Santa Rosa details, hears feedback on homeless camp at Finley Community Center

Santa Rosa's proposed sanctioned encampment to dampen the threat of the coronavirus pandemic to the local homeless population drew a large, curious audience who spent about two hours probing the city's plan Thursday over the course of a virtual meeting.

The city held the meeting, which drew more than 460 participants at one point, after receiving more than 100 questions about its plan to erect an encampment that is set to open next week at the Finley Community Center on West College Avenue.

The site will have 70 tents and a total capacity of 140 people, though city staff do not expect that many, and it will be populated by people who are currently living in encampments like those beneath Highway 101 overpasses downtown where social distancing is lacking.

“The focus is on folks living outside cheek to jowl, sleeping bag to sleeping bag, tent space to tent space, because this is a health emergency,” said Dave Gouin, the city's director of housing and community services.

The city expects to spend about $134,000 a month on the Finley site and plans to seek federal reimbursement for this and other pandemic-related costs. Moving to the encampment, which will be managed by Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa, will be voluntary for people currently living on the streets.

The session was scheduled to run 90 minutes, but with more than a dozen questions pending at the point, the officials on the city's panel agreed to continue taking questions and hearing feedback from the public.

The tone of the meeting was civil, by-and-large, with many members of the public asking searching questions and thanking the city for the time and energy they spent crafting the managed encampment plan. The city repeatedly emphasized and answered questions about public safety, noting that the Police Department would step up patrols to have a visible presence in the area.

Security will be present around the clock at the site, which will have an 8 p.m. curfew, limits on visitors and bans on alcohol and drug use, officials said. In short, they aimed to reassure residents that the atmosphere at the Finley site would be very different from that of the Joe Rodota Trail encampment.

While the city is not set to test each person who will live at the Finley site for the coronavirus, there will be a process in place to screen residents for symptoms and take their temperatures, said Jennielynn Holmes, the chief program officer for Catholic Charities.

One caller who identified herself as a west Santa Rosa resident said she was initially indignant, figuring that the selection of Finley was an example of the west side getting “dumped on” unlike the more affluent east side of town, but that she was appreciative of the city's efforts. She raised a key question: what's the plan for dismantling the encampment?

The city is working to figure out its exit strategy, Gouin said, but “We don't have a specific answer in the moment.”

Several citizens who live near Finley expressed their dismay and frustration about the selection of the site, with one saying the camp's presence would prompt her to keep her children from playing in their nearby front yard.

Another caller asked for a list of the people responsible for the encampment plan in order to vote against them.

“It is heartbreaking watching the decline of civilization,” said a third caller, who identified himself only as “pissed bout Finley,” in reference to homeless encampments.

Responding to that caller, Gouin noted that the pandemic called for unusual measures. He cited guidance from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention that discourages authorities from breaking up homeless encampments to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

Mayor Tom Schwedhelm reiterated that the plan moved forward after he and Councilman Dick Dowd, the two members on a housing and homelessness-focused COVID-19 task group, concurred with staff's recommendation to set up the Finley site as part of its efforts to address homelessness during the pandemic.

The city already has placed 77 vulnerable sheltered and unsheltered homeless people into 71 rooms at the Sandman Motel, a city homelessness staffer said. That's in addition to Sonoma County's efforts to create temporary places for homeless people to go at Sonoma State University.

Dr. Sundari Mase, the health officer, was unaware of the city's plan when The Press Democrat first asked her about it, and when a caller asked city officials about the newspaper's report to that effect, Gouin acknowledged that “we took her by surprise last week.”

Even so, Sonoma County is on board with the city's plan, said Tina Rivera, the interim assistant director of the Community Development Commission, the county's main homelessness agency.

Schwedhelm pointed to Rivera's presence on the city's call and his own conversations about homelessness with Supervisors Lynda Hopkins and Shirlee Zane as evidence that the county and city were working well together - even though there's some room for improvement on communications between the two governments.

“It's very collaborative what we're doing here,” Schwedhelm said.

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