Elk Grove picks operator for temporary homeless shelter. Here are the latest plans for site

Elk Grove is moving along with its plans to open a temporary homeless shelter from November through March, and the city this week approved an operator.

The Elk Grove City Council voted Wednesday to enter a consulting contract with The Gathering Inn, a Placer County-based homelessness nonprofit, which will run what the city is calling an “Enhanced Winter Sanctuary.”

The site, approved by city officials Sept. 5, is a former Rite Aid building at 9260 Elk Grove Blvd. It will be open as a sanctuary from Nov. 1 through March 31.

The shelter location is a temporary site, as the building is owned by the city and will be the future new home of the Elk Grove Library. Library construction will not begin until mid-2024, ahead of an expected opening in late 2025.

The city will evaluate future locations for the Enhanced Winter Sanctuary if the temporary site is a success.

The Gathering Inn has served unhoused people in Placer County since 2004. It currently runs emergency shelters in Roseville and Auburn that together serve about 250 people daily, according to the organization’s website.

The nonprofit emphasizes substance use counseling services; mental health; and connections to housing, education and training.

The Gathering Inn CEO Keith Estes is proud to have been selected as the operator for the site in Elk Grove. He said homelessness is “all that we do” at The Gathering Inn.

“The building is fantastic for this. We can talk about the location, but the building itself is excellent for this service,” Estes said in Wednesday’s meeting. “At the end of the day, our mission is to take folks experiencing homelessness and get them into sustainable housing. Everything else we do the case management, the mental health, all that stuff works towards that goal and the philanthropy that we do as well.”

Elk Grove housing and public services manager Sarah Bontrager told The Sacramento Bee that the sanctuary will be open 24 hours a day and house up to 30 adults with wraparound services available to them.

“They have planned a really robust staffing, which includes…a program director and at least two shelter monitors at all times,” Bontrager said. “They’ll have two full-time case managers, one full-time substance use disorder counselor and a half-time mental health clinician. We expect that there’ll be an opportunity for other service providers in our community to also come in and provide services on site as needed.”

Other positions include nine shelter monitors, executive oversight and a data coordinator.

Families with children will not stay at the sanctuary; they will continue to be served by motel voucher programs. Pets will be allowed.

Potential occupants will be vetted and evaluated by a social services agency and will need a referral to use the shelter. The temporary shelter will be by referral only, and priority will go to people experiencing homelessness in Elk Grove, a tactic the city decided to use to reduce neighborhood burden.

Those who are approved will have a bed for the season. However, their stay isn’t guaranteed. Temporary occupants may be asked to leave for behavioral reasons or missing more than one night without approval.

The site won’t approve registered sex offenders; individuals with extreme behavioral health challenges; or people who use any substance, such as drugs or alcohol, on-site. The site prohibits weapons, alcohol, non-prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia. Occupants may be subject to searches conducted by service providers.

The site also prohibits loitering and unauthorized drop-offs. It will be monitored by Elk Grove police, and a nightly curfew will be enforced.

Police Chief Bobby Davis said there will be a “very visible” presence of public safety and law enforcement.

There will be additional cameras in the area including surveillance cameras, street cameras and regular squad cars with cameras built in parked in front of the building. There will be additional officers patrolling, including homelessness outreach responders.

“The idea is that we can provide a level of security and safety for the folks in our community. We’re going to do that for the best of our ability, obviously, but it’s going to be for everybody in our community,” Davis said in Wednesday’s meeting. “It’s going to be for the sanctuary itself, but it’s also going to be for the people who have questions and concerns and who will be there for the entirety of this project to ensure that everybody is going to be safe and they can navigate that space in comfort knowing they have local safety.”