A homeless shelter under construction in Stockton is causing homeless persons in the vicinity to pack up and flee.
Code enforcement issued a vacate notice to people living in tents near the shelter, giving them 72 hours to pack and depart.
The posters were posted on West Church Street on Tuesday morning, as construction of St. Mary’s Pathways Modular Unit homeless shelter entered its seventh month.
When completed, the $17 million facility is expected to house approximately 300 people who are homeless in Stockton.
“When we get those notices, we already have anxiety like, oh my god, we have to go,” Cutie, who lives in a tent across the street from St. Mary’s, said.
She, along with dozens of others, had set up tents and shelters of their own, observing the building in the hopes of getting a chance to live in the refuge for which they are now compelled to relocate.
“Where we were living, they did a restoration and then doubled the rent,” Misty Chamorro explained. “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,” Cutie joked.
“This is an area that was due for one, and the need for construction influenced it,” said Stockton Police Officer Omer Edhah.
Stockton police say code enforcement issued the warnings to evacuate on Tuesday morning.
It is due in part to ongoing building in that region for the shelter’s expansion, but there are other causes as well.
“Fire hydrants were getting messed with and vandalized,” Edhah told me. “There were some unhygienic conditions. Also, we’ve noted some gun-related violence in that region, particularly among the homeless, and we’re working to reduce it.
According to the city, the homeless population has grown to about 2,000 persons, more than doubling since the shelter’s construction.
“So they want us to go to the shelters which doesn’t have any room anyways,” Cutie blurted out. “Where are we gonna go?”
“We provide them with resources and notify the organizations that we are sending these notices,” Edhah explained about the procedure of sending out the notices.
The warning also includes the location and phone numbers of other shelters in the region. Some of it is available in Spanish.
CBS13 is still investigating what type of construction is required on the shelter, which is causing the notices. We contacted St. Mary’s Community Services for an interview regarding the construction and what further needs to be done.
They had hoped for a ribbon cutting in the fall for this shelter, but it is far from finished.
Reference: Homeless tents to be cleared for construction of shelter, rise in crime, Stockton police say