1 WORK SHEET

Draft Shelter StandardsConsideration for adoption of standards

With suggestions as of 5-19-11

As proposed by the Habeas Club - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - to be modified and adopted by the City of Chico and the Inter-County Homeless Task Force

Jesus Center’s Sabbath House, the Torres Community Shelter, and the Oroville Rescue Mission are currently the only homeless shelters located in the Cities of Chico, Paradise and Oroville, Butte County. These shelters are funded using public money from federal, state or local resources. Shelter stays can vary from a few days to up to two years at The Esplanade House in Chico which offers transitional housing to families.. Currently, SB 2 (Cedillo, 2007): Requires local jurisdictions to strengthen provisions for addressing thehousing needs of the homeless, including the identification of a zone or zones where emergencyshelters are allowed as a permitted use without a conditional use permit and allowing transitional and supportive housing types as residential uses. This legislation took effect January 1, 2008, and applies to jurisdictions with Housing Elements, June 30, 2008, {City of Chico} and after.

There are no consistent standards that a homeless person can point to when a conflict arises. Local advocates, including but not limited to the Habeas Club receive at least one complaint a week, and have nowhere to refer these complaints. This proposed law is intended to provide a minimum standard for the operation of shelters within the City of Chico and County of Butte, California. Those organizations that receive any public funds would have to adopt these standards or would not be allowed to apply for {nor continue to receive} funds. The Greater Chico Homeless Task Force, the City Councils of Chico and Oroville, and the Butte County Board of Supervisorsshall have {substantial} influence over how Federal Emergency Shelter dollars, FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter dollars, HUD Continuum of Care dollars, any State of California shelter dollars, and all local funding that support the shelters are distributed.

These proposals have been developed by the HabeasClub for the Greater Chico Homeless Task Force c/o Housing and Neighborhood Services Department of the City of Chico, 441 Main Street, P.O. Box 3420, Chico, CS 95927-3420 between 2009 and 2011 with the thought of what the perfect shelter would look like in Butte County. The Greater Chico Homeless Task Force meets monthly on the Third Tuesday of each calendar month at 10:00 a.m. in the upstairs conference room of the Municipal Building at 5th Street and Park Avenue, Chico. The next scheduled meeting is: June 14, 2011 (advanced from June 21), it is an “ad hoc group” at present.

Scope of the proposed Law (a City of Chico, Butte County, local codes?):

These standards if adopted would apply to all shelters operated within the Cities of Chico, Paradise, and Oroville, and County of Butte including both emergency shelters and transitional shelters. These standards would also apply to all residential living facilities supported by the mental health board funding or alcohol and drug addiction services funding including any facility or housing arrangement referred to as a Clean and Sober Living Environment (S.L.E.) The only publicly residential funded programs not governed by these rules include those that receive a majority of their funding from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (C.D.C. &R.). Transitional Housing programs as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allow individuals to stay for up to two years. Because the length of stay within transitional housing is longer than most residential/apartment leases, we believe that the housing aspect of a person’s stay at a Transitional Housing Shelter (T.H.S.) must be covered by existing state and city landlord/tenant law. There should be a separation between the programming aspects of transitional shelters, which would be covered by this law, while the housing aspect of transitional shelter operation would fall under the landlord tenant law.

Please send information, requests, comments to: the

I General Shelter Rules

  1. Any City of Chico, Paradise, and Oroville, and County of Butte shelter that accommodates nighttime residential stays must be operated by nonprofit organizations that release their 990 tax returns to the public on a yearly basis. Organizational and program budget information must be released to the public on a yearly basis.

IRS regulations require non-profits to make their Form 990 information returns and Form 1023 Application for Recognition of Tax Exemption available for public inspection and/or via mail.
An organization can satisfy this requirement by posting the document(s) on the Internet, either on the organization's own Web page, or as part of a database of similar documents, established and maintained by another entity.
  1. All shelters must certify that they have secure locations for confidential client files and medications.

Importance of confidentiality in the provision of mental health treatment comes from the U.S. Supreme Court (Jaffee v. Redmond, 1996).
Further information on federal privacy rules can be obtained from HHS-OCR at
866-627-7748 or
  1. Shelters must provide an atmosphere of dignity and respect for all residents and must provide services in a non-judgmental manner.

SF Homeless Shelter Model - Makes Respect, Dignity and Hygiene enforceable by law.
  1. Each shelter must have a policy for handling staff grievances that is clearly posted. Staff needs to be held accountable for grievances. There must be some posted consequences for staff with legitimate grievances filed against them.An office within each City must be assigned to handle all grievances such as an Office of Consumer Affairs. There needs to be a government entity that has control over funding to investigate problems. The telephone numbers and addresses for these government offices must be posted in every single shelter covered. This Office within the City should present a report to the City Council and the Greater Chico Homeless Task Force every year as shelter allocation decisions are being made on the number of complaints and the resolution of those complaints.
  1. Each shelter must have at least one client advocate on site that will advocate for the interests of residents and handle resident concerns. It is suggested that an outside entity should employ the client advocates at each shelter to assure that they are independent. Another option would be a group of advocates would be hired to travel to each shelter to act as homeless ombudsmen.

