At a time when trying to deal with homelessness results in small fixes, one Stockton City councilmember is looking at the big picture.
As chair of the Ad-Hoc Homelessness Committee, Michele Padilla outlined a three-point plan this week that recognizes one of the most vexing problems around homelessness: there is no single solution.
In contrast to strategies aimed at luring unhoused people straight into shelters, Padilla unveiled a plan that takes multiple approaches.
She calls it the Stockton Safe Grounds 1-2-3 Model. It was unveiled as a rough outline — but it’s a start.
“As simple as it sounds — 1-2-3 — I know this is going to be huge hurdle, a huge learning curve,” Padilla told the City Council in a presentation. ” We can continue to talk all we want. I know this is a complex issue statewide. but I am willing to sink my teeth in, take the jump off the cliff and start something.”
The three approaches would be:
- Shelters. This one takes the traditional approach of encouraging people to move into the shelters that are already operating. The city works with several facilities that care for the unhoused.
- Safe camping and safe parking. The city would create sites where people can live in tents with proper sanitation and supportive services, and/or in their vehicles. Modeled on programs in other cities, it would provide safer options than camping on sidewalks or the woods or parking on the street. It is not meant to be a permanent place to live but rather “transitional only,” she said.
- Voluntary relocation assistance. Offering travel to those who want to go home to other cities or who need help in reuniting with their families.
The plan is similar to what San Joaquin County has embraced.
It purchased the former Oakmoore Golf Course on Wilson Way in Stockton with plans to create a safe camping space with security, bathrooms and surrounding services. Board of Supervisors Chair Paul Canepa, who has led the effort, said last month that the plan is being held up by a state law that prevents allowing outdoor camping in spaces where nighttime temperatures drop below 50 degrees.
Padilla readily acknowledges that her plan would be a heavy lift. It would require the cooperation and assistance of nonprofit social-service agencies and the community. It could be expensive. There could be mistakes or misjudgments made along the way that would need to be corrected. It would require a citywide approach — not just sticking camping areas or new housing for the homeless in poorer areas of Stockton.
But she said it would deal with what unhoused people themselves say would help get them out of the current situation — sleeping in filthy alleys, on the street around businesses or in dangerous encampments without proper sanitation, clean water or services.
It also could make trying to remove encampments less dramatic since people would have more alternative places to go. The breakup of a big encampment on the Trinity Parkway in July drew criticism from some as too heavy handed.
Padilla said the 1-2-3 approach grew out of talking with unhoused people. They said they want a low-barrier, safe-camping option. “That stuck with me,” she said. “We need to something rather than nothing.”
Can it work?
Two Stockton leaders who deal with homeless issues said, though only a broad outline, they see hope.
Jessica Velez, whose Red Rabbit Advocacy Programs has taken a big role in trying to help Stockton’s unhoused, told Stocktonia she’d like to know more about Padilla’s plan and where she is drawing her expertise.
As a concept, Velez said “safe camping” is a fair approach for people who are unwilling to go into shelters. Many spurn traditional rule-bound shelters because they don’t want to be around other people or apart from their pets. Some cities’ camping sites, alternatively, allow people to come and go at all hours and don’t require drug testing.
Kristen Birtwhistle, CEO of United Way of San Joaquin County, said her agency is open to working with Padilla and the city on the issue. Padilla’s plan could provide an opportunity to try to harness more of the talent in the city to make it happen.
“With big ideas come big possibilities,” Birtwhistle told Stocktonia.