BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — When it comes to Governor Gavin Newsom's latest homeless directives, officials say they’ve already addressed the removal of encampments throughout the City and County. But the question remains where do these individuals go after?
- On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to take away funding from cities and counties that do not see improvement in encampments in the next year. However, officials say that shelters and navigation centers aren’t always the best option for individuals.
- Carlos Baldovinos with the Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative and the Mission at Kern County said most nights, his shelter and others around town are full.
When it comes to Governor Gavin Newsom's latest homeless directives, officials say they’ve already addressed the removal of encampments throughout the City and County. But the question remains where do these individuals go after?
“When I look at the system-wide, if I look at all of the shelters, if you ask a lot of my colleagues, they’re full, we’re at capacity,” said Carlos Baldovinos, Chairman for the Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative.
Baldovinos said when it comes to homelessness and encampments, the City and County are already doing what they can. But even though last year the city was able to address 4,555 encampments, there's not enough room in shelters to take everyone in.
“I mean where are we going to put these people?” he asked.
As Executive Director for the Mission at Kern County also, Baldovinos said he’s seen development over the last ten years with resources to address homelessness. He said recently the Mission expanded by 40 more beds, the Bakersfield Homeless Shelter has nearly 200 beds total, Brundage Lane Navigation Center has around 250 beds and was recently approved for a 50 bed expansion, and the M Street Navigation Center has nearly 150.
“There’s been an effort to get affordable housing units up, it’s just the problem has gotten to a crisis level," he said.
On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to take away funding from cities and counties that do not see improvement in encampments in the next year. However, officials say that shelters and navigation centers aren’t always the best option for individuals.
“You come to the shelter how you are, but then you have individuals who are like we’re tired of being on drugs, who want to get sober," said Jenni Byers, Economic Development Director with the City of Bakersfield. "Then they’re next to someone who is not in that same place.”
While many individuals may want to get off the streets and into housing, Byers said the City can only move so fast in getting various projects approved, funded, and built.
“Over this past year there’s been 202 affordable housing units constructed," Byers said. "We have another 227 under construction that will be available over the next couple of months.”
Another difficulty local agencies have to accept in the rate of people coming into homelessness is far greater than those leaving it.
“The old Red Roof Inn, the Housing Authority took the lead, remodeled it," Baldovinos said. "I just checked in a few days ago, it’s completely full. That’s unbelievable. I mean we’re talking roughly around 40 units.”
The city currently has around 467 units in pre-development and is working towards a local housing trust fund grant from the state to get these projects moving forward..
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