HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-09-07; Windsor Pointe - Letters to Affirmed Housing Regarding Security (District -1); Barberio, GaryTo the members of the:
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September 7, 2023
Council Memorandum
{city of
Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2023094
To:
.From:
Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services
Mandy Mills, Director of Housing & Homeless Services
Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager @_ Via:
Re : W indsor Pointe -Letters to Affirmed Housing Regarding Security {District -1)
This memorandum transmits letters that have been sent to Affirmed Housing from both the
Police Department and Housing & Homeless Services related to security concerns at Windsor
Pointe.
Background
In 2017 and 2020 the City Council approved a financing package for land acquisition and
construction of the Windsor Pointe affordable housing project. The project, developed by
Affirmed Housing, is 48 units located on two non-contiguous sites in the Barrio neighborhood,
at 965 Oak Avenue and 3606 Harding Street. In each location, half of the units provide
affordable housing for low-income households with a veteran and/or local affiliation
preference, while the other half provide permanent supportive housing for people who were
experiencing homelessness with a severe mental illness diagnosis. Since the project opened a
year and a half ago there have been community complaints and concerns related to the level of
support needed to match client needs and on-site security.
Discussion
Throughout the first year and a half of operations city staff have worked closely with the
project owner and property management company so that this project can provide a safe,
quality living environment for the residents and surrounding community. The attached letters
were recently sent to the owner of Windsor Pointe to identify the city's concerns and
recommendations to improve safety at the property. The Police and Housing & Homeless
Services departments are in regular communication about incidents and potential solutions to
address concerns.
Next Steps
City staff will continue to work together and with the property owner to advocate for policies
and resources that improve the safety for Windsor Pointe residents, visitors, surrounding
community members, and Police Officers who respond to the facilities for calls for service.
Community Services Branch
Housing & Homeless Services Department
1200 Carlsbad Village Drive I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2810 t
Council Memo -Windsor Pointe -Letters to Affirmed Housing Regarding Security (District -1)
September 7, 2023
Page 2
Attachment: A. Letter from the Police Department to Affirmed Housing
B. Letter from the Housing & Homeless Services Department to Affirmed Housing
cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Mickey Williams, Police Chief
Michael Calderwood, Fire Chief
Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services
Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works
September 5, 2023
VIA E-MAIL .heather@affirmedhousing.co~
AND U.S. FIRST CLASS MAIL
Heather Averick
Director of Supportive Housing
Affirmed Housing
13520 Evening Creek Drive No rth, Ste . 160
San Diego CA 921 28
Dear Ms. Averick,
Attachm ent A
(.Cityof
Carlsbad
I am writing on behalf of the Carlsbad Police Department regarding the Windsor Pointe facilities
located at 965 Oak Ave., and 3606/3618 Harding St., Carlsbad, California. This letter is intended
to provide information regarding the ongoing criminal activity and safety concerns occurring at
the Windsor Pointe facilities, along with a specific request for additional assistance and
resources. The requested assistance and resources are intended to help prevent the facilities
from continuing to be used for disorderly and unlawful purposes and to enhance the safety of
residents, visitors, and the Carlsbad community.
Since the Windsor Point facilities opened in 2022, the Carlsbad Police Department has
expended a significant amount of public resources responding to calls for service at Windsor
Pointe facilities. These calls for service and associated investigations have been related to the
actions of both residents and visitors of the facilities. To give you an idea of the frequency and
severity of cases related to Windsor Pointe, I have provided a partial list of police activity
related to Windsor Pointe facilities since January 1, 2023.
Windsor Pointe (965 Oak Avenue and 3606/3618 Harding Street, Carlsbad):
• January 7; Officers investigated a reported _residential burglary by an unknown suspect.
A resident reported that their apartment had been burglarized. CPD case 23-00142.
• January 18; Officers arrested a non-resident for attempted murder where a resident
and a non-resident companion were attacked by the known suspect at the facility. CPD
case 23-00367.
