Lodi Committee on Homelessness — September 10, 2026

Lodi
Written By Don Bradford
Lodi Committee on Homelessness — September 10, 2026 Agenda Summary

Lodi Committee on Homelessness — September 10, 2026

Thursday, September 10, 2026 · 2:30 p.m.

LPD Community Room, Lodi Police Department, 215 W Elm St, Lodi, CA 95240

Monthly service-provider and subcommittee meeting · In-person

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Summary

The September 10, 2026 Lodi Committee on Homelessness (LCOH) meeting runs the standard monthly service-provider and subcommittee round — with three items that make it worth attending in person. The Community Engagement & Public Relations subcommittee is bringing an LCOH website proposal up for discussion and approval. A roundtable with Rep. Josh Harder is added under Item V, paired with a proposal to move the meeting to October 15, 2026. And a Temporary Pet Fostering Project update now appears as its own agenda item.

The packet's system-wide summary of 16 secured jobs, 21 program transitions, and 43 housing transitions in August (90 / 134 / 255 year-to-date) is labeled DRAFT-Only because HMIS client-ID de-duplication across providers is not yet complete. For August, only Lodi Access Center and Family Promise submitted client IDs — and no duplicates were found between them, the first tangible progress on the reconciliation problem the Data subcommittee has been working since July.

Underneath the routine numbers, Lodi Access Center posted its highest 20-month client volume, Hope Harbor's family shelter reported zero new family intakes because units are full, and AHLM's housing supports is not currently accepting new referrals. The City's application for CalTrans Encampment Recovery Funds — filed to help fund LAC for one year — is the funding thread most likely to resurface in the staff update.

Agenda at a Glance

# Item Notes
I Welcome and Introductions Standing item
II Notes From August Meeting Approval of Aug. 13, 2026 minutes
III.1 Service Provider reports LAC, Hope Harbor/Salvation Army, Lodi House, AHLM, Agape Love, LPD Liaison
III.2 Subcommittee reports Data & Metric Analysis; Community Engagement & PR (incl. website vote); SJCoC; Lodi City Council
IV Update From City Staff Reimagined Housing, CalTrans Encampment Recovery grant
V Roundtable with Rep. Harder Includes proposed date change to Oct. 15
VI Temporary Pet Fostering Project New standing update
VII Action Items Carried from August
VIII Non-Agenda Items None pre-published
IX Public Comment Standing item
X Next Meeting Proposed Oct. 15, 2026, LPD Community Room

System-Wide Summary — August 2026 (DRAFT)

The packet aggregates outcomes across five reporting providers. The report is labeled DRAFT-Only because final employment, program-transition, and housing-transition statistics cannot be fully verified without a monthly evaluation of duplicate HMIS client IDs across reporting categories. For August 2026, Lodi Access Center and Family Promise both submitted client IDs, and no duplicate reporting was present between those two organizations.

Outcome LAC SA / Hope Harbor AHLM Family Promise Lodi House Aug total 2026 YTD
Secured Employment 9 4 2 N/A 1 16 90
Transition to Programs 5 16 0 N/A 0 21 134
Transition to Housing 10 10 5 18 0 43 255

Source: LCOH August 2026 Subcommittee and Service Provider Reports (DRAFT summary table).

Reader note. Because per-agency counts include some crossover clients (a single individual can appear in LAC intake, Hope Harbor overnight, and Family Promise diversion), summing these columns overstates the number of distinct people served until HMIS de-duplication is complete. The subcommittee's stated fallback is a consolidated report from HMIS manager John Mendehlsson.

