In response to continuing concerns about homelessness, encampment resolution, and public safety, the Davis City Council is considering a range of new services and budget allocations aimed at addressing the crisis.
A staff report presented by Social Services & Housing Director Dana Bailey and Police Chief Todd Henry outlines the city’s current focus on existing homeless services, including enhanced encampment cleanups, a dedicated downtown police officer, expanded hours at the Respite Center, and community navigator programs.
The City of Davis currently spends more than $200,000 annually on personnel costs associated with homeless encampment cleanups, not including material costs and delayed responses to other community needs.
The report suggests that contracting with a private company could reduce costs and improve efficiency.
“There are several compelling reasons to utilize a contracted company for encampment cleanup rather than using city employees, including expertise, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness,” the report states.
Contracted cleanup crews, the report explains, specialize in handling the biohazards, discarded needles, and human waste commonly found in encampments.
“Their employees are trained in dealing with biohazards, discarded needles, human waste, and other health hazards commonly found in these environments,” the report adds.
Contracting out the service would also allow the city’s code enforcement unit, which currently handles the majority of encampment cleanups, to focus on other responsibilities, such as blight removal and zoning enforcement.
The estimated cost of outsourcing encampment cleanup services ranges from $80,000 to $175,000 per year, significantly lower than the cost of maintaining city personnel for the same work.
City officials are also exploring the possibility of hiring a full-time police officer dedicated to patrolling downtown Davis. The stated goal is to provide a visible safety presence, improve response times to incidents, and build stronger relationships with business owners and residents.
“A dedicated officer ensures downtown will have a greater visible city presence, allowing for quicker response times to incidents such as disturbances, fights, thefts, or accidents,” the report notes.
The officer would reportedly also take a proactive role in crime prevention and community engagement.
“By being a consistent, visible presence, the officer will foster positive relationships within the community, making it easier for people to approach law enforcement with concerns or public safety issues,” the report states.
However, the proposal comes with an estimated annual cost of $217,000, leading to concerns about balancing law enforcement expenditures with investments in social services.
The Davis Daytime Respite Center, operated by Downtown Streets Team, provides essential services such as showers, laundry facilities, and case management for people experiencing homelessness. The current hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4 PM, but advocates argue that extending services to weekends would provide critical support to those in need.
Expanding the center to a seven-day-a-week model would cost an additional $197,981 per year, while a staggered weekday schedule that includes weekends (e.g., Wednesday through Sunday) would cost $53,389 annually. However, officials note that key support services, such as housing and mental health counseling, would still only be available during weekday business hours.
“While visitors to the respite center during weekend or evening hours could access showers, laundry facilities, and the physical space, the connection to other social services and counseling would be limited to traditional business hours,” the report clarifies.
The city is exploring various community navigator models to connect unhoused individuals with vital resources.
One potential model follows the success of “Promotores” programs, where trained individuals from the community provide peer-based outreach and service navigation. Another model, modeled after the Citrus Heights Homeless Assistance Resource Team (HART), would rely on volunteers to link homeless residents with available programs.
“Community navigation programs act as a bridge to helping individuals in communities, including the unhoused and the housing insecure, to find and utilize resources, services, and opportunities that are available to them,” the report states.
However, it also notes the challenges of volunteer retention and training, warning that “well-meaning individuals who want to help can and have put themselves in inappropriate or even dangerous situations.”
The city has received a $41,413 grant from the Yolo County Homeless and Poverty Action Coalition to launch a peer support program, which would train individuals with lived experience of homelessness to assist those currently unhoused. A similar initiative through Davis Community Meals and Housing has also shown success in engaging unhoused residents in community improvement efforts.
As part of its homelessness response strategy, the city is considering designated areas where people experiencing homelessness can legally park or camp without the threat of citations. “Sanctioned camping/parking refers to designated, city-approved areas where people experiencing homelessness can set up tents or park vehicles without the risk of arrest or citation, often providing access to basic services and resources,” the report explains.
In partnership with Davis United Methodist Church, the nonprofit HEART of Davis has proposed a pilot Safe Parking program that would allow unhoused individuals living in their vehicles to park safely overnight under monitored conditions. The program would require participants to adhere to a code of conduct and be monitored by staff. City officials are currently reviewing the proposal to ensure compliance with municipal regulations.
The report also examines similar programs in other cities, including the City of Modesto’s Safe Park initiative, which operates a 25-space parking program in conjunction with a shelter facility, and San Rafael’s Safe Camp program, which received $5.9 million in state funding to provide designated tent sites.
The city is also evaluating continued funding for the Downtown Streets Team’s flagship work experience program, which provides unhoused individuals with job training and employment opportunities in exchange for stipends. Over the past year, the program has:
- Served 457 unique individuals
- Removed 31,391 gallons of debris
- Facilitated eight housing placements and 14 job placements
The program is currently funded through a joint agreement between the city and Yolo County, but funding is set to expire in June 2025 unless renewed. The cost to continue the program is estimated at $397,978 per year.
