Center to help get homeless off the streets opens downtown, but will anyone use it?

Several dozen officials gathered Tuesday morning for the opening of Stanislaus County’s Outreach and Engagement Center, the community’s latest effort to help the homeless get off the streets.

The center is housed in a modular office building at 825 12th St. near the jail and Stanislaus Superior Court in downtown Modesto. The center will start operations Wednesday with a six-member outreach and engagement team that will work with the homeless in parks and elsewhere in the community and connect them with services.

“This is the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” county Board of Supervisors Chairman Vito Chiesa said before a crowd of several dozen gathered in front of the center. “I will tell you we have done some creative partnerships, some new partnerships, some very old partnerships, but partnerships nonetheless to make this happen.”

The outreach and engagement team consists of staff from the county’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, and Community Services Agency, as well as Telecare, a BHRS contractor.

The center will add staff from other agencies — including Golden Valley Health Centers, nonprofits, and the new homeless court — and operate a housing assessment team by September or October, said Ruben Imperial, the county’s community development and empowerment manager.

The team’s focus will be countywide, but much of its efforts could be in Modesto because it has roughly three-quarters of the county’s homeless population based on the most recent count, conducted in January. The count tallied 1,661 homeless men, women and children countywide.

The center drew mixed responses Monday afternoon from several of the homeless men gathered with their friends at the park by Ralston Tower, the senior apartment complex in downtown. While some supported the project, others were skeptical.

“It sounds like a good idea on paper,” said Robert Berg, who said he has been homeless about 20 years. “But you know how Modesto is. I’d have to see it to believe it.” When asked what kind of help he needs, Berg said: “I would not know where to start. But I’m happy where I’m at.”

Officials said the Outreach and Engagement Center will work with those homeless who have not sought services for a variety of reasons, including because they may not trust those offering help. Officials said the key is to treat the homeless with respect, build relationships with them, and be ready to help when the homeless are ready to accept it.

The center is part of Focus on Prevention, which the county launched more than two years ago to tackle vexing social problems through engaging the entire community, including business, neighborhoods, education, health care, nonprofits, government and faith-based institutions. The center also is part of the effort to offer more coordinated help for the homeless.

The center is a temporary solution that officials expect to replace with a permanent, full-services access center. Plans are being developed for the permanent center.

Tuesday’s ceremony included officials from county government as well as Modesto and neighboring cities. Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, who helped secure $2.5 million each for Stanislaus and Merced counties in this year’s state budget to deal with homelessness, was among the speakers and those thanked for their efforts.

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Center to help get homeless off the streets opens downtown, but will anyone use it?."