18 Mar Antioch Moves to Do More for Unhoused Residents

The Antioch City Council on March 11 advanced a proposal to create a task force and temporary committee dedicated to homelessness. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

The city of Antioch could soon have two bodies whose sole purpose is to address homelessness and increase services for unhoused residents.

The Antioch City Council on March 11 asked city staff to move forward with a proposal that looks to create a task force and temporary committee on homelessness. 

“This is probably Antioch’s most important subject as far as what we’re doing about our homeless population,” said Mayor Ron Bernal. “I believe this discussion needs to start and needs to start sooner than later and we all need to work together on solutions for Antioch specifically because every community is different.” 

The proposal comes a month after council members allocated over half a million dollars toward a contract with the county to create a city-dedicated Coordinated Outreach Referral Engagement, or CORE, team. The team began services March 1 and is an expansion of a November allocation that began services limited to certain unhoused residents. 

The city, which could see the formal creation of the committee as soon as this month, recorded Contra Costa County’s highest number of unhoused residents last year at 413, according to the annual Point in Time Count.

City Manager Bessie Scott said this is a “devastating social problem that reflects broader systemic failures and social inequalities which diminish us all.” 

The task force is proposed to include nearly 20 members, including county Supervisors Shanelle Scales-Preston and Diane Burgis, someone with lived experience, and a faith leader. The committee would be temporary — typically between six months to one year — and consist of Bernal and Mayor Pro Tem and council member Louie Rocha. 

“I also don’t want to get stuck in a cycle of dialogue with no results,” said council member Tamisha Torres-Walker. She said the committee, which would not be required to abide by the Brown Act, should be open to the public. 

Nichole Gardner, founder of Facing Homelessness in Antioch, asked council members and Scott why homeless encampments have “gotten worse and worse.” 

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that jurisdictions can ban and punish people for sleeping in public places. Gov. Gavin Newsom then ordered them to remove encampments and threatened to withhold funding if jurisdictions failed to comply. Cities across the Bay Area, including Berkeley and Martinez, have since ramped up homeless sweeps or passed stricter encampment ordinances. 

Bernal said March 11 that competing interests like Newsom’s order and Amtrak asking unhoused residents to stay away from the Pittsburg-Antioch Station were important things to discuss during those meetings. 

“The goal of this ad-hoc is to try to sift through the things being required by the different agencies and make sure there’s a clear understanding of the City Council, the community and the folks that are working with the homeless,” he said. 

Gardner suggested that council members Torres-Walker and Monica Wilson sit on one of the bodies because of their experience and work with unhoused advocates.

Following ad-hoc committees on homelessness and transitional housing in Antioch, a 2021 report on policy guidelines on unhoused services asked officials to consider temporary housing, permanent housing resources and immediate public health needs when providing services. 

Advocates and some council members, including Torres-Walker, have also said lack of shelter beds in East County is part of the problem. A 2023 report commissioned by the council backs that claim, finding that “interim housing resources available for unhoused residents is limited.” 

“I’m looking forward to this committee and the results that are going to come back,” said Wilson, who said they needed to “get out of the habit of sweeps.” 

“Noting that it’s not going to happen overnight, but it’s a step in the right direction,” she said.