3 More Albany Bulb Residents Obtain Housing, City Says

Three more people who've been living on the Albany Bulb have moved into housing, the City of Albany said in a news release today, Monday.

The announcement said that a total of seven Albany Bulb residents have now been placed in housing under the city's "Albany Waterfront Transition Plan," but that two of them "were recently evicted from their housing due to the inadequate control of their dog."

City Clerk Nicole Almaguer told Patch that the three newly housed individuals are the same three housed in a West Oakland flat that Albany resident Francesco Papalia recently wrote about on Patch. He is coordinating efforts to help provide needed items and furnishings for them and for others who move off the Bulb.

The city took out the master lease on the flat and is providing a rent subsidy for the first six months, along with support services provided by the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, Almaguer said.

The city's "Transition Plan" is a contested effort to evict the several dozen people who've been living on the Bulb in illegal makeshift encampments. The longterm goal of the city and conservationists who've long battled shoreline development is to make the untamed property part of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park. 

Under the transition plan, the city has been offering assistance in securing services and alternative housing. It also opened a temporary, 30-bed homeless shelter next to the Bulb in November, though it has gone largely unused.

The city's news release credited the efforts of the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, working under contract with the city, in "providing case management and support throughout the transition process including identifying people ready to transition from the Albany Bulb, establishing relationships with landlords to secure available housing, and utilizing funding provided by the City’s Housing Subsidy Program and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) for a rental subsidy. The rental subsidy for the first six months will assist with the transition into housing."

The non-profit groups also "offers ongoing assistance to the people who have recently transitioned into housing from the Albany Bulb, providing frequent home visits that focus on goals for housing retention such as referrals to employment services, transportation to appointments, education on basic household skills, lease requirements, and budgeting; so that the people housed move toward the need for less intensive services and less or no subsidy in the future," the city said. 

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Published Jan. 13, 2014, 9:47 p.m.; updated Jan. 14, 10 a.m.

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