Service Provider Reports (August 2026)

a. Lodi Access Center — submitted by Johnny Coughran

The LAC report is the packet's most detailed, with roughly 40 tracked metrics grouped into eight service categories. Key August 2026 counts:

Category Metric August 2026
Employment Total Employed 9
Services Overnight Services 1,263
Services Day Use Services 2,540
Services Breakfast · Lunch · Total Meals 1,125 · 1,442 · 2,567
Services Showers 1,541
Transportation Transports · Transport Clients 124 · 54
Transportation Non-Emergency Transports (NET) · Est. NET Savings 8 · $24,000
Transitions To Housing (Overnight · Day Use) 6 · 4
Transitions To Programs (Overnight · Day Use) 5 · 0
Transitions Clients enrolled for Support 8
Transitions Transition to Housing (total) 10
Transitions Transition to Programs (total) 5
Case Management # of Services Provided 128
Case Management Housing Navigation Assistance 31
Case Management ID Assistance 14
Case Management Clients Provided Transportation 54
Case Management Income Benefit Clients 0
Ambassador / LPD / ESR Safety · LPD · ESR 0 · 1 · 14
Overnight Shelter Total Clients · New · Re-Entry 87 · 18 · 15
Day Use Shelter Total Clients · New · Re-Entry 221 · 42 · 22
Client Contributions Clients · Occurrences 15 · 40

Case management breakdown

The 128 case-management services in August were composed of: General assistance (6), VA referral (5), mental-health services and referral (18), medical/dental referral (2), substance-abuse services and referral (12), and referral to SJ Cares (2), with the remaining case-management activity captured in the individual client-service categories above.

Client age demographics (324 clients total)

Age band Clients
Under 5 5
5–12 9
13–17 2
18–24 12
25–34 42
35–44 81
45–54 65
55–61 61
Over 61 47

Length of stay and successful exit rates

Measure National SJC LAC (ES) LAC (Day Use)
Avg. length of stay (days) 166 68 15 12
Avg. successful ES exit rate 32.4% 9.2% 12.6% 1.8%

Outreach (OMI-run)

112 unsheltered individuals were engaged 164 times — 40 newly enrolled in OMI outreach, 23 re-enrolled, 49 continuously engaged, 10 counseled for mental-health issues, 7 referred to Behavioral Health Services. 67% of clients currently enrolled in outreach are experiencing chronic homelessness.

Barriers

  • Men's overnight waitlist: 14 individuals turned away
  • Women's overnight waitlist: 16 individuals turned away
  • 4 individuals were not ambulatory and were referred to St. Mary's recuperative care
Success story. Two LAC case managers accompanied a client with a long history of charges connected to homelessness and addiction to court and advocated for the progress he had made. His outstanding charges were dismissed, and he has now been approved for housing through the BHS Bridge Program.

LAC total clients — trend, Jan 2025 to Aug 2026

Day-use plus overnight clients per month. August 2026 (Day 221 + Overnight 87 = 308) is the highest point in the 20-month series.

LAC transitions and cumulative savings vs. SJC per-client cost

From January 2025 through August 2026, LAC transitioned 249 clients at an efficiency (savings) of approximately $1.8 million relative to comparable SJC per-client cost, per the packet's LAC chart notes.

b. Hope Harbor Lodi Corps / Salvation Army Family Services Center — submitted by John Narvaez

Anonymous Assists

Metric August 2026
Walk-In Dinners 2,579
Walk-In Showers / Hygiene Kits Provided 269
Articles of Clothing 428
# of People Receiving Clothing 97
Loads of Laundry Done for LAC 246
People treated/seen by Community Medical Center 66

Program Statistics

Metric August 2026
Alcohol & Drug Treatment (New Clients) 11
Transported to ARC (6-Month Residential Treatment) 5
ARC Graduates into Transitional Support Team 4
Gained Full-Time Employment 4
New Families entered as guests into HH 0 (Full)
Overnight Guests granted extensions 8
Clients Assisted with Moving into Permanent Housing 5
Guests Provided with Transportation Services 19

Barrier: Family units are still full, and Hope Harbor is having to turn a lot of families in need away. The August minutes recorded a 200% increase in families over the prior two months — Hope Harbor is mostly geared to single clients, and the opening of the new access center is expected to take pressure off Hope Harbor.

