Amid a massive $30 million budget deficit, the city of Berkeley unveiled a cost-cutting budget proposal that, if passed, would drastically cut unhoused and mental health services.
As part of a slew of cuts across city staff and services, the city is proposing eliminating the Berkeley Winter Shelter, which provides 25 beds for vulnerable unhoused individuals, and cutting funding to the STAIR Center, a navigation center and shelter in West Berkeley.
The city reallocated some funding for unhoused services away from the general fund, allowing certain programs to keep their funding. Boss Step Up Housing, a supportive independent living program for unhoused and low-income individuals, will maintain funding through Berkeley’s Measure U1. The city also intends to use some state funding to support the STAIR Center, though its operations will be cut by 23%.
“These reductions in services — they lead to people dying, people getting injured,” said Robbie Powelson, an affiliate with the UC Berkeley Criminal Law and Justice Center. “I think it’s very serious whenever you see these types of reductions because the outcome is that people do face serious injury or death on the streets.”
Berkeley is also proposing eliminating its Mobile Crisis Team, which handles mental health emergencies, in its entirety. While crisis response falls under the purview of the county, Berkeley has been operating its Mobile Crisis Team composed of trained responders providing mental health support.
Under the proposed budget, Berkeley would rely on Alameda County to provide crisis response services. However, according to a City Council report, the county’s capacity to provide crisis response to Berkeley in the long term remains unclear considering the county’s policy shifts and budget challenges.
“It was a difficult decision, but one of the reasons that we did it is because Berkeley residents will have some level of service,” said Scott Gilman, director of health housing and community services for Berkeley. “They’ll have the same level of service that the rest of the county has now.”
Without a Mobile Crisis Team, the Berkeley Police Department would be entirely responsible for wellness checks and psychiatric emergencies. Gilman noted that it was an “unintended consequence” to transfer wellness and psychiatric checks to BPD.
BPD is also facing proposed budget cuts and could lose up to 25 staff members. This comes as BPD has faced low staffing since the pandemic, reaching a record low in April, according to The Berkeley Scanner.
Mayor Adena Ishii proposed a supplemental budget at Thursday’s Budget and Finance Committee meeting. Her proposal includes financially supporting programs such as Live Free, a gun safety program and a city position responsible for supporting small businesses and generating economic growth.
“The decision-making during this was very difficult and we definitely have some tough decisions ahead of us,” Ishii said during the meeting. “As we looked into council referrals from the past few months since city manager proposals, we’ve come forward with a set of recommendations from my office.”
Both the city manager’s and Ishii’s budgets will be discussed at the City Council’s regular meeting this upcoming Tuesday. A final council vote on the budget will take place June 23.