SAN BERNARDINO – One meeting after approving the first stages of a comprehensive homeless center on the Westside, the City Council voted the project down.
There was one key difference between the July 18 vote, which included 4-2 approval of some elements of the proposal by Mary’s Mercy Center, and Monday’s rejection: Councilman John Valdivia.
Valdivia represents the area where housing, job training and other services for 115 homeless men would have been offered through the center, and he was absent from the first vote, citing personal obligations.
But Monday, Valdivia argued the center would burden residents in the area. And Councilman Benito Barrios said he was convinced to change his mind — although he didn’t return phone calls to explain why — leading to a 4-3 vote against the project, for now.
“We’re exploring our options,” said Mike Hein, vice president and administrator of Mary’s Mercy Center, on Wednesday. “We think that (the project) is needed, and we’re going to explore our options. I don’t know what those are.”
The item was on the consent calendar — intended for actions that are considered routine and noncontroversial — because common practice is to follow the approval of the first reading of an ordinance with approval of the final reading. But state law requires a vote on the second reading, and Valdivia said he had been contacted by “several residents” urging him to oppose the project.
“This is a quality-of-life issue for impacting of neighborhoods, residents and certainly businesses in the 3rd Ward,” Valdivia said, adding that he was concerned the additional 115 people would slow emergency response times. One fire station in the 3rd Ward already closed in 2014 for budget reasons, Valdivia (an opponent of that closure) noted.
The ward consists of approximately 30,000 residents.
Known as Mary’s Village, the project was planned on Walnut Street between Pico Avenue and San Marcos Street, about 1 1/2 miles away from the two other centers run by Mary’s Mercy Center on the Westside.
Advocates stressed that Mary’s Village would not be a soup kitchen, with homeless people coming and going. Instead, homeless men would live in the center for 12 to 18 months, part of an approach that Mary’s Mercy Center says has had a success rate of 75 percent to 80 percent in their similar Veronica’s Home of Mercy program in San Bernardino, which is for homeless women.
“The project consists of the development of a men’s residential complex that will provide comprehensive on-site medical, behavioral health, training and support services that offer a healthy alternative to substance abuse, mental illness or homelessness,” city staff wrote in a report to the council. “The goal and objective of Mary’s Village necessitates an extensive and comprehensive program that affords each man a sense of growth and development leading to integration of the man into a new life and society.”
Councilmembers Virginia Marquez, Fred Shorett and Jim Mulvihill voted in support of the project Monday.
While the project has no direct cost to the city — Mary’s Mercy Center would cover all those costs — opponents argued it would encourage more homeless people to come to San Bernardino and drive out businesses.
“We have to stop being the one that provides so many resources so that we bring them (homeless people) to San Bernardino,” said Councilwoman Bessine Richard. “... I don’t see how this is anything that’s going to help our city grow. Think about the businesses that we’re going to lose in the community that’s going to close in that part of town.”
No one disputes that the city has a serious homelessness problem. The county’s 2015 point-in-time count found 546 homeless people in the city, which is 40 percent of the county’s homeless population despite having only 10 percent of the county’s residents.
But homelessness will only go away if the city can turn homeless people into productive members of society, which is what Mary’s Village would do, Shorett said.
“This is the national model for ending homelessness,” he said. “It’s not about the part of town — I said before, and it’s true, I’d be happy to have this in my ward.”
Shorett added that he was concerned about the message the city sent by first supporting the project and then ending that support.
“The message that we send to nonprofits, the BIA — the Building Industries Association — that was supporting this, the county, which is taking a very active role, the development community, and business community, and I assume (the Housing of Urban Developement) will be asking questions (about) if we’re really serious about dealing with our homelessness problem,” Shorett said. “I’m very concerned about that voting bloc (that opposed passage), and I think the public needs to understand they’re sending a very bad message to a lot of communities.”