Success stories.
  • An overnight guest gained full-time employment at the bowling alley; Salvation Army took him to Walmart to buy the non-slip shoes required to start the job.
  • Four individuals were brought into the Transitional Living Hand-Up Program — two from Hope Harbor overnight guests, two priced out of the rental market by a dramatic rent increase.
  • Collaborated with LAC to get three individuals off the streets and clean enough to enter the pre-program.
  • Handed out 5 bus passes and provided 19 guests with transportation to personal appointments.
  • One female client entered pre-program but was on SSDI (making her ARC-ineligible), so Jennifer called the Gospel Center Rescue Mission and placed her in their Treatment Program.

c. Family Promise — submitted by Kayla Thompson Powell

Shelter Program Shelter Diversion Eviction Program
Families 2 5 4
Individuals 10 18 12
Transition to Housing 0 18 combined (per packet total)
Meals 780 n/a n/a
Program totals 792 23 16

Barriers to entry. Family Promise's program requirements — a drug- and alcohol-free environment, a background check with no history of violent crimes, no pets in the shelter program, and at least one child under the age of 18 in current custody — can limit the households the program can accept. No August commentary was submitted.

Family Promise — cumulative housing transitions

205 cumulative housing transitions through August 2026 (≈10 clients per month); strongest recent months were June (28) and July (26) of 2026.

d. Lodi House — submitted by Roya Main

Shelter Program (4–6 mo., private rooms, max 5) Transitional Program (up to 2 yr, apartments, max 10)
Moms 3 5
Kids 11 12
Ineligible Applicants 5 0
Waitlist / Vacant 0 waitlist 5 vacant apartments
Counseling Hours 8 0

Outcomes: Secured Employment 1 · Transition to Programs 0 · Transition to Housing 0.

  • Shelter Program: one mom obtained full-time work and started August 26; one applicant no-showed her interview; one applicant has chronic health conditions preventing work; three applicants are active marijuana users and will reapply after passing drug screening.
  • Transitional Program: all residents are maintaining full-time employment.
  • Barriers to entry: unable or unwilling to work at least 32 hours per week (1); no-show to program interview (1); active drug use at time of application (3).

e. Agape Love — submitted by Darren Schlack

Weekly meal-service counts across a 5-week August.

Metric W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 Total
1st Plates 114 118 138 135 135 640
2nd Plates 16 35 15 15 25 106
Access Center To-Go 0 0 100 25 12 137
Food Boxes 0 2 2 0 1 5
Meals On-Site 130 153 153 150 160 746

No August commentary from Agape Love. (The August 13 minutes carried a correction that the July Agape total was 589 — noted here as historical context, not an August figure.)

f. Adventist Health Lodi Memorial (AHLM) Housing Supports

Prose report, no metric table. Key figures:

  • 54 individuals currently enrolled in Housing Trio services — Housing Transition and Navigation Services (HTNS), Housing Deposits (HD), and Housing Tenancy and Sustaining Services (HTSS). Of these, 39 receive HTNS and 15 receive HTSS.
  • 5 individuals housed in August; they begin HTSS in September.
  • 6 move-ins in August (transition into permanent housing such as an apartment — rehab entries are excluded).
    • 1 approved for security deposit and 6 months of rental assistance through HousingWORKS.
    • 1 applied a Housing Authority of the County of San Joaquin (HACSJ) voucher to new housing.
  • Income outcomes: 2 participants obtained full-time employment; 1 applied for SSDI and SSI.
  • AHLM housing supports is not currently accepting new referrals.

f. LPD Liaison Officer

The packet's contents section does not include a written LPD Liaison report; LPD activity is charted at the back of the packet and the substantive update carried from the August 13 minutes reads:

  • LPD is doing increased vehicle-code enforcement and more vehicle towing after warning and a 10-day waiting period.
  • The City pays towing companies $1,300 per vehicle against a $20,000 annual budget; one tow tends to prompt others to leave voluntarily.
  • The number of RVs has decreased from 30 to 11.

The packet's LPD abatement-postings chart shows a sharp uptick in vehicles towed in July 2026, matching the enforcement push described in the minutes.

