Regional Issues

SMUD staff to explain rate hikes at May meetings

2009-04-25T03:07:55Z

Representatives from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District are attending 52 community meetings in May to inform area residents about the utility district’s planned rate hikes.

SMUD’s board of directors will meet June 4 to consider whether to approve two sets of fee increases.

The first fee hike would appear on residents’ bills beginning September 1 – fees would jump about 9.5 percent. Residents can expect a second fee increase of about 3.5 percent starting January 1, 2011.

Rosanna Herber, SMUD’s supervisor of community engagement, said district representatives are attending the community meetings because they feel it’s important for customers to know what is happening with the utility rates.

SMUD staffers are attending about 75 community group meetings total, said Jim Tracy, the utility district’s chief executive officer.

At recent meetings, residents have asked questions about other SMUD efforts such as its low-income and solar programs, Herber said. Customers can ask questions about any SMUD program at the community meetings, she added.

Tracy said Thursday that SMUD is raising its rates for several reasons, some of which are falling revenues, hikes in healthcare expenses, and increasing prices for renewable energy.

The utility district is also facing lower interest earnings and higher borrowing costs, Tracy said.

A March 31 SMUD report explains that the chaotic situation in the credit markets “has increased SMUD’s borrowing costs on some of its existing debts while lowering interest earned on invested funds.”

The utility district also needs money to replace old facilities. Capital improvements are essential for reliability, according to Tracy.

He noted that SMUD predicted the economy’s downturn in late 2007, and took several actions to lessen the blow to customers. Still, the failing economy has battered SMUD.

New state and federal regulations have also raised expenses for the utility district, according to SMUD.

Herber pointed out that SMUD’s rates, after the 9.5 percent jump in September, will still be lower than rates at Roseville Electric, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

An average resident who consumes 750 kilowatt-hours in a month will receive an $86.22 SMUD bill starting in September, Herber explained. PG&E customers would pay $113.46 for the same amount of kilowatt-hours, and customers of Roseville Electric would be charged $88.95, she said.

SMUD representatives will appear at the meetings of the following community groups from May 4 to May 7:

Groups meeting May 4: Asian Pacific Islanders American Public Affairs Association; Fair Oaks Rotary; La Familia Counseling Center, Inc.

Groups meeting May 5: Rotary Club of Arden Arcade; Sacramento Association of Realtors; Hmong Women’s Heritage Association; Rio Linda/Elverta Chamber of Commerce; Organization of Chinese Americans.

Community meetings for May 6: Downtown Partnership.

Group meeting on May 7: The 100 Black Men of Sacramento

SMUD has more information on times and locations of the above meetings, as well as a list of meetings taking place later in May.

Finding homes for the homeless

2009-07-07T03:44:51Z

Religious congregations are assisting homeless families through a new housing program backed by Sacramento City Councilman Robert Fong. In the program, known as the Faith & Homeless Families Initiative, local religious groups find housing for homeless families with children.

The program is emerging as local homeless shelters say they’re turning away families because of limited shelter space, according to Tim Brown, director of the Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative, a local public/private partnership.

“There’s a lot of newer homeless families,” he said.

The program began in February and has linked six families to congregations. The congregations then found housing for the families, Brown said. The program is still working to house a seventh family, he noted.

The program is now connected to the Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative. Fong is currently working to set up the faith program as a nonprofit organization unique from the chronic homelessness effort.

“I thought there was something we could do as human beings,” Fong told The Sacramento Press.

The program, which is still in a pilot phase, plans to connect a new group of homeless families with a new set of congregations by August or September, Brown said. In order for the program to expand, organizers will need to raise money for additional staffers, he noted.

The program works with three local homeless shelters. Case managers at the shelters refer the families to the program, Brown explained. Volunteers from the congregations are trained in a three-hour session by program staff, he added.

In addition to locating housing for the families, the congregations can further help the families with rental assistance, Brown said.

One of the program’s rules is that the congregations cannot require homeless families to attend religious services, Brown said. However, the congregations are allowed to invite the families to services.

The local congregations currently participating in the program are: Spiritual Life Center, All Nations Church of God in Christ, St. John’s Lutheran Church, First United Methodist Church, Westminster Presbyterian Church and Bayside of South Sacramento.

