Chico State wary of shelter

Chico State’s administration isn’t on board with the proposed location of the Orange Street Shelter, a low-barrier facility proposed by Safe Space Winter Shelter and the Jesus Center in the south campus neighborhood, at 388 Orange St.

President Gayle Hutchinson said as much in a letter addressed to the City Council dated April 11. Among other things, the correspondence said a low-barrier shelter would introduce “an element over which both our campus and our city can exercise limited control.”

Organizers told the CN&R that they had previously had a positive meeting with Chico State representatives, but Hutchinson was not present. Angela McLaughlin, president of Safe Space’s board of directors, said the organizers have a safety plan and Safe Space has “effectively and safely run a low-barrier shelter in a dozen locations per year for the past five years.”