Millbrae is set to lose funding for LifeMoves

San Mateo County is moving toward a regional homelessness outreach program model and is working on a count of homeless individuals countywide to potentially reassess service regions before allocating resources, Assistant County Executive Iliana Rodriguez said. 

“The current program is not different — except for hours of operation — than what we’ve been operating in the county,” she said. 

Currently, two LifeMoves case managers are present in Millbrae — including the Bay Area Rapid Transit station, where the unhoused population often congregates — 12:30-11:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 3:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Wednesday through Friday. 

A panel in charge of reviewing Measure K funding decided to eliminate funding for city-specific Homelessness Outreach Teams to prioritize other initiatives and in light of dwindling American Rescue Plan Act funds, Rodriguez said. 

Millbrae’s homelessness outreach program aims to address the city’s unique unhoused population at the BART station, many of whom are not Millbrae residents but end up at the station because it is the line’s last stop. 

The program successfully moved 178 individuals into temporary housing and five individuals into long-term housing over a 14-month period and was deemed a resounding success by councilmembers. 

Councilmember Ann Schneider lauded the current program and voiced serious concerns around an upcoming gap in services before a regional initiative is implemented. 

“We’re probably going to need to have you come back to us with a budget assessment to figure out how we can keep this going at least for one more quarter while the county figures out what it’s doing,” she said. “I don’t see any other way. We cannot stop simply on June 30, with the impact the unhoused have on our business community and our residents.” 

One essential benefit to the city-specific program was the relationships and trust that case managers were able to build with homeless individuals, Councilmember Angelina Cahalan said. 

She hopes the new program will function in a similar fashion — and that the county will take into account the detailed data Millbrae has already collected on their homeless populations. 

“I think this new program the county rolls out should look at the same statistics in each zone, continue to provide our City Council’s quarterly updates, continue to provide goals for each zone area and measuring that we meet those goals … and [continue the] relationship-building model,” she said. 

Survey data from March 2023 to January 2024 found that homeless individuals arrived at the BART station via a variety of different transport modes, including the BART, by car, by walking or Uber. But of 47 surveyed, a majority were residents outside of San Mateo County, they said, with eight from Redwood City and South San Francisco and only one from Millbrae. 

“There’s a wide range of experiences in terms of the people we’re encountering,” LifeMoves Program Director Marlon Mendieta said. “We’re seeing people with significant numbers on both ends — recently homeless and also long-term homelessness.”  

Vice Mayor Maurice Goodman suggested that the county acknowledge Millbrae’s need for homelessness services, particularly during the upcoming programming gap. 

“Obviously this is a tremendous concern from our community, for our residents,” he said. “I think the transition or the ramp up of a county-run program should not fall on our residents, on our homeless, or on our city.”