St. Vincent de Paul selected to run two Sonoma County homeless shelters

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors today authorized St. Vincent de Paul to provide interim shelter support services and site management at County shelter sites Mickey Zane Place and Eliza’s Village. The contract will be effective Aug. 1 and will last for three years with an option to extend. Additionally, the Board authorized an amendment with St. Vincent to cover current services at Los Guilicos Village through Aug. 31, 2024 or until all Los Guilicos Village guests and operations are transitioned to Eliza’s Village. The budget for the two actions together amounts to just over $5 million.

“The Supervisors agreed that the most cost-effective solution would be to have both sites managed by a single partner,” said David Rabbitt, chair of the Board of Supervisors.

Over the last few years, the Department of Health Services has contracted with various partners to provide homeless shelters and site management services as part of emergency events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Joe Rodota Trail encampment response. Four interim shelter sites were ultimately established and two will remain after the dilapidated tiny homes of LG Village are dismantled: Mickey Zane Place, a 44-room interim shelter site in downtown Santa Rosa dedicated to medically fragile homeless individuals, and the new Eliza’s Village, comprised of two renovated dormitories with a capacity for 130 beds up the hill from LG Village. An Emergency Shelter Site on the County campus was demobilized last month, and the remaining clients moved to Eliza’s Village. DHS worked with Sonoma County Public Infrastructure and sub-contractors to renovate Eliza’s Village at a cost of $3.2 million.

“We’re pleased that St. Vincent de Paul has the capacity to take on Mickey Zane Place as well as Eliza’s Village,” said DHS Director Tina Rivera. “We look forward to expanding our partnership with them to provide these critical services within our community.”

The Department of Public Infrastructure Purchasing Division, County Counsel and the CAO’s Office released the request for proposals on April 26 following Board direction. Four proposals were received by the due date of June 5. An independently selected review panel scored proposals the week of June 19 and recommended that two proposers move forward for consideration and contract negotiation by DHS. DHS recommended the Board award the contract to The Society of St. Vincent de Paul District Council of Sonoma County, Inc.

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Media Contact:
Sheri Cardo, DHS Communications Specialist
Sheri.Cardo@sonoma-county.org
(707) 565-8619