Davis agreed to reserve five beds for people it refers to Fourth & Hope's low-barrier shelter on East Beamer Street in Woodland. The council approved the one-year letter agreement on Sept. 1 with no votes against; the signed version is not in the record reviewed, which contains an approved agreement form with blank signature blocks. The agreement provides for an annual fee of $109,500, in quarterly installments of $27,375, which under the written terms secures the beds regardless of occupancy — about $60 per bed per night — with a prorated credit or refund if Fourth & Hope cannot provide the reserved capacity for more than five consecutive days or ten cumulative days in a calendar year. If Davis needs more, Fourth & Hope may provide extra day services, overnight-only stays or full-service stays at $25 per person per day for day services, $35 per person per night for overnight-only shelter and $60 per person per day for full service, when it can, up to $20,000 more for the year. The beds sit within Fourth & Hope's existing capacity of about 100; staff said the deal adds no beds but pays for staffing and case management, much like Woodland's arrangement with the shelter. The city handles transportation, and staff said outreach workers or police would also bring people back. The council waived the city's living-wage requirement for the contract.
The agreement requires Fourth & Hope to track Davis referrals in the regional homeless data system and its internal systems, and, when the city requests them, to provide monthly summary reports on utilization and performance outcomes listed in the contract. Measures named in the staff report include referrals served, bed nights, occupancy, case-management participation, connections to housing resources, exits to permanent housing and connections to health and behavioral health care. Separately, each quarterly invoice for the reserved beds must come with a summary of bed availability and utilization for the preceding quarter, and any additional services beyond the five beds are billed monthly with utilization reports. Staff said quarterly invoicing would show how the beds are used and could support ending the contract if use falls short, and they expected to report back in about six months and again after a year. Council members called it a demonstration project that should produce data to guide spending.
Early use is unclear. At the Oct. 20 meeting, a council member, citing a staff email, said people had not yet taken up the beds in the program's first two weeks but that staff expected more interest as the weather cooled. In the same exchange, a council member and staff described the city as paying for the beds as they are occupied; the written agreement says the annual fee secures them regardless of occupancy.
The city's seasonal winter shelter is tentatively set to run Dec. 7 through March 31, according to an Oct. 20 staff report. Davis Community Meals and Housing will provide congregate beds at Paul's Place from its year-round beds, funded through a separate $267,000-a-year city contract; staff described eight beds there. The city's outreach team and the Davis Daytime Respite Center will run a motel site at Hi Wheel Flats for people who are medically vulnerable or at risk of predatory behavior, on a $50,000 general fund budget that staff said covers four rooms. Capacity has shrunk as grant money ran out, from 10 beds and 10 rooms in 2023-24 to eight beds and four rooms last winter, when St. Vincent de Paul paid for two more rooms; staff don't yet know whether it will again. The Fourth & Hope beds are also offered through the program. Staff also said the motel rooms go first to seniors and people who are medically vulnerable or at risk, and that rooms still open can then be offered to anyone who wants them.
Council members asked for more numbers. Staff said Paul's Place beds were not always full last winter, sometimes four or six of eight, though they filled in extreme cold, and that some people approached by outreach weren't interested. One council member asked for historical figures on how many people sought shelter, were turned away and stayed, to inform choices between outreach and overnight beds. Staff said they would debrief the council after the season. At the end of the Oct. 20 discussion, with the next council meeting not until Nov. 17, council members voiced support for the city manager using his existing discretionary authority to secure additional motel rooms if weather warranted. The city manager said he could work with the finance director to locate another $50,000, on top of the $50,000 budget. Where the money would come from — the affordable housing trust fund, the General Fund or salary savings from vacancies — was left unresolved. The captions do not show a recorded appropriation vote, a finalized $100,000 budget or money already spent, and this report has not verified any later implementation.
The Fourth & Hope deal grew out of the council's Feb. 17 decision on the downtown respite center at 530 L St. A Feb. 17, 2026 staff report put the center's annual operating cost at $501,616 within a then-current direct General Fund homelessness budget of $1,268,153, and recommended maintaining continuity of operations at the current site through June 30, 2026, the fiscal-year end. Based on captions from that meeting, the council voted, with no one opposed, to keep the center's full services there through the fiscal year, to set up transportation to Fourth & Hope and gauge demand, to compare the L Street site with a possible Fifth Street location, also checking with the county about a site on A Street. The record reviewed contains no later council decision changing that status, so this piece makes no claim about the center's current authorization. In a November 2025 debate over how to measure the center's success, staff said a respite center typically produces less data than a navigation center, and a council member noted that earlier operators had reported annually and that the city's website posts some service counts.