Merced County and state officials unite for 100-day challenge to help Los Banos homeless
A 100-day challenge to help alleviate homelessness is kicking off in Los Banos — the city that saw its number of unhoused residents rise more than any other Merced County region between 2020 and 2021.
The Governor’s 100-Day Challenge began in 2019 with the goal of addressing the growing number of homelessness encampments across California, a Merced County news release said this week.
“You read a lot about the problems in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento,” said Assemblymember Adam Gray, D-Merced, in the release.
“We have the same problems in our Valley communities and often fewer resources to address them. But we have a great community full of people who are willing to tackle challenges. That’s why I know this project can make a difference.”
A spectrum of organizations from the city, county and state will collaborate to achieve the challenge’s goals. The initiative aims to relocate unhoused residents from encampments, provide them with services and return public spaces to public use.
Participating counties identify areas of need to focus the 100-day challenge — like Los Banos.
Although the city ranked second in terms of the number of homeless residents, Los Banos was first in percentage of growth between 2020 and 2021, according to the Merced County point-in-time count.
The city’s 169 unhoused residents accounted for 20% of all homelessness within the county. That’s a spike of 172% since 2019 — a statistic that county officials at the time described as “striking.” In contrast, Merced County’s most populous city of Merced grew by 15% during the same period.
“The west side of the County is by no means immune to homeless issues,” Merced County Supervisor Scott Silveira, whose includes Los Banos, said in the release.
“We take a lot of pride in our communities being safe, attractive, and desirable places to raise a family or start a business. Transitioning people out of homelessness and into stable living environments is certainly a component of that effort.”
Los Banos homelessness goals
Proponents of the 100-day challenge say they hope to house 20 people living in encampments by mid April and get another 25 individuals on track to be housed, according to the release.
The challenge also aims to find affordable places for homeless individuals to live. Like much of Merced County, difficulties finding affordable homes in Los Banos exacerbate issue for low-income residents. The city’s vacancy rate is less than 1% and one-bedroom apartments often rent for upward of $900, the release said.
“Housing supply and rent rates are two huge challenges,” Los Banos Police Chief Gary Brizzee said in the release. “We need housing for the people living in these encampments. We have challenges across the county, but it’s often even harder in Los Banos. It is going to take all of us working together to achieve this goal.”
One goal of the 100-day challenge is to recruit landlords willing to rent affordable dwelling units. Incentives like bonus payments equivalent to two times monthly rent, double deposits, access to Housing Choice Vouchers and case management are used to aid in recruitment.
Despite the difficulties in Los Banos, past efforts have laid the groundwork to bolster ongoing initiatives, the release said.
A respite care home was established 2019 and an homeless outreach worker was assigned to the community the same year. Two shared living houses are up and running, each home to nine individuals who were previously unhoused.
Plus, Merced County Rescue Mission in 2021 established a sober-living home through its Transition to Hope program. Another program housed 25 residents at the La Plaza Inn with services provided by Merced County Community Action Agency.
These housing efforts make it more possible for homeless individuals to find work, health care and counseling, according to the release.
“This is a community effort, countywide. We’re one partner of many,” Lucas Brown of Merced County Community Action Agency said.
Those collaborating in the 100-day challenge include state and county departments, local churches, law enforcement, Assemblymember Gray, Memorial Hospital of Los Banos, Merced County Rescue Mission, Merced County Community Action Agency, the Salvation Army and Rapid Results Institute, according to the release.
“This is a great opportunity to get this community focused and get help from groups who might not ordinarily get involved in our work to reduce homelessness,” Brown said.
