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Desert Hot Springs details nine‑month strategic plan progress and secures $11.3M downtown grant
Summary
City Manager Doria Willms told the council the city has completed 45 of 177 strategic plan action items and is pursuing an $11.3 million Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities grant to fund sidewalks, a transit hub and bike connections in downtown Desert Hot Springs.
Doria Willms, Desert Hot Springs city manager, told the City Council on April 7 that the city’s nine‑month update on its 2025–27 strategic plan shows “substantial forward momentum,” with 45 action items completed, 80 in progress, 35 institutionalized as ongoing and 17 scheduled for future initiation.
Willms told the council the plan’s 11 focus areas include freeway‑corridor infrastructure, a downtown revitalization strategy and public‑safety staffing. She said staff has advanced coordinated planning with regional partners on sewer infrastructure for the I‑10/Palm Drive corridor and is pursuing an Enhanced Financing Infrastructure District study and a sewer study to attract development in that frontage area.
The city announced it has been awarded an $11.3 million Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities grant that Willms said will fund wider, ADA‑accessible sidewalks, street trees, lighting, benches, safety bollards, an enhanced bus stop and a bike connection to the transit center. The city also plans a transit hub in partnership with SunLine Transit Agency and an electric transit van to extend service into underserved areas.
Willms summarized public‑safety and social‑services progress: the police department completed an organizational assessment and added two lieutenant positions, recruitment boosted sworn staffing to 36 officers, and the city said its homelessness response shifted from “housing first” to a treatment‑and‑accountability model. Willms reported a 76% treatment acceptance rate and a 53% long‑term housing success rate after the program’s first year, figures she tied to a multi‑disciplinary critical response team and contractual changes with nonprofit partners.
Councilmembers praised staff and urged continued public outreach. Willms said the strategic plan’s performance dashboard (177 action items) is available as an attachment to the agenda and will be updated periodically.
The council received the report; multiple presenters noted the strategic plan has been integrated into the city’s budgeting and performance evaluation processes.
The council is expected to continue agenda items related to plan implementation at future meetings.
