Merced County outlines $3.2 million plan to address Atwater encampments

Merced County Deputy Director John Czechley told the Atwater City Council that the county’s Continuum of Care (CoC) has been awarded $3.2 million to resolve encampments in the city of Atwater.

The funding, Czechley said, is part of a broader encampment-resolution grant and was targeted to Atwater because the city had among the highest unsheltered counts in the county’s 2024 point‑in‑time data. "We were awarded $3.2 million for individuals residing in encampments," Czechley said, and emphasized the grant’s focus on rapid engagement, interim shelter and a clear pathway to permanent housing.

Why it matters: the CoC award is a time-limited, high-dollar initiative intended to move people living in public encampments into emergency or interim shelter and then to permanent housing. Czechley described the program as a mix of street outreach, motel or bridge-home interim shelter, rental assistance sized to fair-market rents, and case management tied to homeless‑management information systems.

Czechley said the grant is a four‑year program with an expenditure deadline in mid‑2027, but officials expect roughly two years of active operations for the Atwater component. He walked council through the local landscape of shelter and permanent housing beds — including a 76‑bed navigation center planned in Merced, distributed bridge homes, and other projects totaling hundreds of beds in the pipeline — and said the county will contract with a community‑based provider following an RFP currently under review. "Immediately upon execution of contract, we expect street outreach and engagement," he said.

Council questions focused on local oversight and sustainability. Councilmember Kale asked how the city would ensure contractors deliver promised services; Czechley pointed to procurement, performance monitoring and other oversight steps. When asked what happens after the two‑year window, Czechley said state and federal funding streams and local allocations can help sustain successful pilots but acknowledged uncertainty about future funding cycles.

What comes next: county staff said they hope to begin implementation around July 1 if contracting and procurement proceed on the current schedule; council and city staff were asked to continue coordination on locating encampments, sharing data, and streamlining referrals to the chosen service provider.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A with John Czechley, Merced County deputy director of the Human Services Agency, during the May 12 Atwater City Council meeting.