In an effort to curb the rising number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Rohnert Park, the city opened the doors to a new 60-unit supportive housing facility last Monday on Labath Avenue. The site, called, “Labath Landing,” will act as an interim housing program to address the city’s estimated 250 homeless individuals, and per their website, will provide mental health counseling and job training to help residents become stable enough to eventually move out into permanent housing. 

According to Assistant City Manager Don Schwartz in an article for the Press Democrat, the $15 million facility expects to house about 100 individuals per year. The city of Rohnert Park’s website states that each resident will generally stay for about six months. Meals, showers, laundry services and bathrooms will be available, in addition to a computer lab, garden and dog run. Round-the-clock staffing will ensure that only residents will be allowed on the premises. 

Rohnert Park’s Housing Administrator Jenna Garcia said that many current occupants of encampments are “eager” to move in, and that she expects the units to be 90% occupied right away. 

The facility is situated less than a mile south of Graton Casino and Resort, which, according to the Press Democrat, vehemently objected to the city council’s decision to permit its close proximity. 

Labath Landing serves an additional purpose, as the Rohnert Park website details, in satisfying court rulings that require cities to offer temporary housing to people experiencing homelessness before any camping or overnight parking laws can be legally enforced. 

According to the Press Democrat, camps that continue to exist after occupants have been offered a spot at Labath Landing will be managed and made smaller by city officials, and occupants will be forced to comply with new laws designed to reduce violence, waste and overcrowding. One encampment, located on Roberts Lake Road, is especially large and overcrowded. Complaints and safety concerns about the encampment from nearby businesses and residents greatly fueled the decision to establish the facility. 

For many Sonoma State students, homelessness in the city has become palpable. Nataly Hernandez, a senior double majoring in early childhood studies and Spanish, said, “I think this is a great initiative as I’ve driven around Rohnert Park seeing many homeless in areas that aren’t the safest. I worked at an early childcare site near Commerce Boulevard, and I would always see a bunch of tents and many homeless communities located on that river bank.”

For Hernandez, what makes Labath Landing particularly promising are the additional amenities and services offered to residents, which distinguish it from a traditional shelter or drop-in day center. “… Not many communities offer [people experiencing homelessness] the resources to succeed, only a place to live,” she said. 

The site was paid for and will be operated by the state’s Project Homekey, a $3.6 billion program launched in 2020 that provides funding to local jurisdictions and tribal governments to repurpose motels for housing, as reported by the Press Democrat. Schwartz says that Labath Landing is just the beginning, and that he’s continuing to work to create additional temporary and permanent housing in the area. Project Homekey hopes to fund the creation of over 10,000 units across the state. 

Like Hernandez, Kaili Spooner, a second-year communications and media studies major, is no stranger to witnessing homelessness on a regular basis. “Growing up in Oakland, all around me I’ve seen the streets become filled with people and tents on the streets, sidewalks and under overpasses,” she said. “It breaks my heart to see it constantly increasing.” 

This recent uptick in local homeless populations has been sudden and significant. The 2022 Sonoma County census revealed a 43% increase in chronic homeless since 2020, no doubt due in part to the economic, health and employment ramifications of the pandemic. The county’s total homeless population now stands at nearly 2,900 people.

Seth Gillaspy, a third-year history major, also praised Rohnert Park for trying to tackle the issue of homelessness in a way that some cities have failed to. “Honestly I believe that trying to help the homeless is a good thing. In my hometown there is a large homeless population and I wish we would have done something for them,” Gillapsy said.

Spooner stressed that while Labath Landing won’t completely solve the issue of homelessness, it’s the first step in the right direction. “I think many people just need the resources, someone to believe in them and an extra push, and hopefully this facility can provide that for them.”