Modesto tent city attracting interest from other cities dealing with homelessness
As homeless men, women and children in Sacramento wait for three new shelters to open, another model that Sacramento officials repeatedly have rejected over the years is now quickly gaining traction.
The model is based on what Modesto and Stanislaus County started in February when they opened a temporary outdoor shelter underneath the Ninth Street Bridge in the Tuolumne River Regional Park. The shelter consists of nearly 300 tents housing about 400 people who receive services from a variety of providers.
Sacramento officials toured the tent city, which local officials call the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter, in early August. Last week, the Sacramento City Council directed staff to report back on a plan for the capital’s own version, as well as a plan to set aside space for homeless people to camp in their cars as temporary solutions.
Crystal Sanchez, a Sacramento homeless activist who visited the Modesto outdoor shelter earlier this year, has been urging Sacramento officials to replicate what Modesto and Stanislaus County have done.
“Modesto is utilizing what is already in place to help their homeless population,” she said. “It is a full-scale organized community. ... It is cost effective and involves every aspect of the community. The local government and the community grass roots have been doing what they do to help.”
Local officials provide portable bathrooms and wash stations, and nonprofits provide at least one meal a day at the Modesto outdoor shelter. The camp is fenced and has security guards. Providers come to offer medical, mental health and rehousing services. Volunteers also help out.
Modesto and Stanislaus County officials say about a half dozen Northern California cities and counties, including Oakland, Sutter County and Hanford, have toured the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter since it opened. And that does not include the two Stockton City Council members who visited the site.
The interest in local efforts extends all the way to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. On Friday, his Homeless and Supportive Housing Advisory Task Force will hold its inaugural meeting right here in Modesto.
When the task force was formed in May, Newsom’s office announced its members would travel throughout California “to observe best practices firsthand.” What they learn will go into statewide recommendations addressing “the homelessness epidemic,” the governor’s office said.
Modesto Deputy City Manager Caluha Barnes estimates Modesto and Stanislaus County receive about one phone call or email a week between them from cities and counties asking about the shelter.
She said the tours, phone calls and emails constitute a lot of interest from local governments dealing with homelessness and its impacts.
“It’s not uncommon for there to be information sharing across jurisdictions,” she said. “What is uncommon here is MOES (the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter) actually exists.”
Local officials opened the shelter after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September 2018 that prosecuting people for sleeping outdoors in city parks and other public property when there are not enough shelter beds or other alternatives is cruel and unusual punishment and violates the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment.
Before opening MOES, the city temporarily opened nearby Beard Brook Park to homeless campers within a couple of weeks of the court ruling. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes California as well as several other Western states.
“All the cities in the affected circuit have the same rules to live by,” Barnes said. “Our willingness to create Beard Brook and then MOES is not the model most commonly used across California,” she said regarding the interest other cities and counties have shown in what is happening here.
Barnes said officials ask how Modesto and Stanislaus County started the outdoor shelter, how much it is costing, how it operates, what is working and not working, and whether it’s been a success.
“Overall, we think it has been a success,” Barnes said, though she added city and county officials would have liked to have seen fewer people living at more shelter sites. That is easier to manage and allows officials to have sites just for families and other populations.
Barnes did not say it, but having more than one outdoor shelter could have been politically difficult. City and county officials have faced opposition as they have tried in recent years to provide more beds and services for homeless people.
MOES is expected to close by the end of the year. The city, county and The Salvation Army are working to open a 180-bed shelter with services at the army’s Berberian Center near downtown to replace the outdoor shelter.
Officials also are working on smaller projects to increase the number of shelter beds, as well as a proposal to buy the 103-room American Budget Inn & Suites at Kansas Avenue and Highway 99 and turn it into transitional housing with services for 150 to 200 homeless people.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was ruling on a 2009 lawsuit filed against Boise, Idaho, by homeless people and their advocates. The court this spring denied Boise’s request for a rehearing, and on Aug. 22 the city asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
Modesto Bee opinions page editor Garth Stapley contributed to this story.
