Sonoma County mulls how to spend $14 million windfall on homeless services

Sonoma County homelessness leaders have started to parcel out more than $14 million on homeless projects and services, though they will wait until April to vote on a final plan to spend the unusually large influx of funding.

Leaders of Home Sonoma County, which oversees regional efforts to serve and house people on the streets, mulled dozens of requests for funding and heard suggestions, praise and admonition from more than 20 people who attended the meeting Friday.

The funding requests totaled $32.6 million - more than twice the amount the agency can allocate - putting tough decisions before the nine local elected officials and housing and homelessness advocates who lead the agency.

The leadership council reviewed a tentative plan crafted by a panel of homelessness advisers to spend $14.1 million, including about $11.5 million in emergency state funding for ?anti-homelessness efforts.

Tom Schwedhelm, the Santa Rosa mayor and chairman of the leadership council, postponed deliberation on capital projects and a final vote on funding decisions until the leadership council’s April 17 meeting, apparently because Friday’s session had overstayed its reservation for the room after more than three hours of discussion.

The council proposed a few amendments but tentatively endorsed the bulk of the plan before them. The original plan would spend about $7.4 million on capital projects, $2 million on short-term temporary housing programs, $1.8 million for homeless shelters and services, and about $1.7 million on “front door” services such as homelessness prevention and street outreach.

Still ahead for the leadership council are decisions such as how much to spend on repairing the roof of Sam Jones Hall, the largest homeless shelter in the county.

The city of Santa Rosa had requested $3.6 million to repair the roof and convert the former Bennett Valley Senior Center into a temporary homeless center, but the initial recommendation would only authorize about $530,000 toward the project.

The leadership council’s final decisions for how to spend the money, which becomes available no earlier than July 1, will have to go before the county Board of Supervisors for approval.

The state funding created a windfall for local officials seeking to house the roughly 2,000 homeless people in the county. The $14 million sum, which will be distributed through a competitive bidding process by service providers, is about seven times more than the Sonoma County Community Development Commission typically offers in a year.

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