Santa Rosa looks to convert former senior center into homeless shelter

The Santa Rosa City Council endorsed Tuesday a proposal to transform the former Bennett Valley Senior Center into a homeless shelter, a move that could create up to 60 beds over the next two years at the shuttered South Park site, plus buy the city time to repair its main homeless shelter across town.

Though council members took no vote, their support for opening a homeless shelter at the city property at 704 Bennett Valley Road - closed about six months ago as a way to cut costs and defer roof maintenance - represents Santa Rosa’s latest acknowledgment that it needs more beds for the hundreds of people living on its streets.

Starting in July, California will make up to $500 million available to local governments to address homelessness. The city has requested $3.6 million, about $2 million of which would cover capital and operating costs at the new shelter and service center just east of Santa Rosa Avenue.

Mayor Tom Schwedhelm said he was optimistic that under Gov. Gavin Newsom, “it’s not the last time we’ll see the state assisting us.”

The senior center’s tentative transformation reflects another reality of civic life in Santa Rosa: no such financial windfall exists to fund the senior services once offered at the Bennett Valley Road site. The council voted to close the facility last August to save the city about $54,000 in annual operation costs. The building needs about $300,000 in roof repairs, according to a previous analysis.

The state emergency homeless funds would allow the city to move 40 beds from its main shelter, Sam Jones Hall in southwest Santa Rosa, into the revamped Bennett Valley Road site, with the potential for another 20 beds in temporary structures established in the parking lot.

That shift would coincide with major roof work at Sam Jones, the largest homeless shelter in Sonoma County, with nearly 200 beds. The repair project is set to cost an estimated $1.6 million, according to city staff.

City officials submitted the request for state funding last week with the understanding they could amend the intended use of funds pending direction from council members.

Support appears to exist on the council for permanently converting the former senior center into a hub for homeless services. It is about a mile from the city’s downtown transit mall, with bus stops nearby.

Councilwoman Victoria Fleming noted that there would be no obvious way to fund the Bennett Valley Center once funding dries up after two years and pointed out that really addressing the homelessness problem will take decades of work and enormous amounts of money.

“It won’t be solved in 20 years,” she said, adding that the city would need a major investment like the New Deal “to even make a meaningful dent in homelessness.”

Bill Paterson with the local chapter of the Automotive Service Councils of California spoke against the proposal on behalf of several auto shops on Rutledge Avenue, which borders the site to the west.

He said homelessness has negatively affected those businesses, with his customers at times intimidated by the sight of people drinking and doing drugs and his workers occasionally discovering human feces and piles of trash nearby.

“I’m really concerned about the homeless, and they need help, but I don’t think the senior center is the way to help them,” Paterson said.

A proposal to give the Bennett Valley operations contract to Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa without soliciting other bids received a mixed reaction from the council and a chilly reception from numerous homeless advocates Tuesday. Catholic Charities operates Sam Jones and other local homeless services.

The city’s funding request will go through a regional entity, Home Sonoma County, tasked with curbing homelessness. It plans to allocate ?$12.1 million in state emergency homeless funding over the next two fiscal years. Its board includes Schwedhelm and Councilwoman Julie Combs.

The council also considered opening up city-owned sites, and perhaps even City Hall, to a little-used safe parking program meant to create areas where people can sleep in their cars free from police sweeps.

Santa Rosa in fall 2015 decided to start letting churches open their property to people with vehicles but no permanent shelter during winter months. It later expanded the program to be year-round and to include commercial properties.

More than three years later, only two churches have opted in. First United Methodist Church on Giffen Avenue allows up to 10 of its parking spaces to be used by homeless people and Christ Church United Methodist on Yulupa Avenue provides three of its spaces.

Combs said the time had come for the council to consider opening city property for overnight homeless parking.

“We’re not seeing the flood of response that we had hoped to see,” she said. “It’s time for government to step up.”

The program’s current budget is $20,000, but more would likely be needed if the city became more involved, said Councilman John Sawyer.

“Rarely have I heard the words ‘government’ and ‘low-cost’ in the same sentence,” he said.

Councilman Chris Rogers floated the idea of allowing City Hall parking space as an overnight harbor for people living in cars, RVs or trailers.

Councilman Jack Tibbetts wondered whether the city could expand the program to residential property owners.

Schwedhelm, who has voiced opposition to sanctioned homeless camps, said the City Council should have a wide-ranging discussion about its overnight parking policy. Any expansion would likely involve decisions on liability for parking hosts and interim building regulations for temporary housing.

Council members could return to the issue next week, when they are set to meet for their yearly goal-setting session.

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.