Salinas homeless shelter gets another 30 days

UPDATE 4/26/2017 6 p.m.: The Salinas Winter Warming Shelter, which was set to close at the end of the month, will remain another 30 days.

That decision was made after a highly contentious Transportation Agency for Monterey County board meeting on Wednesday.

The board, which is made up of roughly 17 city and county leaders, had several options on the table. On one end of the pendulum was to close the shelter on April 30. The other was to extend the lease until June then go month-to-month until December. Eventually, the board voted 8-7 to keep the shelter open for another 30 days.

Opinions varied between members, with some believing TAMC should not have been put in this position, acting as landlords. Others felt their cities should do more to help alleviate the homeless issue in Salinas.

TAMC owns the building where the shelter had been operating on West Market Street. It leased the building to the city and county for six months, at a cost of $1 a month. The costs of operation was $30,000, split between Monterey County and Salinas. The shelter can sleep some 70 people at any time.

It’s a place where families can go, like Joan Sassman and her son, who have been homeless since February.

“Imagine having an 11-year-old kid being out in the street and not being able to let him go to the restroom,” Sassman told the board. “Imagine what it’s like to not have a roof over your head. You make it like it is a city problem or a county problem, it’s a human problem. All of these people are humans.”

Another woman said she shelter offers her safety.

“I have four daughters and if they close it, where are we supposed to sleep, on the streets?” she asked. “We can’t go to the streets because there are too many drugs and shootings in Chinatown. My girls are scared because they say with the shelter closing we’ll have to back to where we were before, sleeping in the fields.”

Some local businesses pushed back, expressing their concerns. Both the Salinas City Center Improvement Association and the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce submitted letters against extending the lease.

The SCCIA, which represents 130 business owners in downtown Salinas, believed the shelter “has become the daytime gathering nexus for and attraction of dangerous criminals, prostitutes, drug deals and vagrants without any supervision.”

Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter said there’s been an increase in calls in that area, including medical calls.

However, the executive director of Dorothy’s Place, Jill Allen, said if needed, she would chip in resources to help mitigate the problems through June. Several examples included sending in crews to pick up trash or form a committee to talk to the people waiting.

The Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce, which represents some 700 local businesses and non-profits, cited safety as the reason why.

“Businesses have complained about drug effects and security and things like that, so the business community clearly did not want this to continue,” said Paul Farmer, president and CEO of the Chamber. “They want them to find another solution in another area that would fit better.”

They believe shelter is just a temporary bandage and not a long-term solution to address the problem. The county admits it’s a tall order.

“Any facility you locate is going to have some level of community reaction,” said Elliott Robinson with the Monterey County Department of Social Services. “I think one of the things that you’ve heard is where ever you locate a facility, part of the community is going to say locate it somewhere else.”

While the county has yet to identify a location, it will try to in the coming month. In the meantime, it plans to amend its lease and its contract with its homeless partners.

UPDATE 4/26/2017 2:30 p.m.: The final vote at a high-profile Transportation Agency for Monterey County board meeting resulted in a 30-day extension, 8-7 vote on Wednesday.

The topic under discussion: whether TAMC should extend a lease allowing a warming shelter to continue operations.

Business leaders had spoken out against the shelter and asked for long-term solutions, rather than “putting a bandage on the problem.”

However the executive director of Dorothy’s Place, Jill Allen, is asking for an extension through June. She also said she would dedicate crews to the warming shelters to help mitigate any problems.

The TAMC board appears split, with some speaking out in support, others questioning costs. A central coast mayor had mentioned perhaps all Monterey county cities should contribute a small amount to help offset costs. While it drew a small applause from the crowd, nothing had been voted on yet.

ORIGINAL POST: Monterey County’s homeless shelter on Market Street in downtown Salinas was always meant to be a temporary solution, and with the contract up this month, the county is asking for an extension on their dollar per month lease through June, then month to month afterward.

The Transportation Agency for Monterey County owns the building, which will eventually be knocked down as part of the railway extension project. The agency expects to move forward on the project in September.

The project is supposed to bring a commuter service to Salinas. Meanwhile, TAMC is between a rock and hard place with the county asking for the extension and the Salinas Valley Chamber and Salinas City Center against the idea. TAMC will make the decision on Wednesday.