Police Department
Police Administration 2560 Orion Way I Carlsbad, CA 92010 I 760-931-2100 I www.carlsbadca.gov
Heather A verick
Director of Supporting Housing
Affirmed Housing
Page2
• January 23; Officers investigated a reported violation of restraining order by the
attempted murder suspect listed above, where the non-resident suspect was seen
jumping the fence into the facility. CPD case 23-00481.
• February 1; Officers investigated a reported restraining order violation by the same
attempted murder suspect listed above. CPD case 23-00692.
• February 18; Officers investigated a vandalism following an argument between
residents. CPD case 23-01109.
• February 24; Officers investigated suspicious circumstances involving two persons in the
parking lot of the facility. Officers arrested one subject for narcotics related offenses.
Both subjects contacted during the investigation were not residents of the facility. CPD
case 23-01241.
• March 2; Officers investigated a report of a restraining order violation involving a
domestic dispute between residents. Ultimately officers served one resident with a
restraining order. CPD case 23-01401.
• March 12; Officers investigated a report of child abuse at the facility. A non-resident of
the facility reported he suspected a child was being abused at the facility by two facility
residents. CPD case 23-01612.
• April 18; Officers investigated a theft from a residence where the suspect was believed
to be a visitor. CPD case 23-02405.
• May 9; Officers arrested a resident for domestic violence involving another resident,
that occurred at the facility. CPD case 23-02857.
• May 14; Officers arrested a resident for a battery causing serious bodily injury that
occurred at the facility. The resident stated that God told him to commit the assault.
The victim was not a resident and did not know the suspect. CPD case 23-02973.
• July 13; Officers arrested a non-resident after a resident called the police and reported
that the non-resident, who had been invited into the facility, was heavily intoxicated
and refused to leave. CPD case 23-04346.
• July 17; Officers arrested a non-resident, who had been invited into the facility, after
receiving a report of that a child had been sexually abused at the facility. CPD case 23-
04429.
• July 20; Officers investigated a report of a fight at the facility and ultim~tely arrested a
non-resident for narcotics violations and an outstanding arrest warrant. CPD case 23-
04514.
• July 21; Officers investigated a vandalism where a resident was recorded on security
camera breaking a window with a rock. CPD case 23-04522.
• July 28; Officers investigated a domestic violence battery that occurred at the facility.
CPD case 23-04689.
Heather A verick
Director of Supporting Housing
Affinned Housing
Page 3
• August 3; Officers served a search warrant at a residence in furtherance of a drug sales
investigation resulting in the arrest of a resident. CPD case 23-04826.
• August 3; Officers served a second search warrant at a different residence within the
facility in furtherance of a drug sales investigation. CPD case 23-04827.
• August 4; Officers arrested a subject for two domestic violence incidents that had
occurred at t he facility involving cohabitating residents. CPD cases 23-04689 and 23-
04851.
It should be noted that t his is NOT a list of all police related calls for service at the respect ive
facilities. In fact, there are many additional calls for service at the facilities. The above list of
criminal investigations is only a snapshot of t he police activity that has occurred since
January 1, 2023.
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE
As a result of the significant disorderly and unlawful conduct which has occurred and is still
ongoing at the Windsor Pointe facilities, I respectfully request the following security measures
at both the Oak Avenue and Harding Street facilities to prevent unlawful entry and promote a
s·afe, crime-free, and drug-free living environment.
1. Uniformed security, on-site at both locations, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week.
2. Policy change requiring all visitors to check-in and check-out of the facility, to include
recording identification and vehicle information of visitors. (Uniformed security could be
used to maintain the visitor log information.)
3. Maintain operational surveillance cameras covering all exterior locations of the facilities
and parking areas.
4. Provide law enforcement 24/7 access to surveillance camera recordings through on-site
personnel trained to access and review the surveillance recordings. (Unifor1T1ed security
could be used for this function.)
5. Proactively engage the Police Department in a Neighborhood Watch Program.
These security enhancements are intended to improve the safety for Windsor Pointe residents,
visitors, surrounding community members, and officers who respond to the facilities for calls
for service. Additionally, these recommended security improvements will enhance police
responses to the facilities because on-site security personnel will be able to help responding
officers access the facility.
