King City extends temporary homeless shelter program at Monarch Inn

KING CITY, Calif. (KION-TV) - King City is moving forward with plans to extend it’s temporary homeless shelter program at Monarch Inn.

On Tuesday, city council unanimously approved the decision to extend the lease, in order to help people facing homelessness. The temporary site for the program at Monarch Inn is now extended from the original end date of July 10, 2024 to Feb 10, 2025.

It comes as King City prepares the former Days Inn hotel as a permanent supportive housing facility. The site is still several months away from being ready to house people.

The city cites serious financial problems, fraud and mismanagement of the project by developer Shragra-La Industries for the delay.

“Right now, it's in limbo. It was foreclosed on. My understanding is that foreclosure process has already taken place. And so we're just working through all the other legal mechanisms right now," King City mayor Mike Lebarre said.

The extended lease with Monarch Inn is meant to continue housing people in the program, while buying time to work on the Days Inn hotel site. It comes at a total estimated cost of $530,000, which will primarily come from encampment resolution funding with no impact to the city’s general fund.

“Since we have grant funding to address the cost, it is a win-win because we have a long waiting list of individuals in need of temporary housing," King City Chief of Police James Hunt said.

When it comes to the work on the Days Inn hotel, the city says their focus is now on new funding sources and partners including the County of Monterey.

“King City hopes to be a model to show that any community regardless of your size, can put a plan together that meets the needs of your residents, and those homeless individuals within your communities," Mayor Lebarre said.

The city adds they hope to get the days in hotel site ready to house people within nine months before the lease with Monarch Inn ends. As part of the extended lease with monarch, two additional rooms were added bringing the total to 20.