This story has been updated to say the city of Yreka plans to rent out its vacant property on Foothill Drive to Siskiyou County for $1 a year.
Siskiyou County is about to open its first year-round shelter for homeless people, where the adults staying there can also receive treatment for drug and alcohol addiction and any mental health challenges they face.
The new $2 million shelter — to be located at 1200 South Main Street, next to Siskiyou County Social Services — could open by the end of June, according to North Valley Catholic Social Services, the shelter's nonprofit operator.
The 32-bed shelter, named Yreka Basecamp, will accept adults only. People staying at the facility can also bring their pets.
Said NVCSS Marketing Manager Heidi Rene, the new shelter's policy will be “come as you are.”
The shelter's building had housed the city's Goodwill training center. It now just awaits plumbing, showers and some concrete work, said Tara Kilcollins, Yreka Basecamp’s program manager. “I have all my staffing done. We’re just waiting for the building to be done," Kilcollins said.
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Kilcollins said homeless people who live on the city greenway behind the nearly-complete shelter building are already helping out by watering houseplants and other tasks on the site. They're also asking if they can pick out their spot in the bunk room once it opens, said Kilcollins.
In addition to the shelter, Rene said Yreka Basecamp will be the new location for NVCSS’ Six Stones Wellness Center that will move there from its current location on North Main Street.
While shelter guests don't need to participate in the Six Stones program as a condition of staying for the night, the center will offer 12-step and peer-to-peer group support. Staff at the shelter will be able to connect people needing addiction, mental health or other medical issues to services that can help them, according to Kilcollins.
"We don't have a plan to have a stay limit. We're not focused on the number of people we serve buy how well we serve them," she said.
Gardens, chickens planned for pet-friendly homeless shelter
The 7,000-square-foot facility will have a 26-bed co-ed bunk room for men and women. "We have a night monitor who'll be in that co-ed bunk room the entire night," Kilcollins said. There's also smaller room just for six women.
The shelter also has lockups for guests’ belongings and an outdoor garden and indoor hydroponics area to grow vegetables, she said.
People staying at the shelter can help care for the shelter’s six chickens, said Kilcollins, who hopes people will find comfort looking after animals and growing food.
Welcoming people's dogs to Yreka Basecamp ― something not all shelters do ― is also a way to help people deal with the trauma of mental illness and homelessness, according to psychologists and veterinarians.
As much as a quarter of the U.S. homeless population owns a pet, one they usually feed before they feed themselves, according to Psychology Today columnist and veterinarian Sarah Hoggan. Those pets provide unconditional love to owners who often are marginalized by other people, Hoggan said.
There's an indoor and an outdoor kennel, but dogs can sleep with their owners. As of May, there's no limit to how many dogs guests can bring, "as long as they're well behaved. If there's a situation that gets out of hand, we'll revisit that," Kilcollins said.
Nonprofit foots bill for homeless shelter
Yreka Basecamp will be Siskiyou County’s first permanent homeless shelter, according to Kilcollins. A year-round shelter for families without a permanent place to stay is also in the works for Yreka.
Along with Siskiyou County, some organizations including Christian non-profit Beacon of Hope open temporary winter shelters some seasons, said Kilcollins. Once both places are open, staffs can refer guests they don’t usually serve to the other facility, she said.
Kilcollins said she drew up the plan for the new shelter while working as a project coordinator and grant writer for Siskiyou County Behavioral Health. She wrote up her “dream plan” never suspecting the state would cover the entire construction and operation cost through 2026: Slightly more than $2 million.
She got her wish in the form of grant money from Proposition 47, which is allocated to programs that help keep people out of prison for non-violent crimes, including illegal drug use.
NVCSS offered to supervise the building and operate and staff the shelter with four full-time workers and one part-time employee.
Yreka Basecamp will also fill five volunteer positions during two shifts per day: 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Kilcollins said every shift will include at least one paid employee. She quit her job with the county to take a position as the NVCSS Yreka Basecamp project manager.
While NVCSS holds the license and will oversee the shelter's day-to-day workings, Siskiyou County reports to the California State Board of Community Corrections about the shelter's work, Kilcollins said.
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Pressing need for year-round homeless shelter
With Siskiyou County's homeless numbers rising, there’s a dire need for a year-round shelter, according to Kilcollins and Rene.
The 2023 Point in Time homeless census reported 507 people living on Siskiyou County’s streets and in temporary housing on any given night, up from 321 people in 2022, according to the census.
But Kilcollins said she thinks the annual study underestimates the size of Siskiyou’s homeless population, many of whom live scattered throughout the rural county.
“The snapshot is done during the coldest time of the year” ― January, she said. Homeless people often temporarily bunk with family or friends to avoid bitter cold but by spring, they find themselves back on the streets, said Kilcollins.
Yreka’s homeless population includes people without a permanent place to live who are on probation or parole, people who Kilcollins said will be welcome to stay at Yreka Basecamp.
In his six years on the Yreka City Council, Paul McCoy said he's watched Yreka grapple with the problem of homelessness. Having a permanent shelter in place could make a difference in the lives of the homeless and reduce blight from homeless camps.
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"I'm very delighted we're seeing some positive change," said McCoy, who said he walked the green space behind the shelter to talk with people who are waiting for the complex to open.
Having city and county government that support homeless services is making change possible after years of discussion and planning, McCoy said.
The city has plans to rent out its vacant property on Foothill Drive ― next to Beacon of Hope's planned homeless shelter for families ― to Siskiyou County for $1 a year, Kilcollins said. The county has proposed building temporary housing on the property with an on-site case manager to help homeless people get on their feet, according to McCoy.
Other projects in the works include transitional housing apartments on Sierra Vista Way, near Meek's Lumber and Hardware, McCoy said.
Having a variety of housing options means just about everyone's needs will be addressed. While some homeless people have addiction or serious mental health issues, McCoy emphasized that others just need time to get on their feet and help overcoming barriers to independence including a getting a driver's license, a copy of their birth certificate, or having a permanent address in order to get a job.
For more information on Yreka Basecamp go to nvcss.org/programs/basecamp.
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories.Followher on Twitter @RS_JSkropanicand on Facebook. Join Jessica in theGet Out! Nor Calrecreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: The new homeless shelter in Yreka will offer mental health services
