Turlock’s We Care Program faces the potential of losing out on nearly $270,000 in state funding if the city council can’t be persuaded to write a letter in support of the homeless shelter and pony up a single dollar bill.

What seemed to be a routine agenda item Tuesday erupted into a 40-minute debate, with the council ultimately tabling the item until its April 8 meeting, when representatives from Stanislaus County’s Board of Supervisors can provide answers to Mayor Amy Bublak’s questions.

Councilmembers Kevin Bixel (District 1) and Cassandra Abram (District 3) proclaimed their support for the item before Bublak interjected.

“I’ll be the problem here,” said Bublak. “It’s not (We Care), it’s the county. The taxpayers of Turlock, California, pay taxes for public safety, for roads, for sewer, for water. The county gets money for health care, mental health, housing issues, all of that. They get it from the state, they get it from the feds. We don’t.”

Bublak concluded by saying she’d vote ‘no’ unless the county addressed “some problems that are existing that they need to help with.”

Abram countered by asking, “What do you want the county to come do? They said that this is the funding source that they have. It’s not even actually county money. It’s money coming from the state from a $75 recording fee on properties that is funneled through the county and through cities like us. So, what else do you want to see?”

Bublak said she’d like the county to help with 24-hour restrooms or a downtown street-cleaning crew.

Abram reminded Bublak that the city discontinued funding for its navigation center, which helped keep unhoused persons off the street during the shelter’s off hours.

An April 28 deadline looms for We Care to apply for the money — which represents about half of its operating budget — or risk losing it.

Bublak insisted that her reservations weren’t a “pissing match” with the county, though others felt otherwise.

“I feel like right now we’ve got a gun to We Care’s head, because we’re in a pissing match with the county,” said Bixel. “And I don’t think that’s fair to the volunteers in our community; I don’t think it’s fair to We Care.”

Two days after the city council meeting, Abram and District 2 Supervisor Vito Chiesa, who represents Turlock, were present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Modesto’s Dignity Village, a 42-unit compound that provides interim housing in small 64-square-foot (8 feet by 8 feet) units, with room enough for a single bed, a small chest of drawers, and shelving.

It’s a project similar to one entertained by the Turlock City Council in 2023, where 40-foot by 8-foot shipping containers would be repurposed into low-income dwellings.

“We are a giving community, and all our hearts beat for each other,” said Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen. “Today, we are reminded that supporting our community gives us strength.”

Part of California’s Behavioral Health Bridge Housing program, Dignity Village is a $3.4 million project funded through a grant awarded to Stanislaus County by the California Department of Health Care Services.

“When people have a roof over their head and a door they can lock, that’s a game changer,” said Dignity Moves founder and CEO Elizabeth Funk.