SONOMA COUNTY (KRON) — As the Bay Area struggles to find answers to the homeless crisis, a new emergency shelter site is opening in just two days in Sonoma County.
Los Guilicos Village will soon be home to 60 people who currently live in tents along the Joe Rodota Trail.
“Our ultimate goal is that they are provided with the resources to become successful to elevate themselves and get to the next chapter in their lives,” Jack Tibbetts, executive director of St. Vincent De Paul.
More than 100 people live in tents along the Joe Rodota Trail in sonoma county.
“There is a tremendous health and safety risk on the trail for those individuals who inhabit the trail as well as those that utilize the trail in the community,” said Barbie Robinson, director of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services.
Just days ago officials got to work, constructing a temporary emergency shelter site, and 60 of those people living along the trail will soon be moving here.
“We are not just simply relocating individuals from the Joe Rodota Trail encampment. We are really trying to provide a beautiful and also safe and secure place where folks can really engage with the services they need to move ahead in their life,” said Christopher Godley, director of Sonoma County’s Department of Emergency Management.
Sixty-four square foot sheds line the parking lot near the Sonoma County Probation Department off of Route 12.
They’re heated and have windows, doors that lock and a bed inside.
There are also showers, toilets, laundry and a dog run on the site.
People living here will get three meals a day and case management services with the goal to move everyone into permanent housing.
“There’s already a level of excitement among the camp residents of people who are actually really excited to say goodbye to the tent and be able to go inside somewhere that is warm and dry and has electricity,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins.
Construction started just two weeks ago but they plan to have people living in the shelter by this weekend.