How will Lodi spend $16M in recovery funds?

Some council members favor using money to fund homeless shelter

“For a city to do nothing about its homeless is not a good way to go. We’re doing the best we can to keep the homeless out of our streets and parks, and this is one area that we must follow through on, or otherwise we’re going to have increased homeless in our streets and parks.”

LODI MAYOR ALAN NAKANISHI

“We wake up every day and we see a new camp, more trash around our neighborhoods. And day by day it’s increasing. And the shelter is really important because the last three or four years, the homeless population has increased and it’s growing more and more and more.”

COUNCILMAN SHAK KHAN

The City of Lodi could potentially use a minimum of $5.5 million in federal recovery funds to pay for a homeless shelter or navigation center.

Lodi is set to receive $16.14 million in Federal American Rescue Plan Act funds in the coming weeks, and the city council discussed how to spend the aid during a special meeting Tuesday morning.

The $1.9 trillion rescue plan act, adopted by Congress on March 11, provides $65.1 billion to 19,000 bodies of state, local and tribal governments across the country.

Deputy city manager Andrew Keys said the city can expect to see funds by May 10, and it must be spent by Dec. 24, 2024.

He said the city should receive half its allocation this year, and the other half in 2022.

According to the act’s language, funds can be used to replace lost revenues; for economic development including aid to households, small businesses, nonprofits and industries like hospitality and tourism; direct response to the COVID-19 public health emergency; and water, sewer or broadband infrastructure improvements.

However, Keys said full guidance for use of the allocated funds has not been released.

“We’re not sure what these restrictions are,” he said. “We expect them any day form the treasury, and as soon as they complete those we can finalize and be certain we’re on the right track. We are monitoring both the national and California leagues of cities, waiting for these guidelines very anxiously so we can be certain that everything we are doing fits in the categories that will be more further defined once that guidance comes out.”

City staff’s recommendation is to replace general fund revenue lost during the pandemic, estimated at a total of nearly $4.56 million.

Of that, more than $2.24 million would be allocated to Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services, and $29,678 would be allocated to the Lodi Public Library, Keys said.

“Parks had no operating revenue in fiscal year 20-21, almost none at

all,” he said. “We weren’t able to hold any events. All of our recreational programs were closed. A department does not pay for itself in revenue, but it has a very good revenue recovery rate among its peers. Expenditures don’t go down very much when you don’t operate the program. You still have grass you still have trees, you still have infrastructure that needs maintenance, and that’s the bulk of the expenditures in the department.”

Spending that $4.56 million on lost city revenue would leave $10.45 million for community priorities, Keys said, and staff ’s recommendation was to spend remaining funds on small business and economic development grants, testing or vaccine incentives, and utility debt relief.

But Mayor Alan Nakanishi said Congress is set to provide more economic aid to small businesses and individuals this year, so city funds earmarked for those programs would be better served toward a homeless shelter or navigation center.

“For a city to do nothing about its homeless is not a good way to go,” he said. “We’re doing the best we can to keep the homeless out of our streets and parks, and this is one area that we must follow through on, or otherwise we’re going to have increased homeless in our streets and parks. I think we have to get this message out more and more. Because people are writing to us (and asking), why are you doing this? I think if they understand the rationale, they’ll realize we’re doing the best we can.”

Re-allocating grant funding and testing incentives to a shelter or navigation center would provide that project an additional $1.35 million.

And while $6.85 million would not cover the estimated $12-$14 million for a shelter, Keys said it would get the project started. He said there is additional funding the city can pursue, but it has not secured any at this time.

The topic of building a large shelter in Lodi has created a heated discussion over the last couple years, as each time the city considers a location, it receives backlash from neighboring businesses and residents.

Most recently, the idea to create a “homeless sanctuary” at Chapman Field was quickly discarded when neighboring businesses, as well as youth sports leagues that use the facility, protested.

City manager Steve Schwabauer said that in order for Lodi to enforce its nocamping ordinances, it must provide a place for campers to stay legally. For the city’s homeless population, he said that place must be somewhere they will not have to pay to stay.

“There is a certain amount of concern that if you create a navigation center, you will attract more people to your community because your services are perhaps better than other communities,” Schwabauer said. “There is no question that is a concern. However, all of the communities in California, and definitely all the communities our size, and all the communities in San Joaquin County, are currently working on similar projects.”

While the county itself is pushing to build a large center in Stockton and concentrate all resources there, Schwabauer said city staff does not believe Lodi’s homeless will go.

He said the county will not have enough money to build a shelter large enough to house the homeless from Lodi, Manteca and Tracy. In addition, Lodi and the other two cities have told the county the Stockton shelter would not be a solution for their individual jurisdictions.

Council member Shak Khan said some money should also be reallocated to a citywide homeless cleanup program, which would also help alleviate the city’s unsheltered crisis.

“We wake up every day and we see a new camp, more trash around our neighborhoods,” he said. “And day by day it’s increasing. And the shelter is really important because the last three or four years, the homeless population has increased and it’s growing more and more and more.

No action was taken Tuesday morning, However, staff will return to a regular Wednesday meeting with a finalized funding priority plan.