Extension for Santa Rosa homeless shelter contract

By BRETT WILKISON

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Sonoma County supervisors are set to extend by five years a deal with the city of Santa Rosa to help pay for the Samuel Jones

homeless shelter on Finley Avenue.

The county’s contribution to the 120-bed facility — run by Catholic Charities under a contract with the city — is $100,000 a year.

County supervisors on Tuesday are set to reauthorize that funding for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and approve a five-year extension of the funding agreement with the city.

“It shows the county is committed to keeping this large shelter open,” said Mark Krug, community development manager for the county.

The money comes mostly from the county general fund, with about $30,000 from a separate affordable housing fund supported by hotel bed taxes.

The shelter was opened in 2005 in a former military building purchased by the city. It has served more than 920 individuals, according to 2010-2011 figures provided by the county. It was expanded from 80 beds in 2009 after the city closed a smaller shelter on Brookwood Avenue and consolidated other homeless services at Samuel Jones.

Catholic Charities has operated the facility since its opening. The total value of its contract is $470,303.

The Santa Rosa City Council on June 26 is set to reauthorize its share of that funding, at just over $235,800 in the current fiscal year.

The city continues to own the building and pays an additional amount for maintenance and services, now at about $59,000 a year.

The Community Foundation Sonoma County, which manages endowment funds and distributes about $250,000 a year to homeless service providers, has provided $134,500 annually for the shelter in recent years.

“We are pleased that the city of Santa Rosa, the county and the Community Foundation Sonoma County prioritize the desperate condition of people most in need — people who are homeless and need helping hands to gain or regain their health, employment skills, and the ability to secure and maintain housing,” Jennielynn Holmes-Davis, Catholic Charities’ manager of shelter and housing programs, said in an written statement.