Additionally, Davis Community Meals and Housing (DCMAH) has proposed expanding its winter shelter program at Paul’s Place to operate year-round. The shelter, which provides emergency housing and social services, would require an estimated $150,000 annually to maintain full-year operations.
The report lays out multiple options for enhancing homeless services in Davis, with costs ranging from $10,000 for training volunteers to over $500,000 for expanded respite services.
“Council may wish to direct staff to prioritize one or more of these services as we are developing the upcoming two-year budget,” the report states.
“However, the proposal comes with an estimated annual cost of $217,000, leading to concerns about balancing law enforcement expenditures with investments in social services.”
Why do they have to be balanced?
KO, it’s similar to the theory that Israeli was supposed to fight a ‘proportional’ counter-attack against Gaza, killing the same number of people, kidnapping the same number of people, raping the same number of people, killing the exact ratio of soldiers to civilians. If they’d done that, the world would have got off Israeli’s case, as we all know
Same idea, y’know: balance in all things.
Expanding the hours of operation to 24/7 is necessary for the short term.
However, there was recently a well-attended public meeting about the respite center. The overwhelming consensus of the participants was that it needs to be removed from the neighborhood and relocated. The impact on nearby homes and businesses has been very adverse.
The problems at 5th and L are far worse than downtown and have been ongoing for five years. If there are going to be increased police patrols, East Davis is far more in need of foot patrols and increased police presence than the downtown.
I talked to Chief Henry after the meeting expressing the same, that patrol was needed out to the respite center. He said the downtown beat officer would also patrol the adjacent neighborhoods. The item comes up Tuesday night — the more who express this sentiment the better.
My only concern: one tactic of keeping a place where it is to (finally, after half a decade) do what the neighborhood wants, except for the removal, which is what the 5 & L area *really really* wants.
“A staff report presented by Social Services & Housing Director Dana Bailey and Police Chief Todd Henry outlines the city’s current focus on existing homeless services, including enhanced encampment cleanups, a dedicated downtown police officer, expanded hours at the Respite Center, and community navigator programs.”
The City’s “current focus” ? That’s lousy wording — but if you mean their “current focus” on proposals, that is correct. -ish. And I don’t know what a ‘current focus on existing’ then means in this context, as then that implies current. But outside this “a dedicated downtown police officer” is NOT a ‘homeless service’, it is about *public safety*, which is a *completely separate* issue, having to do with dealing, *finally*, with what this really is, a societal delusion and gaslit acceptance of street mental illness and street drug addiction loose in the guise of the term ‘homeless’ and manifested in the visible ‘homeless’ as a ‘problem’ to be ‘solved’ by ‘building more housing’. It’s all b*llsh*t.
BUT, good on the City for *finally* addressing *public safety* as a *priority* in regard to ‘homelessness’, .i.e., street people with serious mental and addiction issues. Maybe we are finally on the road to sanity. Not to mention dumping ‘housing first’, and ‘harm reduction’, which kills. Until we reprogram the minds of those deluded by these policies, we will forever suffer under the multi-billion-dollar Homeless Industrial Complex and their ‘evidence based’ b*llsh*t studies that justify their pathetic existence.
Encampment cleanups are also about *public safety*, not ‘homeless’ services’. Again, right track, finally.
As for the ‘respite’ center, the two biggest community takeaways from the five-years-late meeting with the neighbors was: (1) It’s time to dump the effects of this place on another part of Davis, we’ve dealt with it for all of you long enough, shove it up District 1, 2, 4 and/or 5’s rear ends; and (2) A ‘respite’ center does not belong in neighborhoods adjacent to people’s homes, and it doesn’t belong across the street from two liquor sales establishments!!!! The insanity of that is almost incomprehensible.
From article: “In partnership with Davis United Methodist Church, . . .”
I’m increasingly concluding that this organization is “problematic”.
Also, not sure about this church, but aren’t there religious institutions in Davis which are refusing to make their excess property available for housing and/or homeless people?
LOL on the last sentence, RO.
I concluded long ago the Meth-O church was “problematic”. I have no issue with their people assisting the so-called ‘homeless’ in whatever way they are so moved. When I take issue is when they come to Council meetings, as they have been doing for years, and politically advocate for spending for the so-called ‘homeless’.
I wouldn’t classify spending $150K per year on cleaning up the toxic mess left by a handful of people as “homeless services.” Without City involvement in this, I’m wondering about the speed and effective response to problem areas, large and small. Years ago, the City laid off its entire tree maintenance team and contracted out tree maintenance. We are hearing now how that is going.
What me and a neighbor concluded years ago is that we had to clean up the garbage ourselves left along the tracks, or the problem would grow. The people who pass by dump stuff, and when it builds up, more so-called ‘homeless’ people start picking through it, and sometimes leave other stuff. As a friend who spent time on meth told me, ‘every pile of garbage is a potentially pot of gold when you are on meth’. The other thing that happens when you are on meth, apparently, is that you don’t have respect for your neighbors or yourself to clean up after yourself. Not that I believe they are our neighbors, but that’s what so-called ‘homeless’ advocates say that we have to say, or we are anti-so-called-homeless-phobic-ism-teria. Or something.