Plain-language glossary

Term What it means
HMIS Homeless Management Information System — the federally required client-level database every HUD/CoC-funded provider uses; it is what makes cross-agency de-duplication possible.
CoC / SJCoC Continuum of Care — San Joaquin's federally recognized homelessness planning body that governs HUD funding and coordinated entry countywide.
BHS Bridge Program San Joaquin County Behavioral Health Services' housing bridge for behavioral-health-eligible clients.
HTNS / HD / HTSS Medi-Cal CalAIM Community Supports paid under managed care: navigation into housing (HTNS), one-time move-in deposits (HD), and ongoing tenancy sustaining (HTSS).
ARC Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center — a 6-month residential recovery program.
HousingWORKS The Housing Authority of the County of San Joaquin's rental-assistance and voucher administration arm.
OMI Outreach Ministries International — the operator of the current LAC temporary shelter.
ESR Environmental Services Requests — LAC's route for site-cleanup dispatch.
NET Non-Emergency Transports — rides in place of ambulances for non-medical needs; each avoids an estimated $3,000 ambulance cost.

Subcommittee Reports

a. Data Enhancement & Metric Analysis

The subcommittee's continuing work — close the HMIS duplicate-client-ID gap so the system-wide summary can leave DRAFT status. August's meeting flagged this as the barrier to a credible cross-agency total. This month's packet is the first cycle in which at least two providers (LAC, Family Promise) submitted client IDs and were confirmed non-duplicative. The subcommittee's stated fallback path is to obtain a consolidated report from HMIS manager John Mendehlsson.

b. Community Engagement & Public Relations

Merger status. The former Community Engagement and Communications & Public Relations subcommittees were merged by consensus in August into Community Engagement & Public Relations. The subcommittee now meets on the last Tuesday of every month at 9:30 a.m. at the Ham Lane Church of Christ.

August work delivered

  • Finalized the LCOH PowerPoint presentation with new graphics and a new "collaboration page" leave-behind; LCOH-centric edits corrected the earlier LAC overemphasis flagged in the July meeting.
  • Started work on updating and revising the "Homeless Resource" brochure.
  • Brainstormed 2027 community events at which the subcommittee would host an LCOH information booth.
  • Presentations to City Council and the Lodi Improvement Committee are being scheduled through Kari Chadwick (City of Lodi).
  • The August motion connecting the LCOH Facebook page to the LCOH email was approved.

Item III.2.b.1 — LCOH Website; Discussion & Approval (September vote)

The subcommittee is recommending the full committee approve building a dedicated LCOH website, with the following rationale:

  1. Create an LCOH identity as a community-led committee, separate from the City of Lodi website.
  2. Post a digitized version of the "Homeless Resource" brochure so it stays current.
  3. Post agendas, minutes, and information about monthly LCOH meetings.
  4. Highlight all organizations that collaborate with LCOH.
  5. Post news and developments that pertain to the LCOH mission.

LCOH Facebook — 28-day snapshot

Metric Value Change
Followers 612 +1%
Views 4,784 +82%
Engagements 219 +70%

Followers rose from ~215 (Jan 2025) to 612 (Aug 2026); monthly views recovered to ~4,800 in August after a mid-summer dip.

Facebook post spotlight (36 posts in August 2026)

Salvation Army; Grace and Mercy Charitable Foundation; Showered With Love Mobile Showers; Clothed in Dignity; Bread of Life; San Joaquin County (SJCHSA food distribution — 3 posts); Lodi Wellness Center; United Way of SJC (Grit Series); Delta Health Care (Mobile Farmer's Market); Lodi Access Center; LCOH monthly meeting; Community Medical Centers (Medi-Cal renewal); SJC Healthcare Services (Summit); San Joaquin Dental Association (veterans dental clinic); Gravity Church; Office of Supervisor Steve Ding (HUD strategy meeting); Lodi House; Uplift All Foundation; Second Harvest (Mobile Fresh Stops); Second Step Sober Living Homes.

c. SJCoC Meeting

Johnny Coughran will represent Lodi at SJCoC, with the goal of becoming a board member. Chair Hill will attend as needed after David Meyers stepped back due to scheduling. The August minutes also captured a countywide watch item: St. Mary's is asking CoC for a $5M non-compete agreement over two years and the City of Stockton for $10M over two years, on the strength of its 628 beds.

d. Lodi City Council — submitted by Lisa Meyers Hill

The written report states: "Nothing of relevance to the LCOH was discussed at the Regular Meetings of the City Council for the month of August."

