Vallejo City Council approves operator contracts for long-delayed navigation center, Broadway project

VALLEJO – The city is expected to finally open a long-planned navigation center for people experiencing homelessness, and a long-delayed affordable housing village this summer, as city leaders signaled they prefer coordinated approaches to addressing homelessness.

The Vallejo City Council voted unanimously to spend $6.3 million on a contract for the new navigation center helping unhoused people access different services, which is expected to open later this month. The council also voted 6-1 — with Mayor Andrea Sorce opposed — to approve Concord-based Shelter Inc. as the operator of the $27 million project at 2441 Broadway. 

The Broadway project — finally about 99% done, according to assistant to the city manager Natalie Peterson, following a bailout and other issues — will offer 47 permanent supportive homes and case management assistance for 15 years under the contract with the possibility to extend. Its process will follow the “housing first” model, staff said, which allows people to first get sheltered, including with their pets, and then get the services they need including employment and behavioral health assistance.

Sorce said that while the council is being pressured to move the long-delayed project forward, she wasn't ready to approve it. 

“I think there are still too many questions unanswered,” Sorce said. “We had so many cost overruns already that I think we’ve got to set ourselves up to not have this happen again. If it can’t be fully funded by project-based vouchers, what is it going to take and where are we going to find that money?”

Vice Mayor Peter Bregenzer said he was “baffled” that the project still needed $1.1 million to cover things like security cameras and furniture.

“Every time, our partners sit on their hands while we come up with the funding from taxpayer dollars,” Bregenzer said. “I would like to see [Firm Foundation] relinquish their developer fees to finish the rest of the project.”

Former Vice Mayor Mina Loera-Diaz, who in the past requested an audit of the project, said she sees the same flaws as before and criticized the decision to continue working with Firm Foundation due to what she characterized as a lack of experience with affordable housing developments.

“Vallejo’s not a training ground,” Loera-Diaz said. “We need to vet the people coming in for these housing projects better. Please don’t go approving more projects until you have people who are more experienced. We shouldn’t just be giving the housing away.”

Navigation center gets unanimous support

Vallejo’s planned navigation center was held up Tuesday night as a pathway to improving how unhoused people will enter coordinated programs toward housing and other services. 

Resource Connect Solano director DeAndre Richard, chair of Housing First Solano, said that coordinated entry systems help people know where to go for assistance. More than 300 people are in the current system, although there are more than 700 unhoused people to reach according to the most recent Point-in-Time count, he said. Since March, at least 72 people per month have entered the 2-1-1 intake and assessment process — either by calling 211 or going to a physical intake location — with more than 100 asking for help during May. 

Barbara Simpson, clinical director of 4th Second Vallejo, said her program conducts outreach on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help get people into the Homelessness Management Information System, which tracks who’s in need and what services they may require. However, she said the system in place isn’t sufficient. 

“We’re seeing an increase of unhoused people due to the severe shortage of affordable housing in the area, lack of emergency shelters, lack of funding for the existing shelters, lack of effective and efficient mental health housing and crisis intervention,” Simpson said. “Our goal in outreach is not just to offer services, but to offer hope, consistency and a path forward.”

Simpson implored the council to adopt a formal notification process for handling encampment removals. Outreach agencies must be notified at least 10 days before an encampment is cleared, she said, in order to contact encampment residents at least seven days before a removal. 

Peterson, who focuses on homelessness, admitted the most recent encampment removal near City Hall did not give agencies enough time to contact encampment residents. Simpson said that outreach agencies need the lead time to reduce traumatizing vulnerable people and improve providers’ chances of compassionately connecting people with services and housing.

“When outreach is tied to enforcement, even unintentionally, we risk the retraumatizing of individuals, damaging rapport and pushing them further away from the services we are trying to provide for them,” Simpson said. 

Councilmember Tonia Lediju said that she couldn't see how the navigation center’s current budget will keep it operating for long, due to multiple ongoing costs including insurance. She said that the number of suggested staffers could not possibly handle the number of tasks demanded of them.

Peterson said the city could explore whether it could find $365,000 to add two additional care managers for two years. She added that the center, along with the Broadway Village, could improve the city’s chances of securing state funds for encampment removals. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is also reviewing whether the city can use $1.8 million in American Rescue Plan funding for the center, she added. 

Council recommends joining homelessness round table, rejects ‘safe camping’

The council also got an extensive update about other ways to approach homelessness, including suggestions from city staff about designating various sites where unhoused people might be allowed to camp without being removed. Councilmembers said they preferred to allow religious organizations and nonprofits to explore their own “safe camping” sites, and rejected a suggestion to form a new ad-hoc committee on homelessness. 

Councilmember Alexander Matias asked staff to arrange a garbage route for picking up trash at encampments, knowing there are around 100 reported around the city. He said the city must also create a plan for addressing the needs of more than 700 unhoused people, including how many people may benefit from the Broadway project and navigation center.

Sorce agreed, saying that the city needs more data on how many people will be left without shelter once the Broadway project’s homes and all other beds are filled. 

“I very wholly reject this idea that we're going to pit parts of the city against each other,” Sorce said. “No matter what, everybody’s got issues. I’m getting it from every part of the city. The vast majority of Vallejoans want a humane response.”

Lediju said staff is already aware of ways to handle private and public partnerships to come up with solutions. She approved the suggestion that staff join Vallejo Together’s round table on homelessness on the first Wednesday of each month.

“That’s enough direction,” Lediju said, addressing City Manager Andrew Murray. “We don’t need a new ad hoc committee. There’s three of us on the safety committee.”

The council voted 6-1 - with Sorce again opposed - for staff to join Vallejo Together’s round tables and give updates beginning in July, as the city continues scheduled encampment removals as planned. 

More than 20 people had signed up to comment on the update, although some had left city hall by the time the item was discussed at 11 p.m. The meeting started at 7:30 p.m. and ran until 2 a.m.

Resident and downtown business owner Richard Abbott opposed allowing “managed” camping downtown, saying the city must focus on increasing the area’s economic vitality and encouraging people shopping there on foot. 

“We want to show compassion for the unhoused, but that is not the place to put them,” Abbott said. 

Resident Kat McNeil said that she has been unhoused for years, and despite contacts from Vallejo police officers, she said she has never been contacted by city staff about any solutions or resources.

“You’ve got to talk to us to find out what you need to do for us,” McNeil told the council.