Marysville homeless shelter could get new life through rescue mission takeover

CBS News

20 hours ago

MARYSVILLE — A decade-old emergency shelter in Marysville is at risk of losing state funding. But instead of shutting it down, a local mission may be its saving grace.
Now, officials are coming up with solutions to combine the shelters.
"Just yesterday, the state kind of had their most updated current budget and the [Homeless, Housing, Assistance and Prevention] program has zero dollars in it, which means that in two years there won't be money coming down," said Johnny Burke, executive director of the Sutter Yuba Homeless Consortium.
Statewide budget cuts are having major impacts on homelessness programs, including the Yuba County-run 14 Forward, a roughly 10-year-old shelter with Tuff Sheds.
"They need renovating. They weren't meant to be permanent shelters, so there's no insulation or sheet rock or electricity or heating or air conditioning," said Aaron Walrath, executive director of Twin Cities Rescue Mission.
After running the numbers, Burke says the county has the funds to run 14 Forward for only a couple more years. But they're coming up with a plan to keep it going, a plan he says he's pleased with.
"They know funding is going to end. We can use it for a couple of years to run it as is, and then there's nothing. Or we can take that money, invest in infrastructure and make it bigger and better than it ever was and allow another agency to come in and run it and do services for decades to come," said Burke.
The Yuba County Board of Supervisors will be voting later this month to give site control of 14 Forward to the neighboring Twin Cities Rescue Mission. From there, existing folks in the shelter will have to leave for renovations.
The county said in a statement to CBS13:
"No participants will be evicted related to this effort; however, we are working with existing participants to secure permanent housing in preparations for the construction to occur. Our goals are to improve conditions and expand operations in the future."
"We're going to consume it as part of the mission, we're going to run it as the mission is run," said Walrath.
The complexity is that the mission is currently a men-only sober-living shelter. At 14 Forward, half the tenants are women and being sober isn't a requirement. But Walrath says he won't just throw people back out onto the street.
"I don't require people to be sober to come in. It's a sober-living facility, but Jesus never said, 'Get cleaned up before you come to me,' " said Walrath.
Walrath says the next step is to build a separate women's shelter on the same lot. He says the temporary loss of 14 Forward will be better for everyone in the long run.
"We may have a different demographic, but what we have is working," said Walrath.
If the board vote goes through, the rescue mission will have site control of 14 Forward beginning July 1. Walrath says he's hoping to start construction for the women's shelter next summer.