HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Report - August 12, 2019 B-01 SMLodi City Council
Town Hall Meeting
Monday, August 12, 2019
Lodi Police Department
Transient/Homeless Statistics
January 1 – July 15, 2019
1,928 transient related calls for service.
•Of those calls, 74 were self-initiated by patrol officers, and 157 were
initiated by TLO’s Dunfee and Schiele.
•Those calls accounted for 412 hours of on-scene time, which does not
account for multiple officer response, dispatch call taking time, drive
time, follow-up time, or report writing time.
Lodi Police Department (Cont’d.)
Transient Liaison Officer (TLO) Dunfee had 106 citations and arrests and returned 58 shopping carts to their respective stores.
•Those numbers do not reflect the number of shopping carts returned by TLO Piombo and the countless truckloads of garbage collected and disposed of.
The Transient Outreach Teams (TOT) are comprised of patrol officers working specifically transient and homeless issues on 4 hour overtime shifts (approximately 6-8 shifts a month).
•TOT worked a total of 177 hours in two-officer teams;
•They made 476 contacts;
•Returned 67 shopping carts; and
•Made 175 arrests/citations.
•Primarily trespassing, open containers, shopping cart violations, warrants and loitering.
Lodi Police Department (Cont’d.)
In addition to spending the time necessary to assist the homeless on an individual basis (which is often times immensely time consuming), the TLO’s provide a wide range of services:
•One frequent disruptive transient took an immeasurable amount of time and resources over the course of months due to his medical conditions.
•Coordinating with Take Back Lodi.
•Coordinating with City and Caltrans crews.
•Coordinating with Code Enforcement.
•Maintaining statistics.
•Posting areas for clean-up.
•Staying educated and up to date with assistance programs.
•Staying current with state and local laws/ordinances.
•Maintaining relationships with shelters, assistance program coordinators, City staff, DA’s, S.O., CHP, and local businesses.
•Analyzing problem and repeat call areas or offenders, then formulating solutions.
Update by Committee On
Homelessness
~ John Ledbetter ~
Committee On Homelessness
COLLABORATION
COOPERATION
PARTNERSHIPS
PROGRESS
Update by San Joaquin
County Continuum of Care
~ Jon Mendelson ~
DRAFT
Lodi 139
Stockton 921
Lathrop 14
Manteca 218
Escalon 4
Tracy 155
Ripon 7
DRAFT
City Manager
FAQ’s
•Why less in Elk Grove/Galt? Farther away from county services
and county jail/absence of non-profit services/absence of hospital.
•Enforce the law: A SJC Superior Court Judge and the DA’s office
say it’s not working because there is no room in jail to make the
penalty stick.
What Has Lodi Done?
Historic:
1.Funded Salvation Army Emergency Shelter purchase and move from Downtown (Sacramento Street) to Stockton Street.
2.Funded Hope Harbor Family Homeless shelter construction.
3.Funded Lodi House acquisition and improvements.
4.Assisted with funding for low income senior housing development “Hotel Lodi.”
5.Assisted with funding for low income senior housing development “Cranes Landing.”
6.Assisted with funding from repairs of low income housing at Housing Authority of San Joaquin and Lodi House.
7.First time Low Income Housing Buyers Assistance Program.
What Has Lodi Done?
Recent:
Recent initiatives:
1.Added 1 full-time Community Liaison Officer (CLO) and 1 part-time CLO;
2.Measure L will add a 2nd full-time CLO when academy and training complete;
3.Purchased police F150 to help remove litter when CLO on scene;
4.Created Transient Outreach Teams to focus on quality of life issues;
5.City Attorney’s Office dedicates 50-60 hours per month to homeless citations and prosecutions, focusing on repeat offenders (ten 10-100 day sentences of repeat offenders);
6.Relocated over 100 people in need to rehabilitation programs and family assistance;
7.Worked with Committee on Homelessness to encourage volunteer groups to end park feedings and concentrate services at Salvation Army;
8.Multiple clean-ups of Awani Drive and other City properties;
9.Worked with Take Back Lodi to make it possible for volunteers to work in public rights-of-way;
10.Worked with volunteer groups to improve homeless count to increase eligibility for aid;
11.Advocated with Cooper, Galgiani, Caltrans, and CHP for better control of activity at Hwy 99 bridge;
12.Advocated with same groups for fencing projects that have already begun;
What Has Lodi Done?
Recent (cont.)
13.Assisted Committee on Homelessness to fund two ABC NorCal work training programs to get homeless youth trained for a
trade;
14.Provided funding for Ready to Work San Joaquin homeless job training program (9 Lodi residents housed and trained);
15.Shopping Cart Ordinance;
16.Partnered with County to Create the Continuum of Care to receive and distribute grant funds;
17.Only City in County to agree to Fund Countywide Homeless Outreach Coordinator;
18.One of only two cities to apply for housing grant under HEAP;
19.Historically, the City allocates CDBG funds on an annual basis for various types of social service projects that assist
homeless; such as, Emergency Food Bank, Second Harvest, and Salvation Army. Projects also include repairs to existing
shelters; like, Lodi House, Grace and Mercy, and Salvation Army;
20.Lodi Improvement Committee and Committee on Homelessness helped lead the effort to improve the accuracy of the
Point In Time Count in 2019. This allows the City to better understand the demand for homeless services and to apply for
funding;
21.Clean Parks Safe Kids Campaign with more frequent park maintenance; and
22.Expired tag towing program.
Understandably people want solutions, not
roadblocks
Why Haven’t We Built a Low Bar/No Bar Shelter
1.Not enough grant dollars available in past years to fund one;
2.No non-profit available to own and operate it yet (high liability facility to own and operate);
3.Staff and Homeless Committee belief that it would be difficult if not impossible to locate (especially as a first effort ).
However, as other options close we are exploring it.
This crisis will not be solved overnight…The cost is too high, the causes are too far outside city control and the population growth is too rapid. However, the City continues to work forward on solutions.