Sonoma Overnight Services won’t apply for county support for the Haven

Sonoma can look out for its own. That’s the message that Sonoma Overnight Support is sending to Santa Rosa, and the Sonoma County Community Development Commission (CDC), by refusing to apply for their annual grant of $41,000 to help support the Haven, the overnight homeless shelter operated by SOS.

“The new requirements for Housing First are not compatible with the mission of SOS,” said board chair Cindy Vrooman in a Dec. 15 statement from the organization. The board voted unanimously in November not to apply for the grant, after meeting directly with two CDC representatives in September to clarify the conditions of the grant for 2018-19.

The amount that SOS would lose represents 13 percent of the total SOS budget, according to executive director Kathy King. But it’s worth it, she said, to retain local control over the three-bedroom overnight shelter on First Street West.

Housing First is a national home assistance approach that prioritizes getting homeless people in permanent housing, before dealing with other concerns such as substance abuse, finding employment, or other health and welfare programs. The Housing First model is regarded by its proponents as a more effective solution to homelessness, essentially lowering the barriers to providing housing by offering shelter first, then services.

Starting in January of 2019, all state-funded housing programs will need to adopt and comply with Housing First standards. Compliance will become a requirement for all recipients of Sonoma County funding as of July 2018, the coming fiscal year budget.

But Jenny Abramson, the Homeless and Community Services manager for CDC, said that while he Housing First requirements will come into effect in 2019, the new requirements at the county level are for a separate “coordinated entry” system. And that’s where SOS and the CDC are having their current disagreement.

Abramson characterized coordinated entry as federally-mandated program, first outlined in 2009 and under active study locally since 2014. She also suggested that Sonoma was not as actively engaged in the study process as she would have liked.

“We didn’t get much participation from Sonoma,” she said, and could not recall if King or others from SOS attended in person any of the planning meetings, though phone meetings were also available.

King, and the SOS case manager Elena Alioto, said they have gone to several meetings with the county, and the entire board met with two CDC representatives in September to clarify the terms under which they would have to operate.

Abramson also discounted King’s concern that admittance to the Haven might require entrance to people struggling with drug addiction, and that the county would be sending homeless to Sonoma and imposing them on the Haven.

“We would never place anybody in that shelter who wasn’t from or have a connection to the area,” said Abramson. She characterized the coordinated entry system as client-driven. “It’s about serving the client’s needs. Our entire system of care has a history of setting up a program that can work for the majority of people who come through the door,”

King remains concerned that a new coordinated entry system is the wrong direction for the safe operation of the Haven.

“We can’t risk the sobriety of our own residents by accepting homeless persons that we would not be able to drug test,” she said. “The requirements of lowering the barriers may work in much larger shelters and in bigger cities, but it won’t work in a small shelter like the Haven.”

Instead, Abramson expressed concern that by rejecting participation in the county Coordinated Entry system, and in next year’s Housing First program, it was Sonoma’s homeless that stood to lose out.

If SOS were to participate in the Coordinated Entry system, said Abramson, it would help people who come into the system access county services anywhere in the county. Those include rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and others.

“It is a loss for us not to have an active partner in the Sonoma Valley for assessing people who actually need services,” she said. “If we can we will find somebody else who can serve that purpose, that’s what we’ll do. That’s part of what’s unfortunate here.”

King, however, says SOS has “a responsibility to the City of Sonoma, which owns the shelter, to serve our own homeless community.”

Only one other homeless-related agency in the county is also rejecting the Coordinated Entry system, the Wallace House in Cloverdale. Abramson speculated that the distance from Santa Rosa may affect both Sonoma and Cloverdale’s perception of how helpful a county-wide system could be.

The Haven has room to serve a maximum of 10 overnight guests at a given time, and there is usually a two-month waiting list, according to Alioto. The Haven also offers day services, such as meals, showers, laundry facilities and internet access for job search, services that serve many more on any given day.

SOS is applying for, and hopes to again receive, a smaller grant to fund the winter emergency shelter at the Sonoma Alliance Church, which is currently underway. Homeless who need immediate housing on winter nights can show up at the Haven by 6 p.m., and will be able to overnight at the Watmaugh Road church.

The impact of rejecting a significant source of income is not lost on SOS. King provided figures from the 2016 budget showing an annual income of approximately $550,000, with the city’s contribution providing 6.8 percent, private foundations 12.5 percent, community organizations 4.5 percent, and fundraising 10 percent.

The largest portions come from individual donors at 15.2 percent, and wills and bequests at 38 percent.

In order to make up the loss of CDC income, King said, “I’m applying to more foundations, and also asking individuals, churches and businesses (through) our year-end appeal.”

The news that SOS would be rejecting the terms of Housing First, and the money that goes with it, did not catch the city off-guard.

“SOS has kept the City informed of the issues and their board’s decision,” said City Manager Cathy Capriola. “City staff will be meeting with SOS leadership in January to understand the impact of this decision and their needs.”

King said she anticipated requesting more funds from the City of Sonoma in the next funding cycle, but acknowledged that “there are no guarantees.”

Email Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.