San Joaquin County Homelessness Digest

In their September 24 meeting, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors approved an amendment with additional restrictions to the public property camping ordinance.

In their September 24 meeting, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors approved changes to the building code to support construction of safe parking and camping facilities for the homeless on county property.

Over the last five years, the state government has spent some $24 billion to ameliorate homelessness, which, according to polls, is California’s most troublesome issue.

Failed legislative bills have attempted to create safe parking programs for students to sleep in their cars on California campuses while awaiting housing. Meanwhile, Long Beach City College allows homeless students to park overnight.

An ordinance banning camping on land under county jurisdiction is under consideration by the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors and may come up for a vote in their September 24 meeting.

A Solving Sacramento report on the September 7 Solidarity Summit on Homelessness.

For five years, California officials responding to the homelessness crisis had to work around one big restriction imposed by the federal courts: Because they didn’t have enough shelter beds, cities generally couldn’t make homeless camps illegal.

More than two-dozen California cities passed, strengthened or are considering ordinances that penalize people for sleeping outside, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed cities to crack down.

An exclusive CalMatters analysis of the latest California homeless count reveals some good news and bad news: Though the growth rate of homelessness appears to be slowing, the overall number of unhoused Californians increased from two years ago.

In anticipation of passing a camping ordinance, San Joaquin County is developing a safe and secure camping area for homeless access to health, hygiene and social services.

California has allocated more than $20 billion to alleviate the state’s homelessness crisis since Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019, but there’s precious little data on how the money was spent and what effect it’s had, other than the number of unhoused people has continued to climb.

In their August 27 meeting, the Stockton City Council discussed how to adapt policies on homeless encampments following the US Supreme Court Grants Pass ruling.

A summary of how $29.3 million over two rounds of funding to address homelessness in San Joaquin County have been directed.

On August 7, California Governor Newsom declared that counties needed to do more to clear homeless encampments or risk loss of state funding.

Residents of Camp Resolution in Sacramento announced their intention of remaining on the city-owned lot despite the lease expiring, and are seeking an injunction preventing eviction.

A critical new federal audit calls out California for doing too little to prevent fraudulent spending of homelessness funds. Nearly $320 million was at risk.

The California Department of Health Care Services has granted $15 million to provide more mental health services to the homeless, whose numbers, according to the recent point-in-time count, have doubled over the last 2 years.

The San Joaquin County homeless point-in-time count was released on July 31, and showed a sharp increase in the number of homeless over the last two years.

In a July 25 press release, Mayor Kevin Lincoln of Stockton announced the city will begin clearing homeless camps on public property.

Following the recent US Supreme Court homelessness ruling, police in Manteca are stepping up efforts to clear homeless encampments.

In 2021, responding to reports that the state’s homeless shelters were dirty and dangerous, the state Legislature crafted a plan: It would require local governments to inspect their shelters after complaints and file annual reports on shelter conditions.

The Supreme Court’s decision on homelessness will test a shelter system that’s full of problems – and lacking accountability.

In their July 2 meeting, the Tracy City Council approved the contract for Phase 2 construction of the temporary emergency housing development on Arbor Avenue.

Taking advantage of new state funds, some California healthcare providers are starting to offer what their homeless patients really need: housing.

There’s a lot of misinformation floating around out there about homelessness in California. We use data to dispel several common myths.

On June 20, the contract was approved to move forward with development of a homeless shelter on a 4.8 acre site on Arbor Avenue in Tracy.

Mayor Gary Singh of Manteca says the city will not change its homeless response strategy following the recent US Supreme Court Grants Pass v Johnson ruling.

The ruling by the conservative court majority means cities no longer are prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping if they have nowhere else to go.

The Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case found that the fining and arresting of homeless people does not violate Eighth Amendment rights.

A panel at the CalMatters Ideas Festival debates how to reduce homelessness without punishing poverty. There’s worry about a potential $1 billion cut in state funding.

It’s the billion-dollar question. That’s how much cities and other local governments have been receiving from the state each year to deal with California's ever-increasing population of homeless people.

The latest point-in-time count of unhoused individuals in San Joaquin County more than doubled since the last count in 2022.