Homeless tents to be cleared for construction of shelter, rise in crime, Stockton police say
STOCKTON – A homeless shelter under construction in Stockton is forcing the homeless people near the area to pack up and leave.
People who live in tents near the shelter were given a vacate notice by code enforcement and given 72 hours to pack up and leave.
The notices on West Church Street were given on Tuesday morning, as construction on St. Mary's Pathways Modular Unit homeless housing shelter reaches its seventh month.
The $17 million shelter is projected to welcome around 300 unhoused people in Stockton when it's complete.
"When we get those notices we already have anxiety like oh my god, oh my god we have to go," Cutie, who lives in a tent right across the street from St. Mary's, said.
She along with dozens of others who have set up tents and shelters of their own, watching the construction, hoping to get a chance to live in the shelter, they're now being forced to move for.
"Where we were living, they did a restoration and then they doubled the rent," Misty Chamorro said. "So with me and my husband on one income, it's just me and my disability."
"I've been through one or two, and normally they clean it and we get to move back, but this one is a displacement," said Cutie.
"This is an area that was due for one and obviously the need for construction played into this," said Stockton Police Officer Omer Edhah.
Stockton police say code enforcement sent out the notices to vacate Tuesday morning.
It's partly because of construction that needs to continue in that area for the expansion of the shelter, but also for other reasons.
"Fire hydrants were getting messed with and vandalized," Edhah said. "There were also some unsanitary conditions. Also, we noticed some crime in that area that is gun-related as it pertains to the homeless community there and we try to mitigate that."
According to the city, the homeless population is now closer to 2,000 people, more than double what it was when this shelter broke ground.
"So they want us to go to the shelters which doesn't have any room anyways," Cutie said. "Where are we gonna go?"
"We provide them resources and we let the organizations know that we are sending these notices out," said Edhah on the process when the notices go out.
The notice also comes with the location and phone numbers of multiple shelters around the area. Some of it is provided in Spanish.
CBS13 is still working to find out exactly what kind of construction has to be done on the shelter that is forcing the notices. We reached out to St. Mary's Community Services for an interview about the construction and what more needs to be done.
They were hoping for a ribbon cutting in the fall for this shelter, but it's nowhere near complete.
