New transitional shelter offers second chances in south Sacramento

Hope Cooperative officially cut the ribbon Thursday, transforming a once-vacant motel along Stockton Boulevard into a safe haven for homeless Sacramento residents rebuilding their lives after incarceration.

As many as 22 people had moved into the temporary housing before government officials and managed care executives joined Hope Cooperative CEO April Ludwig on the grounds to celebrate the new acquisition and opening.

Renewed Hope, a 57-unit transitional housing community, prioritizes individuals experiencing housing instability following their release from jail or prison. Residents may stay for up to six months as they work toward permanent housing.

“Renewed Hope isn’t just a facility. It’s a turning point,” said Dr. Ryan Quist, Sacramento County’s director of behavioral health services. “It’s where individuals facing mental health or substance use challenges can stabilize, feel human again and start to believe in themselves”

Located at 7780 Stockton Blvd., this transitional housing community offers fully furnished studio-style units, each equipped with essentials like a bed, microwave, refrigerator, television and private bathroom.

Hope Cooperative supplies residents with much of what they need when they arrive: laundry soap, towels, laundry tokens, three meals a day and supportive services including case management, behavioral health care, life skills training and CalAIM Enhanced Care Management.

The idea, said program manager Jennifer Johnson, is to help them find their footing. Eventually, she said, they won’t need that assistance anymore.

Residents can get referrals for this shelter from a network of reentry programs: Jail Psychiatric Services, Sacramento County Behavioral Health Services, Sacramento County Homeless Engagement and Response Team, Sacramento County’s Community Outreach Recovery Empowerment program, hospitals, courts and managed care plans. Each applicant will undergo a screening process to ensure eligibility and readiness.

“Too many people who are incarcerated get released from incarceration with no hope,” said Sacramento County Supervisor Patrick Kennedy. “Too many people get released without housing. What does that do for our community? It not only takes this person and puts them in such a vulnerable position that the chances of recidivism are about 90%. That’s not good.”

A place for justice-involved adults to start over

For Jason Vogeli, 53, Renewed Hope has already begun to change his life. Released from prison just over two months ago, Vogeli found himself on the street until Medi-Cal linked him to Hope Cooperative. Now, he’s working on his GED, planning on enrolling in college and aiming to become a peer support counselor.

“Staff here helps you tremendously,” Vogeli said. “If you want the help, you’re gonna get the help. It’s definitely a place to be. For somebody like me who didn’t have anywhere to go. I can’t believe how much, just in the two months I’ve been out of prison, how much it’s helped me grow.”

Vogeli grew up in Del Paso Heights, but while he was serving time, his closest relatives moved to Missouri, leaving him without a support network.

Because the Hope Cooperative team have connected him to so many resources, Vogeli said he’s hoping to turn his life around by finding a job that pays enough that he can also afford permanent housing and his own car.

The roughly $12 million Renewed Hope community represents a new collaboration by Sacramento County Behavioral Health, the state of California, Hope Cooperative and four major Medi-Cal managed care plans: Anthem Blue Cross, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente and Molina Healthcare. Together, the health plans contributed $11 million, while the county added $1.125 million in funding from California’s Behavioral Health Bridge Housing Program.

Renewed Hope is one of more than a dozen Sacramento County communities that Hope Cooperative has established to tackle housing instability. Its other projects serve senior citizens, adults with substance use disorders and other populations.

Why health plans are investing in housing

For the managed care organizations funding this effort, the connection between housing and health is undeniable.

“Housing is inextricably linked to health,” said Arif Shaikh, senior director for Medicaid at Kaiser Permanente, which contributed $2.2 million. “People need appropriate levels of supports to … survive and thrive and be productive members of society.”

The state of California has been transforming it’s Medi-Cal program as part of an initiative called CalAim, or California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal, to address the nonmedical factors that play a key role in determining both access to health care and the quality of care people receive.

Where you’re born, grow up, work, live and worship, for instance, all can affect health and longevity, studies have shown. People who are unhoused have a higher prevalence of chronic diseases, mental health issues, substance use disorders and infectious diseases.

As part of the Homeless and Housing Incentive Program, CalAIM allows Medi-Cal managed care plans to earn incentive funds for making investments and progress in addressing homelessness and keeping people housed. The Sacramento County Medi-Cal plans had to submit a report to CalAIM, detailing how their investment in Renewed Hope and other projects dovetail with existing county plans to reduce homelessness.

“This initiative is about more than housing,” said Vernell Shaw III, a senior director leading Health Net’s Northern California Medi-Cal operations. He described Renewed Hope as “a foundation for healing, reintegration and opportunity.” Health Net contributed $2.6 million to the project.

In addition to the financial funding, each managed care plan will continue supporting the program through CalAIM, offering community-based care and services after residents move into permanent housing.

Community collaboration and a culture shift

For Hope Cooperative, which has provided housing and mental health services in the region for more than 40 years, the project reflects a deep commitment to helping overlooked populations thrive.

“This project is about dignity, choice, independence and connection,” said Ludwig, Hope Cooperative’s CEO. She and her organization went through a learning journey, she said, as they worked with health care partners and the county’s behavioral health team to rethink how they could use transitional housing to help put people re-entering society on the path to healing.

Five years ago, the idea of placing a transitional housing site for formerly incarcerated individuals in a commercial corridor might have faced community resistance, Kennedy noted. But now, he and other local leaders — including Sacramento City Councilmember Caity Maple and Bill Knowlton of the Mack Road Partnership — say Sacramento is showing what real progress looks like.

“We all certainly have made poor decisions and mistakes,” Maple said, “and for those who have … paid their dues and done their time, you would think that you’d be able to come out and participate in society and have the resources that you need and should have. And, yet that is not the case for a lot of people.”

Funding Hope

Serving Sacramento and Yolo counties, Hope Cooperative provides permanent supportive housing, behavioral health care, substance-use recovery and life-skills training. The nonprofit serves over 10,000 people each year and operates with a trauma-informed, culturally responsive and client-centered approach

The nonprofit will have its annual comedy fundraiser, “Stand Up Sacramento,” from 5:30-9:30 p.m Oct. 3 at The Sofia, 2700 Capitol Ave., in Sacramento. Tickets are $75.