STOCKTON, Calif. — There's confusion and frustration in Stockton as 250 people could be out on the streets without a home. City officials are hoping to be able to come to a quick solution following the closure of Stockton Shelter for the Homeless.
"As city manager, I have to take it very seriously," said City Manager Harry Black.
According to Black, St. Mary's Dining Room stepped up to the plate to sign an agreement to take over the space, but when it came time to having Stockton Shelter agree to sign it over, things didn't go as smoothly.
"They redline the document, including language in it that was not acceptable and, in several cases, totally unrelated to the matter at hand," said Black.
The city then had to send Stockton Shelter a letter to vacate the property by August 16 in hopes of making room for a new non-profit to continue to provide services.
"If the property is not vacated, staff will work with our non-profit partners to temporarily house our unsheltered population," said Black.
Black says the new $5 million navigation center is about 80% complete and might be part of the solution.
"That will be a part of the mix of of the sublease agreement with whomever we ultimately ended up contracting with to run the operations of the shelter," Black said.
Earlier this week, one of the board of directors at the shelter told ABC10 the reason for the closure was because of financial issues. State records show the non-profit is in good standing, and while there are no concrete solutions at this time, Mayor Kevin Lincoln has faith the community will overcome this.
"This is a moment we must meet. And this is a moment we will meet. Whenever our community faces challenges. We step up, we unify," he said.
ABC10 reached out to the organization once again today and attorney Anthony L. Vignolo provided us with this statement:
"As counsel for the Stockton Shelter for the Homeless, I believe it is important that the public understands the truth behind the Shelter’s recent announcement of its closure. It is true that the Shelter’s Board of Directors was forced to make the heart-wrenching decision to close its doors after having served the homeless community of Stockton for the past forty years. I say 'forced' because in reality the City is the one that made that decision when it decided to cut off all funding to the Shelter for the upcoming year, obviously knowing that such a decision would lead to the demise of the Shelter. It is quite sad that a volunteer Board of Directors consisting of 12 private citizens provides more operating support to the Shelter to resolve the City’s homelessness than the City itself. The Shelter simply cannot operate without the support of the City. The City’s tactics to financially strangle the Shelter in an attempt to force the Shelter’s closure and its transition of assets to the City’s preferred non-profit partner are more particularly described in my attached letter sent yesterday to the City.
Unfortunately, the City is seemingly more interested in concealing the truth and painting a false narrative to the community than it is in resolving this matter. Since the City alone can and has determined the fate of the Shelter through the City’s allocation of financial resources, the Shelter has been and remains fully willing to transition its operations to the City’s preferred partner. The City has inexplicably refused the Shelter’s simple request that the City allow that process – which will involve the transfer of millions of dollars in buildings paid for by the Shelter – to be compliant with applicable law. When the Shelter first opened its doors in 1987, it set out on a mission to serve the homeless community of Stockton. That mission is not yet complete. To now ensure that the community will not once again be impacted by the City’s poor decisions, the Shelter’s top priority is to secure funding from other sources that will allow it to continue operating during a legally compliant transition process."
A spokesperson for the city of Stockton was unable to provide us with a comment in response to the shelter's statement.
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