Sonoma County Responds to Homeless Action Requests

Hi Carolyn and Greg,

First of all, thank you so much for your support of and advocacy for our shelterless residents. To give you a little bit of my perspective, I just want you to know that Margaret and I have been in near-constant communication since the camp relocated to Roseland. I’m looking forward to opening up the lines of communication with you and other community advocates and camp leadership as we chart a path forward.

Margaret and I are both 100% committed to finding a solution to our immediate homeless crisis that is humane and decent — and we are also committed to putting the pedal to the metal to work on medium- and longer-term solutions. My office is also working to help convene and schedule the first joint City/County Homeless Ad Hoc meeting. (Susan Gorin, Tom Schwedhelm, Julie Coombs, Chris Coursey and myself were appointed by the Mayor and the Chair to serve on a joint Homeless Task Force.)

I visited the village last Thursday and spoke with New York, the camp secretary (Debbie, I think?), SRPD and business owners. I recognized the complete inadequacy of existing infrastructure to serve the new population of residents. Thank you for your offer of help. I will be honest — I am also concerned about the location, and the fact that the social challenges downtown Santa Rosa was facing have essentially been shifted into the vulnerable community of Roseland.

I’d like to convene a meeting with you, Margaret, Adrienne, and whomever else would be appropriate to invite as we look towards sustainable solutions for the crisis we find ourselves in. I’ll be in Sacramento most of this week for the annual California Association of Counties conference, so we are looking at possibly Dec 1, or next week for a meeting. Let me know if you’d like to meet, and if so, who else should be invited.

Best,

Lynda

Lynda Hopkins

Supervisor, Fifth District

County of Sonoma, Board of Supervisors

575 Administration Dr. 100A

Santa Rosa, CA. 95403

707-565-2241

District Director:  Susan Upchurch. Susan.Upchurch@sonoma-county.org

Good morning, Carolyn and Greg-

Thank you for your engagement here, and for your willingness collaborate on solutions.

We at the county are working to develop a productive strategy for this situation, and will certainly look to talk with you about options in the coming days.  We have decided to make a short-term investment in portable toilets and hand washing stations while we develop a plan, and Benjamin Wickham, who has assumed some of Jim Leddy's responsibilities at CDC, will be working to secure those and have them delivered as soon as possible.  We do not need to utilize Mr. Fearon's donated funds at this time, though the offer is much appreciated. 

We also plan to work with the City, the HOST team, and others, to redouble our efforts towards housing placement services, and will wish to coordinate any such efforts in that regard with you as well. 

I will plan to be back in touch shortly as I'm able to connect with other county and city officials to understand the range of short-term options available to us on this redevelopment site. 

Best,

Margaret Van Vliet

Director

Sonoma County Community Development Department

From: Carolyn Epple [applewithe@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2017 3:01 PM
To: Margaret Van Vliet
Cc: Lynda Hopkins
Subject: New tent village

Dear Margaret,

I am writing to discuss collaborative efforts on behalf of the homeless tent village set up just outside of Remembrance Village behind the Dollar Tree Store.  I worked closely with Jim Leddy when Mikeal O'Toole and I established RV (then known as Camp Michela). 

I would like us to work cooperatively, but must stress that I cannot provide the oversight I did originally. Nonetheless, I hope we can address their concerns quickly and effectively.  I provide a short summary of the most immediate needs below.

First, I am paying for a single poprtapotty for the outside group for this month, and have secured private donations for a second month. But, we need three portapotties for the population.  I ask that the CDC:

Portapotties

- provide a letter to Gregory Fearon (gfearon@gmail.com) authorizing placement of a second portapotty on CDC land behind the Dollar Tree Store.  Greg and his wife, Pat Kuta, have obtained a $1000 grant for a portapotty, but require CDC land access authorization for delivery of the toilet.  They are donating $1,000, as I recall, as a match.  The monies will cover a potty for about 10 months

- cover the costs of the first portapotty once private funds are depleted.

- cover the costs of a third portapotty (2x/week servicing)

Dumpster

- cover the cost of an additional dumpster with regular trash pick up

Water access

- provide access to water.  Ideally, the water hookup for the weekly shower truck for RV could be turned on, fitted with a spigot, allowing two hoses to run from it, one to RV and one to the new tent village.  Hoses would be fitted with on/off values to avoid water wastage.  We used this system successfully at the Sonoma County Water Agency, when Camp Michela was located there.

I will be glad to provide regular updates about the new tent village.  Thus far, we are establishing a camp council, volunteers are providing trash barrels, and a short span of fencing has been set up to designate where tents are permitted.  Most of the residents would prefer an enclosure with a covering for privacy and safety.   We are keeping a wide lane open to ensure entry and egress for fire, police and ambulance between the two villages. Additionally, tents are a minimum of three feet apart.  A gate in the fencing will allow ease of use for the RV residents.  But, we need the gate.

We have found that allowing the homeless residents to establish their own governance works the best in the long run.   All residents in the new village have been (or will be) required to sign a contract agreeing to abide by the rules established orignally for Camp Michela, and agreeing to leave if they refuse to abide by the rules.

I look forward to a chance to discuss these issues with you further.  

Sincerely,

Carolyn Epple

on behalf of Last Chance Village

Greetings!

Last night, the Santa Rosa City Council continued its efforts to arrive at solutions for the enormous homeless encampment and safe parking needs of its residents.  In the discussion of options, it heard from staff that the County had been exploring renewing its support of safe parking locations.  Kelli Kuykendal corrected her staff report, saying that her latest information was that the County had decided not to pursue safe parking at this time.  Members of the audience who have attended CDC meetings indicated that the County may not have closed off the discussion, but wee delaying it for more study.

The Council asked for clarification of the reasons for delay, and I expect Kelli will call you to help her prepare an answer which helps facilitate the forward movement of the Council in partnership with the County.  

Homeless Action is interested in partnering with the CDC in any ways that we can in support of the development and operation of safe parking sites.  If any planning meetings are held in which you feel that our participation would be helpful, please contact me.

Gregory Fearon
2040 Elizabeth Way
Santa Rosa
(707) 546-5771
cell (707) 861-0908