Fresno leaders are making a simple, yet big, change in how they combat homelessness
After years of going at it solo, city leaders and Fresno County supervisors say they will coordinate efforts and pool resources to tackle the region’s seemingly intractable homelessness crisis.
Historically, the two entities have addressed the issue separately. The city solely focuses on maintaining shelters and resources within city limits, where 70% of the county’s homeless population resides, while the county operates the behavioral health and social service departments.
Now, it will be a joint effort, Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez told The Bee, bringing the county and cities’ services together with the goal of having a stronger network as an alliance.
“The era of collaboration is here, and I think the time when we were just simply throwing more money at a problem is over,” Chavez said. “It’s going to require us to now be more strategic and more purposeful in how we address the homeless crisis in our county.”
City and county officials held three meetings, so far, to craft a memorandum of understanding with the state and coordinate homelessness services in the region.
Chavez said the MOU is expected to be finalized in early 2026.
This endeavor could become the first county, city, state, non-profit collaboration effort of its kind in California, Chavez said.
Chavez saw the potential for a collaborative approach during his time on the Fresno City Council, he said, and made coordination between the city and county part of his campaign promise last year.
Chaves watched as homelessness in the region rose during his 14 years at city hall, and described the former approach as punitive, or scattering the unhoused from one area to the next.
“It’s all of our problem, and that’s what’s been missing in the past,” Chavez said. “We haven’t approached it from a collaborative approach, and I think that’s why we see so many people out in the streets and shopping centers. So, I’m really encouraged and optimistic about the results that we’re going to get from this.”
Changes in federal funding spark need for change
The city-county partnership comes amid a steady incline in homelessness over the past decade in the area.
The city purchased several motels on Blackstone Avenue, such as the Clarion Hotel, and across Fresno during the pandemic through the state’s Project Roomkey and Project Homekey programs. The sites provided temporary shelter use, with the intent they’d be converted into permanent affordable housing in the next five to six years.
The Fresno Housing Authority announced this summer that two of these shelters will shut down operations at the end of the year due to a lack of funding.
That’s a part of why the city and county plans to pool their resources together to combat the region’s homeless crisis, Chavez said.
Chavez is working with the city to ensure that individuals currently housed in the motel shelters are given priority for the permanent affordable housing units, he said.
The federal government also announced a policy change two weeks ago that would shift the majority of federal homelessness funds away from permanent housing and toward temporary shelters.
More than 20 states, including California, have sued the Trump administration and asked a judge to block the cuts, saying the abrupt changes would cut ongoing support from established homeless housing programs.
Katie Wilbur, executive director of RH Community Builders, a Fresno-based organization offering a range of services to end homelessness in the Central Valley, has been one of the providers working with the city and county on their new joint effort.
“You may not see it with your eyes, but there is changes happening, and there are people getting support and getting into housing, and we just have to keep working every day,” Wilbur said.