The Supreme Court decision in mid-2024 giving cities more leeway in dealing with the homeless prompted Manteca — like a number of jurisdictions — to rethink how they will deal with the problem.
In Manteca’s case, it has led to fine tuning plans for a homeless navigation center that the city has more than $16 million on hand to establish on the eastern portion of 8.1 acres at 682 South Main Street.
And while work is continuing, City Manager Toni Lundgren noted the actual physical work — foundations being poured and such — won’t happen until early 2026.
The court ruling means the city can proceed with a homeless navigation center with capacity only for those that want to work to get off the streets.
Some of those support services to do just that will start being offered in the coming months at the temporary emergency shelter operating on the parking lot at 555 Industrial Park Drive.
The environment document developed and approved for the project was based on a maximum of 238 beds.
That was based on the latest homeless count numbers at the time in Manteca.
A more recent count, dropped the figure down to 211.
The court decision means cities can pressure homeless who are illegally camping without the need to offer them a bed.
City leaders noted doing only that, however, won’t significantly reduce homeless issues and the impact it has on Manteca as a whole.
It is why they are in the process of fine tuning the bed count needed for the homeless navigation center.
Currently, the city knows there are upwards of 25 beds needed for women and at least 25 beds for men that are willing to commit to a program with rules.
The city has a waiting list of single men wanting to access the shelter.
A third portable dorm with beds for 25 men is expected to be in placed within several months.
Based on the “demand” — those wanting to get off the street that would not be able to come and go at will at the navigation center — will be used to determine the number of beds needed and even the scope of services.
As it stands now, it is likely to be less than 100 beds.
Given federal and state laws for adopted environmental impact reports allow approved projects to have a smaller impact than what they were approved for although not larger without a new study, the city can offer a smaller number of beds.
Smaller facility would free
up funds for operation
Equally important, from Lundgren’s perspective is the fact the $16 million state grant for the navigation center doesn’t restrict it to building the facility per se.
That means if the city can avoid spending a significant amount to construct and furnish the facility, they will have money leftover to operate the center with for a period of time.
“Right now, there are federal and state grants that cover homeless services but there is no guarantee that will last,” Lundgren said.
Currently, the city spends over $1 million to run the emergency shelter on an annual basis.
Almost all of that is covered by grants.
Being able to use part of the $16 million state grant would mean not spending an equal amount of local funds down the road.
While voters were promised the Measure Q sales tax would make sure homeless issues could continue to be addressed among other pressing civic needs, any money not needed from the 20-year sales tax for homeless services can be used elsewhere.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
