The implementation of an $11.3 million grant to help the homeless was on many Rotarians’ minds when the two individuals responsible for Los Banos acquiring the grant made a presentation to the Los Banos Rotary Club.
Christy Mccammond, the City of Los Banos’ Housing Program Manager, and Jennifer Loa, the city’s Homeless Outreach Coordinator, teamed up on July 23 to provide for Rotarians and their guests a comprehensive analysis of homelessness in Los Banos.
Mccammond said the grant that was funded by the state will enable the city to build “a neighborhood of 50 essential homes, as well as buildings for supportive services personnel and for property management and maintenance.”
She said she hoped these 50 essential modular homes, also referred to as “tiny” homes, each between 450 and 500 square feet with one bedroom and one bath, would be completed sometime in 2025.
First, however, the city needs to work with a contractor to build and provide utilities to them and to identify a location, which is still to be determined.
Mccammond and Loa also provided background and context to the project, including presenting current and past data on the homeless population and examining some of the main causes of homelessness.
Both women have been working for the City of Los Banos since the spring of 2023, when the city created a housing program department. Since then, they have both spent much of their time visiting and talking with homeless individuals in Los Banos, including many who live in tents along public trails.
Both Mccammond and Loa come from a background of many years spent in supportive services and project management. Mccammond, a native of Los Banos before she moved to Oregon, spent almost 20 years in that state working as government operations and policy analyst, fiscal management analyst and assistant health services administrator. Most recently, she served for three years as a program manager for the Merced County Human Services Agency.
Loa served for 12 years as a case manager for the Merced County Human Services Agency and prior to that as an instructional technician for the Los Banos Campus of Merced College.
During their presentation to the Rotary Club, Mccammond and Loa provided statistics on homelessness in the country and in Los Banos and talked about what they consider the main causes of homelessness. They supplemented quantitative data with qualitative data they have gathered in listening to homeless individuals in Los Banos.
They reported that in the most recent “Point in Time” count of the homeless people, conducted early in 2024, there are 149 homeless people in Los Banos, 28 of whom live in shelters.
That number is up from 2023 when the total was 113 (including 78 sheltered) and 2022 with a total of 124 (including 74 sheltered). The 2024 figures are lower, however, than those from 2021, when the total was 169 (including 60 sheltered).
Mccammond explained that the number of sheltered persons is significantly lower in 2024 because a previous project funded by a grant, Project Roomkey (which sheltered many homeless people) ended and the money for shelters ran out.
Most of the 28 homeless people now living in shelters are in houses in Los Banos rented for the purpose of sheltering the homeless.
Mccammond and Loa spent much of their presentation talking about the causes of homelessness. Significantly, they did not put at the top of their list the two most commonly assumed causes, that homeless people have either addictions or mental health problems.
“There are many people with mental health problems or addictions who live in houses or apartments,” Mccammond. “Jennifer and I have found that the more important causes of homelessness are the lack of available affordable housing and the need for people to escape violence.
“Many of the unsheltered persons we have talked with left places where they were threatened with physical abuse,” Mccammond said, “and they had nowhere else to go.”
Mccammond and Loa frequently work with people who break the homeless stereotype. “We know one gentleman who has a steady job and then comes back to his tent at night. We know another lady who spent 20 years unhoused who now lives in an apartment.”
Most of the unsheltered people they have encountered, Loa said, would move into a home or apartment if there was one available and affordable. But housing in Los Banos is very tight and very expensive. A recent report showed that the cost of housing in Los Banos is the highest in Merced County.
During the presentation, Rotarian Jennifer Cortez, who oversees the work of the Salvation Army in Los Banos, echoed what Mccammond and Loa said. “I have many people,” Cortez said, “especially women, who come to me and say, ‘I can’t find a place to live. Tell me where I can find one.’ But I have had no luck helping them.”
Although the 50 tiny (or essential) homes won’t be available for some time, McCammond and Loa encourage individuals interested in applying for this housing to contact them now. In this way they can help these individuals get ready to apply, including gathering the documents they need, which includes a driver’s license, social security card and birth certificate.
Interested persons can call 209.827.7000 (the main number for city hall, where Mccammond’s and Loa’s offices are located) and ask for extension 2441 (Mccammond) or extension 2408 (Loa).
Both Mccammond and Loa said they are determined to help the homeless in Los Banos find shelter. “It’s our passion and our purpose,” McCammond said. “We love this city, and we want to make it a better place for all.”
