Turlock residents and business owners had an opportunity to voice their frustrations with the city’s homeless population and hear updates on how the city is working to mitigate issues when the Turlock City Council’s ad hoc committee on homelessness held a public forum on Thursday.

The two-hour meeting was chaired by city councilmember Rebecka Moniz (District 2), a member of the ad hoc committee along with councilmember Kevin Bixel (District 1). Also present were city manager Reagan Wilson, city attorney George Petrulakis, Chief of Police Jason Hedden, and officer Raul Dominguez of the Stanislaus County CARE team.

Legacy Health Endowment president and CEO Jeffrey Lewis, who has been tasked by the city to coordinate homeless-assistance efforts and develop a strategy for streamlining services within the city, delivered a 30-minute presentation with his team’s recommendations.

Lewis addressed food service, health care, drug and alcohol dependency programs, and civic accountability.

For instance, LHE found that at least 30 food programs exist in Turlock. 

“The importance of that isn’t the number of programs, but on the overlap …” said Lewis. “The most important aspect of this is when the city council is asked for financial assistance, we believe it’s important to first understand what programs are feeding people, where there is duplication, overlap, or a poor use of city dollars…

“This is a great example of a city needing to dig deeper into how public dollars are spent for programs for the homeless.”

Hedden and Dominguez followed with a presentation of their own, highlighting the sheer volume of calls the department receives each day pertaining to homelessness — about 6 percent of overall calls in 2022, roughly nine calls per week — and the overall effectiveness of increased code enforcement, and the efforts of the CARE team.

“I feel like the police department efforts to coordinate with cleanups, to have more of a presence downtown and in the community, working with the CARE team, and the contributions from the county have made an impact,” said Hedden. “But we’re sensitive to what the community is saying: ‘It feels like you’re saying everything is fine, but it’s not.’ I understand that we still have a significant homeless problem, just like other communities. But I can tell you that as team, citywide, we’re talking daily about what we can do better.”

Kris Klair, owner of Central Station Bar and Grill in downtown Turlock, was in the audience for the entire meeting. His restaurant was recently damaged by a fire started at a homeless encampment between his establishment and the adjacent railroad tracks. The suspect was identified as Jeannine Damon, 53. She was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail on suspicion of arson.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” said Klair, who also owns Exit Realty Consultants at 600 E. Main St. “Every day we’re cleaning up their crap, literally, and cleaning up garbage. There’s been a couple of times we’ve found needles.”

Klair opened Central Station in November of 2022. He said he loves being a restauranteur, but is having second thoughts.

“Having the homeless there has affected my desire to remain in this business,” said Klair. “I believe we’re doing what we wanted to do, as far as fixing up that spot and getting it ready for our community. Everyday, overall, the sales are increasing, but there are always customers who make comments about the homeless.”

Monez and Bixel both said they understand the frustrations of community members like Klair, but stressed the progress is being made — even though that progress often goes unnoticed.

Dominguez pointed out in his remarks that it can take nearly 80 contacts before a homeless person can be handed to a case worker or a mental-health team.

“But if people don’t want help, we can’t make them seek help,” Dominguez added.

Bixel agreed.

“There are some people who choose to live this way and we, as a society, are going to have to accept that,” said Bixel. “But I think the big key is identifying the people that are willing to get help — and that’s a long, long process.”

Monez pointed to the removal of numerous homeless encampments throughout the city as one indicator that the city’s efforts have traction.

“Two and a half years ago when we first started this, we didn’t have the resources in place that we do now,” said Monez. “When you look around town, the landscape has changed. Turlock doesn’t have anymore encampments. That blight is gone. Yes, when you look around town you still come across homeless individuals, but we are responding, we are chipping away at it.”