San Joaquin County is following Manteca’s lead when it comes to the homeless.

The county is cutting red tape to reunite homeless individuals with their families.

Considered low hanging fruit in terms of the difficulty, connecting the homeless that want to return home with relatives willing to take them in accounts for the largest number of people Manteca has gotten off the street in the past eight years.

Supervisor Tom Patti said county personnel that were charged with getting homeless off the streets were bogged down in red tape when it came to reunification efforts.

As a result, few homeless in the county jurisdiction that wanted to go home — wherever that might be — and had people willing to house them were taken off the street.

That changed, Patti said, after pointing out the success of such efforts in Manteca and San Francisco.

Patti said reunification efforts account for the bulk of the 400 plus homeless Manteca has gotten off the streets since 2016.

The number is San Francisco is 800, according to Patti.

Patti represents Manteca north of Yosemite Avenue, Lathrop, the Delta region and northwest Stockton on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.

He updated the Manteca Rotary on homeless issues within the county during a recent meeting at Ernie’s Rendezvous Room.

Keep in mind that out-of-area homeless do not account for the bulk of people or unsheltered in the county or its cities.

Data gleaned from the January point in time count of the unsheltered indicate the majority who are homeless became so while living somewhere within San Joaquin County or have ties to people who live here.

Manteca from the start eliminated red tape.

Manteca Police Community Resource Officer Mike Kelly was empowered out of the gate to make decisions involving homeless individuals. In other words, besides the police department command overseeing him, there was no homeless bureaucracy created at city hall.

Other community groups that deal with the homeless work with Kelly in the field.

They have helped him secure the resources to buy bus tickets, train tickets, and in a few cases train tickets to unite the homeless with families.

Unlike in cities that simply bought tickets and put homeless on a bus to other cities, Kelly as well as his fellow CRO officer collect information from homeless that want to go home.

They then reach out to that person, explain the situation, and ask if they are willing to take the homeless individual in.

If so, they arrange for a ticket, help the homeless prepare for the trip, and drive them to the depot.

Manteca’s effort has also gotten a sizeable number of homeless off the street working with them to secure a job and a place to live.

Those that want to get off the street but have addiction programs are referred to appropriate local resources to assist them.

There also have been instances where the mentally ill who have been willing to get off the street being placed in appropriate treatment programs.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@manetcabulletin.com