Santa Rosa church backs camp for homeless

A Santa Rosa church has decided to allow a small number of homeless people to camp on its property off Stony Point Road despite a host of concerns raised by neighbors.

The leaders of the First United Methodist Church agreed Saturday to establish a supervised “transitional community” for up to 20 people who are actively searching for permanent housing.

“We feel like we’re ready to officially say ‘Yes, we’re moving forward,’” said Pastor Blake Busick.

The decision is a milestone in a project that has become a test case for whether the city can succeed in letting private groups expand their services to the homeless in a way existing neighbors will accept.

The church, which already provides meals and overnight shelter programs for the homeless, was the first organization in the city to propose allowing homeless people to camp on its property, something now permitted under the city’s evolving Community Homeless Assistance Program, or CHAP.

The city expanded the previously seasonal program last year to make it easier for groups with properties designated as “meeting facilities” - such as churches, synagogues or grange halls - to set up areas where people can camp or store personal property.

Restrictions include no open fires, no “illicit” drugs or alcohol, a maximum stay of 180 days per person and a requirement that personal property be screened from view.

But these and other measures haven’t soothed anxieties of residents who live near church’s 7-acre Stony Point Road property, most of which is presently a soggy field.

They have visions of an unsightly tent city filled with questionable characters across the street from the Robert L. Stevens Elementary School.

“The bottom line is we don’t want this next to a school and we don’t want this next to a residential area,” said Herb Dickerson, whose back fence borders the church property.

Dickerson said he and others have proposed limiting the program to properties at least an eighth of a mile away from schools or residential areas. He said the church’s decision to proceed with what he called a “tent camp in a swamp” without the additional community outreach it promised is further evidence that neighbors’ concerns are being ignored.

“They are very driven to push this through,” Dickerson said of church leadership.

Busick said Saturday’s decision should not be viewed as a sign the church is deaf to the concerns of neighbors, just that the 35-member church council feels the idea continues to have merit.

In fact, many of the concerns raised by residents to date have already resulted in changes, including the number participants, he said.

The church originally requested hosting “up to 20” people on its property. But in response to concerns it now is planning to start with six to eight people, possibly couples who cannot stay together in shelters segregated by gender, he said.

Strict policies against drug and alcohol use as well as offering spaces only to people eligible for housing are other conditions the church is proposing in response to such concerns.

“Some of the things that people are worried about we don’t want either,” Busick said.

Additional meetings with neighbors to answer questions and gather feedback will be forthcoming to ensure the church does all it can to find solutions, Busick said.

His hope is that once the program is up and running, neighbors will see their fears are unfounded and will come to support the effort.

From the city’s perspective, the church has complied with the program guidelines and can move forward whenever it is ready. When site preparation will begin is unknown, Busick said. The church may still ask the city for money to help get the program up and running, such as for fencing, but has not done so yet, he said.

The city council late last year authorized City Manager Sean McGlynn to spend up to $20,000 to help groups participating in the CHAP program to comply with program requirements.

Councilman Chris Rogers met with Dickerson and another opponent Sunday to discuss the idea of keeping such encampments away from schools and residential areas, and called it a “legitimate proposal” that needs consideration.

But he stressed that few private groups to date have stepped forward to expand their services, and the city “has a homeless crisis.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.