September context: the September 2, 2026 Council packet does carry LCOH-relevant material — most notably the FY2024-25 CAPER, which recorded Hope Harbor Shelter Operations at 98% of its 450-person goal ($17,500 CDBG) and Hope Harbor Security Upgrades at 0% of goal ($17,000), and reiterated the Access Center's December 2026 opening target with 100 beds (200 in emergency conditions). That falls outside the August reporting window and will most likely surface in the October Council report.

IV. Update From City Staff

The August update from City staff set the September baseline:

  • Reimagined Housing begins housing clients in September after finalizing safety procedures. Client interviews are in progress and some clients will reside in hotels during the waiting period. All referrals will be connected to BHS.
  • The City of Lodi has applied for Encampment Recovery Funds — a CalTrans grant — to help fund the LAC for one year.

Both threads will most likely receive September updates: Reimagined Housing intake progress, and any news on the CalTrans Encampment Resolution Fund application. The FY2024–25 CAPER referenced in the September 2 Council packet independently confirms the December 2026 permanent Access Center target and provides the funding backdrop for the CalTrans ask.

V. Roundtable Discussion With Rep. Harder

New item this month. Rep. Josh Harder (CA-9) represents Lodi; the packet flags a proposed change to move the September meeting to October 15 so it can align with the roundtable. If the committee approves the move under Item X, October 15 becomes the next full meeting and September's business — including the website vote — either happens today or is carried to October 15.

VI. Temporary Pet Fostering Project Update

A newly named standing item. Context from prior meetings and provider reports:

  • Family Promise's shelter program cannot accept pets — one of Family Promise's four core barriers to entry (drug/alcohol-free program, background check with no violent-crime history, no pets, custody of a child under 18).
  • Pet ownership has been flagged in prior LCOH discussion as a barrier keeping unsheltered individuals from accepting overnight beds across providers.

The packet does not include a written report for the fostering project, so the update will be delivered verbally.

VII. Action Items (carried from August)

  • David Meyers will work on a more accurate system-wide summary report.
  • Johnny Coughran's suggestion that reports be submitted with HMIS ID numbers rather than names is being piloted (LAC and Family Promise submitted for August; no duplicates between the two).

VIII. Non-Agenda Items

None pre-published in the packet for September. (August's non-agenda item was the Lodi Women's Club Laura DeForce Gordon Day on August 15, 2026.)

Cross-Reference: Prior LCOH Meeting (August 13, 2026)

  • LAC day-client and overnight numbers were already climbing — Director Coughran attributed it to better LAC/SJCARES outreach and RV abatement, with overnight clients tripling from June to July and case-management and day-client counts nearly doubling. August's LAC totals extend that trend (Day Use 221, Overnight 87).
  • Hope Harbor family intake pressure (200% increase over two months) drove the August "0 (Full)" family-intake number that carried into September.
  • Adult Literacy Program Development: Library Trustee Christopher Anderson shared plans to set up a GED and literacy program for the homeless community, seeking volunteers; the Gospel Missions Center already runs a similar program.
  • CMC Representation: Chair Hill agreed to ask Community Medical Centers to send a representative to LCOH meetings — relevant because Hope Harbor's report shows 66 people treated or seen by CMC at its facility in August.

What to Watch on September 10

  1. Website vote (III.2.b.1) — the first standalone LCOH digital identity, separate from the City site.
  2. Whether the meeting moves to October 15 to align with the Harder roundtable.
  3. HMIS de-duplication progress — whether more than two providers submitted client IDs for the September cycle.
  4. CalTrans Encampment Recovery Funds — any update on the City's application to fund LAC operations for a year.
  5. Reimagined Housing — first intake since finalizing safety procedures.
  6. Hope Harbor family capacity — whether the "0 (Full)" family intake persists.
  7. Access Center December 2026 opening — the target referenced in the September 2 Council CAPER; any construction, staffing, or funding updates as the date approaches.

References

Prepared by LodiEye, the analytical reporting surface for Lodi411. Directed and fact-checked by Don Bradford. Figures reflect the LCOH August 2026 reports as submitted; the packet's system-wide summary is marked DRAFT pending HMIS de-duplication across agencies.

Don Bradford
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