Information for congregations interested in joining the program is available here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Homelessness: The public can help create new program

2009-04-20T01:24:41Z

Gerald Celestine knows Sacramento residents have a stake in how the city and county will spend federal stimulus dollars that are intended to counter homelessness.

Celestine, an active member of Sacramento’s Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG), planned a discussion for the April 20 NAG meeting so residents can brainstorm how they want their local governments to use about $4.8 million in federal monies for homelessness.

The pot of money will be distributed almost evenly between the county and city: The city is expected to receive $2.375 million, and the county expects $2.397 million.

Sacramento neighbors would like to express “some of our hopes and desires for this money,” Celestine said.

Residents can present their views on specific ways the money should be spent in two separate meetings on April 20.

Sacramento residents will discuss federal monies coming to the city and county at the Neighborhood Advisory Group (Area 1) meeting Monday at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will take place at the Hart Senior Center, which is located at 915 27th Street.

Shamus Roller, executive director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, will explain to residents how the city and county are expected to receive the funds for homelessness through a new federal program.

The new federal effort, known as the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), is part of the national stimulus package.

Roller points out, however, that the federal funds for this program are not going to solve the big financial problems for social and health services in the county and city. “The stimulus money is not a panacea,” he says, and “it’s not going to fix everything.”

A separate public meeting on the federal funding will be held earlier on Monday. The public is asked to weigh in on how the city and county should create its application for the federal monies to address homelessness at the local level. The public meeting will be held Monday from 3 to 5 p.m. at 2700 Fulton Avenue.

The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, county Department of Human Assistance and the Interagency Council on Homelessness are hosting the forum.

Cindy Cavanaugh, an assistant director for policy at the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA), explains that SHRA will apply to the federal government for the funds.

The federal dollars will be used for homeless people to rent housing and for prevention of homelessness. Cavanaugh explains that in the “rapid-rehousing” model, homeless people are encouraged to find housing rather than live in shelters. Under this program, a homeless person could receive up to 18 months worth of funds to help cover the cost of rent, she said.

Roller said there is flexibility in the program. The HPRP monies can be used in various ways, including for utility bill costs, Roller said.

SHRA and the county’s Department of Human Assistance are planning the application for funds.

The city and county are almost guaranteed to receive the federal funds as long as they complete the application process, Cavanaugh said. Assuming the application for funding is accepted by HUD, the city and county can access the funding October 1.

The city and county’s application for the federal funds will be addressed in public hearings at both the City Council and the Sacramento Board of Supervisors.

Sacramento’s City Council will discuss the application at its May 12 meeting. The Board of Supervisors will address the issue at its May 13 meeting.

The deadline to send the application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is May 18.

After May 18, the application will be completed but the program will continue, Cavanaugh said. SHRA will hold stakeholder meetings and form the details of the funding program with the help of the Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Agencies plan to set up 419 winter shelter beds

2009-10-27T04:05:07Z

Despite Sacramento County’s financial crisis, the city and county intend to provide 151 more beds for the homeless this winter than last.

That’s because city officials expect 419 winter shelter beds to be funded through a variety of entities, including the city, nonprofit organizations, the federal government, the county and private donors. Last year, there were 268 winter shelter beds for the homeless.

“The strategy provides for a collaborative public and private solution to increasing winter shelter options for the region's most vulnerable population during the coldest months of the year,” according to an Oct. 27 report to the City Council from Cassandra Jennings, assistant city manager, and La Shelle Dozier, executive director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

Councilmembers will hear a presentation on the funding plan for winter shelter beds at their Tuesday meeting.

The funding allocation from the city would be $149,000; the county’s portion would be $168,000. Allocations are not yet final.

Mayor Kevin Johnson held a press conference Friday to announce that a multiagency task force found funding for 269 winter shelter beds. Johnson is chairman of the task force, which is part of the Policy Board to End Homelessness.

City spokeswoman Amy Williams pointed out Monday that the city also is receiving federal stimulus money that can go toward 150 more beds, bringing the total number of beds to 419.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Disabled residents urge RT to save paratransit services

2010-03-09T04:36:32Z

Many disabled local residents who regularly ride paratransit buses were among the approximately 250 people who turned out for a Monday afternoon public hearing on proposed cuts to Sacramento’s Regional Transit.

