Butte County services begin at Chico’s housing site
As of Friday, 45 shelter units are occupied
Chico’s emergency non-congregate housing site has been open officially since Monday and its service operations have now moved into place.
Interim City Manager Paul Hahn said the Butte County Department of Employment and Social Services and Butte County Behavioral Health began visiting the site this week.
“It’s been a good week for the shelter to kind of get their protocols established, get settled in, get out wrap-around services established,” Hahn said.
Amber Abney-Bass, executive director of the Jesus Center and housing site operator, said the county services had a strong presence at the housing site.
“We’re seeing people sign up. They’re utilizing those service providers when they’re on site, so that’s super encouraging,” AbneyBass said.
Hahn said not much outreach was going on this week with the Outreach and Engagement team because the city is waiting for a 7-day grace period to end on its notice of intent to enforce.
The city sent its notice to Legal Services of Northern California on May 2 as required by the Warren v. Chico settlement agreement to begin anti-camp enforcement.
Hahn said the law firm responded to the notice since then and the city may legally begin enforcement after the grace period is over on Monday.
Then, on either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, the city will begin issuing 7-day notices to people living in public parks in Chico, Hahn said. The first areas of enforcement are around downtown Chico, Annie’s Glen and Lost Park.
As of Friday, the number of occupied micro-shelters at the housing site is at 45 — the same number counted on April 29.
Abney-Bass said the number has stayed the same because a few occupants have left and some new occupants have arrived. Three occupants that left since entering have called to come back.
“What I’ve really noticed is that there is a very apparent difference just in the faces of some of the people that have been with us since we opened,” Abney-Bass said. “I’m starting to see them. They are sleeping; they look rested; they’re eating.”
Abney-Bass said the level of interest to enter the site from homeless people has somewhat strained the current capacity to respond to everyone.
“We’re going to get to people, but we just can’t get to people as quickly based on the number of requests we’ve been fielding all week long.”
While the 45 current occupants entered the housing site voluntarily, new occupants will be entered in through the procedure outlined in the agreement when the city begins enforcement.
“With the Outreach and Engagement team, we’ve been preparing for next week. As we move from the voluntary state to an enforcement state, there are different things that we want to make sure that we are clear on and consistent on potential occupants’ benefits.”
As the city moves forward with filling the housing site with occupants, Abney-Bass said her team is prioritizing people who are currently not sheltered as the site has been getting requests from currently housed or sheltered people.
“What we’re continuing to work on is preparing to be able to respond to the incredible need and interest from people that are looking to get into the site,” Abney-Bass said.