Dyer wants new south Fresno homeless shelters. Critics say they should go up north
Mayoral candidate Jerry Dyer and three council members held dueling news conferences Wednesday, debating the pros and cons of the candidate’s plan to add temporary shelters to a south Fresno area that’s already home to many people living without shelter.
The former Fresno police chief rolled out a plan to use large temporary tent-like buildings that would house multiple beds in the open land near the Fresno Rescue Mission.
Dyer argues it makes sense to add shelter where many homeless already live. But his detractors on the City Council — Miguel Arias, Esmeralda Soria and Nelson Esparza — say his plan would only concentrate homeless people in a district that’s already underprivileged.
The Rescue Mission already uses a couple of large tents, but they are not necessarily used to shelter the homeless.
While one is outfitted with bunk beds, the other is used as a chapel.
“I know location is important and I know that some people feel that dumping individuals in this particular part of the community is not the answer. That’s not what I’m proposing,” Dyer said. “What I am proposing is we implement navigation centers and bridge housing so that we can reach our homeless.”
There are about 2,500 homeless people in Fresno and Madera counties, and the bulk of them are in the city of Fresno, according to the latest annual tally from the Continuum of Care.
The navigation centers could hold 50 to 100 people for stays of 90 to 120 days, Dyer said, and would have amenities like laundry rooms and restrooms.
People would be able to come whether they have an addiction, mental health problems or wanted to bring a pet — all of which can be barriers at some shelters.
“This seems to be a logical place for that,” Dyer said, standing across G Street from the Rescue Mission.
Business owners
All five of Fresno County’s shelters are in District 3, as are nonprofits that provide food, shelter and other services, like the Poverello House, Fresno Rescue Mission, Naomi’s House and others.
South Fresno advocate Bob Mitchell said that section of the city has done its part to help those in need, and it’s time for another area of town to help out.
“(Dyer’s plan) is totally disingenuous,” he said. “We have the burden of the homeless community in our community — totally. Totally.”
Concentrating more homeless services in south Fresno is a disservice to businesses trying to operate in Chinatown, according to Morgan Doizaki, owner of Central Fish Company, which is about a half-mile north of the Rescue Mission. He said it would continue Fresno’s “tale of two cities,” a reference to the divide between the affluent northern part of town and the often underprivileged south.
“If you look at what we need, this is going backwards,” he said. “Places like Chinatown need help.”
Other Fresno business owners sided with Dyer’s plan, saying they wanted to see a centralized place for the homeless. Chris Salazar said he’s dealt with fires and routinely has problems with homeless people at his business, Sam’s Mail Call, near Shaw and Blackstone avenues.
“Today, there was a tent behind one of the buildings,” he said. “I had to pick up a young man, during business hours, passed out in front of the building.”
“I want my clients to feel safe,” he added.
People in encampments or abandoned buildings can also be a safety burden when they try to stay warm, a common cause of fires in Fresno, according to Dean Sanders, president of the Fresno City Fire Fighters union.
Sanders said since the beginning of the year crews have responded to 435 fires — of which 187 were related to homeless people.
Janz responds
Dyer faces a number of candidates for the mayor’s seat, but his most formidable opponent is Andrew Janz, a prosecutor for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office. He issued a statement after Dyer’s Wednesday news conference, saying Dyer lacked political experience.
“Being mayor of this city is not like running the police department where everyone follows orders,” the statement said. “Creating consensus through coalition building is the only way we’re going to get things done.”
Janz said he backs the DRIVE Initiative, a 10-year economic development project focused on the economic future of the region, as the city’s best option to addressing poverty and homelessness.
“Jerry’s mega tent city reminds many voters of Trump’s immigration detention centers and does nothing to address how and why people become homeless in the first place,” he said.
The City Council
All council members and Dyer agree homelessness is at a crisis level in Fresno.
But some elected officials on the council argue his ideas have a low success rate and place too great a burden on the neighborhoods near the Rescue Mission.
For example, Soria, who sits on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s homeless task force, said Dyer’s plan goes against what city, county and state leaders agree is the “best practice” to use shelters with no more than 50 beds.
“We have demonstrated in the last year that there has been success by using a smaller approach, a triage approach,” she said. “What is missing from the conversation is a plan to build more housing in our community, more affordable housing. We can’t warehouse ourselves out of this problem.”
Both Soria and Esparza said Dyer’s plan does not live up to his campaign slogan, “One Fresno,” because the northern part of town does not share in the burden.
“Our neighborhoods of south Fresno will not become the skid row of Fresno,” Esparza said. “This is a burden across the city, and if we can’t have a shared burden in Fresno then how can we begin to have a conversation about shared prosperity.”
Dyer said he believes the council members’ comments on his plan are “misrepresentations, or at least misunderstandings.” He said he has no intention to put his homeless tent plan in writing because he wants it to stay fluid.
Arias said the proposal would be unfeasible. He also pledged $20,000 on Wednesday to the “Rising Together, No on Dyer for Mayor 2020.”
“If his plan has merit, then build it in his Copper River neighborhood,” Arias said, referring to the north Fresno area where Dyer lives.
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 5:19 PM.
