Modesto may see new shelter, outreach for homeless

Modesto could see two new efforts in the coming months to assist the homeless: a low-barrier shelter and a one-stop center that would help them access such services as treatment for mental illness, finding work or getting into permanent housing.

These pilot projects are part of Focus on Prevention, a communitywide effort Stanislaus County launched nearly 1 1/2 years ago to find long-term solutions to homelessness. City and county officials and others are working on opening the center and shelter by the end of this year, said Ruben Imperial, the county’s community development and empowerment manager.

The projects are expected to come before the City Council and Board of Supervisors in the fall for approval and review.

Officials want to place the shelter and center next to The Salvation Army’s Haig and Isabel Berberian Shelter and Transitional Living Center at Ninth and D streets, near downtown.

Unlike traditional ones, low-barrier shelters allow homeless couples to stay together and for the homeless to bring their pet dogs.

While the plans still are being developed, City Manager Jim Holgersson said the shelter could be on land The Salvation Army owns and consist of 20 to 25 storage sheds – each with two beds – as well as portable showers and toilets. The shelter would have security. It would not be permanent housing and shelter clients would work with staff at the one-stop center, which also is known as an access center.

The plan would be for the shelter to lease the land from The Salvation Army for a nominal amount. Holgersson said Modesto does not have the money to set up the shelter and would look to Stanislaus County and nonprofits for that. Imperial said one of the questions that needs to be answered is determining who would operate the shelter.

Officials are following a model used elsewhere. Yuba County in July opened a low-barrier shelter consisting of 20 sheds and 40 beds. And the Poverello House, a nonprofit in Fresno, operates two low-barrier temporary shelters consisting of 60 sheds and 120 beds. One opened in 2004 and the other in 2007.

Imperial said local officials here have spoken with officials with the Yuba and Fresno shelters as part of their due diligence.

Salvation Army advisory board member Steve Madison – who also is chairman of the board’s shelter committee – said local army officials have concerns about a low-barrier shelter next to the Berberian Center but said the consensus is “we need to find a way to engage a population of the homeless who won’t come to a brick-and-mortar shelter. ... We don’t know if it is a perfect plan, but we need to move forward with it.”

The need to provide more housing for the homeless is dire. A countywide count of the homeless in January turned up 1,434 people, including 1,051 in Modesto. The two primary emergency shelters in Modesto – the Gospel Mission and Berberian Center – provide 235 beds. “If you do the math, there still is a lot of work to be done,” Holgersson said.

The one-stop center – or access center – is proposed to be on land the city owns next to the Berberian Center. Imperial said the proposal is for the city to purchase a 4,800-square-foot modular office building the county is leasing and move the building to the site. The city would connect the building to utilities, and the county and nonprofit agencies would operate the center.

Imperial said the purchase price for the modular building is about $95,000. Modesto would use federal Community Development Block Grant funds to buy the building. County CEO Stan Risen said the eventual goal is to operate the access center from the Berberian Center and provide more services, including laundry and showers. But he said it will take two to three years to design and raise the money for that center.

In the interim, the county and nonprofit workers staffing the modular building would help the homeless with making appointments to receive services, such as getting benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, getting a new birth certificate, or entering a rehab center to receive treatment for alcoholism. Imperial said the center would even provide the homeless with transportation for their appointments.

An outreach team – consisting of about a dozen people from a variety of county and nonprofit agencies and volunteers – would work out of the modular building. The team would go into the community to work with the homeless and get them services through the access center. The team would target areas – such as neighborhood parks and shopping centers – where officials have received a high number of complaints about the homeless.

Imperial said the access center and an outreach team representing a variety of service providers would be the first such effort in the county.

When asked whether it would have been less expensive to start the access center in the Berberian Center, Risen said it’s important to leverage federal and state funding whenever possible, and he said according to a city official the block grant money cannot be used to rent or lease space at the Berberian Center.

He added that starting the access center in the modular building will establish its identity as representing a variety of service providers before it moves into the Berberian Center. And if the access center in the Berberian Center opens, the modular building can be used as an access center elsewhere.

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Modesto may see new shelter, outreach for homeless."