City county and community leaders helped break ground on a new emergency homeless shelter which is designed to help combat one of the area’s most pressing issues.

St. Mary’s Community Services, previously named St. Mary’s Dining Room, is in the process of building and establishing Project Pathways, a new shelter on West Sonora Street in Stockton. The emergency shelter will offer 288 beds, including 108 single rooms, 67 double rooms, and 46 recuperative care units. The land for the project was bought in the past decade, according to St. Mary’s Community Services.

There was an official groundbreaking ceremony with dignitaries on Friday, but workers have already been engaged on preparing the project, and the tractors cranked back up as soon as the festivities were over.

Petra Linden, CEO of St. Mary’s Community Services, said while the land is being prepped, the housing units are being built in a factory in Vallejo. The units will be transported to Stockton.

“We expect to be able to open by the end of the year,” Linden said. “”It’s really something that we’ve been working towards for the last year or so and the vision for it goes even further back than that.”

Partners for the project include the city of Stockton, San Joaquin County, Health Plan of San Joaquin, and Dignity Health.

“What’s exciting about this project is the fact that it’s not only going to meet an emergency housing need in our community and provide services to the most vulnerable in our community, but it’s going to change lives,” Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln said.

The shelter will accept partners and pets. There will also be a common area with a kitchenette and meeting room.

Work continues on the navigation center across from the Pathway Project, which broke ground in 2022. When both projects are completed, there will be close to 450 new beds available for the homeless.

San Joaquin County Supervisor Paul Canepa said the groundbreaking at the Pathway Project was important for several reasons, including to show the community that progress is being made.

“It’s a momentous day to get this going as one of the pieces to the puzzle,” Canepa. “We’ve been doing a lot of work, but a lot of people are frustrated with how helping the unhoused has gone. So getting everybody together on the same page is great.”