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City Council Receives Homeless and City Budget Updates, Considers Additional Funding for Affordable Housing Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 27, 2025 Contact: Dustin Klemann, Communications & Public Information Manager dustin.klemann@culvercity.org (310) 253-5783

City Provides Homeless Update, Announces New Partnerships and Resources

The City Council received an update on homelessness in Culver City. Tevis Barnes, Housing and Human Services Director, introduced a new initiative in partnership with Urban Alchemy. The “LOVE Team” -- Leading Outreach with Valued Engagement -- is a dedicated outreach team focused on approaching and supporting individuals experiencing homelessness. All four practitioners of the team have lived experience of homelessness or other challenges, providing the opportunity to better connect with those who are struggling to accept services, ultimately leading people to return to permanent shelter. Urban Alchemy will continue to partner with the City of Culver City in outreach and operation of the Wellness Village.

City Council also received an update from Healthcare in Action (HIA), a street-based medical group that provides comprehensive healthcare services for individuals experiencing homelessness. Since beginning its partnership with the City in 2024, HIA has served 152 patients. Of those patients, 91% received case management services, 77% received medical care, 38% received mental health treatment, 29% received substance use treatment, and 68% of patients engaged in five or more visits.

Barnes shared that the City successfully conducted its point-in-time count for the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count on February 20^th. Official numbers will be released in several months following the certification from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

During severe weather, Barnes noted, the City will continue to activate its Severe Weather Protocol. Unhoused neighbors are offered safe havens through the Motel Master Leasing Program and Wellness Village, with Culver City Fire and Police Departments, alongside the LOVE Team, actively locating people experiencing homelessness in distress or at risk of harm. Winter shelters are also still available through March 31^st.

The City’s Housing and Human Services also unveiled a new resource for residents, the Homeless Outreach Request Portal. The new digital tool, which will be available on the City’s website in the coming weeks, will allow the public to submit outreach requests. Each request will be mapped, allowing for City teams to pinpoint areas of high need, ensuring resources are directed where they are most effective. The public can create a ticket simply by providing their name, the date, and location of the unhoused individual in need of assistance. All other information in the form will be collected at the users’ discretion.

Barnes completed the update with a snapshot of services as of February 21^st. Currently Project Homekey’s permanent supportive housing has 37 residents, with the interim housing hosting 33 residents. Wellness Village, also known as the Safe Sleep Site, has 20 guests. A total of 87 people has participated in Wellness Village since the start of the program in August 2023. A total of 45 guests have moved to Project Homekey and other housing resources. Thirty-three guests are enrolled at the Motel Master Leasing and Nutrition Program. The Mobile Crisis team, which officially launched April 3, 2024, has engaged 726 people, answered 2,024 crisis hotline calls, conducted 138 mental health assessments and helped 60 people be placed into the Motel Master Leasing and Wellness Village.

The Mobile Crisis Team announced it will host the 2^nd Annual Mental Health Wellness Fair on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at the City Hall Courtyard. The event will bring in dozens of resources and organizations from around the area, including activities for the community.

City Council Considers Additional Funding for Affordable Housing Project

Jubilo Village is a proposed 100% affordable housing development at 4464 Sepulveda Boulevard that is designed to provide 93 affordable one, two and three-bedroom apartments to at-risk and low-income households.

Jubilo Village’s developer, Community Corporation of Santa Monica, has asked the City for a $16 million residual receipts loan, to fill the current gap in funding for the project. The City Council discussed the issue but did not make a decision. The City Council will revisit the Jubilo Village Project proposal at its March 10, 2025 meeting to help identify potential ways to close the $16 million funding gap.

Culver City has a long history of support for the Jubilo Village. In 2021, the City approved a commitment to the Project of a $2 million construction and permanent loan. In 2022, the City increased its previous loan commitment to $4 million. In 2023, the City served as a receiver for a $1 million State of California grant facilitated by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan for the Project. Finally, City staff has recommended to the City Council that it award 42 Project Based Vouchers to the project. Project Based Vouchers represent funding that the City receives from the federal government for affordable housing. In this case, the funding would represent an annual income stream for the project of approximately $824,976 per year for 20 years. The City Council will consider this recommendation at a future City Council meeting.

