Eden I&R tells Newark council 2-1-1 links residents to housing, disaster help and warns contracts are at risk

Gitanjali Rawat, co-interim executive director of Eden Information & Referral (Eden I&R), told the Newark City Council on March 27 that the county'wide 2-1-1 call center provides round-the-clock referrals for housing, benefits and disaster information but faces a funding shortfall that has already triggered staff layoffs.

The presentation outlined how 2-1-1 connects callers to a resource database of more than 2,500 human-service programs and a separately maintained housing database with roughly 78,000 housing units; Rawat said the housing database, first developed after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, is updated monthly and available at achousingchoices.org. "2-1-1 is a 24/7 call center. We connect people to the resources that they need, around the clock," Rawat said.

Why it matters: Newark and other Alameda County cities rely on 2-1-1 as an entry point for residents seeking shelter, benefits enrollment and disaster guidance. City officials were briefed on limits to 2-1-1's ability to place callers in shelter immediately, the program's demographic reach in Newark, and a funding risk that could reduce services.

Rawat described several core services: telephone and text contacts (the text number is 898211, available to people physically in Alameda County Monday'Friday, 9 a.m.'4 p.m.), an online searchable resource at 211alamedacounty.org, warm transfers into the county'wide coordinated entry system (CES) for people who meet the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's definition of literal homelessness, and targeted outreach such as the statewide Trusted Messenger Network and public-safety power shutoff (PSPS) preparedness under a contract with PG&E.

Rawat explained the CES limitation: 2-1-1 must screen callers for HUD's literal-homelessness test by asking where they slept the previous night; only callers who meet that standard are warm-transferred into an access point for assessment. "We're not able to kind of immediately link them to a shelter bed through this process," Rawat said, adding that most shelters are accessed through CES and that only a very small number of shelter beds can be referred to directly (she said the direct referrals typically run about 2 to 7 beds per day).

Rawat gave fiscal-year 2024 statistics for the county and Newark specifically: Eden I&R recorded more than 65,000 total contacts countywide; Newark accounted for about 708 contacts and "a little less than 2,000" referrals. Caller demographics in Newark, she said, roughly mirror countywide patterns: about 68% female, nearly 50% identify as living with a disability, 26% are mothers with minor children, 12% are seniors, and about 99% of callers are low, very low, or extremely low income.

Council members asked operational questions. Councilmember Jorgensen asked whether texting 898211 from outside Alameda County would connect callers to local resources; Rawat said the statewide texting shortcode is used by multiple 2-1-1 operators but that a text must originate in Alameda County for Eden I&R to receive it, and someone texting from Santa Clara would be routed to that county's 2-1-1 operator.

Councilmember Bridal asked how 2-1-1 is funded and whether the service is at risk; Rawat said most funding comes from government contracts (cities, county and some state contracts), only limited federal or private foundation support, and that several contracts had lapsed or were not being renewed. "We actually recently had to lay off quite a few of our staff members," she said, and Eden I&R is actively seeking funding and preparing a fiscal-2026 budget that may include service cuts.

City Manager Banoon told the council the city is a financial partner and contributes approximately $20,000 to $25,000 per year; he also said city materials related to 2-1-1 will remain available on the city's website and invited Eden I&R to participate in the city's planned resource center and outreach efforts.

Other services Rawat highlighted included Medi-Cal and CalFresh enrollment assistance (benefits specialists can complete and submit applications), referral to behavioral-health apps under a state outreach directive for minors, proactive outreach during disasters from a staff seat in the county Emergency Operations Center, and mutual-assistance support to other counties during large incidents.

Council members praised the breadth of services and urged continued city promotion of 2-1-1. Rawat encouraged residents to use the online database or call the county 2-1-1 line for immediate assistance, while cautioning that immediate shelter placement through 2-1-1 is often not possible because most shelter placements are managed through CES access points.

The presentation was informational; no council action was taken at the meeting on March 27. The city manager said the city will continue to publicize 2-1-1 and consider inviting Eden I&R to participate in local resource events.