Supported by Task Force Committee Member, Mike Jensen, 5/17/11
  1. The Cities of Chico and Oroville will oversee all of the shelter standards in their jusisdiction. All shelters receiving public funds will be subject to a periodic review, with compliance to the shelter standards as part of the review. Funding will be tied to compliance with these policies. Those facilities out of compliance will have funding reduced or eliminated based on the recommendations of the review committee and those funds should be transferred to another provider who can serve the same population.

II Shelters Serving Children

  1. Shelters cannot discriminate based on age. If a shelter allows children it cannot discriminate based on the age or sex of a child less than 17 years of age.

Q: Should this be 18 years of age?
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), codified as Government Code §§12900 - 12996
  1. There needs to be a policy regarding children and referrals being made to the County Child Protective Services. This policy should be clearly posted for residents to see in shelters.

See: California Mandatory Child Abuse Reporting Law
(Penal Code 11164 – 11174.3)

Shelters serving school age children must make every effort to get children enrolled into school within 24 hours of entering the shelter. Shelters serving school age children must immediately identify school age children during intake process to the Chico Unified School District. If a child has been attending a charter or private school, shelter staff must facilitate arrangements with that school of origin. Shelters need to notify the school district when a family leaves the shelter and goes to another location to update emergency information in case the school needs to locate a parent or guardian.

California's compulsory education laws require children between six and eighteen years of age to attend school
  1. When a child reaches the age of 18 and is a full time high school student residing in a shelter with a parent or guardian, he or she must remain at the shelter and not be transferred to any adult-only facility under any circumstances. If a young adult is still attending high school, they should remain with their parent or guardian in the shelter. School enrollment and attendance may be verified through a District Homeless Liaison in Butte County.

III Admissions Policy

  1. Shelters cannot require identification as a condition for entry or demand those entering the shelter to enter personal information into a management information system as a condition for entry. This prohibition includes requiring the individual to disclose their social security number upon entering the shelter. All shelters should assist individuals seeking shelter in obtaining identification or a birth certificate if the individual does not have access to those documents including the transportation needed to obtain them.

The Information Practices Act of 1977 (California Civil Code, sections 1798 et seq.) requires government agencies to protect the privacy of personal information maintained by state agencies.
  1. Written rules must be presented to each resident upon entry. These rules must be displayed in the shelter. The rules need to specific the punishment for infractions of the rules. Sabbath House and Torres Shelter may continue their sober living environment programs after a “wet” shelter is created within the community, and there is an ability to transfer residents to the “wet” shelter if they relapse. Residents of publicly funded shelters may only be kicked out of the facility for violent activities and drug use on the premises. Shelter staff must file a police report for any of these incidents as criminal activity.

Steve Terry to: Wes Becker <>Date: Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 12:55 PM subject: RE: EDITED Proposed Draft Butte County Shelter Standards mailed-bysunset.net
FROM Steve Terry, Oroville Rescue Mission: 4/19/11 {“with regards to a “wet shelter,”…}
“You will have a difficult time with this. People that are intoxicated come to the Mission and we assist them the best we can. However; the Mission also has a drug and alcohol recovery program as well. We cannot allow clients to continue to come in an intoxicated manner for a couple of different reasons…
1. Current Recovery Clients
2. Enabling people to continue in that behavior (alcohol, drugs, etc.) that bore responsibility for their situation is just that…enabling. This does not help the person in the situation; nor does it help the community.”
  1. Upon entry to a shelter, residents should be given a voice mailbox so that they can remain connected with the outside world rather than depending upon getting messages from shelter staff.

IV Health/Safety Regulations

  1. All shelters must post a statement about the control of infectious diseases. Additionally, the shelter must post its policy regarding staff training and their control of infectious diseases, such as TB.
  1. The laws with regard Adult Protective Services—specifically regarding seniors or others who are a threat to themselves or who cannot care for themselves must be clearly displayed at the shelter.

Both mandated and non-mandated reporters should watch for signs of abuse. Abuse can be physical, emotional or sexual, or involve neglect or financial exploitation.
Read more: Mandatory Reporting of Elder Abuse in California | eHow.com
  1. All shelters must have a written procedure on storing medication of residents and their access to this medication.
  1. All shelters must have policies on serving both balanced meals and medically appropriate meals for those with a chronic health condition.
  1. A nurse/health care professional must be on duty 24 hours for shelters with more than 100 people in the same building. All shelter staff must be trained in simple first aid including CPR.
  1. One of the biggest barriers to stability is the ability for residents to work through previous traumatic experiences. A therapist needs to be available once a week for small shelters and once a day for large facilities. A therapy team could travel to a few different shelters throughout the week.
  1. Every resident must be given a care package with hygiene items.
  1. Every resident must be given daily access to showers.
  1. Every resident must be provided with clean linens.

