Stockton's Homeless Shuffled From Property To Property As Advocates Call For Permanent Solution
STOCKTON (CBS13) — Every month in Stockton, crews move the homeless from their camps, but it's only temporary, and critics say they need a permanent solution.
Dozens of tents were removed from a Caltrans property over the weekend, but where do they end up? In many cases, it's just a few blocks away on city property.
"They're just going to move from one lot to another. Almost everyone we talk to doesn't want to be homeless," said Jon Mendelson with the Central Valley Low-Income Housing Corporation.
More than a dozen service providers go into the homeless camps before public works or Caltrans crews start what's become a regular cleanup. They're trying to help the homeless find shelter or permanent homes and mental health care.
"It's not just a one-day event," said Jaime Nunez with SJC Mental Health. "It's not just a one-day sweep, It's an on-going week after week after week engagement process."
What service providers don't have is time or space when the homeless are forced to move.
"We are always beyond capacity," said Adam Cheshire with Stockton Shelter for the Homeless. "We have overflow every single night. For the overflow clients, we have mats. We put them on the floor."
Mayor Anthony Silva—who spent a night last year sleeping with the homeless, bringing portable toilets out with him—says the homeless sweeps are not working.
"A couple of weeks ago I got a bill from Caltrans. They wanted me to know how much the state spends on clean up efforts," he said. "It was an exorbitant amount of money. I looked at it and said 'Wow!' If they would spend half of that on helping us find a permanent solution for the homeless, it would be much better."
Now he's talking with property owners to turn old hotels like this one into homeless housing.
"If we have empty buildings sitting in Stockton, this makes perfect sense," he said.
It's a similar idea echoed by service providers who say Stockton needs more space for people who have none.
"The real permanent solution to the crisis we're seeing, would be the creation of several hundred units for people and families that they could occupy without having to pay rent," Mendelson said.