Stockton homeless shelter appeals to S.J. supervisors as winter crisis looms
STOCKTON — The Stockton Shelter for the Homeless has been forced to turn men and families away this year and anticipates a crisis this winter, as more will need help when temperatures drop, officials said Tuesday at the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Earlier this year, the Homeless Emergency Task Force was created. On Tuesday, members of the task force asked supervisors to approve partial funding for a cold weather winter shelter plan that would take 100 people off the street from Dec. 15 to March 15. The city of Stockton has committed $200,000, and the task force asked the county to fund the balance of the $450,000 plan, which would shelter the individuals at the Gospel Center Rescue Mission in downtown Stockton. The individuals would have access to case management, behavioral health and other services to help them transition into permanent housing and/or be work-ready when the four months expire.
“We can’t do long-term planning unless we plan for the immediate future,” said the task force’s Phyllis Grupe. “If we can work with 100 now, that’s 100 fewer that are on the streets.”
Grupe said data could be collected from residents of the winter shelter that could assist efforts in finding solutions to the homeless epidemic. Edward Figueroa, chief executive officer of St. Mary’s Dining Room, said the winter shelter also would be a conduit between individuals that need help and service providers.
“We need to get them connected, build the relationship,” he said. “In programming, we have an opportunity to build that and connect them to services. If they aren’t in a shelter, we have no chance.”
JoLyn McMillan, chief executive officer of Stockton Shelter for the Homeless, shared statistics provided by the Continuum of Care that illustrate the need.
“For the first nine months of this year, we ran at 175 percent of capacity on the men’s side and 120 percent of capacity on the family side,” McMillan said. “We are at the end of our rope and to provide any extra support for the winter, we desperately need the funding.”
San Joaquin County Administrator Monica Nino cautioned the board not to tap general or contingency funds without looking into other sources before rendering a decision.
“We want to see what other funds we have available,” said Jolena Voorhis, public information officer for the county. “We have existing pots and contracts that we might be able to pull from.”
Also during Tuesday’s meeting:
• Voorhis outlined the new Clean San Joaquin program to beautify county streets and neighborhoods, increase property values, drive business, reduce crime and show civic pride. A new website
(cleansjc.org) is up where residents can report issues, volunteer and donate through United Way. A brochure will be distributed to educate the public about the harm illegal dumping brings to the community.
“A little bit of this is homeless encampments,” said Voorhis, “but most of it is just the public doing it.”
• The date for the appeal by the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau Federation to the Planning Commission’s approval of the 2018 Forward Landfill Expansion Project and the certification of the supplemental environmental impact report was set for 9 a.m. on Jan. 7.
• Organizers from SEIU Local 1021 were present in the lobby of the San Joaquin County Administration Building prior to Tuesday’s meeting and some were in chambers during the meeting. The union that represents some 6,000 county employees has worked without a contract since early September. SEIU organizers Roberto De La Cruz and Alfonso Diaz said both sides met last week to negotiate a pay raise for workers in the Family Caregiver Support Program, but an agreement was not reached. Saturday’s temporary blockade by about 100 SEIU members at the North County Recycling and Sanitary Landfill was not mentioned during the public session.