Officials of the Sacramento County announced in a press release Tuesday that it has identified and will provide $150,000 to fund emergency shelter programs for homeless families this winter becoming the lowest amount of funding to date.

The funding will go toward Winter Shelter – a program designated to operate during the cold and wet winter months which provides beds and individual apartments to homeless families that are unable to find housing in the county’s already-overcrowded shelters.

The Department of Human Assistance identified the funding from salary savings, according to Kerri Aiello, spokeswoman for the county, because there was a delay in hiring in the department.

The department provided the same amount of funding to the program last winter, with an additional $100,000 provided by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, though no additional funding has been provided by the agency for this year.

Homeless advocates, including Sacramento Loaves & Fishes and the Sacramento Housing Alliance, addressed the absence of funding for the winter shelter program in a press conference two weeks ago after the county declared its inability to provide any funding for the winter shelter program this year.

To read the previous article, click here.

Funding for the winter shelter program has decreased significantly over the last few years, declining from $700,000 in 2008-9 to $451,000 2009-10 and $250,000 2010-11 with what was a projected $0 for this winter.

Though the county has now identified some funding for the program, Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, said that he is only 60 percent happy about the funding and that there is still more work to do before the winter months come.

“The Sacramento Housing Alliance and Loaves & Fishes are committed to putting together efforts to put up another $100,000,” he said, adding that the city needs to revamp its efforts to help fund these programs as well.

Erlenbusch said that three years ago, funding for the program was three times as much, and that it will be a community effort to find additional funding before Winter Shelter is set to open, which is usually a week before Thanksgiving.

The Sacramento Area Emergency Housing Center coordinated winter emergency shelters along with Volunteers of America and most likely will do so this year, according to Aiello.

“I think it’s wonderful, and I’m excited the county has been able to help identify these funds,” said Carolyn Brodt, executive director for the Sacramento Area Emergency Housing Center.

Brodt said that last year two winter shelter options were available – family shelter, which provided 25 beds, available to five families at a time with a 30-day stay, and the motel voucher program.

Funded by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency last year, the motel voucher program currently has no funding and might not be available unless more funding is identified.

Christie Holderegger of Volunteers of America said that with last year’s funding, the program provided up to 28 beds for families and individual apartments.

“We will be expecting more people than last year in need of housing,” she said, adding that it will be difficult to tell if there will be enough beds this year until they start filling them.

According to Brodt, about 150 homeless children were turned away last month due to a lack of room in their shelter downtown, and there is still an unmet need for funding. She said the organization is currently applying for grants, though any funding won’t be available until the turn of the new year.

“That’s what’s really critical for Sacramento – to find more affordable housing for families,” Holderegger said.

Homeless advocates will be continuing their efforts to raise money from private donors and grants in the hopes that the same amount of funding from last year, about $250,000, will be met.

“We don’t need the $100,000 tomorrow, but it’d be nice to have it by the end of the year, before we get too deep into the season,” Erlenbusch said.

Editorial Note: A correction has been made to this story after it was published.