Shelters and Services: Serving the Unhoused in Stockton Encampments

Homelessness is a top policy priority in the City of Stockton, with over 80% of constituents in the city reporting homelessness as their number one voter concern in 2020. There were 921 unsheltered homeless in the City of Stockton at one night in January 2019.

To provide shelter for these 921 individuals, the City of Stockton would need to substantially expand its current offering of approximately 535 year-round emergency, 100 seasonal, and 7 overflow shelter beds, most of which are already occupied by residents. In addition, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of unsheltered homeless individuals has undoubtedly increased since the 2019 Point in Time Count, adding further urgency to the issue.

Due to a lack of shelter availability and perhaps resistance or inability of individuals to enter shelter, Stockton has a major encampment problem, which raises public health and safety concerns. Over a six-month period in 2020 to 2021, the Stockton police and fire departments received 285 service calls related to loitering, crime, and fire from 11 homeless encampments. To address blight and waste, the City annually budgets more than $400,000 in encampment clean-up services. Further, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness estimates that chronic homelessness costs the public $30,000 to $50,000 per person every year due to increased use of emergency services and high contact with criminal enforcement.

We believe that taking action to provide additional shelter for individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness would not only reduce encampments and their associated costs of clean-up and service calls, but also, and most importantly, respond to the need for safe shelter from unhoused community members. The Mayor’s Office can play an integral role in serving those in need of safe shelter.