Recapping Elk Grove's homeless shelter meeting; How the city is approaching homelessness post Johnson v. Grants Pass, Oak Rose

Ed. note. This is the first installment of a two part series. Part II will be published this Sunday.

This part is a recap of some observations from last night's homeless shelter meeting and is a lead-in to the second part by Mr. Monasky titled Why Elk Grove needs a homeless shelter; How affordable housing eludes us. 

On the evening of Thursday, September 12, a meeting was conducted by the city of Elk Grove on the soon-to-open year-round homeless shelter. That new facility will be located at the Calvary Christian Center church on East Stockton Boulevard. 

The meeting started with remarks from Elk Grove city manager Jason Behrmann and housing manager Sarah Bontrager (hear the audio recording here). There were several information booths that covered various aspects of shelters operation. 

To hear the Elk Grove city manager explain it, the new homeless shelter adjunct to Calvary Christian Center must be a mea culpa to State Attorney General Rob Bonta for the Oak Rose supportive housing fiasco committed by the Elk Grove City Council. 

In the last two years, the city has run up a pricey $10 million tab covering its egregious errors in refusing to allow a mandated shelter for homeless disabled persons in the Old Town Special Planning Area.

Regardless, the new temporary location, leased to the city by the church, at what was once the maintenance facility at the old Chrysler Ford dealership, will house 30 homeless people who fit very strict criteria. There will also be five beds for urgency needs as they arise. 

Residents must be referred by “navigators” who will ensure that out of town homeless will not be queuing up, said Housing Manager Sarah Bontrager. 

The city council recently passed an ordinance allowing the police to confiscate the property of those found sleeping in public and subject to arrest. Their action was paved by the recent U.S. Supreme Court of the United States decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson that has made this possible by making legal police actions against homeless encampments. 

For those not selected for the facility and are in violation of the city encampment ordinance, “the Elk Grove Police Department will deal with that,” Bontrager said. Illegal encampment inhabitants will be issued citations by the community prosecutor and after they are issued 10, that homeless person goes to jail.

City manager Behrmann claimed citizen surveys supports the establishment of a homeless shelter, and the city is using local sales tax funds authorized by Measure E to pay for these services, infrastructure, and lease costs. Behrmann also said there were citizens’ who expressed concerns and fears of having the homeless shelter in their neighborhood.

Ms. Bontrager said that the church will receive $88,000 per year on a three-year contract with an option to extend one additional year. Split over two years will be grants from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), $1 million; HUD Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), $600,000; and Measure E, $2 million. 

Bontrager said that the average cost per client per day at the winter 2023-2024 Rite Aid site was about $100. For 30 people, that comes to about $90,000 per month. She said that the shelter will likely open in November 2024 and run year-round.

This shelter arrangement must still be approved by the city council, likely at the September 25, 2024 meeting. Like the Rite Aid site last winter, there is no on-site kitchen, and there are no on-site restrooms. Toilets and showers will be provided by a portable vendor and meals will be provided by an outside kitchen or restaurant.

The city’s policy toward the homeless sounds hardhanded and does not appear to have changed despite the expensive, apparently unlearned lesson of Oak Rose. City manager Berhmann said “the homeless will be given the option to take shelter or leave.” 

With the resources of two full-time case managers, clients will be required as needed to attend meetings about drug addiction and job search.

 “Connections to housing and jobs must be done in six months or less,” Bontrager said, “or they’ll no longer be in the program.”

Sacramento County will be involved in funding assistance through the Mental Health Services Act. County staff and third party mental health providers such as Turning Point are expected to participate. The city did not mention just how much MHSA funding would be expended.

Another meeting will be held on Monday, September 16 at the Calvary Christian Center between noon and 1:30 p.m.