Sonoma County’s new outdoor homeless shelter will cost an initial $3 million. Here’s what that covers

Sonoma County to date has been unable to share a completed contract outlining its new outdoor homeless shelter site off Administration Drive, in front of the county’s permitting and planning department.

But county officials on Thursday did provide an itemized budget for its operations.

The breakdown shows caring for the dozens of people now living there will not be simple or cheap.

Of the $3 million budget authorized by the Board of Supervisors, about half will go to camp operator DEMA Consulting and Management, a company that ran many of the county’s emergency and transitional housing sites during the pandemic.

The initial outlay includes a one-time expenditure — capital and construction costs, leased goods and services, utilities and staffing — of $214,850 and a recurring monthly cost of at least $231,965.

Sonoma County’s managed camp budget

After six months, the shelter could end up costing about $1.6 million.

Monthly expenditures include $3,000 for several restrooms and washrooms; $4,032 for 1,200 feet of fencing; $1,063 for garbage and recycling services; $25,245 for daily meals; $2,000 for electricity; $200 for internet; and $1,000 for pest control.

An entry for DEMA site services, which includes security, is shown at nearly $90,000 a month.

For comparison, at Los Guilicos Village, the east Santa Rosa tiny-home shelter run by a Santa Rosa nonprofit, the budget for the current fiscal year is $2.2 million.

That figure doesn’t include the one-time costs of setting up the site.

The $3 million allocation approved by supervisors sets a cap on the amount of money that can be spent on the new camp. To spend more, Tina Rivera, the county’s health services director, said she’d have to go back to the board.

The county’s decision to move forward with DEMA came after Sonoma County Homelessness Services Division Director Dave Kiff, who works for Rivera, emailed organizations the county has previously worked with to gauge interest in taking on the project.

DEMA and Sonoma Applied Village Services were the only ones that responded, Kiff said.

“DEMA seems to have the most experience in pulling together sites relatively quickly,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.