ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - As the city moves forward with siting and construction of a new homeless shelter, the existing facility continues to do good work providing services for those seeking assistance while also keeping crime down and the city a bit cleaner.

At its final meeting of the year, Dec. 10, council received a report on operations of the shelter in 2025. The shelter, which opened in November 2024, is a partnership between four organizations: The Gathering Inn (TGI), Turning Point, Elk Grove HART (Homeless Assistance Resource Team) and the Elk Grove Food Bank, along with nonprofit and faith-based organizations that provide periodic dinners and donations.

Located in Calvary Christian Center at East Stockton Boulevard and Banff Vista Drive, the shelter can serve up to 30 adults per night, with five emergency beds available for use by the Elk Grove Police Department. Operated by TGI, the shelter is available by referral only and allows guests to bring their pets along with a reasonable number of belongings.

In her report to council, Elk Grove Housing and Public Services Manager Sarah Bontrager said 93 adults stayed at least one night at the shelter in 2025, with an average nightly enrollment of 24. This figure equates to 9,396 bed nights provided to date.

The shelter offers not only a place to sleep but three meals a day plus snacks along with restrooms, showers and laundry facilities. It provides services for individuals such as connections to behavior health counseling through Turning Point, employment assistance, transportation to appointments, and moving assistance such as deposit help and furniture through Elk Grove HART.

Shelter guests ranged in age from 19 to 74, and included 64 men, 28 women and one binary individual, with three individuals being military veterans. More than half had some disability, with 23% having a chronic health condition. All guests reported living outdoors or in vehicles, with 51% unhoused for a year or more.

Bontrager detailed a number of program successes, beginning with 14 individuals moving into permanent housing at either affordable housing complexes, room rentals, family and friends or market-rate housing. Fifty-four percent of guests were referred to behavioral health services and 25% were successfully linked to health care providers.

“Many think the homeless are unemployed,” Bontrager said. “We saw seven people come into the shelter with jobs.”

Additionally, 12 people found new or better employment while at the shelter, she added.

Elk Grove Police Department Sgt. Josh Magdaleno said the shelter gives officers a “real option” for helping individuals they encounter who have no place to go. Department officers utilized 25 emergency beds this past year, with 8 to 10 individuals slated to go to transitional or permanent housing.

Magdaleno said the “most dramatic statistic” is a 65% decline in the use of homeless encampments in the city this past year. That has led to a “significant decrease” in debris removed during the city’s bi-weekly homeless encampment trash cleanups, amounting to a reduction in waste of over 40,000 pounds.

“It’s helped reduce the encampments and given officers an effective, compassionate option,” Magdaleno said.

 

Elk Grove’s current homeless shelter, operated through a lease with Calvary Christian Center, has 30 spaces for adults per night, with five emergency beds available to law enforcement. Photo courtesy of the City of Elk Grove

Magdaleno added there has been a 9.1% increase in reported crime activity in a 0.3-mile radius of the shelter, with a 115% increase in suspicious trespass calls mainly from businesses south of the shelter such as Walmart and the Elk Grove Village shopping center.

“The key takeaway here is the shelter is not creating a crime burden,” he added.

Bontrager said they have taken measures to eliminate any neighborhood impacts from the shelter. Police and staff make frequent neighborhood patrols, and the shelter recently hired a new manager.

“We’re receiving relatively few neighborhood complaints,” she added.

Elk Grove HART co-founders Frank Lucia and Debbie Schoeneshoefer wrapped up the presentation, sharing photos and stories about shelter client successes. Schoeneshoefer reminded people of the importance of the shelter, particularly as the weather gets colder, noting hypothermia claimed the lives of several individuals living on the streets in Sacramento this year.

“It has been a place to escape the elements, especially on cold nights like tonight,” Schoeneshoefer said.

Council members expressed appreciation for city and shelter staff work as well as law enforcement in helping unhoused people in the community. Councilman Darren Suen praised the efforts in not only providing a roof over individuals’ heads and meals but also for establishing dignity and providing the opportunity for people to improve their lives.

Councilman Kevin Spease said the issue of homelessness is personal to him because he has a family member who has been homeless for the past eight years. Spease acknowledged it can be difficult for people to ask for help, and he expressed gratitude not only to shelter and city staff but the public at large for being willing to step up and find ways to help the homeless, including passage of the “Safety & Quality of Life” tax initiative (Measure E) by voters in November 2022.

“Those tax dollars have been very helpful in moving the needle as discussed today,” Spease said. “We can’t solve the problem, but we can manage the problem, and we are managing that very, very well.

“We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper, period. Full stop,” Councilman Rob Brewer reminded everyone. “And we need to do everything we can to take care of our fellow man because that is the right thing to do.”