The city of Sebastopol is inviting the community to attend a meeting discussing Sonoma County’s purchase of the Sebastopol Inn to shelter homeless residents vulnerable to COVID-19 through California’s new Project Homekey program.
According to a Dec. 8 city press release, county representatives will answer questions regarding the move “and will present plans for next steps, move-in dates and operations” at the Dec. 15 city council meeting at 6 p.m. over Zoom. Residents who want to provide input and ask questions can email
ci*********@ci**************.org if they cannot make the meeting.
Project Homekey seeks to fund local government purchases of motels, hotels, vacant apartments and other buildings to provide interim or permanent supportive housing for unsheltered people susceptible to the virus, as stated by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
The Sebastopol Inn would offer 31 renovated units near downtown Sebastopol to house 31 or more people once in motion.
The county quested after the Sebastopol Inn and Hotel Azura in Santa Rosa because the two “are near grocery stores, restaurants, post offices, medical services, churches and transportation,” according to the county webpage for local Project Homekey plans.
People over 65 years old and those with compromised immune systems, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health complications that altogether increase COVID-19 vulnerability will be prioritized for housing at the Sebastopol Inn, the county said. Recipients would take part in the county’s Accessing Coordinated Care to Empower Self Sufficiency (ACCESS) program for a holistic approach to behavioral, health, economic and food services and other resources, Robinson said in a November presentation to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
The city press release said those receiving shelter from Non-Congregate Sites (NCS) are eligible, while the county’s Project Homekey web page specifies further that people sheltered by Redwood Alliance in Occidental and the Astro Hotel and trailers at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa will comprise “many of the future residents.”