Heather A verick
Director of Supporting Housing
Affirmed Housing
Page4
I would appreciate a written response to this letter within two weeks and would be happy to
engage in conversation regarding implementation of these security enhancements.
Sin~ereY,
(A//_~L I~ fif,_fi1-M1cl<ey WiOiams l
City of Carlsbad
Chief of Police
cc: Mandy Mills, Director
Housing & Homeless Serwice
Sept. 6, 2023
Heather Averick, Director of Supportive Housing
Affirmed Housing
13520 Evening Creek Dr N, Suite 160
San Diego, CA 92128
heather@affirmedhousing.com
Dear Ms. Averick,
As we have discussed in the past, the City of Carlsbad is concerned about criminal activity and
safety issues at Windsor Pointe. The Carlsbad Police Depa rtment sent a letter on Sept. 5, 2023,
with similar concerns, along with a specific request fo r additional assistance and resources to
enhance safety for residents, visitors, and the Carlsbad community. I hope the crime-related
information provided by the Police Department was helpful in better understanding the scope
of some of the issues. Since some of the Police activity may be at night, property management
may be unaware of the magnitude of problems at the properties. We are working on obtaining
ongoing information from the Police Department regarding the criminal activity at the
properties so that we can better understand if there are patterns with particular residents
and/or their guests.
We'd like to work with you, and any partners you'd like included, to identify and develop some
changes with property maintenance and operations to address the concerns. The City of
Carlsbad offers third party review and consultation by lain De Jong of OrgCode Consulting who
has international expertise in supportive ·housing if that would be helpful. Here are some initial
staff recommendations:
1. Provide on-site security at bot h locations, 7-days a week. At the most recent monthly
coordination meeting it was mentioned that the project will be discontinuing on-site
security and moving toward courtesy patrol. Given the level of criminal activity in recent
months with on-site security, it does not make sense to lower the amount of security.
We continue to press for more on-site security.
2. Create a visitor's policy that requires check in/out, t enant escort while in building, and
prohibits non-compliant guests and visitors who present a risk to the safety and well-
being of residents and staff from entering the building at any time. There are examples
of best practices of visitors' policies for permanent supportive housing available. Since
the project first opened, some of the serious criminal activity was committed by visitors.
A strong policy should be in place to either deter some of the activity, or at least have
record of who was on site.
Housing & Homeless Services
1200 Carlsbad Village Dr. I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2810 t I housing@carlsbadca.gov
Ms. Averick
Sept. 6, 2023
Page 2
3. Put measures in place to ensure staff is on site 24 hours a day and are accessible to
provide assistance in after-hours emergencies.
4. Work with the Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH) and the County of San
Diego to discuss concerns about how people in the Coordinated Entry System (CES} are
verified with regards to their diagnosis of a serious mental illness. Currently all referrals
are coming from CES with the Cerner database as the verification of mental illness, but it
is our understanding that people are not required to be a client or have a history of
interactions with the County Behavioral Health Department or a recipient of mental .
health or other services in order to qualify for a No Place Like Home (NPLH) assisted
unit.
5. Ensure all service providers maintain fidelity to the core principles of the housing first
intervention including providing individualized service plans that match the needs of
each person, a recovery-oriented service philosophy, and a focus on social and
community integration. Additionally, ensure that all staff have been trained in providing
an evidence-based case management model such as Recovery-Oriented Intensive Case
Management, Critical Time Intervention, or Assertive Community Treatment.
6. Meet with Carlsbad Police at least quarterly to discuss concerns.
These recommendations are intended to improve the safety for Windsor Pointe residents,
visitors, surrounding community members, and police officers who respond to the facilities for
calls for service. We aim for this to be a collaborative, solution-oriented conversation. Our goal
is for Windsor Pointe to be a positive example of supportive housing for residents and the
community so that more communities will embrace projects in the future.
Sincerely,
~I
,/ ( __ J·• .. ___ !.(___...c_
Mandy Mills, Director
cc : Casey Gale, CONAM Management Corporation