Newly repurposed Sacramento shelter offers homeless women hope in River District

Jennifer Hernandez sits on her bunk in the North A shelter

Part of an ongoing series on Sacramento’s efforts to alleviate the crisis of homelessness

New Year’s Day didn’t just mean a new decade for Jennifer Hernandez, it meant the chance to get off the streets and into a shelter that she hopes will lead to permanent housing and a job.

On Jan. 2, Hernandez, 50, was one of the first women to move into the North A Street shelter operated by First Step Communities and the Volunteers of America. The 80-bed shelter reopened Jan. 1 as a 24-hour operation split between men’s and women’s dorms. Previously, it was open only 10 hours a day, and just for men.

Hernandez, a former state worker, sat on her top bunk Thursday afternoon and expressed relief at the prospect of sleeping indoors. “This is truly a blessing,” she said. “Everyone’s really nice. It’s wonderful. It’s clean.”

She had been homeless for six months after fleeing an abusive relationship. Most of that time she slept in her car, but since it broke down in mid-December, she said, she had been on the street.

The courtyard in front of the North A Street shelter, once filled with tents, has largely been cleared since the facility expanded its hours to allow residents to stay 24-7 rather than requiring them to leave at 6 a.m.

“When you’re out there on the streets as a female it’s really dangerous,” she said. “I could hear women screaming in the middle of the night. It was horrible.”

Funding for the expanded North A shelter operation is coming from Sacramento County. The City of Sacramento pays for the adjacent bathrooms that operate 15 hours a day to serve homeless people in the surrounding area.

The shift to a 24-hour operation is part of the reorientation of city and county-funded shelters from places that simply offer a bed at night to comprehensive Navigation Centers that surround residents in the services they need to stabilize their lives, find permanent housing or reunite with family. It is also part of an increased emphasis on facilities serving women. Under the leadership of Mayor Darrell Steinberg, the city plans to open a 100-bed Navigation Center for women this spring in Meadowview.

Also in the River District, the city-funded Navigation Center on North Fifth Street on Jan. 1 raised its capacity from 80 to 104 men and women under the new management of Shelter, Inc., one of the largest providers of homeless services in the Bay Area. Another eighteen beds at the shelter are part of a healthcare respite program provided by Wellspace Health.

Caseworkers in both shelters will help guests deal with issues preventing them from obtaining needed medical care, benefits, substance abuse services and permanent housing.

“Some of them, the first thing they need is to get an ID. They can’t prove who they are,” said Stephen Watters, executive director of First Step Communities. “Others have medical issues they need to have stabilized. Others are ready to work.”

Hernandez counts herself in that latter group. A day after her arrival at the shelter, she planned to join the Women’s Empowerment program just down the street. She hopes to use her substantial experience as a supervisor at the state Employment Development Department and at other jobs to help her become re-employed.

“I have a lot of skills,” she said. “I just needed to get somewhere stable.”