Modesto’s largest homeless shelter may run out of money in six months, potentially putting more people back on the streets.
The sobering news comes on the heels of learning that Modesto Downtown Streets’ parent organization will close at the end of October. That program helps people find housing and jobs in return for picking up trash downtown.
Local leaders are scrambling to keep both programs – the homeless shelter and Downtown Streets – going in some fashion, despite huge obstacles.
Surveys show that homelessness continues to top Californians’ list of pressing problems.
The ACES shelter, short for Access Center Emergency Shelter, faces a dramatic reduction in state money for its 182-bed ACES facility in the Salvation Army’s Berberian Center on Ninth and D streets near downtown Modesto. It’s one of two shelters at the same location, both operated by the Salvation Army; the second has 180 beds. The Modesto Gospel Mission also has a shelter with 150 beds on Yosemite Boulevard.
In its five-and-a-half years open, ACES has provided shelter for 2,762 people, some staying longer than a year. Many have taken advantage of programs offering mental illness or substance abuse treatment, and 213 have moved into temporary, transitional or permanent housing.
Although the two Ninth Street shelters are in Modesto and City Hall has helped from time to time with nominal funding, the city isn’t eligible for state Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention money, or HHAP. Stanislaus County receives that money and contracts with the Salvation Army to run ACES, which relies on HHAP for most of its support – 96% of the shelter’s $2.9 million budget last year.
State money for homeless services drying up
Facing its own financial trouble, state leadership earlier this year removed from the state’s current budget the $1 billion in HHAP money it had been sending yearly to counties and large cities, and indicated they’ll get only half that next year.
“Stanislaus is the first of what will likely be many communities to unravel services and shelters,” said Graham Knaus, CEO of California State Association of Counties, in an interview with The Modesto Focus. The state’s system of “turning funding on and off for something that’s an ongoing community priority is not workable, and it sure as heck is not a way to reduce homelessness in California.”
Stanislaus supervisors will review ACES’s plight at 9 a.m. Tuesday during their regular board meeting in the basement chamber at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St., Modesto. While ACES’s money could run out by April, county CEO Jody Hayes said he intends to present supervisors with options by January.
Supervisor Terry Withrow, whose CPA office is downtown, said the ACES shelter is a top priority. “We’re going to figure this out and find a way to keep this thing going,” he said.
Although Modesto’s financial contributions to the ACES shelter have been minimal, City Hall and the Salvation Army will help seek solutions, said Modesto Community and Economic Development Director Jessica Hill.
City Hall has been reeling from the imminent demise of Downtown Streets’ parent organization, which soon will cease beautification-by-homeless programs in 16 Northern California cities. Modesto Councilmen Eric Alvarez and Nick Bavaro have mentioned the possibility of a local nonprofit taking it over, and the Modesto Gospel Mission has said it’s worth considering.
Hill said she intends to update the Modesto City Council on the Downtown Streets situation by mid-October.
ACES opened in early 2020, replacing a government-sponsored tent city known as MOES, or the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter, under the Ninth Street bridge.
Many unhoused people are reluctant to give up partners, pets and possessions, and rules requiring separation are considered barriers that keep some out of shelters. ACES has fewer such rules, so it’s known as a low-barrier shelter.
The county has cobbled funding from more than a dozen sources over the years for ACES, spending from $2.8 million to $3.6 million a year for a total of $18.1 million. Hayes and Hill pointed to several potential funding sources that may yet be tapped.
Gov. Gavin Newsom angered many cities and counties a few months ago when he and the Legislature canceled HHAP money this year and halved it for the next.
“I don’t really blame the state” for losing patience, said Withrow. The shock of losing funding may prompt more services addressing root causes of homelessness, Withrow said, especially substance abuse and mental illness.
“There’s always hope,” he said.
Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact Stapley at garth@cvlocaljournalism.org.
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