To: County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Department of Health Services
Staff Name and Phone Number: Tina Rivera, 707-565-4774
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Samuel L. Jones Hall Emergency Shelter Operational Funding Agreement
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Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Authorize the Director of Health Services, or designee, to execute an agreement with the City of Santa Rosa to provide funding for operations at the Samuel L. Jones Hall Emergency Shelter in an amount not-to-exceed $255,000 in fiscal year 2023-2024.
B) Adopt a resolution authorizing budgetary adjustments to the fiscal year 2023-2024 adopted budget programming $255,000 of General Fund Contingencies to finance the costs associated with the City of Santa Rosa agreement to fund operations at Samuel L. Jones Hall. (4/5th Vote Required)
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Executive Summary:
The Sonoma County Department of Health Services (hereinafter, “DHS” or “the Department”) is requesting approval of an agreement with the City of Santa Rosa to support operations at the Samuel L. Jones Hall Emergency Shelter (hereinafter, “Sam Jones Hall”). Additionally, staff is requesting $255,000 in General Fund contingency dollars to finance the agreement with the City of Santa Rosa for FY 2023-2024. In prior years, the same annual amount in General Fund has been approved for Sam Jones Hall when the lead agency managing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Santa Rosa was the Community Development Commission (CDC). Now that the Homelessness Services Division was transferred from the CDC to DHS, the Department is requesting the same amount of General Fund to continue supporting Sam Jones Hall for FY 2023-2024.
Discussion:
Samuel L. Jones Hall is Sonoma County’s largest emergency shelter. The facility is owned by the City of Santa Rosa and has been operated by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa (“Catholic Charities”) since opening in 2005. This housing-focused emergency shelter provided up to 213 year-round beds (this included upper bunk capacity in a pre-COVID environment) for single adults experiencing homelessness. The Sam Jones Hall Shelter Annex was constructed in 2021 to restore shelter bed capacity that was lost due to COVID-19 social-distancing requirements and is operated in conjunction with the main shelter facility.
Today, the site generally operates at a capacity of 165 persons with the ability to flex to up to 170 beds (sometimes more during cold weather events) to stay within operational standards and the public health guidelines. During emergency situations there is the ability to provide up to 213 beds.
On October 25, 2005, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, in their capacity as the Sonoma County Board of Commissioners, entered into an agreement with the City of Santa Rosa to provide $100,000 annually in operating support to the Sam Jones Hall. The Board of Commissioners continued similar agreements through June 30, 2017.
In fiscal year (FY) 2014-2015 an additional $65,000 in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) funding was added to the agreement with the City of Santa Rosa to provide operating support for a winter shelter expansion, bringing the total operating support provided by the County to $165,000. This agreement was renewed for $165,000 annually for fiscal years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.
In FY 2017-2018, the City of Santa Rosa initiated a Homeless Encampment Assistance Pilot program and opened the same winter expansion beds for year-round use to accommodate people coming from City-prioritized encampments. The Board of Commissioners agreed to provide an additional $90,000 in TOT/Measure L dollars to create Rapid Re-Housing resources for participants in the pilot in fiscal years 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020, bringing total annual operating support to $255,000. From FY 2017-2018 through FY 2022-2023 the County has committed $255,000 annually.
For FY 2023-2024, Catholic Charities remains the operator of Sam Jones Hall with an estimated operating cost over $3,028,742. Approximately $2,128,742 is funded from sources secured by the City of Santa Rosa and $900,000 is funded from sources secured by Catholic Charities.
The Department is requesting approval to enter into an agreement with the City of Santa Rosa for $255,000. The Department is further requesting General Fund discretionary dollars in the amount of $255,000 for FY 2023-2024 to fund this agreement.
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Healthy and Safe Communities
Goal: Goal 1: Expand integrated system of care to address gaps in services to the County’s most vulnerable.
Objective: Objective 2: Identify gaps in the Safety Net system of services and identify areas where departments can address those gaps directly, and seek guidance from the Board when additional resources and/or policy direction is needed.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
June 17, 2022 - Approved moving the Community Development Commission’s Ending Homelessness Team to the newly established Homelessness Services Division in the Department of Health Services.
These Prior Board Actions were under the purview of the Community Development Commission:
September 1, 2020 - Authorized funding agreement for continued funding of the City of Santa Rosa’s Samuel L. Jones Hall for FY 2020-2021.
August 6, 2019 - Authorized funding agreement for continued funding of the City of Santa Rosa’s Samuel L. Jones Hall for FY 2019-2020.
July 10, 2018 - Authorized funding agreement for continued funding of the City of Santa Rosa’s Samuel L. Jones Hall for FY 2019-2020.
Fiscal Summary
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Expenditures |
FY23-24 Adopted |
FY24-25 Projected |
FY25-26 Projected |
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Budgeted Expenses |
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|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
$255,000 |
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|
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Total Expenditures |
$255,000 |
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Funding Sources |
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General Fund/WA GF |
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|
|
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State/Federal |
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|
|
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Fees/Other |
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Use of Fund Balance |
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|
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General Fund Contingencies |
$255,000 |
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|
|
Total Sources |
$255,000 |
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
To fund the operational agreement with the City of Santa Rosa for Sam Jones Hall, the Department is requesting General Fund contingency in the amount of $255,000 for FY 2023-2024.
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Staffing Impacts: |
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Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - Agreement with the City of Santa Rosa
Attachment 2 - Budget Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None