Gilroy
– A nonprofit housing agency is overhauling blueprints for a
north Gilroy emergency shelter in hopes of jump-starting the
project and getting in step with new strategies to end
homelessness.
Gilroy – A nonprofit housing agency is overhauling blueprints for a north Gilroy emergency shelter in hopes of jump-starting the project and getting in step with new strategies to end homelessness.
The recasting of the Sobrato Transitional Center from an emergency shelter into a blend of overnight beds and permanent, affordable housing aims not only to end chronic homelessness for dozens of people, but to position the project for federal and private support, according to spokeswomen for the nonprofit EHC LifeBuilders in San Jose. The project stalled shortly after the start of construction last September as the housing market dipped, which in turn strained the ability of for-profit developers to make good on a $3 million pledge to donate labor and materials.
“We’ve taken this pause to look at the Sobrato Transitional Center,” said EHC spokeswoman Ragan Henninger, “and think about the original design, it’s effectiveness, and how to do the project in a way that better serves the homeless population.”
Since the project was first envisioned about six years ago, the focus of federal housing programs has shifted from overnight shelters to long-term housing combined with job training, health and other support services, Henninger said. The dwindling government support for agencies such as EHC has been increasingly earmarked for the construction and operation of permanent affordable housing.
The shift to the so-called “housing first” approach is no accident, according to Stephanie Schaaf, EHC’s public education and advocacy coordinator. “There’s a reason the funding is changing. It’s because the outcomes are much more successful.”
Schaaf pointed, for example, to the Pathways to Success program in New York that focused on providing permanent homes and support services. That project has seen an 84 percent success rate in keeping people in stable housing, Schaaf said.
The new concept for Sobrato relies on a similar approach. The three-story building would offer 64 permanent rooms for individuals, along with 76 overnight beds and support services. The original design included a mix of 75 overnight beds, 25 beds for three-month stays by individuals, and 10 studios earmarked for three-month stays by four-person families.
Under the new design, space in the new facility would still be reserved for people classified as “extremely low income” – individuals who earn less than $23,000 a year.
The proposed redesign is winning rave reviews from social services advocates, but it could face challenges at the hands of local politicians.
“Just because we get them off the street on a night to night basis, it doesn’t’ mean we get them doing anything productive during the day,” said Dina Campeau, chairwoman of an association of human service providers known as the South County Collaborative. “There is still the emergency shelter for emergency situations. But now there is the permanent housing to help those who will always have some kind of barrier, whether it’s a chronic illness or some other kind of disability. There is a place that they will be able to afford and they can be contributing members to the community.”
She did not think the facility would have trouble providing enough overnight service, even though it will have 50 fewer beds than the emergency shelter EHC now operates each winter at the National Guard Armory off Wren Avenue. That facility, which EHC plans to operate until it can open the year-round emergency shelter at Sobrato, usually sees a rush of people in the winter months, Campeau said. The hope of Campeau and EHC officials is that they will reduce the need for overnight beds by providing permanent housing for chronic homeless people.
At least one city councilman opposes the redesign, however. Gilroy City Councilman Craig Gartman has opposed the concentration of additional low-income housing as contrary to the city’s general plan, which calls for a neighborhoods to have housing for mixed income levels. He recently met with Henninger and Schaaf, who are spending the month of April pitching the redesign to local politicians, donors, and other stakeholders.
“I’m in favor of a transitional center, but I told them we’re going to have a problem here in putting more affordable houses in an area that’s already overloaded,” Gartman said.
He pointed out that council recently approved a 200-plus unit affordable housing development in the same area. But that project, which Gartman voted against, was earmarked for families earning as much as $90,000 a year.
In addition to the issue of housing mix, council may also take issue with the lack of a time limit on EHC’s units. Whereas family’s at the neighboring Sobrato Transitional Apartments are limited to a two-year stay, EHC has no plans to place a cap on the length of occupancy.
“I think the fear and resistance when we talk about permanent housing is that they’re going to stay there and they’re never going to move on,” Campeau said. “There are folks who do move on after they’ve been able to gain some income and skills after years of being on the streets. It takes them three months to even get used to sleeping inside of four walls.”
The Sobrato Transitional Center was originally proposed as a $6.6-million project measuring 25,000 square feet. The redesigned facility would sit on the same footprint as the original, though EHC officials were not able provide new cost estimates.
