Manteca’s elected leaders are being asked Monday to spend $330,939 to purchase a third dorm for the city’s temporary homeless shelter at 555 Industrial Park Drive.
In doing so, the city will be able to get an additional 25 homeless men off the street.
There are two existing modular dorms that opened for emergency housing in April. Each one sleeps 25 — one for women and one for men.
The women’s shelter a month ago had 16 people.
There was a sizeable waiting list for the men’s shelter.
The city keeps two of the beds in the current men’s shelter open so Manteca Police can use them to direct homeless there if they come across them illegally sleeping or camping in places they are not allowed to be.
By keeping the two beds open, police can put pressure on specific homeless they encounter to either go there or else move on and possibly even be cited.
And they can continue to keep the pressure on if the specific homeless individual simply moves to another location unless they accept the available bed.
The funding for the dorm will not come from the city’s general fund that pays for day-to-day services such as police and fire protection as well as street maintenance.
It is coming from pass-through federal Community Block Grant Funds designed to assist with city programs that help their low-income residents
The City Council when they meet Monday at 3 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St., will be asked to accept the donation of eight 8- by 20-foot insulated refurbished containers for use as the emergency center.
The donation is being made by Fresh Start Charities.
The transitional housing containers will provide much-needed temporary housing.
They will play a critical role in helping unsheltered individuals transition toward independence and permanent housing.
The parking lot at 555 Industrial Park Drive serves as a temporary site location until the permanent navigation center is built.
With this additional dorm, the site will have a total of three modular units, all of which will eventually be relocated to the permanent center.
The new structure will connect to the existing utility infrastructure serving the current units.
The proposed modular unit will add 25 more beds and include essential safety features such as fire sprinklers, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors.
In addition to overnight shelter, it will allow additional guests to access day services including meals, showers, clothing, a resource center, transportation, and transitional housing services.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
