LINCOLN, Calif. — The city of Lincoln and The Gathering Inn — a Rocklin-based organization providing services for the unhoused community in Placer and Sacramento counties — are in tense negotiations over a proposed medical respite center.
The city and some neighbors worry it could attract unhoused people to the residential area and strain resources. The Gathering Inn says it's not a shelter and residents will only come through hospital referrals.
Earlier this month, The Gathering Inn informed the city of Lincoln it bought the property at 1660 Third Street — a former assisted living facility that closed earlier this year.
Last week, the city published a news release expressing disappointment over the "lack of transparency in medical respite center project,” saying, “City officials and staff were only made aware of the project after the close of escrow.”
Mayor Dan Karleskint wrote in the release, “The complete disregard for transparency and the failure to involve the City of Lincoln and its residents in discussions about this significantly impactful project is unacceptable."
The Gathering Inn President and CEO Keith Diederich told ABC10 the seller asked for confidentiality on the purchase until the close of escrow — and his organization informed the city immediately after the sale was complete.
The Gathering Inn plans on opening a 60-bed medical respite program for unhoused people being discharged by the hospital.
“They needed medical care and now they’re discharged, and these folks have nowhere to go,” Diederich said. “We provide case management, nursing, medical support for these individuals.”
He pointed out the organization has successfully run a smaller, 10-bed medical respite program in Auburn for 15 years.
Hussein, who was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer earlier this year while experiencing homelessness, has been in The Gathering Inn’s respite program since April.
“I couldn’t make it without them, without being here. There’s no way I could’ve made it,” he said. “I would be on the street if they didn’t help me and take me in and do what they’re doing for the past three, four months.”
Nick Golling is The Gathering Inn’s Chief Program Officer.
“They don’t have anywhere to go. They’re not ill enough to remain in the hospital, but they’re not well enough to be even in an emergency shelter, let alone on the streets,” he said. “We have folks who are in stage IV of cancer treatment. We have folks who are recovering from amputations. We have folks who have very significant, chronic illnesses that require a safe place for them to be, where they have medical supervision, where they’re able to get their needs met and not have to worry about where they’re going to sleep every night while that happens.”
The current 10-bed program serves an average of 90 people per year, Diederich said, with an average age of 62. Of the people they served last year, 30% went to permanent housing and another 53% went to transitional housing.
The property in Lincoln will allow them to expand that work, serving about 300 people a year, Golling said.
“We want them to be better than the situation that they had when they first came to us,” he said.
But the city and some neighbors have concerns.
“We don’t feel comfortable with this project at all,” said Lincoln Vice Mayor Holly Andreatta.
One issue is the location.
“When you add this facility right there in the middle of this residential area, with schools and children and families and seniors that live across the way, it’ll put an undue burden on Lincoln, and it’s not fair to my residents,” Andreatta said.
Neighbor Bev Kennedy told ABC10, “This project is just not a good fit for where it’s going, and my concern is that I can see it from my kitchen window. The city has worked very hard… to clear out most of the homeless that were there before… This project could certainly change that.”
The Gathering Inn says it's not going to be a shelter or walk-in clinic; the program only takes hospital referrals and runs names against the sex offender list first.
Still, Andreatta said, “these people come in and out. There’s no guarantee of where they go if they’re released.”
The Gathering Inn doesn’t yet have a date for when they plan on opening this. Diederich says he looks forward to continue working with the city.
"Even though we have the approval of the state, we want to be good neighbors," Diederich said.
The opportunity to purchase the lot came through a state grant, he said.
"The need is there, and our mission is to serve people experiencing homelessness," Diederich said. "The funding was there and the location was there and the timing was there, so I can't abdicate my responsibility as president and CEO to serve people experiencing homelessness and just let an opportunity like this go by."
A statement provided to ABC10 Thursday by Lincoln spokesperson Erin Frye said, "The City is investigating all avenues, legal and otherwise, to address concerns we have about the facility, including the proximity to schools, potential strain on local resources, potential increase in the number of unhoused in Lincoln, and the total lack of transparency from The Gathering Inn."
See the city’s original news release HERE. The city posted on Facebook last Friday it is "actively negotiating with The Gathering Inn and other relevant parties to satisfy our concerns as it relates to the proposed medical respite center on 3rd Street."
See The Gathering Inn’s information and Frequently Asked Questions page HERE.
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