Lincoln moves to shield leaders’ testimony in fight over Placer homeless site
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Nonprofit bought assisted living building and plans a 60‑bed medical respite center.
- The Gathering Inn says code violation claims mask opposition to homeless housing.
- Lincoln seeks to block council members’ testimony in homeless facility lawsuit.
A legal battle over a homeless medical respite facility in Lincoln is intensifying, with the city seeking to block an elected official’s deposition.
The city of Lincoln has filed motions in Placer Superior Court asking Judge Trisha J. Hirashima to block depositions of Lincoln Councilmember Ben Brown and former Lincoln Councilmember Paul Joiner. In addition, the city has filed a motion to block Lincoln Councilmember Holly Andreatta from sharing content from a private Facebook group she belongs to, called “Lincoln against TGI.”
The Gathering Inn, a Roseville-based homeless nonprofit, plans to open a 60-bed medical respite center for homeless adults who have been discharged from hospitals and have nowhere else to go. The nonprofit group bought the building, a former assisted living facility, at 1660 Third St. in Lincoln and secured a state grant. The city in 2024 said the nonprofit did not notify officials of the project and filed suit to block its opening.
“The city of Lincoln is deeply concerned by the total lack of transparency and communication surrounding the purchase by The Gathering Inn,” the city wrote on a web page. “At no point was the city or community notified about the project. We remain dedicated to ongoing transparency and will be sharing regular updates and information as it becomes available.”
The city’s remaining claim is that the building has code violations, including fire code violations, that would make it too dangerous for occupation. Gathering Inn officials allege the city is using code violations as an excuse because it never wanted the project to open, and that elected officials have made anti-homeless statements.
Andreatta, Brown and Joiner each declined comment on the case’s latest developments, referring a reporter instead to Doug White, acting as the city’s interim city attorney.
White, managing partner of the Sacramento law firm White Brenner, said the Facebook page is irrelevant because the issue before the court concerns building code violations.
“At this time, the only issue before the court is whether the building TGI bought and seeks to occupy with building code violations that make it, among other things, potentially uninhabitable and potentially dangerous for human occupation,” White said in an email. “These issue include items related to fire suppression. The information being sought from TGI in this case has nothing to do those building code violations or potential public health and safety dangers posed by human occupation of this building.”
In a March filing, The Gathering Inn alleged then-Councilmember Paul Joiner had publicly displayed a flyer that included the nonprofit’s logo, his City Hall phone number, and the phrase “fentanyl coming soon!”
Joiner did not respond to a request for comment about the flyer. Chris Pisano, the city’s outside counsel for the case, said he was unfamiliar with the flyer but said it was irrelevant because the case centers on code violations.
“This case is about whether The Gathering Inn was trying to open a medical respite facility in a building where there were, and still are, violations of the California Building Code,” Pisano said in an email. “The building has remained closed for over a year and a half because there are still permits and certificates that need to be issued, and work that needs to be performed to bring the building into compliance with applicable codes ... The Gathering Inn suggests that the City is unfairly targeting them, but nobody is exempt from complying with state law, and the circumstances of this flyer do not change that.”
The Gathering Inn, in a March court filing, alleged the city was not concerned with the building’s code violations when it was being used as an assisted living facility for people who were not homeless.
“The fire inspector and building official had each been in the prior assisted living facility ... during 2023 and 2024, and did not object to the condition of the building or shut it down as a public nuisance,” the court document read. “The condition of the building hadn’t changed. What changed was who would live in it.”
The assisted living facility, called Gladding Ridge, closed in February 2024, according to a state Social Services license listing.
Andreatta is running for a seat on the Placer County Board of Supervisors this year, challenging incumbent Shanti Landon.
Tensions have been rising regarding the project for months, which is the flagship issue of the June 2 race in the 2nd District. Andreatta and Landon have publicly accused each other of lying over the project. Landon accused Andreatta of throwing papers at her face during a Republican Party event last month. The papers, which Landon was circulating, included references to the project.
During a Sept. 7, 2024, protest event for the project, Andreatta said she opposed it.
“This place means a great deal to me and that’s why I serve,” Andreatta said at the time. “I will not have a breath left in my body before I stop fighting. I will not, we will not, let them come here.”
The next hearing in the case in Roseville court is set for May 5.
Placer-based The Gathering Inn also contracts with the city of Sacramento to run part of its large Roseville Road homeless shelter, where homeless people live in tiny homes.
