The former Hampton Inn & Suites by Interstate 80 (I-80) on the intersection of Sunrise Boulevard and Douglas Boulevard in Roseville, California, is being converted into a permanent supportive housing facility following the increase of homelessness in Placer County. This project is one of many in the county’s efforts to decentralize housing options following the rise of homelessness in the region.
The pandemic’s economic displacement has impacted residents from all over the state, which prompted the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to launch Homekey, a project that aims to address the issue of homelessness throughout the state by providing permanent shelters and services to those who have been financially and physically affected by the pandemic. Within the span of four years, Hampton Inn & Suites in Roseville went from being a hotel to a temporary emergency shelter part of Project Roomkey, the immediate project in response to COVID-19, to currently being slowly converted into a facility part of Project Homekey, a permanent supportive housing option.
“In 2020, (Hampton Inn & Suites) became Project Roomkey, so that anybody that’s experiencing homelessness and at a high risk of getting COVID, they would have a place to shelter-in-place,” Letty Woodworth, Director of the Sun Rose Apartments, said. “Once we were awarded the funding (for Project Homekey), we took over, so it’s still technically a shelter for people that are at high risk of COVID, … but we chose to continue to house them here (permanently) since they would be eligible for Project Homekey.”
Placer County is known for having the lowest rate of homelessness in Northern California, and the sixth lowest out of California’s 58 counties. Yet, from 2019 to 2020, the county’s homelessness rate per 10,000 residents rose from 15.5 to 18.4, according to Placer County District 1 Supervisor Bonnie Gore. A number of organizations such as the Alliance for Mental Illness (AMI) Housing and the Gathering Inn have been partnering with Placer County to supply necessary residences for those who are in need.
Placer County and AMI Housing recently partnered and were granted $29.5 million as a part of Project Homkey from HCD for the Hampton Inn Suites/Sun Rose Apartments project. The Sun Rose Apartments are considered permanent supportive housing, which mandates residents to supply one-third of their income to cover costs for their residences at these apartments.
Gore stresses that these housing options are for the employed who may not have a stable place to live, or may suffer due to mental illnesses or substance abuse.
“(People residing at the Sun Rose Apartments) are people that our county staff have identified … (with) mental health issues, substance abuse issues, providing them with services, and they’re to a point where they’re stable enough … (to) move into a unit,” Gore said to the Gazette.
Supportive services are also available for those residing in permanent supportive housing. A medical support staff is fully ready at the site; counselors and mentors are available for life skills classes, housing navigation and mental health therapy.
These services offered at permanent supportive houses can help those who were formerly unsheltered to have a place to stay. Gore says that 75% of unsheltered persons in Placer County were residents, rather than external migrants.
The Sun Rose Apartments initiative is just one of many projects Placer County is advancing as part of Project Homekey since 2021, according to Gore. In addition to permanent housing, temporary shelters have been built, such as the Auburn Mobile Temporary Shelter, which opened in Feb. 2023 and housed 50 non-congregate beds. The Gathering Inn has another similar facility of their emergency housing option, with two shelters in Roseville and Auburn. They also have numerous nomadic shelters scattered throughout the county.
The county has noted that many unhoused suffer mental health and substance abuse issues. To specifically address this, the county recently issued the Lotus Behavioral Health Crisis Center, allowing temporary stays up to 23 hours while receiving one-on-one support from a wellness staff member. In addition, the county launched several teams dedicated toward mental health cases specifically. Mobile Crisis Teams have been launched to address mental health issues among those unsheltered, in addition to Probation Outreach Vehicles, which provides legal guidance. In addition, the Homeless Outreach Liaison Teams dedicates its work to informing citizens in encampment of housing options.
With more services throughout the region and the Sun Rose Apartments in such a major downtown area, Gore hopes to decentralize both permanent housing and the idea of permanent housing.
On the other hand, many citizens within the region have been against the idea of these shelters in such close proximity. With Placer County’s low levels of homelessness historically compared to many counties in the state, many residents are concerned with this idea. Many correlate the presence of those who are unsheltered with rises in crime and poses a security threat for children in nearby schools.
“I am against the proposed shelter in Rocklin, Roseville, and Lincoln due to the close proximity of schools, children playing in our parks, and their loitering and harassing citizens. Please consider another location where they can receive services,” Placer County resident Carol Belanger wrote in a comment in favor of a petition to block planned homeless shelters in Placer County in 2017. “We are not afraid of the homeless. The surrounding communities don’t want to have loitering and harassment from these people. They are the ones who choose to be homeless and don’t want help or direction for a better way of life.”
However, in response to the backlash, AMI Housing CEO Jennifer Price defends the safe nature of these facilities.
“For folks who need more assistance or have disabilities or need a little extra hand up, there has to be an option for them. And so our role is to just really try to help them and to also try to buy and be good neighbors. So we’ve got to be able to find a good medium…where we can meet in the middle so (that) we’re not leaving the people who need the most help without any help, but we’re also not creating an environment that’s … unsafe or unfair,” Price said.
Finding a place for those who are unsheltered is just the first step in addressing the issue, according to Gore; the subsequent actions are equally important.
“This is really about addressing an issue with compassion but also accountability. It’s really important that we just don’t put people into places to live, we really look at what their needs are,” Gore said at the Regional Homeless Planning Update in Sep. 2023.
