The Vacaville City Council narrowly voted to approve a six-month contract to move some of the participants in the warming shelter at Georgie Duke Sports Center to other shelters.
The vote at Tuesday’s meeting effectively ends Duke’s use as a warming shelter, while allowing five of its residents to stay at Shelter Solano in Fairfield and another four to stay at Opportunity House.
Housing Administrator Tamara Colden gave some history of the program, which was first approved by the council at its Oct. 27 meeting to provide a warm place for unhoused residents of Vacaville to stay overnight. The program was originally slated to run through Dec. 31, but was extended through Feb. 28 at its Dec. 8 meeting and again through March 31 at its Feb. 9 meeting.
Colden said the program has been very popular, with its capacity increasing from 25 to 30 participants to expand shelter access. Since its inception, the shelter has served 248 individuals, provided 2,182 sheltered bed nights, provided 6,362 meals and 1,181 showers.
Colden said staff is continuing to identify potential locations for a permanent shelter and that the process would involve conducting neighborhood outreach, drafting documents describing lease or sales terms, calculating a required budget and funding sources and returning to the council.
The council was presented with three options: Extend the program at Duke through April 30, let the program expire or enter into a six-month agreement to use available bed space at Shelter Solano and Opportunity House.
The latter option would “provide additional time for current program participants who are interested in continuing to receive services for a period of six months,” Colden said. This option would require a General Fund budget augmentation of $135,000, whereas the first option would cost $51,586.
Several speakers spoke out against continuing the shelter at Duke, due to it sharing a parking lot with Buckingham Collegiate Charter Academy, which recently opened for in-person learning. Anjee Deards, a teacher at Buckingham, said she appreciated efforts to mitigate the impacts the center was having on her campus but emphasized that it was still being affected.
“Especially now that 100 percent of our classrooms are open and we’re seeing more students attending in person, it is crucial that the warming center not be extended in its current location,” she said.
Edward Russell said the city’s hearts were in the right place but felt Duke was not a practical location. He suggested moving it to Three Oaks Community Center, due to it not being close to any schools, or utilizing space at empty warehouses or rooms at local hotels.
“We’ve gotta stop kicking the can, and somebody’s gotta bite the bullet and say we’ve got to do something,” he said.
Samantha Working, the new principal at Buckingham, said she was in favor of a permanent sheltering solution for homeless individuals, but felt having it at Duke was not a good fit.
“Knowing where we’re located and knowing that there’s always going to be homeless in our community, we really do want a long-term solution that isn’t going to have an impact on schools,” she said. “We just ask that the city put student safety first and ensure that any facility that’s going to be used for this type of purpose is not going to be located near a school.”
Vice Mayor Nolan Sullivan said he felt the warming shelter has made a positive impact and that Duke had amenities like showers that made it seem like a sensible location at the time. However, with Buckingham reopening, he felt it was no longer the right location but wanted to ensure the city had a plan for the shelter’s current residents.
“They’re not just gonna disappear with the warming shelter,” he said. “They’re going to go back to our parks, they’re going to go back to our creeks, they’re going to stay in the creek behind Buckingham campus. It’s not illegal to be loitering in a public space.
“We need to have a permanent solution to homelessness and some tools to actually impact homelessness.”
Sullivan said Opportunity House was a great resource but noted that it primarily serves families and rarely single men. He also said that Shelter Solano was not a viable option since many houseless individuals have families in Vacaville and know the area.
Colleen Berumen, executive director of Opportunity House, agreed that Duke was no longer a feasible option. She emphasized continuing to provide services to individuals once the warming shelter ends at Duke and suggested portable case management as a way to regularly stay in touch with clients until a brick-and-mortar shelter is established.
“(We need) to start having some solid conversations about coming up with true solutions, not any more Band-Aids,” she said. “We need to really solve this problem, and it takes a whole city to do it.”
Sullivan felt a resource center would be a better option.
“We need a place to engage these people,” he said. “If we just buy shelter beds, that’s not paying for Colleen’s outreach staff, that’s not paying for a resource location.”
Councilmember Jeanette Wylie said the relocation option would only serve nine people for six months and did not account for the rest of the residents.
“I don’t really think the $135,000 is going to get us any further along a long-term solution,” she said.
Wylie also suggested getting input from the Homeless Roundtable and possibly utilizing Project Roomkey to allow access to lodging and bathrooms, the latter of which Sullivan said would present an issue due to public restrooms being closed during COVID-19.
Mayor Ron Rowlett said the option would buy the city time to look into a permanent solution.
“I know it’s not serving everyone, but it’s not just shutting it down” like the option to let the program expire, he said.
Rowlett also wanted to see the city bring back its 2X2 committee, where two council members meet with two Solano County Supervisors to discuss solutions to homelessness.
Councilman Roy Stockton motioned to support the option to pay for bed space at Opportunity House and Shelter Solano through Sept. 30 and also requested updates throughout the process. The council approved the motion 4-2, with Sullivan and Wylie dissenting.
In other business, the council voted 5-1 to approve a community facilities district within lower Lagoon Valley, with Sullivan voting against. The council also approved the reappointments of Ralph Berumen and Shawn McMahon as well as the appointments of Aisha Moody-Gutierrez and Philip VanderToolen to the Parks and Recreation Commission. For the Planning Commission, the council reappointed Michael Fortney and Robert Macaulay and appointed Wendy Breckon and Brandon Klein.
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March 25, 2021 at 05:35AM
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Vacaville City Council ends warming shelter at Georgie Duke, relocates some residents to local shelters - Vacaville Reporter
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