Sonoma County homelessness agency reshuffles leadership amid surge in spending on crisis

Sonoma County’s joint homelessness agency — in charge of millions of dollars in public funding and key policy decisions — has for the fourth time in nearly as many years reshuffled its leadership board to better tackle the local crisis as unprecedented sums of state and federal money now pour into the region.

The entity, known as the Sonoma County Continuum of Care, has since its inception just over a decade ago been hampered by bureaucracy, mismanagement and poor communication, according to critics and a scathing 2020 civil grand jury report.

In hopes of building a more unified response to homelessness, the Continuum of Care, which includes county and city representatives, last week finalized the latest iteration of its now 17-member decision-making board. One of the main goals was to add members from smaller cities, giving them a stake in policy and spending decisions as California and the federal government are offering much more money — including $12 billion from the state — to launch and expand programs for the unhoused.

“We need to have that regional representation so they have a voice for those services,” said Santa Rosa Councilman Tom Schwedhelm, who represents the city on the board.

As of March 2, the board includes new seats for north county, west county, Sonoma Valley, and Rohnert Park and Cotati. Members were appointed by officials in those areas.

This fiscal year, the Continuum of Care was expected to distribute about $13 million in state and federal funds to homelessness programs across the region, according to county officials. Next year’s budget is estimated to be around $9 million, though that number could increase as more funding becomes available.

The county has been unable to provide a comprehensive sum for all of its annual homelessness spending, in large part because the expenditures are spread out across so many different agencies, officials said.

But during the pandemic, the county and city of Santa Rosa spent at least $92.4 million over fiscal 2019-20 and 2020-21 — a more than 550% increase in core homelessness costs compared to the two budget years prior, according to a Press Democrat examination last year of county and city records.

Almost half of that spending was put toward housing homeless people at pandemic shelter sites, some of which are set to become permanent housing for about 100 formerly homeless residents.

Teddie Pierce, a former county staffer and a private consultant for other continuums of care in California, said Sonoma County’s inability to closely track its spending and set clear benchmarks for combating homelessness has been costly for local communities.

“It just blows public trust in the toilet,” Pierce said.

She added that while the Continuum of Care board has made strides recently, its constant restructuring — including a complete overhaul in 2020 — has only made it harder to get programs and policies off the ground as new members come and go.

The most current county homelessness data, taken from a census in early 2020 prior to the pandemic, found about 2,700 unhoused people, a 7% decrease from the year prior.

The results from the this year’s census, conducted in February, aren’t expected until this summer. Many experts expect that counts across the state will reveal increases in homelessness in the wake the economic fallout wrought by the pandemic.

Continuum of Care board members say they are working toward plans to smartly invest in efforts to stem any spike in the local homeless population. Central to that aim is renewed coordination with leadership at the county’s community development commission, its top housing and homeless agency.

Board member Don Schwartz, Rohnert Park’s assistant city manager, pointed to a countywide framework to fund operations at planned homeless housing sites through the state’s Project Homekey program. He also noted ongoing efforts to distribute vouchers to help homeless people pay for housing.

“We need to better understand what we're getting for the dollars so we can use them effectively,” Schwartz said. “We’re on the right path, making the right amount of progress, with some room to go.”

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian