March 7th, 2022
Hon. Don Nottoli, Chair, Supervisor, District 5
Hon. Rich Desmond, Vice Chair, Supervisor, District 3
Hon. Sue Frost, Supervisor, District 4
Hon. Phil Serna, Supervisor, District 1
Hon. Patrick Kennedy, Supervisor, District 2
Sent via Email
Re: American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding Recommendations for Critical Services
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors,
This letter is being sent on behalf of the community members and organizations listed below and outlines our immediate request for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to be prioritized to (1) extend life-saving services for unhoused and unstably-housed residents of your districts, and (2) advance health and racial equity in your districts by using the suggested indices to make data- informed decisions about the use of funds.
As a broad, diverse, and unified coalition, we are outlining a request for funds to be immediately reallocated with a focus on transparency, equity, and homelessness prevention. Proper use of the ARPA funds requires Sacramento leaders to be driven by the responsibility to improve the health and well-being of community members and hear the voices of those who are most affected.
Project Roomkey closure presents an immediate threat to the lives and wellbeing of the 333 residents currently sheltered by this program. Unhoused individuals were triaged for this service based on risk factors for COVID-19. 51% of those served are older than 55, and 39% have chronic health conditions.
The project has successfully housed 174 residents, and 80 more are expected to exit into new housing units. Supervisor Desmond said in the February 9th Board meeting, “A lot of these folks who have been in Project Roomkey hotel, they have shown a high level of success in this environment.” Considering the state’s focus on homelessness prevention and increasing the availability and access to affordable housing, why would the board overlook this opportunity to work in tandem with statewide goals? The Governor is proposing to add an additional $2 billion this year, on top of the $12 billion over two years allocated last year, to create new housing units and prevent homelessness, but these efforts will fall flat if local jurisdictions do not take responsibility within their own means to combat these issues.
Ethan Dye, the County’s Human Assistance Director, reported to the Board on February 9th that Project Roomkey costs $1.6 million monthly at its current capacity. Local advocates report that this program could be executed for much less, but even at this cost Supervisors could choose to extend this program in its current form for another 15 months, if they reverse the inequitable decision to carve out $5 million per Supervisor for piecemeal projects in each district. The impact of this $25 million carve-out could be a powerful example of county leadership to save lives and sustain wraparound services for homelessness alleviation. Or, it could be more of the same, echoing the county’s historical misuse of COVID-19 recovery and aid funding.
Of the six housing & homelessness-focused projects in the county’s Phase One Funding Allocation Initial Project List, none of them add more units of housing to the county’s huge deficit. The initial plan states that “the biggest challenge facing the homeless system of care is lack of access to safe and affordable housing,” a fact that has been confirmed by countless reports. If the board is choosing to not fund housing development, the least that can be done is to extend aid to those currently housed but on the brink of homelessness. The Sacramento Emergency Rental Assistance (SERA) program has proved to be much-needed relief for those most impacted by the pandemic. SERA has received over 30,000 applications for aid, and has only been able to support 11,400 of those requests. Additional funding is required, now, to begin processing the additional requests and keep people stably housed.
While the county continues to allow Deloitte to pocket over $600,000 for consulting services on the use of these federal funds, the county has failed to make data-informed decisions. We call for an equitable approach to data-driven resource allocation for all future ARPA funding decisions.
Race Counts’ COVID-19 Statewide Vulnerability & Recovery Index is a race-conscious mapping tool for pandemic recovery need. Using indicators specific to COVID-19 risk factors and disproportionately impacted groups, this index should guide decision making around the use of ARPA funds. Race Counts reports, “In less than one year, over 3,250,000 Californians have contracted the virus—and over 40,000 have died from it. Amongst those, Latinx and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) have the highest case rates. Black, NHPI, and Latinx Californians have the highest death rates.” In Sacramento, 95824 and 95815 have shouldered the greatest burden of the pandemic, and an equitable approach to budgeting would consider this data.
The California Healthy Places Index (HPI) is a trusted tool that uses a broad scope of indicators that can reliably predict future harm. Overlaying the HPI mapping tool with the COVID-19 Vulnerability & Recovery index shows the same communities who ended up being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 were known to be subject to greater environmental, social and economic harm pre-pandemic.
Our residents deserve timely explanations on how ARPA-spending and decision-making is done and bi-weekly Board meetings are insufficient. This is an unprecedented opportunity for residents to engage in budgeting and democracy. The Board should create a standing ARPA funding Board agenda item, similar to the one created for COVID-19. In addition, develop and maintain a publicly accessible, interactive, real-time data dashboard that displays each funding decision by status (e.g., in progress, active, denied, etc.), county department and contact information, associated contractors and their funded amounts, demographics reached, impacted neighborhoods (i.e., interactive map), equity impact analysis, etc. This is a cost-effective investment in partially repairing trust that was broken during the CARES Act funding process.
Sacramento County’s Grand Jury recently found that “the County of Sacramento made questionable and opaque maneuvers that skirted the intent of the CARES Act, to the benefit of County coffers and with scant regard for the needs of its citizens.” This coalition requests that the county make the requested changes now as a small step in beginning to repair the damage caused by the misuse of $104.2 million in CARES Act federal funding. Not only did this misuse of pandemic aid erode community trust in its elected leaders, but the cost in lives can only be predicted. How many more of Sacramento’s 2,971 people who passed away during this crisis would still be alive if public health prevention services would have been prioritized over Sheriff’s Office funding? Currently, the county plans to use $11.4 million to provide premium pay for eligible county employees – including, yet again, County Sheriff staff who have not played a role in COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors has an opportunity to save hundreds of lives now by redirecting its $25 million in ARPA funding to sustain Project Roomkey and the SERA program. Future funding decisions can be improved by using data-mapping tools in conjunction with qualitative data from community listening sessions.
Leadership matters. Our community – your constituents – are counting on you to do the right thing. We look forward to continuing our work together in partnership and with a strong commitment to serving all Sacramento community members well.
In Solidarity,
California COVID Justice: Recovery, Response & Repair
Public Health Advocates
Social Justice PolitiCorps for Sacramento County (SJPC)
Justice2Jobs Coalition
Decarcerate Sacramento
Sacramento Homeless Union
Sac S.O.U.P (SOLIDARITY OF UNHOUSED PEOPLE)
Sacramento Radical Education
NorCal Resist
Youth Forward
Autumn Gonzalez – 95818
Francesca Wander – 95835
Emily Edmond – 95814
Rev. Roger Jones – 95825
Jerry Houseman – 95826
Adrianna Lucero – 95816
Lauren Babb – 95821
Courtney Hanson – 95691
Nancy Fleischer – 95816
Diana Proctor – 95818
Mark Dempsey – 95662
Kristina Gelardi – 95816
Mya Dosch – 95816
Kara Toles – 95817
Joan Rubenson – 95826
Caity Maple – 95817
Robin Black – 95821
Lauren Low – 95616
Robert Coplin – 95811
Elizabeth Brick – 95608
Mario Salvagno – 95825
Michelle Jenkins – 95820
Kathleen Styc – 95825
Alan Saunders – 95831
Courtney Poole – 95820
Lisa Schneider – 95817
Bobbie Keill – 95670
Quetzal Cornejo Molina – 95831
Margaret Burnett – 95822
William Zinn – 95610
Rodney Palmer – 95826
Rachel Nickel – 95819
Patricia Daugherty – 95817
Faye Lessler – 95816
Lorri Reynard – 95628
Mary Howard – 95608
Laura Sheperd – 95608
Shea Hazarian – 95816
Olivia Alexander – 95816
Keyan Bliss – 95818
Tibby Wroten – 95864
Sarah Turner – 95834
Paige Dougherty – 95815
Rachael Harrington – 95811
Alexandra Orzeck – 95816
Patricia Symkowick – 95821
Frances Myers – 95819
Ellen Ercolini – 95616
Christine Bailey – 95670
Lynn Carlson – 95608
Alice Walker – 95616
Erin Mahoney – 95814
Kathleen Stricklin – 95825
Rich Howard – 95608
Andrew Hsieh – 95826
Charles Deneke – 95811
Laura Berard – 95608
Robin Visel – 95864
Linda Brandenburg Er – 95822
Carol Goodin – 95608
Celia Buckley – 95817
Josh Greetan – 95818
Virginia Dunstan – 95610
John Drennan – 95816
Dylan Newman – 95616
Alyssa Kohler – 95608
Terrie Wilkie – 95621
Pam Brown – 95662
Jennifer Mosher – 95817
Diana Yarletz – 95628
Lisa Moretti – 95822
Maija Beattie – 95820
Dina Martinez – 95838
Glory Wicklund – 95670
Judith Lane – 95817
Isabelle Fama – 95758
Raul Guerrero – 95825
Alexa Gutierrez – 95820
Cindy Mccoy – 95822
Caty Franco – 95818
Olivia Campa – 95820
Amanda Massimini – 95814
Nick Montoya – 95820
Ashley Hamrick – 95819
William Becker – 95670
Nan Johnson – 95818
Robyn Mcnair – 95691
Marion Randall – 95817
Mengqi Wang – 95831
Lilli Duval – 95683
Oussama Mokeddem – 95841
Allison Graff – 95628
Andy Kelly – 95817
Leslie Larsen – 95817
Tricia Lee – 95670
Crystal Sanchez – 95864
Dana Alpert – 95815
Tiki Harlow – 95608
Carol Houseman – 95826
Marylynn-mimi Lewis – 95819
Andres Tovar – 95673
Dr. Corrine Mcintosh Sako – 95831
Tiffany Huffman – 95691
Lillian Gibbons – 95605
T Murray – 95811
Madeline Moritsch – 95630
Loraine Hernandez – 95820
Olivia Henry – 95818
Zack Kalsey – 95815
Deborah Powell – 95621
Erik Alvarez – 95673
Nia Mooreweath Ers – 95816
Susan Carlsen – 95818
Niki Jones – 95817
Elizabeth Armstrong – 95834
Mason Taylor – 95816
Ricky Rhain – 95691
Liz Blum – 95817
Maria Rivas – 95824
Zachary Nicolos – 95608
Zuri K. Colbert – 95828
Mallory Stevens – 95816
Rick Stevens – 95833
Stephanie Bailey – 95758
Nancy Stevens – 95833
Paige Kalsey – 95815
Laurie Jones – 95820
AleiaHaith – 95691
Richard Counts – 95864
Jessica Powell – 95826
Penny Kuchulis – 95746
Rexanne Irizarry – 95823
Zoe Kipping – 95811
Kula Koenig – 95843
Total: 133 Community Member Signatures