Location for Winter Lodging

For the past several years, the Interfaith Group of churches has pieced together winter shelter for our unhoused neighbors. This involved the efforts of many volunteers to offer transportation, storage, overnight supervision, meals, and support services for days at a time, moving from one church to another. There was no shelter during the daytime when winter chills were in effect. Last year, COVID restrictions made the job even more challenging, but Housing El Dorado stepped up to create the Winter Lodging Program from January 2021 till March 2021 thanks to the efforts of Green Valley Church and the work of Charlie McDonald and Julia Hackett. Thanks to the efforts of Shaunda Crane, her staff at Marshall Medical and countless volunteers, we can report that our homeless population has a lower rate of COVID than the county at large. This year, we urge El Dorado County to provide a location for Winter Lodging so that we can house these folks without them having to move every couple of days, and so we can provide navigation and access to medical, government, social, and mental health services from a single location. We can target our efforts to helping these folks transition to more permanent supportive housing and eventually, independent living.