St. Mary's Dining Room, Stockton officials unveil plans for low-barrier homeless shelter
City leaders are betting on a $21 million project to address Stockton's homelessness crisis.
St. Mary's Dining Room and Stockton officials gathered at the Memorial Civic Auditorium on Monday to unveil site plans and renderings for a new low-barrier shelter for the unhoused. Known as the Pathways Project, the initiative is expected to increase the city's overall shelter capacity by 326 beds and provide 24/7 wraparound services to those who need it most.
"This is the beginning of ending unsheltered homelessness in Stockton," said Petra Linden, St. Mary's Dining Room CEO. "We're creating a new type of shelter in Stockton, where those who are most vulnerable in our homeless community will have their own individual unit where they can stay."
Crews will break ground on the shelter this fall, with construction expected to be completed by October 2024. It will be located on South Lincoln Street between West Sonora and West Church streets, adjacent to St. Mary's existing facility and the Stockton Shelter for the Homeless.
The shelter will act as an expansion of the services St. Mary's already offers. The organization has responded to poverty in San Joaquin County since 1955, with a dining hall that serves three hot meals a day, a shower and clothing center, a resource center, and a social services team that provides case management and housing navigation services.
Once the shelter opens, Linden said unsheltered people can live in one of its 232 8-feet-by-8-feet bedroom units for up to six months. During that time, St. Mary's staff will conduct assessments, determine what services they need, and work to find long-term housing solutions for them. They will have access to all resources St. Mary's offers, including medical and dental care through Community Medical Centers clinics.
The CEO said unsheltered people often choose not to turn to more traditional shelters because they fear being separated from their partner or pet — some shelters separate genders, while others do not allow cats or dogs. But St. Mary's will offer accommodations to those who wish to receive help and stay with their loved ones.
"Currently a lot of couples are not able to be sheltered together. The men have to go to the men's side and the women to the women's side, but half of the units will be accessible to couples," Linden said.
She added that residents will be able to keep pets in their units and there will be backyard spaces so dogs have a place to play. Additionally, there will be areas exclusively for seniors and women who do not want to be integrated with the male population.
City Manager Harry Black said the Pathways Project will bring the city closer to its goal of having a bed for each Stocktonian who is unhoused.
According to the 2022 Point in Time count, there were estimated to be 893 people living on the streets of Stockton. That number was down 3% from the 2019 count, when there were an estimated 921 people without shelter. The city did not conduct a count in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Based on the last Point in Time count, the St. Mary's project, along with the Navigation Center project that should be completed by the end of this summer, we're getting close to narrowing the gap in terms of unhoused with available beds of some sort ... be it a permanent support housing bed, a shelter bed, a transitional housing bed, or an affordable housing bed," Black said. "This project will get us almost to the finish line."
The Pathways Project is backed by the City of Stockton, San Joaquin County, Health Plan of San Joaquin, and Dignity Health St. Joseph's Medical Center. Together they have allocated more than $16 million to advance the project.
Stockton City Council approved $3.6 million in American Rescue Act funds to help with "daily costs associated with creating and operating the program" in March, while the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors approved a $6.5 million capital grant this year. Health Plan of San Joaquin provided $5.4 million and Dignity Health St. Joseph's Medical Center, $2 million.
"Partners like St. Mary's Dining Room are the cornerstone of the county's strategy to expand the local system of housing and services for our citizens experiencing homelessness," Supervisor Robert Rickman said. "These 300 units will be a critical component in bringing people off the streets."
Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: New low-barrier homeless shelter coming to Stockton in 2024
