Modesto councilman says Salvation Army is not helping enough homeless people

Modesto Councilman Nick Bavaro said last week that The Salvation Army’s leadership is disorganized and that it has not served enough people at its day center and safe parking program.

“... I”m disappointed on the numbers that we see in the day center,” Bavaro said at the City Council’s May 7 meeting. “I’m disappointed in seeing the numbers of safe parking. ... We’ve lived up to our obligation on providing (the army) the financial resources to best manage our homeless population. I can’t say that you’ve lived up to yours ... with respect to the day center and safe parking.”

Bavaro’s comments came before the council voted 5-1 to provide The Salvation Army with $1 million from the city’s federal COVID-19 funding for the army’s 185-bed shelter, day center and safe parking program, which provides homeless people who live in their cars a place to park overnight. (Councilwoman Rosa Escutia-Braaton was not at the council meeting.)

The shelter, day center and safe parking are at The Salvation Army’s campus at Ninth and D streets near downtown. Stanislaus County’s 182-bed shelter also is on the campus. The army operates the shelter for the county.

The city’s funding lets the army operate its shelter, safe parking and day center through Sept. 30, the end of its budget year. The army used COVID-19 funding to operate its shelter during the pandemic. The army shelter opened about 20 years ago. Safe parking and the day center are less than a year old.

The pandemic funding allowed the army to provide case management and other services at its shelter. Those services will be provided at the day center in the coming weeks. Modesto and The Salvation Army are working on securing long-term funding for the shelter.

Bavaro cast the “no” vote. The council’s vote came after Maj. Darren Stratton answered questions and talked about the army’s challenges in helping people who are homeless.

Councilman Chris Ricci said at the meeting that it was not fair to single out The Salvation Army and that more solutions are needed to address Modesto’s homeless crisis. “I think it’s unfair to paint the brush like The Salvation Army is not doing what they are supposed to do,” he said. “... It’s not all on them. There is a lot more to it.”

Last year’s annual count of people who are homeless tallied 2,091, with 80% living in Modesto. Forty-five percent of the 2,091 were living on the streets.

Ease safe parking requirements

A look at safe parking and the day center highlights the complexities and challenges.

The safe parking program has 25 spots for cars, minivans and pickup trucks in a lot next to the army’s homeless shelter. Salvation Army Shelter Director Jim Stokes said in an interview that after a slow start, the program is averaging about a dozen vehicles a night.

The city requires homeless people to have a valid driver’s license and an insured and registered vehicle before they can enter. The city does not allow recreational vehicles.

Stokes said he believes safe parking would be full if it allowed RVs and people without licenses, insurance and registration. The army would work with them to get into compliance after they are in the program. That’s the opposite of how the program works now, with safe parking staff working with people to come into compliance before they can enter the program.

That leaves people living in their cars on the streets vulnerable to being ticketed or having their cars towed. Stokes said he’s aware of that happening at least a handful of times. “This is someone already behind, not enough money for insurance, and then they get hit with another fine on top of that,” he said.

Stokes said he understands the city would be concerned about letting people who cannot legally drive their vehicles use safe parking, so there would be a timeline to come into compliance once people are in the program.

The city launched safe parking Sept. 1 , more than a year after the council approved it in July 2022. The city has said the program is complicated because it involves four parties.

Safe parking operates out of a parking lot owned by a company affiliated with Stanislaus Foods, the cannery next to The Salvation Army campus. The county is leasing the parking lot, and the city is subleasing part of it from the county. It took time to work out issues regarding risk and liability. All four parties have to approve changes to the program.

The Salvation Army opened its day center Nov. 1 with funding provided by the city. Bavaro said the expectation when the program started was that a couple hundred people a day would use the center.

The center is averaging 30 people a day, according to a city report. Bavaro said not enough is being done to get the chronically homeless to use the center. “I see people on our streets in downtown Modesto,” he said. “I see them in the parks, walking the streets on Yosemite Boulevard. They are what I would call ‘the deep homeless.’”

‘I’m an impatient guy. I want to see results.’

Stokes said convincing the chronically homeless to accept services is difficult because of such issues as substance abuse and mental illness. These people live in alleys, parks, behind strip malls and elsewhere.

Councilman Ricci said at Tuesday’s meeting that chronically homeless people may not use the day center because it means giving up where they sleep at night. “Most are not willing to do that,” he said. “That’s the rub.”

And there may not be room at the shelters if they decide to stay there. The Salvation Army’s shelter was operating at 92% capacity and the county’s low-barrier shelter at 98% as of the end of March, according to Stokes.

Since he was elected to the council in November 2022, Bavaro has advocated for more services for people who are homeless, including safe camping sites. But a council majority does not support safe camping . Modesto’s other homeless efforts, such as setting up sites with tiny homes , have been slow.

Bavaro said in an interview that he is frustrated. “I’m an impatient guy,” he said. “I want to see results. That’s my bottom line.”

Stokes said he understands the frustration, saying the “needle does not seem to be moving on addressing homelessness to the magnitude that is needed. There are plenty of people in the city and the county (governments) who are trying to make it work.”

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