663 beds coming for homeless to prevent coronavirus spread in Sacramento County
Sacramento officials plan to move 663 or more homeless people into local hotels, emergency trailers, shelters and apartments as part of a major California emergency effort to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus among the vulnerable homeless population.
The plan includes:
▪ 200 immediate beds with services in existing private hotels in Sacramento County, with plans to increase the number to 800.
▪ 200 new beds in existing shelters that are separated from others to allow for social distancing.
▪ 63 emergency trailers from the state to be delivered in the coming days and stationed at Cal Expo.
▪ 200 expedited federal Housing Choice Vouchers, formerly Section 8 vouchers, to help homeless families rent apartments.
Sacramento County health officials, who are leading a collaborative local effort to house the homeless, said they have already begun moving a few people into new housing. The task force includes Sacramento County, City of Sacramento, Sacramento Steps Forward and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.
County officials who are part of the Homelessness Response Team say they want to move quickly but smartly in getting people into appropriate housing depending on individuals’ needs. Sacramento Steps Forward will play a key role in identifying homeless people to get into expanded shelters, hotels or trailers, depending on the needs of each of those people. Someone with viral symptoms, for instance, could be sent to a hotel or one of the trailers that will be spread out in the Cal Expo RV lot area, officials said.
“We don’t have the time to get it wrong,” said Cindy Cavanaugh, the county director of homeless initiatives.
In some cases, following new federal guidelines, that may mean it is best to leave some homeless where they are outdoors if they are healthy, stable and isolated, allowing other more needy people to move to limited indoor spaces.
County officials did not disclose which hotels had agreed to take in homeless people, saying they did not want individuals to show up at sites looking for a room, but instead to participate the existing referral service.
City and county officials said the goal is to get people into expanded shelters starting by the end of this week and into trailers as soon as the first batch of 15 or 20 shows up, which is expected to be next week, and then into hotels as needed going forward.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who has worked with the county, said he was pleased, but that he hopes many more beds can open in the near future.
“It’s a great start but we aim to triple the number of people that we can serve,” Steinberg said. “We need to get to 1,800 or 2,000 and we have the opportunity to do so.”
He said that would mean getting 15 to 20 local hotels to agree to open their doors to needy residents from the streets. The financing has not been finalized, but funding to pay the room rents likely would come from federal emergency funds, the type used for floods and wildfire relief.
Priority for shelter beds
Officials said homeless people who are seniors, as well as those who have underlying conditions, and those who are displaying virus-like symptoms will get priority for the new beds.
The emergency project is part of a statewide effort to get tens of thousands of homeless and at-risk people into safer housing. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who launched the effort on March 15, said the state would deploy emergency trailers and and help localities find motels to shelter the homeless during the coronavirus crisis. Newsom said $150 million would be committed to the effort, but did not detail the funding source.
“Protecting California’s unsheltered population will also relieve pressure on the hospital system, as individuals lacking stable housing are more likely to use the emergency department,” the Newsom administration said in a statement Wednesday.
Statewide, 4,305 hotel and motel rooms have been secured, with additional rooms added daily, state housing officials said. In total, 1,305 total trailers are available to be sent out to communities.
“The state is purchasing the units, hauling them and installing them,” state housing officials said. “Local leaders will make decisions about who moves into them and when.”
Officials said the effort is not just about stemming coronavirus, but also is expected to boost the ongoing effort to get more homeless off the streets permanently.
Steinberg said county officials are working to line up the necessary support services for the program, which would include doctors, nurses or medical interns to monitor the health of the people in the program, and other volunteers to help in supportive capacities.
“Clearly some the most vulnerable people in our community are those who were vulnerable before the immediate threat of COVID-19” said Phil Serna, chairman of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. “We have a continuing obligation to do even more for those suffering in the elements, or living in their cars, or couch-surfing from place to place — to see they have access to the resources they deserve to stay safe and healthy.”
The homeless population in Sacramento, where all shelters are typically full, has been awaiting any details, since the governor’s initial announcement.
Among them is Daniella Hogan, 44, who has been sleeping in the backseat of her Volkswagen Jetta after being evicted from her apartment earlier this month for failing to pay rent, she said.
Shortly after she started sleeping in her car in a south Sacramento industrial area, the state issued a stay-at-home order.
“They’re saying ‘stay at home’ but I don’t have one, so where do I go?” said Hogan, who suffers from severe hypothyroidism.
Finding bathrooms and showers, normally extremely difficult for the city’s homeless, has gotten even harder since the state order, with gyms and restaurants closed, Hogan said. She’s hoping to get one of the 663 new spots so she wouldn’t have to worry about that, she said.
“First off, I’d have running water and be able to have a bathroom, that’s the main thing,” Hogan said. “And sleeping in a regular bed would be awesome.”
Steinberg last week said the city plans to purchase cabin-like shelters which can be built quickly under the W-X Freeway and in Meadowview. The city has not yet purchased them, he said Wednesday. It’s unclear if it still will.
“What we’ve discovered over the last few days is that the number of available beds is not the issue,” Steinberg said. “We can get thousands of beds. It’s the operational piece, the navigation piece, the service piece that we are working on to match as many people as possible to those available beds.”
About 24 cabins are still set to open in north Sacramento off Grove Avenue, Steinberg said. That project, led by the SHRA, was previously planned to shelter 48 young adults, but now older adults and those with underlying medical conditions will be prioritized, Steinberg said.
Who will operate homeless facilities?
Officials have not announced an operator or service provider for the new beds. They have also not announced a plan to transport the homeless from their encampments to the hotels and trailers, though Regional Transit has agreed to help, Steinberg said.
The state trailers will be placed at Cal Expo’s RV park, off Ethan Way, where there are already utility hook ups, said Councilman Jeff Harris, who represents East Sacramento and parts of north Sacramento.
“There’s plumbing, electric, water so it’s a slam dunk,” Harris said. “We can hook the trailers up quick.”
Officials have discussed using trailers to isolate homeless people who are showing symptoms, but that may not be the final use, Harris said.
The owners of the assisted living facility at the Red Lion Hotel Woodlake have also offered to let the state use that facility for overflow hospital COVID-19 patients who do not need intensive care, but need to be isolated, Harris said. No decision has yet been made.
In addition to the motels and trailers, the county has also distributed sanitation supplies to 14 homeless service providers in the county, and has been educating them on how to prevent the virus, a news release said.
Bob Erlenbusch, of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, praised officials for the plan but urged them to increase the number of beds and also put out portable bathrooms and showers immediately for the thousands who won’t get a spot.
“It’s a good start but they need to keep going,” Erlenbusch said. “If the virus spreads quickly they’ll need to double that.”
A count conducted in January 2019 found that 5,570 people were experiencing homelessness in the county on any given night, mostly sleeping outdoors and mostly in the city. It also estimated that 10,000 people would become homeless in the county at some point over the course of 2019.
The coronavirus is most dangerous for older adults and those with underlying conditions. About 30 percent of those sleeping outdoors were over age 50, the count found. About 20 percent were over 55.
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 4:00 PM.
