Vallejo City Council uses opioid settlement funds to cover delay of Broadway Project opening

VALLEJO - The Vallejo City Council on Tuesday voted to move opioid settlement funds to a company currently handling operations at a delayed supportive housing project on Broadway until the site opens to house formerly unsheltered people by the end of the year. 

The council voted 6-1, with Mayor Andrea Sorce opposed, to approve moving the funds to project developer Firm Foundation. The funds, totaling $642,860 from the 2025-26 budget’s opioid settlement fund, had been previously allocated to Shelter Inc., which is contracted to run the project once it opens.

Now, the funds will largely cover operational and start-up costs and a construction gap on the long-awaited project. The dollars come from a state pool, including about $1.3 million paid to Vallejo, from settlements of various lawsuits against opioid manufacturers. 

Assistant to the city manager Natalie Peterson said Tuesday that the request was made as Firm Foundation is handling the site during the current final steps toward opening. Shelter Inc. will take over once the site is open for people to begin moving into the supportive homes. 

Peterson said that the city’s goal is to begin moving people into the project by Dec. 31, although the operators say they will try to get people into housing sooner “before the holidays come.” More than 15 applications have been approved by the company Alecca for leasing, working alongside the Vallejo Housing Authority, Peterson said.

The project, which is intended to create 47 housing units and was funded partly by state Project Homekey funds, hit another delay within the last couple of months, due to what the city said were unexpected issues, including a water line break and delays in insurance approvals. Sorce last month blamed the new delays on poor management, since the council was told earlier this year that the project would likely open in August. 

Vallejo has already faced multiple delays in opening the project for housing people who have been unsheltered, as it has been under construction since 2022. It required a $6 million council bailout last year to resume stalled construction, and an audit found that the city and developer mismanaged the project as its budget ballooned from $15 to $26 million.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Councilmember Helen-Marie “Cookie” Gordon commended Firm Foundation for the project being so close to completion after so many obstacles. 

However, Vallejo resident William Baker criticized the city budget’s lack of consistent funds for security staff to be employed at the site. He compared it to another Homekey housing project in Oakland that has a budget for ongoing security at the site. 

In addition, Baker questioned why Vallejo staff reduced the site’s interim security budget from $110,000 to $20,000 over the last year.

“What has changed?” Baker said. “The money has already been spent by Firm Foundation. The city needs to underwrite the proper operation of the Broadway project. Make these commitments, before anything bad happens and then be forced to underwrite it anyway and be faced again with yet another lawsuit.”