And so, it’s finally happening. Far too late for many people, yet still too soon for others.
With Monday’s release of a request for proposal for management of an “emergency non-congregate housing site” at the current location of Silver Dollar BMX, the city of Chico officially plunged head-first into the homeless business, something many on the current council majority swore it would never do.
From our viewpoint, they didn’t have any choice, and this plan is probably the best option they had left, given the ongoing litigation.
It’s not going to make everybody happy; as anyone who read our reaction story Thursday can see, there are still plenty of reservations out there, along with a tremendous amount of support.
But this situation — and lawsuit — was never going to go away unless the city and plaintiffs found common ground on a site that a majority of the key players would support. And this site is it.
On one physical side of the location, which is targeted for 177 pallet shelters and 354 beds, is the Torres Shelter. Not too far away on the other side is the Jesus Center.
That paragraph contains every key factor in making this as close to a win-win as this situation was ever going to get.
To satisfy Martin vs. Boise — the basis for the lawsuit filed on behalf of eight unhoused people in Chico — the city of Chico needs to show the court that there are enough available shelter beds for the number of homeless people here. The most recent Point In Time survey put that at 571; between this proposed site, Torres, the Jesus Center and other locations, they’ll hit their “magic number” of 571 beds.
And that means the city would be free to once again enforce its anti-camping ordinances throughout Chico, whether the people camping in the parks and public lands choose to use the new shelter beds or not.
This is the only way the city was ever going to get from there to here. Chico’s dealings with Senior Judge Morrison England and Magistrate Judge Kendall Newman (who has visited the key locations) have made that abundantly clear to anyone who was paying attention.
The news didn’t leave everyone in Chico happy. Many of the supporters of the current council majority feel betrayed; some wonder why a location outside of the area couldn’t have been chosen. There are also concerns that so many of the homeless services are concentrated in the same area of District 7, an area that’s currently dealing with the overflow camping situation at Comanche Creek.
Simply put, this location does a better job of meeting all of the various parties’ wants and needs than any other. And you can count the police among those happy to see this plan, because this is a huge step forward in terms of being able to enforce the related local ordinances again.
That’s all one side of the reaction.
The other side is — understandably — “What kept you?”
Many homeless advocacy groups have pushed for this site for years. Now they’ve got it. And what they do with this opportunity from here is going to have everything to do with the success of the project and how much of an impact it’ll have on actually helping the homeless community.
For the first time, in one centralized location, there can be a near-smorgasbord of services and amenities — everything from beds and showers and laundry to mental health services and drug-treatment options and numerous pathways for escaping the situation the unhoused are in. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the homeless people in our area will take full advantage of this opportunity; we’re hoping for lots of success stories, but also recognize the likelihood that not everyone is going to comply.
One way or the other, this is what had to happen. Having Butte County’s support is a huge, huge deal here. And now, all of the homeless advocacy groups that have campaigned for this site for years need to join forces and deliver as promised. This isn’t a problem the city can (or should) fix by itself; it’s literally going to take an organized, coordinated effort by many parties — both government and private — to make it work.
We think it can work. And we think it’ll all go a long way toward — dare we say it — satisfying the needs of all involved parties about as well as could ever be hoped.
The multi-faceted issues surrounding homelessness have divided our city like few things ever before. We think this plan not only offers the best solution to many of the challenges, it could also hold a key to unifying our city again.
The homeless advocacy groups are getting the site they want. The homeless people who want help will be able to get it easier than ever before. And the city will be able to enforce its ordinances again.
It happened because the city was staring at a costly lawsuit, but the end result is, this is a win, win and win opportunity. We urge all parties to join together and make this work to everyone’s benefit
