Plan approved for 1,000 beds to shelter Sacramento homeless during coronavirus crisis
Sacramento city and county elected officials are approving a $15 million plan to open 990 beds for homeless individuals and provide services at encampments to try to prevent a coronavirus outbreak among the thousands of people sleeping outdoors in the county.
The plan includes $13.7 million for new beds, including 850 in motels, 60 in state RVs at Cal Expo and 80 in existing shelters, according to a report from a city/county task force. That’s up from the 663 new beds officials announced last month.
The county Board of Supervisors approved the plan at its 10 a.m. meeting Tuesday, while the Sacramento City Council approved it at its 5 p.m. meeting.
The funding is coming from federal and state sources — including about $9.5 million from the federal stimulus package signed by President Trump last month, the report said.
County health officials said this week they were not aware of any homeless individuals who had tested positive for coronavirus, “but this can change on a dime,” said Cindy Cavanaugh, Sacramento County’s director of homeless initiatives.
While the plan increases the county’s capacity to shelter the homeless during the crisis, no homeless have yet been moved into new beds, sparking criticism from activists. County officials last week told The Sacramento Bee that officials will likely start filling the first motel beds next week.
That timeline has shifted slightly in recent days — Bruce Wagstaff, Sacramento County’s deputy county executive, told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that he expects homeless individuals who qualify for isolation will start moving into the first 116-bed motel secured by the county on Thursday. Others will start moving into the 63 RVs at Cal Expo starting Friday.
The North Fifth Street shelter in the city’s River District was recently expanded to accommodate an additional 40 “highly vulnerable” persons experiencing homelessness, according to a county news release. Twenty people had already been moved into the expanded shelter over the weekend.
The county, the city and regional partners are using a more “graduated effort” to rapidly housing homeless individuals in motel beds, Wagstaff said, which make up the vast majority of new beds.
The county will sign lease contracts and open up more motel beds gradually as more capacity fills up. About 1,100 motel beds have been identified and are ready, Wagstaff said, but those hotel sites will all require labor-intensive coordination of services like meals and substance abuse help via telephone.
“When we look back on this in a few weeks, a few months ... we will see that we have been able to pull things off that we didn’t think we could,” said Emily Halcon, the city of Sacramento’s homeless services manager.
Also included in the plan is about $1.2 million for 500 meals a day, 50 sanitation stations, transportation, outreach and other supplies at encampments, the report said.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who said he wanted to see more beds added to the previous plan, said he was satisfied with the new comprehensive version.
“It is an appropriate and urgent public health response,” Steinberg said. “It is an aggressive plan.”
Some people will need to stay in beds only a few weeks before finding permanent housing, allowing new people to move in, the mayor said.
“The challenge is to find permanent housing for people,” Steinberg said. “The opportunity is to actually multiply the 990 many times. It may be more tiny homes, may be hotel conversions, it may be buying some of these hotels and not just leasing them.”
Counties can enter into long-term leases or purchase hotels so homeless can stay there long-term after the virus subsides, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a press conference Friday from a West Sacramento hotel that has filled beds with homeless people.
Homeless who have tested positive for the virus will be prioritized for the motels and trailers, the report said. After they get beds, the report lists a detailed prioritization plan stating who would get the next beds and when, including those with symptoms, people who have pending tests, those who are age 65 and older, and individuals with underlying health conditions.
The program is not a walk-up system. To get housed, homeless individuals need to be referred — such as through a hospital, an existing emergency shelters, a deputy or officer, or an outreach worker with Sacramento Steps Forward, Sacramento Self Help Housing or another homeless service provider.
The virus is most dangerous for the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. A January 2019 count estimated 5,570 homeless people were living in the county, mostly sleeping outdoors and mostly in the city of Sacramento. About 30 percent of those sleeping outdoors were over age 50. About 20 percent were over 55.
What about homeless encampments?
The plan adds on to the tasks already being completed by the city-county task force, which formed last month. Officials have ordered 65 toilets and 20 sinks that will be delivered at 10 to 20 sites in the city and county, the report said.
Three toilets were being deployed, though it’s unclear when more toilets and sinks would arrive. “The supply chain is impacted, so we are staging as they come in,” read a county news release Tuesday.
Officials are also delivering about 420 meals per day, ordering hygiene kits and have identified organizations to participate in the medical screening process — “to make sure those in encampments can remain where they are safely with the necessary life-supporting resources they need,” said Ya-yin Isle with Sacramento Steps Forward.
Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, said the allocated resources to support those in encampments is “really disappointing.”
There are no details in the plan for trash pick-up or showers, two major sanitation issues for homeless residents, Erlenbusch said. And though the plan states toilets and sinks have been ordered, he said he worries those won’t come soon enough.
“By the time all this stuff seemingly rolls out, it’ll be after the peak,” he said. “It’s a little shocking they haven’t moved with a greater sense of urgency.”
Last month, homeless advocates raised money and with city approval placed 30 hand washing stations at six different sites in the city.
More challenges lie ahead
The report details a number of significant challenges that will lie ahead even if both the city and county elected officials adopt the plan.
“Tomorrow we will pass the plan but then we gotta deal with the challenges in the report,” Steinberg said Monday.
The referral process for getting one of the isolation rooms at a motel, which includes a medical screening, “may cause confusion and frustration to people experiencing homelessness, who may not understand why certain sheltering options are not available to them,” according to the report.
And even if someone were able to quarantine at one of the motels, their stay could be as short as 14 days. That means someone, struggling to find a bed at a traditional shelter, could potentially be back on the streets even as the virus continues to spread.
Already, county and city resources have been stretched thin just to organize a plan of attack, and officials say additional staff may be needed as agencies “transition to implementation,” according to the report. The response team has requested staffing support from the state Office of Emergency Services.
Transportation poses another challenge. The county and city are “exploring a partnership” with Sacramento Regional Transit to help get people transported between facilities — including some diagnosed with COVID-19 — but capacity may be an issue, according to the report.
The county has divided encampments into 13 zones, and has assessed seven so far, the report said. Officials have identified 17 encampments with more than 20 people and 23 encampments with less than 20 people.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