V Shelter Operations/Facility Guidelines

  1. There needs to be a written policy at each shelter regarding residents’ access to telephones.
  1. A daily log of incidents must be kept. This does not need to be made public, but should be accessible in case a grievance is filed. Daily logs should be kept for up to two years.
  1. Each resident must have access to a locker or locked storage area to secure his or her belongings. Transitional Housing should provide larger storage for potential home/apartment furnishings.
  1. Residents will receive mandatory life skills training during their stay in the shelter.These classes will include training on how to get jobs, drug treatment, how to act in life or death situations, how to perform CPR and first aid, how to maintain a home, how to keep a bank account, and how to fill out applications.
  1. Residents should be offered job training while in the shelter including training on working in the shelters. This would have the benefit of allowing residents to find a job and could move into a job at the shelter if one opened.
  1. Each shelter needs to create a safety plan for residents and that plan must be approved by a group of independent non-affiliated homeless individuals, such as the Inter-County Homeless Task Force. This safety plan cannot be approved solely by current residents of the shelter seeking the plan’s approval.
  1. Every shelter must have a bus pass policy that needs to be approved by an outside group of homeless individuals. Residents should not have to walk to appointments or work for bus passes. all the shelters could pool their resources and obtain a discount on daily bus passes. There should be funds for individuals to get bus tickets or transportation so that they can get a job and find housing within the County of Butte.
  1. Shelters must provide transportation (a shuttle service) for people with health concerns and people getting health care in addition to the current shuttle to ad from the Jesus Center or Salvation Army for meals. There also needs to be a way to access prescription drugs including the payment of prescription drugs. Prescription Medication Administration Records (M.A.R.’s) should be instituted.
  1. Different types of people have different needs. The Torres shelter (when over 100 people) must divide up the population based on residents’ individual needs so that each person receives more individualized care.
  1. A housing plan must be created for each resident by the second week of the person staying at any public ly funded shelter.
  1. Each shelter must have a plan for collecting mail so that residents get their mail in a timely manner. This plan must be approved by an independent group of homeless people such as a Homeless Congress.
  1. Shelters must help residents establish a savings plan so they can save money and get into housing. Classes on banking and savings must be offered at the shelter.

VI Shelter Staffing/Training Needs

  1. All shelters that receive public money must send their staff to sensitivity training and must insure that residents and alumni are involved in how these classes are structured. The training must include mediation issues and how to handle tense situations in a nonviolent manner. Staff must be trained on the services available in the community to assure that referrals are appropriate. A certification process should be available to the public to verify that all staff has attended the proper training requirements.
  1. Volunteers at an adult shelter are strongly encouraged, but not required, to receive formal training. If a shelter houses children, volunteers must have criminal background checks in order to volunteer. No one with a violent or sexual-based criminal history will be allowed to volunteer at a shelter housing children.
  1. Staff members need background checks and must be subjected to random drug tests. Drug finding does not necessarily result in termination, but could result in referral to a treatment program instead.

VII Shelters Operations in the Community

  1. It is mandated that harm reduction models be developed, specifically in the form of a “wet” shelter within the city of Chico within two years of passage of this law for both men and women. This will be a place where active users can stay so they do not freeze to death or die of heat exposure, but where they would not be required to abstain from doing drugs or alcohol off site. In all shelters, residents may be kicked out for only two reasons: using drugs or alcohol on the property or violence on the property.

FROM Paul Wesbecher, HabeasClub – Chico: 5/19/11 {“with regards to a “wet shelter,”…}
There are degrees of “wetness” in my opinion. Please see the following studies re: this often controversial topic.
  • McIntyre, Stephanie, WH Wet Housing, {an accommodation option for people who have experienced chronic homelessness and long-term alcohol dependence}, 2009, A report on a study trip supported by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust CONTACT PERSON: Stephanie McIntyre, Director, Downtown Community Ministry (Seattle) at:
  • Reed, Matt, Wet Shelters:{The benefits and risks associated with alcohol-administering homeless shelters}, Nov. 13, 2008, SCOPING REVIEW, Office of the Chief Information Officer, British Columbia, CA CONTACT PERSON: Dawn Nickel, PHD., Director of Research Services, Knowledge and Information Services. PHONE: (250) 356-0779 E-Mail: or PHONE: (250) 356-0779
  • Hicks-Coolick, Anne, Ardith Peters, Ulf Zimmerman, How “Deserving” Are the Most Vulnerable Homeless? {Thoughts on poverty and inequality},2007, Journal of Poverty, Vol. 11(1), The Haworth Press. Online at:
  • Please also see: and please navigate to: the vulnerability assessment tool

  1. Each shelter must write up plans for their ultimate goal—going out of business.They need plans to get everyone housed in some limited period of time so that there is no longer a need for shelters. An annual report should be developed by the Office of the Greaterk Homeless Task Force or an outside not-for-profit entity using the information provided by each shelter to assess how close they are to going out of business because they are no longer needed.

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