Modesto sets aside $250,000 for homeless services center

Modesto has allocated $250,000 in federal funds to start a one-stop center for the homeless, where staff would help them access a full range of services, including mental health treatment and permanent housing.

The City Council voted 7-0 on Tuesday to use federal Community Development Block Grant funds for the project. But the council still needs to approve the plans to establish the center, which officials are calling a Homeless Access Center.

Those plans should come to the council in November for approval, and then it should take two to three months after that for the center to open. Several council members praised this effort. “I’m so excited about this,” Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer said.

Council members Bill Zoslocki, Kristi Ah You and Tony Madrigal also spoke in support.

Officials also are working on opening what is called a low-barrier shelter consisting of 20 converted sheds that each would have two beds. Unlike traditional ones, low-barrier shelters take in couples and pets. The goal is for the center to open about the same time as the Homeless Access Center.

These two efforts are pilot programs and part of Focus on Prevention, a communitywide initiative Stanislaus County launched about 18 months ago to find lasting solutions to homelessness. The center and low-barrier shelter will require more approvals from the council and county Board of Supervisors to move forward.

While Modesto would provide the funding to establish the center, it would be operated by staff from the county and nonprofits. City officials have said Modesto does not have the money to set up or run the low-barrier shelter and would look to the county and nonprofits to do that.

The plan is for both facilities to be placed next to the Salvation Army’s Haig and Isabel Berberian Shelter and Transitional Living Center at Ninth and D streets, near downtown. These projects would be the first one-stop homeless center and the first low-barrier shelter in the county.

The center would be housed in a modular office building. A city report states the $250,000 would cover such costs as purchasing and relocating the modular building, which the county has been leasing, as well as site preparation work, including grading, paving, and water and sewer lines.

The funding for the access center comes from $250,000 in CDBG funding Modesto set aside a couple of years ago for a then-unidentified project to help the homeless. A city official told the council Tuesday that Modesto receives about $1.8 million annually in CDBG funding from the federal government.

This story was originally published October 7, 2016 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Modesto sets aside $250,000 for homeless services center."