The disabled transit riders — which included many people in wheelchairs — urged the RT board of directors to maintain paratransit services.

In the 2011 fiscal year, RT predicts it will have a $25 million budget gap according to a statement on the RT website. The statement notes that RT has been hammered by low revenues from state and local taxes, as well as by the state’s discontinuation of State Transit Assistance funding. In addition, the statement points out that furloughs and the high unemployment rate have resulted in RT taking in less money from fares.

The board is analyzing nine different ways it could make cuts to balance its budget. RT is planning for layoffs to be part of the budget cuts.

RT’s board of directors will make a decision on budget cuts at its March 22 meeting. The cuts would take effect June 20.

At Monday’s hearing, many people waited in line outside the RT building at N and 29th Streets to enter the meeting rooms. Once the hearing room was filled, RT officials opened up several nearby rooms so that people could watch the hearing on televisions. At least 250 people attended the meeting, according to Mike Mattos, RT’s chief of facilities and business support.

Beverly King, who has used paratransit since 1979, said she started crying when she addressed the RT board. She said outside the meeting that she appreciates the service, and does not have an alternate transit service that she can use.

“We won’t be able to do things on the weekends,” King said.

Lilyann Mitchell told the board that the late civil rights activist Rosa Parks would have wanted the board to maintain services for disabled transit riders.

Mitchell was a personal friend of Parks — their friendship was the subject of a 2005 Sacramento Bee article.

Mitchell said that Parks, if she was still alive, would have said to the RT board: “Please do not deny the services of all these handicapped people.”

RT works with a private firm, Paratransit, Inc., to provide transit service for disabled residents.

There are no proposals to cut all paratransit services, according to Alane Masui, assistant general manager of marketing and communications for RT. While cuts are planned, the entire service would not be shut down, Masui said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

More than 100 winter shelter beds not available

2009-11-24T06:03:10Z

The number of beds available for the homeless in the Sacramento region during the cold-weather season is lower this Thanksgiving week than it was last year, according to Tim Brown, director of the Ending Homelessness Initiative. In addition, a Rancho Cordova city official expressed skepticism Monday about a plan to provide beds for 105 homeless people in that city.

However, a multiagency task force still plans to achieve its goal of providing 269 winter shelter beds, Brown said in an interview.

As of Friday, 52 winter shelter beds were available for the homeless. This week, the task force expects to offer 82 beds because 30 motel vouchers are available, Brown said.

Still, at this time last year, there were 150 winter shelter beds, according to Brown’s figures.

He noted that the task force is creating a new winter shelter system; it is not using Cal/Expo this year.

Brown addressed the delays in a letter sent Monday to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. “We have faced implementation challenges, but that is to be expected any time an effort is made to do innovative work across several organizations and jurisdictions in a short period of time,” he wrote.

Mayor Kevin Johnson asked the task force earlier this fall to create a plan for winter shelter in about a month-and-a-half.

The task force plans to have 164 beds ready for the homeless by next week, Brown said. “By Dec. 1, we’ll have more than the beds we had last year.”

Tom Armstrong, a Sacramento resident who is homeless, criticized the task force in a Nov. 20 article in The Sacramento Press, arguing that the task force’s work deserves an “F.”

But the task force maintains its goal of 269 beds. Brown said the group hopes to open some beds at a Rancho Cordova site before Christmas. The task force and city of Rancho Cordova staff are working on the issue. Rancho Cordova’s City Council must approve the plan.

One Rancho Cordova city official said there are many problems with the panel's plan to transform old bungalows into winter shelter. The bungalows need many repairs in order to be used for shelter, said Curt Haven, director of economic development and neighborhood services for Rancho Cordova. There are problems with lead paint, mold and broken windows, he said, adding, “It’s a mess."

The bungalows are near the Mather Community Campus, which provides services for 362 homeless people, Haven said.

He said he did not know of any available funding to bring the same kind of services to the a new group of 105 homeless people. The result could be that there will be one group of homeless people with many services at Mather Community Campus, and then 105 homeless people housed in the nearby bungalows without comparable services. “I feel like we’re setting this up to be a failure and set up a second class of homeless,” Haven said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.