Finance Department Presents Last Year’s Fiscal Year-End Report, Current Fiscal Year Mid-Year Budget

The Finance Department, led by Chief Financial Officer Lisa Soghor, presented a Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Unaudited Financial Report and the 2024-2025 Mid-Year Budget Monitoring Report to the City Council on Monday.

The first report is intended to provide an overview of the City’s actual General Fund operating revenues and expenditures from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 as compared to the revised budget amounts adopted by the City Council and explain any notable deviations or trends in the numbers. The fiscal year-end report, which is available for review on the City’s website, illustrates the City’s focus on monitoring its revenues and expenditures, with the intent to proactively respond to unanticipated changes or emerging trends.  The report also serves to support fiscal transparency and accountability by providing the Council and members of the public with information on the sources and uses of City revenue. 

General Fund Revenues were $178.4 million or 110% of the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Revised Budget, finishing $16.2 million above predictions. Proceeds from the City’s updated business tax rates far exceeded expectations and more than made up for the softening of other City revenues including Sales Tax, Real Property Transfer Tax and Charges for Services. General Fund Expenditures were $180.4 million or 94.1% of the revised budget.

The estimated General Fund Ending Balance decreased from the prior year. This was due to significant increases in City’s expenditures which, as anticipated, required reserve spending to fund. While proceeds from the City’s business tax measure far exceeded expectations and more than made up for the softening of other City’s revenues including Sales Tax, Real Property Transfer Tax and Charges for Services, it could not fully off-set increased expenditures. As a result, the estimated General Fund Reserve decreased by $2.0 million from $153.4 to $151.4 million which includes $135.4 million in Non-spendable, Restricted, Committed and Assigned funds and an estimated $16.0 million in Unassigned Fund Balance.

In the second portion of the presentation, focusing on the Mid-Year Budget Report, Soghor highlighted the first six months of the current fiscal year. As of December 31, 2024, General Fund operating revenue was $48.8 million, or 29% of the current revised budget. City revenues historically are less than 50% at this point in the fiscal year. This is primarily due to year-end accounting adjustments to major revenues and the fact that the bulk of the property tax and business license revenues are received later in the fiscal year. Analysis of the current fiscal year suggests some of the City’s recurring General Fund revenues, specifically property tax, utility user’s tax, transient occupancy tax, franchise tax, intergovernmental revenues, and other miscellaneous revenues are expected to exceed the current Revised Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget, while others, including sales tax, real property transfer tax, licenses and permits, fines & forfeitures, cannabis business tax, and charges for services are expected to fall short. The net impact of the recommended adjustments is a decrease in revenue of 1.5%, or $2.6 million.

The City Manager’s Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 is scheduled to be presented to the City Council on Monday, May 12, 2025. Leading up to the presentation of the proposed budget, there will be multiple opportunities for the public to provide input. The City will hold several public meetings dedicated to budget-related topics starting in March. This year, for the first time, the City will hold two community budget information sessions and workshops tentatively scheduled for March 11 and March 19 to provide an opportunity for members of the public to learn more about the budget and ask questions. There will also be multiple opportunities for public comment when the City Council discusses the proposed budget in May and June. The public is also invited to submit comments and suggestions to the City at Budget.Priorities@CulverCity.org.

The City Council unanimously approved proposed blanket purchase order amendments, personnel position allocation amendments, and related budget amendments totaling $1.75 million. The City is projected to end Fiscal Year 2024-2025 with $2.8 million in Unassigned General Fund. You can read the staff report on the budget issues presented to the Council on the City’s website.

City Council Commends Retiring Police Service K9

The City Council awarded a Commendation one of its experienced and loyal police service dogs, canine Ander. Ander was born in Slovakia in 2015 and trained in the U.S. in 2016. He was assigned to Officer William Kakuk and together, they completed a six-week basic patrol and detection school at Gold Coast Canine. Ander diligently, faithfully, and selflessly served the people of Culver City for over eight years, putting himself in harm’s way in order to keep the officers and the people of Culver City safe. During his career, canine Ander had over 250 deployments during which, he had four suspect apprehensions, recovered over 5,000 pounds of illegal drugs and over six million dollars of illegal drug money. The Council wishes canine Ander a healthy and happy retirement as he lives out the rest of his life with Officer Kakuk.

