County prepares to house more homeless this winter

After scrambling last winter to mobilize help for the homeless amid a prolonged cold snap, service agencies and local governments are working on a more organized approach this year that includes adding 50 extra winter beds at Samuel L. Jones Hall.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Rosa City Council Tuesday are set to approve a combined $130,000 to expand available space during the cold weather months at the jointly operated homeless shelter in southwest Santa Rosa.

The move is part of a multi-pronged effort to prepare for the possibility of harsh weather ahead and extending help more widely and efficiently to homeless people countywide.

Plans call for at least 150 more shelter beds provided by various agencies, emergency warming stations that last year served several hundred, donations of sleeping bags, jackets and other cold -weather gear, and a rapid response protocol that triggers outreach and notifications when extreme weather conditions exist.

'We learned last winter, when there was a lot of energy in January and February to protect homeless lives out there, we found we weren't very coordinated or efficient in terms of the various programs — a little 'Keystone Cops,'' said Sonoma County Community Development Manager Mark Krug, whose department is heading up a cold weather response plan up for approval by supervisors Tuesday.

The blueprint is based in large part on a cold weather response plan created by Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa, which includes provisions for a invoking a 'Code Blue' when temperatures drop below 38 degrees or there is sleet, freezing rain, or rain systems that make it impossible for an unsheltered person to stay dry.

Catholic Charities has at the ready propane-powered heaters and other supplies needed to turn its Homeless Services Center at 600 Morgan Street into a warming center that can accommodate 50, with an overflow station outside, said Jennielynn Holmes, director housing and shelter for Catholic Charities. A trailer with additional equipment can be deployed to as many as four locations elsewhere in the county to set up mobile warming stations.

Catholic Charities has laid the groundwork for a hotline that would permit anyone to report a person in need of relief from the cold. The organization is also working to provide additional locations as part of the county's year-round Safe Parking program so those who need to sleep in their cars can park somewhere safe and protected, with access to a warming station.

The Committee on the Shelterless, headquartered in Petaluma, is adding 30 extra beds to its 100-bed shelter system beginning Dec. 1.

In Santa Rosa, the Redwood Gospel Mission has recruited 25 churches to host up to 40 homeless people one night a month through March. The mission will transport clients, bedding and other supplies each night to a different location, where church members will provide food and volunteer assistance. The mission is looking for five more churches to participate.

'Like other agencies, we didn't want to look at this winter and have a repeat of getting caught off guard, like last year,' said Jeff Gilman, executive director of Redwood Gospel Mission said.

The effort to plan for winter conditions is part of an increasingly proactive campaign to address the needs of Sonoma County's disproportionately large homeless population, measured during a biennial count last January at 4,280 on a single night. An estimated 9,749 people a year will experience homelessness in Sonoma County — about two-thirds of them with major health problems.

The homeless already are at high risk of hypothermia from exposure. Low body fat, malnutrition, underlying health problems, smoking, diabetes and other problems that may make them more susceptible to harsh weather and premature death, officials said.

But even a hat can help someone maintain their core body temperature. A jacket, gloves, a sleeping bag, are 'the difference between life and death when it's really, really cold,' said Holmes, the Catholic Charities director.

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday is expected to award a $346,418 contract to Catholic Charities that will support an outreach team tasked with housing the chronically homeless now camped out along Santa Rosa creeks and trails in the area Highway 101, Guerneville Road, Sebastopol Road and Fulton/Wright Road. The group plans to hire some previously homeless people to help connect those in need with agencies who can help them.

Holmes said her organization is hoping this year for the same kind of generosity that last year motivated community members to help out with volunteer time setting up and staffing warming stations, as well as providing so many blankets, sleeping bags and warm apparel that everyone who needed something was served.

Donated clothing may be dropped off at the Catholic Charities Family Support Center, 465 A Street, in Santa Rosa. Those interested in volunteering can contact Holmes at her office, 542-5426

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.