What’s at stake?
A local recuperative care shelter for the homeless abruptly laid off its staff on Tuesday, leaving behind about 250 patients with questions about their future.
A local shelter provider told Fresnoland that they can run the facility following successful insurance claims for most patients, and that other local providers have stepped up to help with the rest.
RH Community Builders, a Fresno-based service provider, will continue managing a recuperative care facility for the homeless on the city’s Blackstone corridor following an abrupt announcement earlier this week that the site was set to shut down.
The facility on 4080 N. Blackstone Ave. in a former Motel 6 just north of Ashlan Avenue sheltered around 250 people recently discharged from a hospital, but were deemed too sick to return to the streets.
Soul Housing, the facility’s operator, funded the care facility through a contract with health insurance provider Health Net through CalAIM, the state’s expanded MediCal program. They shut down the facility four months after Health Net informed them that their contract was set to expire, according to information reported by LAist.
Katie Wilbur, RH Community Builders’ executive director, told Fresnoland on Friday that the insurance claims they use to fund the care provided at the shelter have continued this week, helping to keep the lights on, at least in the short term.
“We feel pretty confident that we will be able to authorize enough individuals here to keep this site open while we figure out longer-term plans,” Wilbur said.
Wilbur added that local providers like WestCare and the Poverello House have reached out in recent days to offer assistance. She described the acts as “just another demonstration of how the community comes together when there is a need.”
Soul Housing shared a statement with Fresnoland earlier this week that they were happy to see RH Community Builders help with the takeover of the facility.
“After Health Net made clear that there would be no transition plan for participants, Soul Housing reached out to RH Builders, who assured us they could help with continuity instead. We thank them for committing to take over the facility, safeguard all remaining Blackstone participants, and offer employment opportunities to Soul Housing staff,” the statement reads.
“Because our highest priority is the safety and stability of participants, we are sincerely grateful to everyone who helped make that possible during an extraordinarily difficult time,” the statement continued. “We continue to follow up on the transition and place our confidence in the commitments and goodwill expressed in private conversations, despite the different tone of any public remarks.”
About two-thirds of the roughly 250 patients in the Blackstone facility have been processed, Wilbur said. After that’s done, she said, the facility will start accepting new referrals for as long as the facility remains open.
“Every day is hard,” Wilbur said, “but I think the rewards of being able to keep people sheltered, see people go to permanent housing … that’s what always fills our cup and keeps us doing the work.”
Wilbur told Fresnoland that long-term plans for the facility’s patients involve eventually moving everyone to a new RH Community Builders shelter that has yet to be announced. The shelter, she said, is expected to open around early next year.
‘It’s not easy’
Michelle Hernandez, 21, lost her job this week at Soul Housing’s Blackstone facility. Exactly how many people lost work this week remained unclear Friday.
Hernandez described her role as a care monitor and medical technician at the facility, with her day-to-day duties including welfare assistance, medication administration and even “just being somebody to talk to” for the patients at the campus.
“It’s not easy work but it’s something I enjoyed,” Hernandez said. “Before I worked there, I will tell you that I had my own opinions of the homeless, but not everyone is like that. Once you actually sit there and get to talk to people that are there, you learn that everyone is there for a reason. Everyone has their own stories — some good, some bad — but they all want to just get better.”
Hernandez said that “there were definitely rumors” of possible layoffs leading up to Tuesday’s announcement, but that staff were always assured by their bosses that jobs were safe.
Soul Housing told Fresnoland in a statement earlier this week that they wish Health Net had informed them sooner of the contract termination.
Hernandez also said she wishes there had been a longer runway for the employees to get everything settled. She said she feels especially affected due to her pregnancy. She’s expecting a child in December.
She said she did not show up to RH Community Builders’ hiring event on Wednesday due to the pregnancy. She said she planned to take maternity leave in late November, but now her future is “uncertain.”
“I feel like they kind of messed it up with me,” Hernandez said.
For now, she said she’ll file for unemployment and “focus on motherhood.” She added that, when she’s ready to go back into the workforce, she’ll look into getting back into the field of recuperative care. She said seeing the difference her help brought to people was enough to make her want to come back.
“It’s where my heart is at,” Hernandez said. “It took me a while to notice it, but it’s genuinely where my heart’s at, to help other people.”
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