Additional Council Decisions 

Additional items approved by the City Council include:

• Approved cash disbursements from February 1 to February 14, 2025.
• Approved minutes of the City Council Meetings held on February 12, 2025.
• Adopted a resolution approving the Amending Map P2024-0224 (Tract Map No. 73978-A) that replaces Tract Map No. 73978 for the Ivy Station mixed use development located at 8809 Washington Boulevard (Project). It was determined that certain airspace lots inadvertently crossed property lines on underlying ground lots owned by different parties. Ivy Station sought to correct map errors.
• Approved an amendment to the existing professional services agreement with Healthcare in Action (HIA) for street-based medical services for unhoused residents in an amount not-to-exceed $574,665 for the time of performance from February 1, 2025, through January 31, 2025 to include the integration of behavioral health services. HIA offers full scope general medical services, addiction treatment, psychiatric care, and case management for the unhoused populations.
• Adopted a resolution declaring the intention to order the vacation of 543 square feet of the portion of Drakewood Avenue fronting 10701 Ranch Road, Tract No. 18215 and setting the public hearing to consider such vacation on April 14, 2025. The homeowners of the property petitioned the City to vacate a sliver of public right of way for it to align with the existing long-term improvements, mainly fencing, behind the back of the curb.
• Approved a professional services agreement with Gibson Transportation Consulting for the Rancho Higuera Neighborhood Traffic Study Phase 2 for an amount not-to-exceed $154,500. The scope of the study includes four community workshops, two surveys, traffic data collection, developing mitigation scenarios, and a preliminary cost estimate of improvements. The overall goal of the traffic study is to achieve community consensus on a set of traffic improvements for the neighborhood. You can view the Phase 2 Project map on the City’s website.
• Authorized acceptance of unallocated Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds in the amount of $145,403. City Council also approved a related budget amendment to appropriate the grant funds. These funds will be utilized on the Sawtelle Boulevard Sidewalk Improvement Project and the ADA Sidewalk and Curb Ramp Project.
• Ratified purchase orders with Sea-Clear Pools Inc. for pool maintenance supplies in an additional amount of $30,000, for a total amount not-to-exceed $80,000 for Fiscal Year 2024-2025. The prices for pool chemical supplies have increased due to inflation and other market changes.
• Approved corrections of typographical errors on approved Transportation Planning On-Call list, effective retroactive April 1, 2023, to June 30, 2028.
• Approved a two-year extension to the existing three-year software services agreement with Swiftly, Inc. to provide software for comprehensive data reporting and disruption management for transit operations in an additional amount not-to-exceed $329,611.93.
• Appointed Alexander Van Gaalen as Planning Commissioner to fill vacant seat #4 for an unexpired full term through June 30, 2028. Van Gaalen replaces Jackson Brissette who resigned in October 2024 after moving out of Culver City.
• Moved Action Item 5, a discussion regarding a pause on rent increase and a moratorium on evictions in response to the recent wildfires, for a future meeting following any decisions from Los Angeles County.

Additional information about each of the topics heard at the City Council meeting can be found in the staff reports and backup attachments for the items, which are posted along with the agenda to the City’s website. The video of the City Council meeting is available on the City’s website for viewing.

The City Council’s next meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 3^rd to discuss City Work Plans.

The City Council awarded a Commendation one of its experienced and loyal police service dogs, canine Ander.

About Culver City

Culver City is a five-square-mile, urban community of 40,779 residents surrounded mostly by the City of Los Angeles but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. It is centrally located on the Westside near Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles International Airport.  Culver City is particularly known for its well-run public school system, "small town" charm, growing high-tech and creative economies, and a dynamic downtown that is regionally known as a destination for restaurants, live theater, and art galleries.