Salinas poised to declare shelter crisis

A homeless crisis in Salinas is forcing the city to turn to the State of California for help.

The city council on Tuesday will consider a declaration that would potentially trigger more funding from the state government.

Earlier this year, the state budget allotted $500 million in emergency aid for local governments across California to tackle homelessness.

It is called the Homeless Emergency Aid Program, or HEAP. 11 cities in California with populations over 330,000 qualify. 43 other regional districts in the state known as Continuums of Care can also apply to get money. Salinas falls under the CA-506 Continuum of Care region.

The homeless in Salinas’ Chinatown agree more needs to be done about the homelessness issue.

“Basically not enough facilities, bunks. You know it takes a lot, I understand that, but buildings and stuff like that, it costs money,” said John Aguiar, who currently lives in Chinatown.

The city calculates it has just over a thousand people who are without permanent shelter, and for some in Chinatown, the existing shelters are not enough.

“There’s no facilities for blankets or anything after seven o’clock, so a lot of people out here like myself provide blankets for people that are in distress,” said Aguiar.

In order to qualify for HEAP, cities like Salinas first have to declare a shelter crisis. The city says some just cannot find housing here, and that puts their health and safety at risk, making it a crisis.

State funding from HEAP can be used for homeless services, building improvements like emergency shelters and even hand-washing stations and public toilets.

Funds could be available within 60 of applying if it is approved.

The Salinas City Council will vote on the crisis declaration on Tuesday at City Hall.