SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A local non-profit has been working for several years to build a hospice that would serve the Sacramento area’s unhoused community. Its location, however, is generating pushback from not only neighbors but also an entire school district.
One unhoused person dies just about every five days in Sacramento County. That’s according to two decades’ worth of data gathered by the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. Some of those deaths are due to violence or accidents, but many are from natural causes.
Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater is on a mission to build a hospice for the unhoused, to provide a dignified, compassionate place to die. She’s the founder and CEO of Joshua’s House – named in memory and honor of her grandson.
“I had 34-year-old grandson that I was very, very close to, who struggled with homelessness and drug addiction and died in Nebraska, and that was it,” she said, telling ABC10 about her motivation for creating the hospice.
ABC10 first spoke with her in 2017. Back then, Joshua’s House was set to be located in an existing building on North C Street, near the unhoused service provider Loaves & Fishes.
“But unfortunately, it would have cost probably close to $7 million to retrofit it and prepare it,” said von Friederichs-Fitzwater.
So they eventually found a new location.
“The city came up with a property they owned, that they were willing to lease to us for 25 years and then renewable for another 25 years. We wouldn't pay any rent, but we would pay annual property tax,” she said.
That’s great for Joshua’s House, which von Friederichs-Fitzwater says is close to beginning construction, but the currently-empty South Natomas lot sits directly across the street from Garden Valley Elementary School, in the Twin Rivers Unified School District. It serves mostly diverse, low-income families – and parents and neighbors tell ABC10, they don’t think this site is the right place for a homeless hospice.
“We’re talking about four-year-old, five-year-olds,” said Raul Huerta.
He and his wife Letycia Huerta are members of the South Natomas United Neighborhood Association and worry about the safety of the students.
“Especially the little ones that are in kindergarten and preschool,” said Letycia.
South Natomas United opposes this location for the site of Joshua’s House.
“This community is already doing a lot to try to assist low-income households and the homeless,” said Raul. “Yet they keep pushing these types of projects in our neighborhoods, when we have been very clear to the city that what this community needs are parks, are community centers, are libraries or clinics - things that are going to help this community grow. This community is a low-resource, majority minority community that doesn't have those amenities or those resources.”
Other neighbors have concerns, too — especially those who help clean up the lot adjacent to the site of Joshua’s House, where encampments occasionally form.
“We think that it's not fair for city officials to put a program for homeless in front of a school,” said Juan Rangel, vice president of South Natomas United.
Speaking in Spanish to ABC10, neighbor Fernando Campos, whose property is adjacent to the lot, said, “It would be great if they didn’t put them here, that they change the location…But if it can’t be done, what can we do? But we are dissatisfied.”
Neighbors say they’re in favor of a homeless hospice – just not here.
“We're not talking about stopping the project. We're talking about just moving locations, to better make the project successful, to better protect our youth, because that's what we deserve,” said Eleanor Oliver, South Natomas United secretary and mother of a Garden Valley Elementary student. “It's about quality for our kids and equity for our community.”
In a rare move, Twin Rivers Unified School District has formally come out opposing this location as the site for the homeless hospice, passing a resolution last July stating their concerns about student safety.
Rebecca Sandoval is the Twin Rivers trustee for this area.
“Would you put a liquor store across the street? A cannabis facility across the street? But yet you're going to put some something across the street that - during hospice, people use morphine, fentanyl, it's going to be right there,” she told ABC10.
Twin Rivers Superintendent Steve Martinez tells ABC10 the district has offered Joshua’s House six alternative locations on other district property – sites that are not near a school. He said Joshua’s House – at one point – showed interested in the alternative site at 1251 Chuckwagon Drive in Sacramento, just a little over a mile from the current planned site.
“We would do everything in our legal power to provide them with the same type of lease agreement, if not a better agreement for them,” said Martinez. “And actually, the space that we're talking about is a lot bigger, so they could actually expand their facility and make it a facility where they can provide more care for more individuals as well.”
ABC10 took all these questions and concerns to von Friederichs-Fitzwater, asking her if there’s any circumstance under which she’d consider moving sites at this point.
“No, I've already spent a million dollars and about to spend a million more,” she said, referring to the modular buildings purchased for the site and the upcoming work to prepare the lot, respectively. “Like I said, if this had happened two years ago, yes, I would have considered it, absolutely. But they've waited until we've spent all this money, the lot is in a lease for us for 50 years, free. I mean, I can't walk away from all of that…I raised the money. I have people that are responsible, including the city and the county. They would not be happy.”
Neighbors and district leaders wonder - if she has waited this long to build Joshua's House, why not wait just a little longer to get the permits and zoning lined up at a big parcel of land offered by the district.
ABC10 asked her that question.
"It took us over a year to get city permits and to hire an inspector... We've already done all that. We'd have to start all over. And, frankly, this has been really hard on me. I'm 83 years old. I don't know how much longer I have to live and the stress it's been on me -- it's just been incredible," said von Friederichs-Fitzwater. "So I am so relieved that now, finally, we have all those permits and we have everything ready to go to get this done. Starting all over? Like I said in first place, it would cost a lot of money and take a lot of time that I don't have."
She said the facility will be run by YoloCares, a Davis-based hospice. Upon opening, it will be able to serve 15 terminally ill unhoused individuals, all of whom will be referred by hospitals with no walk-ins accepted. There will be security cameras and 24/7 security, she said.
“I encourage people to trust us and let us open this fall and then monitor us. Make sure what we've said is true,” said von Friederichs-Fitzwater. “If they could just be patient and see it open and realize it's not anything like they've pictured or anything like they've experienced for the homeless, then if they still have complaints, we'll deal with it.”
She said the unhoused people Joshua’s House will serve will not be wandering around the neighborhood.
“It will be private; it will be safe,” she said. “Our goal is to be a good neighbor and to be protective of the neighborhood but also protective of our residents. And these are people who are dying, so it's not like they're going to be out wandering around. Most of them are bedridden.”
On Wednesday, City Councilmember Karina Talamantes’ office is holding a meeting to discuss neighbors’ concerns. The South Natomas United Neighborhood Association will be there, along with Twin Rivers district leaders.
ABC10 asked von Friederichs-Fitzwater if anyone from Joshua’s House plans on attending. She said she and the non-profit’s attorney had asked organizers to change the date, as she and the attorney were both scheduled to be out of town. Organizers opted not to change the date. She said Joshua’s House board members told her—they’re not comfortable attending without her or the attorney, so nobody from her non-profit will be attending Wednesday’s meeting, she said.
The meeting takes place June 28 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Rio Tierra Junior High School in Sacramento.
Meanwhile, Twin Rivers district leaders and neighbors hold onto hope that something could still change. Superintendent Martinez said he has sent a letter to Sacramento City Council and the city manager, outlining the district’s concerns.
“I just don't know how productive it would be to have a facility where we know that some of our unhoused folks are going to live their last days, next to a school of kindergarten students. It just doesn't make sense to me,” he said.
WATCH ALSO:
