On Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 the Santa Rosa City Council received a report from the Housing and Community Services Department outlining the City's progress toward implementing year two of its the five-year Homelessness Solutions Strategic Plan. The plan provides key strategies and actions that focus on bolstering the City's response to the homelessness crises, aligning efforts with the Sonoma County Homeless Coalition to achieve the regional goal of "Functional Zero" homelessness by 2027. A system of care achieves "Functional Zero" when a person's experience with homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.
Report Analysis
Santa Rosa continues to make progress toward implementing its Strategic Plan through investments in homeless services and affordable housing and collaboration with regional partners through the Sonoma County Homeless Coalition. The City invests approximately $5 million annually for homeless services plus one-time funds from local, state, and federal resources to augment its efforts.
Year Two Outcomes
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More People Housed: In Fiscal Year 2023/2024, 579 individuals were housed through City sponsored programs, a 52% increase over the prior fiscal year. The City also took the lead on implementing a two-year regional homelessness prevention pilot program (Keep People Housed - Sonoma) which is expected to prevent 350-400 households from falling into homelessness.
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More Affordable Housing: $58.5 million from a variety of sources administered by the City and the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Rosa resulted in the completion of 561 affordable housing units in the past 24 months, 246 units are under construction, and 131 Emergency Housing Vouchers administered by the Housing Authority are fully leased.
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Fewer People Homeless: Between 2022 and 2024, the first two years of the five-year Strategic Plan, homelessness decreased in Santa Rosa by 18 percent from 1,658 persons to 1,365. The most significant decrease (30 percent) occurred between 2022 and 2023 from 1,658 persons to 1,160 due in part to one-time funding available during the COVID-19 pandemic and increased resources from the State of California's Homekey program. This was followed by an 18 percent increase between 2023 and 2024 from 1,160 persons to 1,365.
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No Large Encampments and Fewer Encampments: Since its inception in 2022, the City Encampment Team's proactive approach has successfully prevented the formation of large encampments (10 or more dwellings) which present significant health and safety risks. Currently most encampments contain fewer than five dwellings. Additionally, the team has reduced the number of occupied recreation vehicles (RVs) and vehicles by 89 percent citywide (211 dwellings to 23) and the overall number of encampments by 43 percent (35 total encampments to 20).
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Year Three Implementation Plan: City staff has developed a Year Three Implementation Plan (2025). Key areas include continued administration of one-time funds (Encampment Relief Fund and HOME-ARP) to provide enhanced supportive services to persons experiencing or at-risk of homelessness; overseeing year one of Keep People Housed - Sonoma; and continuing enhanced support to disproportionately impacted neighborhoods via the City Encampment Team.
More Information - Strategies and Year Two Accomplishments
More information, including the Strategic Plan's overarching strategies and Year Two accomplishments are summarized in the staff report, Year Two Implementation Plan, and presentation provided to City Council. Visit the City's Legistar Website to review these resources.