Urgency Ordinance 2021-01 of the City Council of the City of Fairfield Authorizing an Emergency Shelter to Operate at 2100 Pennsylvania Avenue During the Declared COVID­19 Emergency Subject to Established Standards; and 

Resolution 2021-17 of the City Council of the City of Fairfield Approving a Memorandum of Understanding with BayNorth Church to Extend an Emergency COVID­19 Sheltering Plan for High ­Risk Homeless Persons to Prevent the Potential Spread of COVID­-19; and Updating the Fiscal Year 2020/2021 Budget

Waive full reading, read by title only, and adopt Urgency Ordinance; and adopt resolution.

As Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases continue to rise across the nation, state funding for Project Roomkey, a multi-jurisdictional effort to acquire non-congregate motel rooms for high-risk homeless, continues to be unpredictable. It is important that the City of Fairfield continues to take necessary steps to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 among our vulnerable population, including high-risk unsheltered homeless persons. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, like those sleeping outside or in places not meant for human habitation, may be at risk for infection when there is community spread of COVID-19.

On August 18, 2020, the Fairfield City Council approved Urgency Ordinance No. 2020-15 and Resolution 2020-173 to authorize an Emergency COVID-19 Shelter Plan for High-Risk Homeless Persons to further prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 at BayNorth Church from September 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 utilizing Coronavirus Relief Funds.

The COVID-19 pandemic is now facing a new surge that is stretching treatment capacity of local hospitals and healthcare providers. The positive impacts of the newly released vaccines are months away. Therefore, City Council is asked to approve a new urgency ordinance and resolution to reauthorize the use of BayNorth Church for temporary emergency shelter services and extending the existing Emergency COVID-19 Sheltering Plan, allowing for unsheltered homeless persons to remain safely sheltered from January 1, 2021 through April 30, 2021. The total cost not to exceed $340,000 will be paid from the City’s General Fund.

On March 18, 2020, the City Council ratified the proclamation of Local Emergency to take immediate action to combat the threat to public health that exists in the City due to COVID-19. On March 18, 2020 and again on March 31, 2020, the Solano County Public Health Official issued a Shelter-at-Home Health Order prohibiting all public and private gatherings that do not allow participants to maintain at least six feet apart. Though Solano County has relaxed some restrictions of the Shelter-at-Home, the COVID-19 pandemic remains a threat to our most vulnerable residents, including Fairfield’s unsheltered homeless.

In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the homeless population and protect our community’s most vulnerable populations, Fairfield was one of three original cities in Solano County to initiate Project Roomkey utilizing state funds allocated by the Community Action Partnership of Solano, Joint Powers Authority (CAP Solano). Since April 2020, approximately 190 non-congregate motel rooms have been secured and utilized in Vallejo, Fairfield, and Vacaville to temporarily house high-risk homeless, and further prevent the spread of COVID-19. At present, both the Vallejo and Fairfield Project Roomkey programs are continuing through April 2021.

On August 18, 2020, the Fairfield City Council approved Urgency Ordinance 2020-15 and Resolution 2020-173 authorizing an Emergency COVID-19 Sheltering Plan for high-risk homeless persons to further prevent the potential spread of COVID-19. Utilizing Coronavirus Relief Funds, the City entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with BayNorth Church to provide non-congregate emergency sheltering for up to 50 high-risk homeless to further prevent the potential spread of COVID-19. In coordination with the Homeless Services Division, Police Department Homeless Intervention Team, and Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Division, the BayNorth Church Emergency COVID-19 Shelter Project has accomplished the following:

• Assisted 82 homeless at risk for contracting, spreading, and/or succumbing to the COVID-19 virus from September 1 through December 31, 2020, by removing them from congested homeless encampment settings and temporarily housing them in a non-congregate setting
•  Provided beds, showers, hygiene, laundry, meals, case management, among other services
•  Held essential life-skills, employment, and therapeutic classes such as Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, typing, job search, art, and meditation among others
•  Followed COVID-19 best practices protocol to prevent the potential spread of the virus so that no participant contracted the virus
•  Coordinated with service providers to successfully exit 19 participants into permanent housing

City Coronavirus Relief Funding for the Emergency Shelter Project at BayNorth Church ended as expected on December 31, 2020.

Due to a critical surge of COVID-19 cases nationwide, including California, on December 17, 2020, Solano County again implemented the state-mandated regional Stay-at-Home order, a protective measure to limit the spread of COVID-19 disease and support the most vulnerable community members and hospital frontline workers. The State’s regional Stay-at-Home order, issued on December 3, 2020, identifies five regions statewide, and requires closure of all sectors, except for retail and essential services, in any region when the regional Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity of hospitals falls below 15 percent. The purpose of the state’s order is to address the increasing transmission among non-household members and further prevent our healthcare system from being overwhelmed. The requirements of the state’s order supersede local Health Officer orders within any region when there is less than 15 percent ICU capacity.

As with the initial Project, the Police Department Homeless Intervention Team will utilize a CDC-recommended screening tool to identify those homeless meeting the high-risk criteria. Anyone meeting the criteria and are willing to go into the temporary program will be brought to BayNorth Church for intake processing, based on availability. Shelter services will be provided for up to twenty-five (25) individuals at maximum capacity rather than the original fifty (50), based on the average participants per week in the initial Project. BayNorth will continue to utilize the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for intake and case management information and follow the established Operations Plan approved by City staff. The term of the extended program and urgency ordinance will be in effect until April 30, 2021. 

The total cost of the contract not to exceed $340,000 will be paid from the City’s General Fund (Fund 011, Division and Responsibility Code 99000). Funding was not allocated in the City’s approved 2020/2021 Budget thus requiring a budget adjustment in the amount of $340,000 to cover the cost of extending the existing Emergency COVID-19 Sheltering Plan located at BayNorth Church. 

Dawn M. La Bar, Homeless Services Manager

(707) 428-7749

dlabar@fairfield.ca.gov