Opening delayed for new Vallejo housing for homeless

VALLEJO – The opening of a long-awaited new housing development for homeless Vallejo residents has been delayed for at least a month, city officials confirmed to the Vallejo Sun on Tuesday.

The Blue Oak Landing housing project on Sacramento Street was slated to open by January, but as of the end of the month it still had not opened. Assistant City Manager Gillian Hayes said that rain and issues with PG&E caused the delay and the city now expects it to open at the end of February.

However, even the end of February may not be attainable. Birgit Johnston, a spokesperson for Eden Housing, said that construction was delayed by the rain and the site needs to dry out before the project could be completed. She said that Eden is hoping that PG&E can schedule to power the site “within the next few months.”

“[We] are hoping things can move forward more expeditiously as we are eager to welcome our new residents,” Johnston said.

PG&E spokesperson Megan McFarland said Wednesday that the development is scheduled to receive power on March 3.

When it opens, Blue Oak Landing will be a 75-unit permanent supportive housing project with apartments for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, according to Eden Housing’s website.

The amenities will include a community garden, a computer lab, electric vehicle charging stations, a library and a playground.

Most of the units will be set aside for people who earn between 20% and 40% of the median area income, or between $17,000 and $35,000. When applications for those units opened in July, there was massive demand, as the city received 1,049 applicants for 51 units in three hours.

The remaining 23 units would be filled from the No Place Like Home program, which serves homeless people with severe mental illness countywide. A final unit is reserved for an on-site manager.

Eden Housing is developing the project using modular housing from Mare Island-based Factory_OS. The project experienced some difficulties after the city revealed in July that, due to unspecified errors, the city must pay back $2.6 million in federal grant funds associated with the project.

The delay comes as homeless Vallejo residents have struggled with torrential rains and cold conditions throughout the winter.

The city sporadically opened a warming center in December and January either at the Norman C. King Community Center in South Vallejo or at the JFK Library near City Hall, but resources have remained scarce for much of the winter.

Blue Oak Landing is one of three housing projects for the city’s homeless population that is in development and the closest to fruition.

Next week, the Solano County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider a funding request for the other two, a long-delayed homeless navigation center and a second supportive housing project in North Vallejo.

Vallejo is requesting $7.6 million to help build the 125-bed navigation center and $4 million for the housing project, which would add 48 units of affordable housing on Broadway Street.

The navigation center’s development has been fraught as the project went millions of dollars over budget and the original proposed location was found to be unfit for human habitation. The city council settled on a new location nearly a year later, when it voted to purchase a parcel on Broadway for the center in November.

The Broadway project could also face delays as two American Canyon men filed a lawsuit to block the project last summer, arguing that it would have a negative effect on the surrounding residents.

The Broadway project will be funded in part with $12 million in state Project HomeKey funds. City officials have allocated an additional $2 million but estimate that the project will cost a total of $22 million.

The county Board of Supervisors is expected to take up Vallejo’s request for American Rescue Plan Act funds at its meeting Tuesday.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a comment from PG&E.