Grand jury faults Sonoma County for lack of warming centers for homeless people during cold weather emergencies

Sonoma County must do more to help its unhoused residents find warm places to stay during cold weather emergencies.

That’s the conclusion of the Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury, which released its latest report on June 21. That watchdog panel found that the county lacked a coherent policy for opening warming centers. Responsibility for protecting the unhoused during near-freezing and sub-freezing conditions, it found, was poorly understood and not clearly documented.

“The County failed in its critical role in protecting the health and safety of all unhoused people during severe cold weather emergencies during the winters of 2021-2022 and 2022-2023,” said the report, which also blamed “inadequate coordination between the various involved County agencies.”

The report faulted the county for its lack of advanced planning, and its failure to forge agreements ― “Memoranda of Understanding” ― with cities to help coordinate efforts to fund and otherwise support the opening of warming centers.

“Failure by the County, including the Board of Supervisors to plan and prepare in advance for warming centers during extreme weather emergencies, results in inefficient last-minute responses, leaving unhoused individuals exposed to severe cold.”

Supervisors spring into action

Spurred, apparently, by the Grand Jury’s investigation, the county is now on the case. On June 12, the Board of Supervisors approved a plan detailing when the county will work with local groups, such as faith-based organizations and nonprofits, “to open heating centers in unincorporated areas during freeze warnings and cooling stations during high-heat events.”

The Extreme Temperature Response Annex, as the plan was named, also established criteria for when the county will declare heat warnings.

The plan will provide “critical” help, said Supervisor Chris Coursey in a statement, to “our most vulnerable community members during the coldest and hottest days.”

To better address extreme weather events, cold and hot, said Jeff DuVall, interim director of the county Department of Emergency Management, the county “will rely on the collaborative work we do with partners” – the aforementioned churches and nonprofits. “No one-group or entity can take on climate change response alone.”

County staff are now working with local groups to ensure that warming centers can be opened quickly when needed, according to a June 15 release from the county. Those in unincorporated areas interested in partnering with the county to operate warming or cooling centers during extreme weather events should contact the Department of Emergency Management at 707-565-1152. Training and support as well as financial assistance will be available.

Santa Rosa singled out for praise

The Civil Grand Jury’s investigation, prompted in part by a series of stories in the Press Democrat, singled out the city of Santa Rosa for praise. Working with Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa, its homeless services provider, the city adopted a concrete policy for opening warming centers in March of 2022, following that season’s final cold spell.

After years of opening and staffing warming centers without a cohesive, consistent plan, said Catholic Charities CEO Jennielynn Holmes, it made sense to apply “lessons learned over the years, and create a real policy.

“It gives us clarity, it lets us plan ahead. Everything is very clear cut. These are the triggers to open a warming center. Here’s how we’re going to staff it. These are the services we’re going to provide. Here’s how we’re going to coordinate with other programs, and get the word out.

“Having a defined, proven policy, she said “means we’re not making it up in the minute. And it means we can provide more comprehensive services, too.”

Last winter was the first to test Santa Rosa and Catholic Charities new policy. Holmes expressed pride in how its warming center functioned. It helped, she said, that for the first time, the nonprofit was able to use Caritas Village, the 48,000-square-foot downtown facility that opened in 2022.

In the past, she said, “we were kind of trying to heat up the cold outdoors.”

The city’s work with Catholic Charities on warming centers, Holmes believes, has “set a standard” that county officials might “at least start from” as they fine tune their planning.

And it’s going to take regional planning, she said. “Individuals in Santa Rosa know, if it’s cold, I can go to Caritas.

“If you’re in other parts of the community, if you’re in west county or Sonoma Valley, you can’t necessarily make it to Santa Rosa. So we need these regional hubs, so when it gets cold, when the rain hits, they know where their place of safety is.”

‘Treat people like human beings’

Annie Falandes, a retired United Airlines commercial pilot and the founder of Homeless Action Sonoma, learned firsthand about the county’s lack of an overarching plan for warming centers.

For four months last winter, she ran a warming station in the city of Sonoma that helped 140 people.

At first, the city of Sonoma had its own warming station. But it was lightly used. “They would open from 7 at night til 7 in the morning,” said Falandes. “Well, by 7 pm in the winter, homeless people have found their nest. It’s dark, and they’re not going to go someplace they don’t know is even open or not.”

Homeless Action was offered the use of a building. Working with the city, Falandes obtained permits to keep the facility open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“I did not have security,” she said. “I had 24-hour caseworkers on staff. After the first week, I didn’t have problems.”

“You’ve gotta treat people like human beings. They’re not going to go to a penitentiary. We can’t bring people in and lock them in for the night. They’re human beings, not criminals.”

While Falandes applauds efforts to create a better system for getting warming centers up and running, issues around the county’s chronic homeless problem won’t change, she firmly believes, until “a real shift in perceptions” takes place.

“We need to change the culture.”

She’s deeply grateful to Sonoma County. “They’ve been incredibly supportive” of her nonprofit. “They want to fix this problem,” she said.

“It’s not like people are mean or bad or anything, it’s that we have too many rules on the books,” and everybody’s” protective of “their little area of expertise.”

For example, she noted, there were no cots or beds at the warming center she ran. Even though it was open 24 hours, “it wasn’t zoned for sleeping,” she said.

“So what I did ― I got yoga mats,” Falandes recalled. “And we did long shavasanas. It all worked out.”

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com or on Twitter @ausmurph88.