BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TACKLES HOMELESSNESS
The unsheltered situation in the White Slough area of Vallejo, its crime and environmental issues long making it a source of concern for the Solano County Board of Supervisors, was the topic of discussion with the Vallejo Fire Department during a meeting Tuesday morning.
A proposed Good Neighbor Policy for Development Projects in Solano County's unincorporated areas was brought up a few times. The board approved a contract for mental health services and accepted a grant from the Office of Youth and Community Restoration. They designated April 1-7 as National Public Health Week in Solano County.
Battalion Chief James Rustice — speaking on behalf of the Vallejo Fire Department, and Senior Management Analyst from the county administrator's office Nancy Nelson were there to conduct their quarterly meeting with the board. Retiring Board member Erin Hannigan was the first member to raise concerns to Chief Rustice over the large homeless camp that popped up on White Slough near Highway 37.
“I hear quite a bit from the Olympia mobile home park that's near the camp and there are concerns that they have with the homelessness,” said Hannigan. “It's pure crime that is occurring out there. I mean, let's call it what it is. Stolen vehicles are being dismantled on the water. This is a big deal. Because environmentally, it's a tragedy.”
This would not be the first time the area in Vallejo has been used for the unhoused. In January, less than a mile away from White Slough, unhoused people were forced out of Enterprise Street to make room for the Bay Trail/Vine Trail Gap Closure Project.
“Where do we go?” many of them asked as they packed their belongings while city officials and law enforcement officers stood by. Some of them found shelter in another Vallejo encampment, only to be evicted in what homeless advocates call “the leaf blower effect.”
According to the 2022 Solano County Point-in-Time Count, there were 1,179 people living in shelters or on the streets in Solano County, 454 in Vallejo. An estimated 15-17 people were living at the encampment on Enterprise Street in January, Assistant to the City Manager Natalie Peterson told the Times-Herald in January.
On Jan. 3, about seven of them moved to an encampment at the city's municipal boat launch at 139 Curtola Parkway, according to Jose “Joey” Carrizales, a commissioner with the Vallejo Housing Community Development Commission and a longtime advocate for people experiencing homelessness.
Carrizales estimates that about four of the people who left Enterprise Street in January went to the encampment on Sonoma Boulevard he described as being located behind a Carl's Jr. restaurant.
“Typically, homeless people locate in a place, objections are raised to their being there and they are simply blown to another place temporarily, until again they are blown to another place,” said Osha Neumann in February. Neumann is a Bay Area civil rights attorney who has worked with people who are unhoused for 25 years.
One of the main issues with where the camp is that it spills over between districts.
Hannigan also suggested moving unhoused people to the soon-to-be permanent supportive housing program in Northern Vallejo. The city received $2.5 million last year for a 48-unit Broadway Project, also referred to as Project Homekey which is said to be finished within a year.
“There's no boundary in terms of where this — White Slough — is at. It does warrant a coordinated effort among all the jurisdictions to try to address this,” said Rustice.
A Good Neighbor Policy for Development Projects in Solano County's unincorporated areas was proposed. However, edits still need to be made to the policy, which includes expanding the radius of the policy and more clarification. They will vote on this policy next month on April 23.
The next items on the agenda were to approve a second contract with Aldea Inc. for $490,000 for a total contract amount of $1.4 million to increase medically necessary outpatient mental health services for children and adolescents under the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) and accept the Office of Youth and Community Restoration Less Restrictive Program Grant of $1.4 million from the Office of Youth and Community Restoration.