After two stabbings by homeless men, an outraged community rallies to do something about homelessness.

Salinas resident Pete Andresen is a retired Marine officer and self-identified conservative who runs an investment advisory firm in Oldtown Salinas. He says he doesn’t mind the idea of a homeless shelter in his neighborhood – he knows people need a safe place to stay at night, and services to help raise them out of homelessness.

What he does mind: Finding human waste on his front porch. Or drug needles in his yard. Or people loitering on his property who become threatening when they’re asked to move on.

“I feel very strongly that there is a place in our community for our neighbors who are housing deprived,” Andresen says. “But the bigger issues have yet to be tackled, like how do we recriminalize petty crime and how do we get the mentally ill off the streets even if they want to be there? It’s tough work that goes beyond virtue signaling.”

Andresen made some of his comments at an unusual public meeting that took place the evening of Jan. 10 at the Salinas YMCA. Organized by City Councilmember Steve McShane, the goal was to gather people together to discuss neighborhood safety, specifically in the neighborhood surrounding the First United Methodist Church, which serves meals to the impoverished and homeless seven days a week, and provides other services, including a mobile health clinic.

The meeting came about two months after Mariana Jurado, a 26-year-old pregnant woman, was stabbed to death as she left her Clay Street apartment to go to work. A homeless man with a history of mental illness has been charged in her killing. In a second incident, a homeless man stabbed another while down the street from the church; the victim survived and the alleged attacker was arrested later that day. Jurado’s alleged killer did not use the church’s services, although the alleged attacker in the second stabbing had.

About 300 attendees gathered at individual tables, and, aided by facilitators, ranked the problems they have faced in dealing with the homeless.

The number-one issue, according to McShane, is safety of residents and employees of businesses in the neighborhood. Also listed as top concerns: mental health outreach; addiction counseling and treatment; public toilets and shower facilities; a safe place for homeless to be during the day until shelters open for the night.

As a next step, McShane says, the city has contracted with nonprofit mental health services provider Interim to fund a social worker who will be on the streets, with a formerly homeless person, to help people access services. The city also will fund additional private security patrols.

Elliott Robinson, the county’s former director of social services who is now interim director of the Coalition of Homeless Service Providers, acted as a facilitator. In remarks to the audience, he said homelessness isn’t just a crisis for Salinas, but the entire state. About 80 percent of the homeless in Monterey County are from within the community, and the fastest-growing population among homeless are adults over the age of 55.

“Homelessness is the issue everyone wants something done with,” Robinson said, “they just want it done somewhere else.”