On Thursday, May 18, the Sacramento Bee posted an article about the County’s plan to ramp down Project Roomkey (PRK) in the coming months. However, the characterization of supports and services being provided to the participants in PRK was misrepresented by the Bee article. It also had several points that are either factually incorrect, or lack the context needed to understand the truth of the issue.
There were several facts conveyed to the reporter that she decided not to use in the story, so Sacramento County is adding to and correcting the record.
Sacramento County has been funding and operating PRK since April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program started out as four motels with 522 prevention rooms and 41 medical isolation trailers. While there, residents have had three meals delivered to their door each day, and have been provided laundry services and connections to social, public health and rehousing services.
Although there were many partners, including other jurisdictions, PRK was funded primarily through CARE Act and Federal funding through FEMA. These funds were braided together to operate this program, and mostly went away with the end of the Public Health Emergency, leaving the County to fund the Program solely with General Fund.
By August 2020, it was clear that this sheltering model was transitioning into a longer term COVID-19 prevention approach and the PRK team inclusive of county staff from DHA and Behavioral Health, the City of Sacramento and Sacramento Steps Forward incorporated new oversight measures that supported the rehousing of PRK participants. Through weekly case conferencing, updated tools in HMIS, and leveraging a mix of existing county and community resources, the team supported the rehousing of 542 PRK participants over time.
While the program has been slowly ramping down as the public health emergency response has ended, PRK is still sheltering 140 households, representing 181 people, in the remaining two motel locations.
The following bold statements are what were stated or implied in the Bee article; additions and/or corrections are provided below each statement:
- The County will evict anyone still sheltering in motels at their date of closure.
- Incorrect – while one of the locations is reverting back to general use starting in July, participants in those rooms, that have not yet exited into a housing situation, will be provided alternative shelter, either at an existing County facility or through motel vouchers. Rehousing supports will be available to clients for up to a year, even after their location ramps down.
- Although the article states that individuals will be evicted, technically eviction proceedings are not necessary as PRK participants neither have leases nor pay rent, so legally have no tenancy rights
- Participants indicate that they are not receiving any housing support services and that rehousing service were just approved by the Board in April and haven’t started yet.
- Incorrect – rehousing services have been available to PRK participants for more than a year. Not only are there several Community Based Organizations (CBO’s) already connected to participants that have rehousing elements, but the County referred every participant to CalAIM, which have rehousing services, as well as an onsite part time rehousing navigator through Sacramento Steps Forward, beginning in June 2022.
- With the upcoming ramp down of the program, the Board of Supervisors approved additional funding in April 2023 for five dedicated rehousing navigators to assist participants with work that is already in progress.
- Despite the approval of more rehousing staff, none of them have yet met with participants and only three of five have even been hired.
- The Board approved the funding to hire rehousing navigators on April 18. In the one month since that approval, the County and its CBO for rehousing have posted the position, conducted interviews, hired all five staff, ran background checks and on-boarded three of the five employees. The Rehousing team is currently reviewing PRK participant case files to determine what individuals may be eligible for and creating comprehensive rehousing plans for each of their clients. The Rehousing Team supervisor has already connected with property owners and have them committed to prioritize PRK participants for approximately 50 units. Meetings are scheduled with clients for the week of May 22. The goal of this method is to come to clients with a strong understanding of participants’ resources and housing needs and offer solutions and a path to housing.
- The additional two positions are finalizing their hiring process and will begin their own work by the end of next week.
- A participant in PRK said “I feel like they’re just slapping us on the hand and saying, ‘You figure it out.’”
- County staff from DHA and Behavioral Health, Sacramento Steps Forward, Next Move and a host of other homeless service providers, including the Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans, through CalAIM, are meeting weekly to assess the supports, services and potential housing availability for PRK participants.
- However, participants are required to be a partner in the outcomes of their future, including being forthcoming about all of their available income and resources, as well as consider every reasonable housing option offered to them.
- A participant in PRK said “I thought that I would get help with housing “The help that is, really isn’t any help at all.”
- The promise to every participant in PRK is two reasonable offers of housing. If they decline reasonable housing, they may be exited from the program. PRK currently provides a private room, three meals a day delivered to each room, laundry facilities and transportation support to participants. This short-term, emergency response effort has provided more individualized care than many shelters are able to, and understandably many individuals are not eager to leave a situation where they are provided this type of care. Participants turn down reasonable housing options for many reasons, but options are being offered.
- The County spends $4,000 per room, per month, on this short-term sheltering effort. The funds spent on this effort can be more effectively spent to serve more people in more sustainable settings, whether they be permanent housing options or safe stay communities.
- The article stated that PRK was never intended to provide any meaningful help or rehousing solutions.
- When PRK was stood up in April 2020 as a three-month emergency effort to protect elderly, medically vulnerable unhoused people from contracting COVID-19, rehousing was not immediately part of the plan. However, in the three years since then, rehousing has become a primary focus of the program, as represented by the external rehousing supports that have been in place for more than a year. As mentioned above, over time many longer term participants have been offered other housing options that they have not chosen to take.
- After calling 148 housing options on a rehousing flyer, only three units were available. The program expects participants to navigate this effort on their own.
- The County does not expect participants to navigate rehousing on their own. The County and its partners are currently helping each participant with potential rehousing options. The County does not maintain or provide a list of properties for participants and did not provide that flyer.
- The three units the Bee identified are not an exhaustive list of available units for referrals or housing vouchers. The County and its contractors have already identified a large number of available units that take Housing Choice Vouchers and are preparing to help PRK participants move into these units and provide the funding to assist with move in costs.
To date, PRK has supported 542 people in transitioning to permanent housing and 783 people to safe, transitional locations.
The County remains committed to providing support and rehousing services to the participants in PRK. The program is ramping down, but active and willing participants in the rehousing process will not be exiting to the street. In addition, the County and its partners will provide a weekly data report on the status of rehousing efforts for the remaining PRK participants.
Harmful misrepresentations of the facts or omitting important information about PRK, its participants and the services provided not only undermine the positive relationship between provider and client and breeds distrust, but similarly have harmful effects on the partnership the County has built with service providers and CBOs in the community that are critical to the effort to serve the unhoused population.
The County works hand in hand with local media to provide information on PRK and other important issues. The news media plays a vital role in a democratic society, as it serves as a crucial information source, holding power accountable, promoting transparency, and facilitating informed public discourse. Therefore, County representatives are always available to provide additional information or answer follow-up questions from our partners in the local media. We expect from the reporters with whom we work the same level of professional responsibility that we provide.
A majority of the time, our partners in the local media get it right, and we appreciate their hard work and reporting, without omissions of important contextual information.
