Stanislaus County officials are looking at turning the former Scenic General Hospital into an emergency homeless shelter in Modesto.
"We need something now," Terry Withrow, Stanislaus County Supervisor, said. "This is an emergency. This is a crisis situation."
Withrow is part of the team working to solve what they are calling a, "homeless crisis."
"It's an emergency. We have an emergency. This is like the fires up north and we're trying to respond in that way, to get something up, to start something immediately," Brad Hawn, President of Modesto Neighborhoods, said.
County officials who make up the group called "Focus on Prevention" are hoping to use the former hospital an emergency, temporary shelter for the next three years.
"We have this building sitting empty," Withrow said. "We need a place to get these individuals. We've got people out there working with them."
The former hospital has enough space for 60 beds and would be open for pets, partners, and possessions with the hope of turning it into a 24-hour treatment center.
"The hope is that they'll come in here, we'll hopefully get them into the point where we can get them into temporary, transitional housing," Withrow said. "They'll move out of here, hopefully working their way back into society again to be successful and we'll bring in additional individuals."
But not everyone is on board.
"I'm really upset that they're going to put it right next to my house and they didn't tell me," Sue Adams, a La Loma resident, said.
Adams has lived nextdoor to the hospital for the past 22 years. With these plans, she's worried the shelter will inevitably attract more transients into her neighborhood.
"We've had a lot of things stolen by the homeless people," Adams said. "We already have several homeless people living in the park. They bring lots of trash. They dump trash on the street. They've stolen things from us. They broke into our garage."
Other residents are more understanding, knowing the homeless population might not have anywhere else to go.
"We had them sleeping in the alley. So yeah, get them out of the alley. Get them someplace to stay," Frank Busuttil, a La Loma resident said.
This plan still requires county approval before it can move forward. Community members will have their chance to speak up about the proposed homeless shelter at a neighborhood meeting being held at the former Scenic General Hospital at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20.
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