MODESTO — The We Care men’s homeless shelter in Turlock received enough money on Tuesday to keep the doors open through the next fiscal year.
The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to disperse $1.6 million in Permanent Local Housing Allocation funds, with We Care receiving $427,808.
The ACES program received $627,808, while HAVEN and the Center for Human Services each received $227,808.
Last year, We Care, the county, and the city of Turlock were locked in a protracted squabble over the fate of nearly $270,000 in PLHA funding for the shelter. The city opted against helping We Care secure the funds, refusing to make a required $1 contribution.
There is no $1 requirement this time around.
“It’s the same grant, just more money this time,” said Corey Mai, We Care executive director. “We were allowed to apply for more money, and they removed the clause that we needed the city’s approval.”
According to Angela Freitas, the county’s director of planning and community development, the state clarified the matching clause.
“Part of the problem we had last year was that we required a match to release the funds,” said Freitas. “But it wasn’t clear how big the match had to be, so we went with $1. And due to the competitive nature of the grant application, we couldn’t change that requirement
“This year, we proceeded with guidance from the state that said, for emergency shelters, a match is not required.”
District 2 Supervisor Vito Chiesa said We Care was not favored this time around just because it ran into trouble last year.
“This goes through a scoring system and the board doesn’t put its thumb on the scale,” said Chiesa. “It goes through a process.”
The inability to secure the $270,000 last year — local non-profits United Way, Kaiser, and the Stanislaus County Community Foundation rallied to the cause and delivered a combined $100,000 — resulted in the closure of the shelter for the month of July.
“We’re relieved, because this will allow us to stay open another fiscal year (2026-27) without too much problem,” said Brett Forray, a member of We Care’s board of directors. “Only a certain percentage of this money can be used for salaries for our executive director and other staff members, so we’ll continue to look for other funding sources to support these very important positions.”
After the city opted not to assist We Care in April 2025, the city council — only councilmembers Kevin Bixel and Cassandra Abram voted to assist We Care — came under fire from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who implored the council to do its job.
For months after the council’s decision, community members kept up a campaign of pressure with public comments during city council meetings.
