Dear Council Members,
I was dismayed that Sebastopol is yet again being asked to care for the unhoused while many communi�es around us have no homeless services and are not in a fiscal crisis. How come the public was never able to weigh in on this decision, which impacts our whole community? Council just declared a fiscal emergency. Sebastopol already has the highest per capita of homeless people in Sonoma County and the highest per capita of homeless beds in Sonoma County.
Every single community in Sonoma County has less homeless people and less homeless services per capita than Sebastopol.
Supervisor Hopkins already took our only downtown hotel for homeless housing, which is a significant contributor to our revenue shortage. Why is she targe�ng our community for a warming center when Cota�, Forestville and countless other loca�ons have zero homeless services.
Our police, fire and public works departments are strained. We already have a group of permanent homeless people. We can’t afford to have another group setle into our community as they are resource intensive.
Please ask Supervisor Hopkins to direct her funds and the warming center to a community that is not in a financial crisis, to a community that does not have the same funding issues that we currently have.
htps://www.pressdemocrat.com/ar�cle/news/as-temperatures-drop-focus-turns-to-warmingcenters-for-people-who-are-hom/ Sebastopol has already done an incredible amount to help the unhoused from Park Village to Horizon Shine to Elderberry Commons. We have done more than ci�es like Windsor and Healdsburg which have significantly larger budgets and more resources.
The lawsuit with the ACLU is cos�ng ci�zens over $300,000. Will having a Warming Center make the City more vulnerable if people come to the Warming Center and then want to stay? To put it bluntly, we can’t afford to have more homeless services Sebastopol does not have the financial or staffing resources.
Ask Supervisor Hopkins to put the Warming Center in Forestville or Cota�. Due to the fiscal emergency and on-going ACLU lawsuit, Sebastopol is not able to help at this �me.
Thank you,
Kate Haug