for distribution of bottled water to vulnerable persons
during heat emergencies.
b. Extreme Heat
• County should direct planning for extreme heat events:
i. Establish County-led planning, contracts and communication plan for
identification of extreme heat, action triggers, roles and chain of
command, and plans, including pre-contracts with cities and CBOs, to
carry out response to extreme heat events:
• Cooling Centers: Develop contracts with cities and providers to
enable readiness to quickly stand-up emergency Cooling Centers in
accessible, geographic regions. These must be larger and more
widespread to account for the numbers of non-homeless fragile
persons without air-conditioning, vulnerable to extreme heat
events. They must have extended/nighttime hours, be low-barrier
for entry, and must allow persons to take their pets with them.
• Extreme Heat Outreach Teams: Contract and plan with City,
County, outreach, EMS and law enforcement providers to enable
Extreme Heat Outreach Teams to outreach to vulnerable and
unsheltered populations and distribute cooling supplies such as
water, assess & identify impacted individuals for transport to
cooling centers. Ongoing mapping of sites for outreach.
• Extreme Heat Supplies Center: Be prepared to distribute up to
100,000 bottles of frozen bottled water during an extreme heat
event, and have regional supplies depot/freezers ready to support
distribution of supplies to outreach teams and community
volunteers.
c. Extreme Cold
• County should direct planning for annual extreme cold weather events:
i. Ensure sufficient winter shelter beds and supports countywide
ii. Establish a County-led communication plan for identification of extreme
cold, action triggers, roles and chain of command to carry out extreme
cold response:
• Warming Centers: Engage in contracts with cities and providers to
enable readiness to quick stand-up of emergency Warming Centers
in accessible, geographic regions.
• Nighttime Outreach Teams: Contracts and plans with City, County
and providers to enable Extreme Cold Outreach Teams to carry out
night-time outreach to vulnerable populations to distribute
warming supplies, and identify impacted individuals for transport
to warming centers.
d. Smoke and Wildfire Planning
• County should lead planning for extreme/unhealthy air quality efforts, including
triggers and public communication, cleaner air centers, outreach and supplies
distribution. County should also keep in mind the possibility of emergencies such
as refinery and industrial explosions and how to lead alert and evacuation efforts.
i. Cleaner Air Centers: Engage in contracts with cities and providers to
enable readiness to quickly stand-up emergency Cleaner Air Centers in
accessible, geographic regions.
ii. Smoke/Unhealthy Air Outreach: Contracts and plans with City, County,
providers to enable Unhealthy Air Outreach Teams to carry out outreach
to vulnerable and unsheltered populations to distribute supplies such as
masks and water, assess & identify impacted individuals for transport to
Cleaner Air Centers. Ongoing mapping of sites for outreach preparedness.
Training and preparedness for rapid response to non-wildfire industrial air
quality emergencies.
iii. Distribution of N95 masks: Be ready to distribute N95 masks to
unsheltered persons at street settings.
iv. Wildfire Evacuation: Identify locations and have outreach plans to
support outreach and evacuation when needed in wildfire-prone regions
of Alameda County.
e. Flood/Extreme Rainfall Events
• County lead planning/preparedness for extreme rainfall and flood events
affecting unsheltered homeless, including Warming Centers, outreach and
supplies distribution and evacuation of flood areas.
i. Warming Centers: Stand up emergency Warming Centers in accessible
geographic regions to be opened in anticipation of extreme rainfall events.
ii. Flood/Extreme Rainfall Outreach: Contract and plan with City, County,
providers to enable Outreach Teams to outreach to vulnerable and
unsheltered populations, to give warning and distribute supplies such as
tarps, ponchos, sandbags; assess & identify impacted individuals for
transport to Warming Centers. Ongoing mapping of sites for outreach
preparedness.
iii. Flooding and rough campers: Many people are living in floodplains and
riverbed areas where they would be at high risk of death in a flood
situation; Need plans and teams able to provide outreach, warning and
evacuation in the case of impending floods.
iv. Recovery from Flood Events: People experiencing homelessness may lose
all of their supplies in a flood event. Be prepared to support them with
new supplies (tents, sleeping bags, supplies) rapidly, and get access to
FEMA or other rebuilding resources.
f. Power Interruptions
• Unsheltered persons already have serious barriers to accessing information that
can help them seek shelter or safety in times of impending emergency. Ensuring
that unsheltered persons have access to smartphones and to resources to charge
their phones is critical. Electrical power is critical to provide safety in the form of
lighting, and heating where possible will be an important element in preventing
frequent fires at homeless encampments.
• When rolling power outages happen, it affects vulnerable housed persons,
however goals of supporting energy needs for unsheltered should be worked on.
• People experiencing homelessness need access to solar batteries for their cell
phones and devices.
Endorsed by the Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless Consumer/Community Advisory
Board July 14, 2023