The city of Stockton is seeking both short- and long-term strategies to address homelessness and housing shortages while navigating rising panhandling and loitering concerns.
Residents and city officials agreed at a recent meeting that current approaches aren’t doing enough as these challenges continue to impact Stockton neighborhoods.
The Stockton city attorney’s office updated the committee on the city’s Aggressive Solicitation, or “panhandling,” ordinance, noting that recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have strengthened free-speech protections. These rulings, including a 2025 Alabama appeals court decision upheld by the Supreme Court in 2026, suggest that cities can’t ban people from asking for money. They must instead focus on regulating behavior and aggressive conduct, the city attorney’s office said.
“Restrictions on content of speech or a whole category of speech like solicitation is now something the supreme court would potentially find unconstitutional,” the city attorney’s office told the committee.
The ordinance, part of Stockton’s municipal code for years, prohibits aggressive solicitation, including following someone, blocking walkways or vehicles, touching someone without consent, or using threatening or abusive language. It also bans solicitation near ATMs, banks, intersections, transit stops, parking lots after dark and restaurant dining areas. Violations are considered misdemeanors.
“If we wanted to instead make this something that’s more based on conduct rather than content, we’d want to focus on ‘you can’t approach someone for any reason when they’re using an ATM, not just to ask for money’,” the city attorney’s office said. “That would be the kind of change we’re talking about.”
Councilmember Michele Padilla said she’s seen many individuals and families panhandling outside of local parking lots and businesses, such as Target, and questioned if there was an enforcement or signage issue.
A Stockton police officer present at the meeting, who wasn’t identified by name, explained part of the problem is that officers often can’t issue citations if individuals leave before they arrive. He added that while signage and citations can deter loitering and panhandling, they have limited effectiveness in most situations, especially when an individual isn’t aggressive.
“We’ve probably all seen the guy over at the off ramp by the police department … he’s been cited maybe 100 times but he’s still there,” the SPD officer said.
During public comment, resident Yolanda Amen brought up concerns with ongoing loitering in the Weston Ranch area, noting that enforcement is inconsistent because some businesses post “no soliciting” or “no loitering” signs while nearby properties don’t. Amen said police usually can’t act unless all signage requirements are met, including the ordinance only being enforceable in parking lots after dark.
“The drug dealers that we see, there’s a little pocket of them that show up, they then know where to stand because they know when the police come they cannot do anything,” Amen explained.
Amen told the committee she’s also observed poor enforcement of panhandling on the medians, witnessing SPD vehicles pass by violators, and urged the city to clarify rules to make enforcement easier for police and clearer for the community.
“I remember when there was more of moving them along to a safer location and that’s just not being done,” Amen said.
In 2025, Stockton issued 21 citations for aggressive solicitation, 20 for standing on medians and 1,418 for trespassing or loitering, according to the presentation by the city attorney’s office.
Padilla said it’s up to the city to get the word out and encourage more businesses to post signage so it can be enforceable.
“Our focus is really to bring business to Stockton, but we can’t bring business to Stockton if we have people loitering in front of businesses,” Padilla said.
Potential housing sites and cost solutions
As part of broader homelessness planning efforts, city staff also provided an overview of city-owned properties that could specifically be used for tiny home communities and independent units. Tina McCarty, director of economic development for the city, identified seven properties throughout the city that could support such projects.
“The reality is we don’t have a long list of surplus that is usable land that’s not already a park or in use for the community,” McCarty said.
The site that emerged as the most viable option during McCarty’s presentation was 9602 Thornton Road, an undeveloped 5-acre property with nearby bus access, making it a promising location for individual or transitional housing units for families, McCarty said. The site is on Stockton’s north side, which has seen fewer housing projects and less investment than the south side, she pointed out.
Padilla and city staff compared what the site could look like to Turnpike Commons, a supportive housing development built in 2020 at 1630 Turnpike Road in Stockton. The over 1-acre project includes nine homes for families facing homelessness: four one-bedroom units and five two-bedroom units.
“There really isn’t a negative aspect even though it’s within residential because it just fits right in with the community,” Padilla said.
McCarty mentioned smaller sites like the lot at 1450 West Hammer Lane could be used for permanent low-income housing, likely in the form of tiny homes. It’d be a good way to incorporate some affordable housing in the area, she said. Padilla suggested the city keep pursuing vacant lots, unused warehouses and tax-delinquent properties to buy or lease, noting that recent discussions about taxing empty lots could work in the city’s favor.
“Maybe since they know we’re thinking about taxing those empty lots, they might want to get rid of them,” Padilla commented.
Amen recommended the committee take inspiration from sites suited to Stockton and learn from programs in regions with similar climates. She referenced California communities that have repurposed vacant commercial buildings, like motels, for faster, more affordable housing.
“Central Valley communities such as Modesto, Fresno, Sacramento and Bakersfield have implemented a range of strategies including navigation centers, tiny home villages and supportive housing campuses,” Amen stressed.
Padilla said the committee will review the Amador County site, named Varley Place, where the City of Jackson’s former Bartleson Building was remodeled into 12 apartments for homeless veterans.
Jesse Mejia, a resident and general contractor, weighed in on affordable housing, homelessness and funding opportunities during public comment, sharing Amen’s sense of urgency for the community.
“We need to have a solution quickly for Stockton as far as the unhoused situation goes because it’s getting worse,” Mejia told the committee. “Just this morning, I found out somebody tossed out a bunch of needles in the waterways in district 5—used needles.”
Mejia called on the city to get a grip on the situation while not confusing it with long-term housing. He added that grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and programs through developers could reduce the city’s costs, and advised against tiny homes as an effective approach.
“Dollar for dollar, as someone who holds a general B contracting license, I’ll tell you right now that tiny homes aren’t the long-term solution to anything and it’s really best to build multi-unit housing that’s income based,” Mejia said, emphasizing that planning and permitting tiny homes at this scale would be inefficient and expensive.
Housing projects that base rent on about a third of a family’s income have generally worked well in California, Mejia said, but warned it can’t be the only way to get people off the street. Padilla acknowledged the city lacks transitional housing options, making it the top priority as the committee continues its search for available land.
“Those of us raising families, we want to see some immediate action,” Mejia said.