Human Relations Commission - June 12, 2025

Commissioners flag a family shelter gap before Homekey opens

The Human Relations Commission highlighted a near-term lack of shelter for families with children as it reviewed a city analysis of housing and services for unhoused residents. Staff will summarize the commissioners’ feedback for the City Council, including priorities involving rapid interim shelter, hotel vouchers, communications access, renter protections, housing-stability staffing and longer-term affordable-housing production.

Staff said Palo Alto Homekey is scheduled to open in 2025 with 24 family units. The County has committed to prioritize Palo Alto residents while also placing nearby families when rooms would otherwise be vacant. Staff also said County placement systems can have multi-month waits. Potential responses in the analysis included hotel vouchers or hotel-to-shelter conversion, while commissioners suggested exploring a mini-home site for families at the existing safe-parking facility on Gang Road.

Chair Mary Kate Stimmler stressed urgency around shelter, housing and communications access. Vice Chair Michelle Kraus called for substantially more housing production, stronger renter protections and dedicated City staff for renters facing instability. Amy Hsieh questioned how the report defined cost burden and analyzed trends.

Staff cited roughly 2,000 very-low- or extremely-low-income renters paying more than 30% of their income toward housing, while cautioning that cost burden is a risk factor rather than proof that a renter will become homeless. Public commenters urged faster housing delivery and said interim shelter should provide a path to permanent housing. The latest local homelessness count discussed was from 2023; data from the January 2025 count was expected later in summer 2025.

Commission forms senior housing subcommittee by consensus

The commission reached consensus to create a senior housing subcommittee, naming Don Barr and Michelle Kraus to examine senior housing issues. No formal motion or vote was recorded.

The step followed concern about the lack of affordable units in the current pipeline specifically targeted to seniors and discussion over whether future work should address senior-specific or integrated housing. The commission’s workplan calls for a fall listening session on housing models and senior housing. Barr also said he would seek information from Avenidas about services for seniors with mental-health needs after raising loneliness and mental health as concerns.

Commission plans July review of religious-tolerance training

The commission planned to meet July 10 to move forward on decisions about religious-tolerance training for City commissions and councils. During its workplan discussion, commissioners also described a proposal expected in July addressing training for City employees, the Council and commissioners, followed by a fall City open house for religious leaders.

A commenter urged prompt training addressing hate, Islamophobia, and anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias for City staff, boards and affiliated personnel. Chair Mary Kate Stimmler supported accelerating the commission’s work on the training.

New guidelines require six weeks’ notice for support requests

The commission adopted standard guidelines for public requests seeking HRC support for events. Requests must arrive six weeks before an event and include information about the event and organization, alignment with commission goals, the requested endorsement, community impact, and sponsors or partners.

The guidelines state that commission support does not include funding, staffing or logistical assistance, and the HRC may decline a request. Amy Hsieh, who presented the draft, said the process applies to event-related requests rather than general political or social positions involving population groups.

Michelle Kraus moved adoption. The record identifies affirmative votes from Hsieh, Kraus, Don Barr and Katie Causey, along with one commissioner who could not be identified, but the complete count is unclear. Although staff had recommended approving both the guidelines and an application, the recorded motion expressly covered only the guidelines, leaving the application’s status unclear.

Kraus says HRC was not sponsoring planned protest

Vice Chair Michelle Kraus reported that a June 14 protest expected to run between Tesla dealerships in Palo Alto and Sunnyvale could draw 10,000 people. She encouraged peaceful participation and clarified that the Human Relations Commission was not an official sponsor.

In a separate update, Kraus reported that Palo Alto Police Department policy prohibits officers from seeking immigration status for immigration-enforcement purposes and limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Primary sources

Watch the meeting on YouTube · Read the official meeting packet