Fairfield council approves disputed homeless housing plan, rebuffs mayor’s delay request

By Ashley Sharp

Fairfield’s city council voted 4-3 to approve the controversial Vista Ridge permanent homeless housing project following more than three hours of heated council discussion and public comment on Tuesday night. 

The “no” votes on the project were from Mayor Catherine Moy, Vice Mayor Pam Bertani, and Councilmember Manveer Sandhu. 

“I’m disappointed,” Moy told CBS Sacramento after the final vote came down around 11:30 p.m. 

Moy made a last-minute motion, seconded by Bertani, to table the vote until ongoing city code enforcement and county investigations looking into the state of the building could be finished. The motion failed and the project proceeded to a final vote. 

Moy called into question the $12 million appraisal of the hotel that she described as “dilapidated,” the price Moy says the city now has to pay the current hotel owners to purchase the building. 

Tuesday’s vote approves the loan agreement, regulatory agreement and standard agreement required to now give the project final approval and issue a loan of $23,071,081 for the project on a 55-year term. The facility must operate as permanent supportive housing. 

More than $21.5 million of that money is California Homekey+ funding as the state seeks to provide more homeless housing. 

“If we accept this funding tonight that obligates this city to operate this facility as a permanent supportive housing unit for 55 years,” Bertani criticized.  

The Vista Ridge project, through its developer DANCO, plans to redevelop the SureStay hotel on North Texas Street, gutting the building and constructing 50 permanent housing units for homeless people with behavioral health issues and severe mental illness. 

City staff say ten units will be reserved for veterans – but Bertani, during her comments, told staff and Faifield’s city manager that she does not trust the facts of the project presented to council by city staff, or that any veterans will be housed here. The concerns fueled her “no” vote on the project. 

“I believe this factual record is incomplete, non-transparent and inaccurate at best,” said Bertani. “This makes me sad. I’ve been on the city council for about 14 years and never in the history of my tenure on this council have I seen this kind of behavior out of the city. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know the whole truth is not going on. That makes me want to cry. At the end of the day, we are all we’ve got. We have to stick together, we have to tell the truth.”

Bertani pointed out that unhoused people eligible to live at the permanent housing site are the seriously mentally ill, those addicted to drugs, and level 1 and 2 sex offenders. 

“It is inhumane for people to live on the streets. It’s inhumane. We have been trying for years, I’ve been council since 2008. We have been trying for years to help get people off the streets. Many flat out refuse. They don’t want the help,” said Moy, saying she has deep compassion for the homeless and wants to help them through more ‘recovery-first’ based programs. 

The people utilizing the permanent housing are not required to also partake in the critical social services on site, though city staff say the majority in these types of programs do.  

More than one hundred neighbors showed up to Tuesday night’s council meeting to weigh in on the Vista Ridge project, both for and against it, with the opposition far outweighing the support. 

“You’ve got more support against it than you do for it,” said neighbor Angela Johnson in public comment, pointing to the signs in the gallery reading “Vote No on Vista Ridge.” 

At times, the meeting was standing room only, with neighbors asked to stand in the overflow room or outside. Public comment lasted for more than two hours. 

“It is literally a recipe for disaster,” said neighbor Lisa Murphy of the project.

Bertani pushed multiple times during the meeting for an answer on if the city and its taxpayers will ever be on the hook if federal and state funding for these projects dries up. She told CBS Sacramento she did not feel like she ever got a clear “yes” or “no” answer. 

“I’ve never seen a project with such overwhelming opposition by our residents. Remember, we report to our residents. It seems to me the community has spoken very clearly about concerns for this project and flat-out opposition. That has my attention,” said Bertani. 

Several residents in favor of the project cited the great need for a solution to homelessness. The city says 428 homeless people are currently in the housing queue in Fairfield alone. 

“I’m in support of the project, I live in this neighborhood. I shop in that area,” said neighbor Cynthia Garcia. 

An organized opposition group, Citizens Against Vista Ridge, advocates that this is the wrong location. 

“We disagree with the location. A facility like this should never be planned next to two children’s dentistry and Texas Roadhouse. Their business will suffer and is suffering,” said Carol Haddock, spokesperson for Citizens Against Vista Ridge. 

DANCO said similar projects to this one have seen success and they have never been “kicked off” a project in 39 years. 

“We are confident this is the right location and the property will be managed properly,” said DANCO representatives at the meeting. 

Other neighbors asked the city simply to slow down. 

“We do not need to do this right away, we don’t need to just do something. We need to do something correctly and safely,” said neighbor Rick Johnson in public comment, which was met with applause from the crowd. 

Following the council’s vote of approval, Citizens Against Vista Ridge says their group is prepared to launch a referendum effort and that the group’s attorney will have a petition ready to go within the next two days. 

The group says they must gather 7,000 signatures of valid registered Fairfield voters within 30 days of Tuesday’s vote – and if they do so, the vote to approve the project could be nullified.