Students urge greater local shelter access as Needles leaders pursue county homelessness funds

A group of Needles High School students told the Needles City Council that homelessness in San Bernardino County and Needles is being driven by inflation, substance abuse and a shortage of affordable housing, and they urged the city to make food, shelter and services more accessible.

"If we make food and shelter more accessible to California residents, then we will see a significant decrease in the homelessness rates of California, therefore, our town," said Daniella Harder, a senior who spoke for her advisory class during a PowerPoint presentation to the council. Students also recommended work-study programs, better mental health access and converting existing buildings into shelters.

The presentation followed a staff report and an extended city manager update on municipal efforts and county funding. City Manager Rick Daniels told the council the county has committed $72,700,000 to expand shelter capacity and described three preliminary local concepts submitted by nonprofits: adding a modular home near Firehouse Ministries to house up to seven people, converting a Front Street building into a food bank with 20–30 beds (early guesstimate $1,500,000), and repurposing Set Free Church space (approximate estimate $150,000). Daniels said the city will pursue the county grant as a public–private partnership with local nonprofits and work to ensure projects are "shovel ready."

Daniels also reported the county’s regional point-in-time figure and said local counts are small but countywide needs are large; he urged the council to refine nonprofit concepts for grant submission once application rules are released. "We will put those as a submission of a public private partnership with the city and those private nonprofits," Daniels said.

Council members praised the students’ presentation and recommended continued youth engagement. Council member McCorkle said the student presentation was "amazing" and encouraged returning to future meetings. The council also moved in a joint session to adopt job descriptions and authorize recruitment for housing authority positions intended to give the city more capacity to pursue housing opportunities.

What happens next: staff said they will work with local nonprofits to finalize proposals for the county grant and prepare applications when criteria are released, and the council approved recruitment and job descriptions to expand local housing-authority staffing to support those efforts.