Warming shelter funding crisis leaves Nevada County's most rural area vulnerable this winter
On Dec. 7, Pamala Rasada R.N., chair of the North San Juan Community Center board, sat in her van outside the Safeway parking lot and cried.
Earlier that evening, the Nevada County Continuum of Care, coordinated by the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras, released the HHAP-4 application that would have provided critical funding to reopen a warming shelter in North San Juan for unhoused community members during extreme winter temperatures.
The Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP-4) grant states that local jurisdictions will be provided with “flexible funding to continue efforts to end and prevent homelessness in their communities.”
In past years, Nevada County administered HHAP funds earlier in the season, without significant barriers. This year the funding is allocated by the Continuum of Care through the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras.
The funding application was not released until Dec. 7, which would hinder access to warming shelter funds until after the coldest months in the county pass.
“Based off the timeline that we have with the application process and the approval process, the earliest to actually disburse funds would be mid to late February,” said Jason Winters, Board President for the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras.
North San Juan’s grant status
The North San Juan Community Center operates the annual warming homeless shelter on the San Juan Ridge, the most rural area of Nevada County.
The shelter utilized funds from the HHAP grant to open on Dec. 1 last year, for 70 nights throughout the cold weather season.
“Temperatures are already in the low 20s, my people are going to freeze. The funding wouldn’t become available until after we need it,” Rasada said.
According to Ryan Gruver, Director of Health & Human Services for Nevada County, HHAP funds have historically been administered to the North San Juan Warming Shelter without the application process through the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras.
This year, HHAP grant applicants were required to have participated in nine or more Continuum of Care (COC) meetings during the past 12 months, a requirement that wasn’t told to organizations until the application was released.
“This is the definition of high barrier. No one told us attending the CoC meetings was a requirement for funding. If I had known it was a requirement, I would have been at the meetings,” said Rasada.
On Tuesday, Rasada received an email stating that NSJCC would be permitted to apply for HHAP funding.
Scott Thurmond is the Principal Consultant for Thurmond Consulting LLC., a consulting agency for entities including the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras, Roseville, Inyo County, and Yuba County.
“That was told at the time of application, so if somebody hasn’t been a participating agency and they want to participate at this point in time, it would be tough for a newer organization to meet those standards,” said Thurmond.
The Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras canceled the Continuum of Care December meeting.
“It was determined that there was nothing urgent to deal with in December,” said Thurmond.
Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras (HRCS)
HHAP-4 allocated $700,532.30 to Nevada County’s Continuum of Care, coordinated by the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras, during this funding cycle.
In the memorandum of understanding signed in January between the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras and Continuum of Care, the entities agreed to use 75% of the annual (HHAP) funding for programs including the Hospitality House Low Barrier Shelter, Sierra Guest Home, and the North San Juan Warming Shelter.
The amount needed to fund the North San Juan Warming Shelter would only be a fraction of the overall allotment.
According to the CoC Registration Identification, “Meetings are posted on the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras’ (HRCS) website, as well as through the CoC email list. All minutes are posted on the HRCS website.”
As of print time, agenda minutes are only accessible through 2021, and minutes for 2022 and 2023 are not available on the HRCS website.
“Nothing nefarious is going on here,” said Thurmond.
Rural homeless prevention funding
“There’s a lot more funding that’s been allocated to the much bigger cities, like Los Angeles than they do in Nevada County. Those funding allocations have had a big chunk for large cities that is not available to small rural jurisdictions like ours,” said Gruver.
While the HHAP grant provides state funding for homeless prevention measures, it is not warming shelter specific, therefore organizations such as the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras are not required to take winter temperatures into account when determining the funding distribution dates.
California does not offer state funding grants for extreme weather warming shelters and current HHAP funding can be used for an array of different prevention services.
“Everyone talks about supporting rural areas. But at the end of the day it’s us in rural communities that are hit the hardest and get the least support,” said Rasada.