65 CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT RECEIVED APR 12 2019 CITY CLERK CITY OF CHICO April 11, 2019 Chico City Council 411 Main Street Chico, CA 95928 Honorable Members of the City Council: I have watched with great interest the discussions that have taken place in the community regarding the need for additional beds that will provide support to those who are experiencing homelessness in our community. Chico State strongly supports the efforts of agencies that dedicate themselves to the service of the vulnerable members of our society. The University affirms the tireless efforts of groups like the _]esus Center, Safe Space Winter Shelter, and others working to provide housing, education, and jobs. Chico State, as an institution with a mission to promote lifelong learning and civic engagement, looks forward to connecting students with the service opportunities a new shelter can provide. The shelter is likely to function as a living laboratory for our students in social sciences, whose futures will be defined by their commitment to addressing society?s most tenacious challenges. \?C?ith all of the reasons we have to support the creation of an additional shelter in Chico, we strongly urge the City Council to find an alternate location to the one under current consideration on West Fourth and Orange Street. Our first commitment to the students who attend our University and to our faculty and staff is to provide a saf environment that fosters learning and growth. .-\lthough our students are young adults, for many their initial years on our campus are the first ones lived many miles away from home. To bring a vulnerable population such as those who will be the primary clients of the low barrier shelter into close proximity to student housing and other campus facilities is to introduce an element over which both our campus and our city can exercise limited control. Our concerns should not be misconstrued into ones which disparage a population as criminals or predators simply because of their housing status. This would be antithetical to our institutional values in addition to being a gross oversimplification. However, it is the very nature of a low barrier shelter that creates our greatest concern. Chico State administration wants to reiterate our acknowledgment of the great need for such a shelter. Our students and campus organizations have a long history of volunteering with services in DATE AGENDA ADD INFO CM ,Jr_ m1] 400 FIRST STREET CHICO. CALIFORNIA 93939?0130 rostrum 65 CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT this community that work to address homelessness, including the?lesus Center, Torres Shelter, and others, and undoubtedly will extend our civic engagement to a new shelter. However, we would urge the city council and the organizations who will operate the shelter to identify alternate locations. Sincerely, at Hutchinson President Cc: Mark Orme, City Manager 400 FIRST STRFET I CHICO, CALIFORNIA 95929?0150 (such in). edw?prs rostrum