If you or someone you know is experiencing homelessness in Tracy, help is available. Tracy Community Connections Center (TCCC) partners closely with local shelters and housing programs to connect individuals and families to safe, stable places to stay, whether that’s for a few nights or several months. Below is an overview of the main shelter options in Tracy, along with additional resources across San Joaquin County.
The City of Tracy’s Temporary Shelter provides short-term housing for adults in need of immediate assistance. Designed as a low-barrier shelter, it removes many of the typical entry requirements that can prevent people from getting help, meaning individuals don’t need to be sober or meet strict conditions to stay.
Each guest receives case management, housing navigation support, and access to community resources. The goal is simple: to help participants move from crisis to stability as quickly as possible. Stays are temporary, typically lasting until permanent or transitional housing becomes available.
McHenry House offers a supportive and family-focused environment for parents and children who have lost housing. Each family is given a private room and access to case management, parenting support, and life skills classes to help them regain stability.
The shelter typically allows families to stay for 30-60 days, depending on their progress toward housing and employment goals. Participation in a case plan and commitment to sobriety are required, ensuring that families have the structure and support they need to rebuild safely.
The Emerson and Rochester Houses provide longer-term transitional housing for men who are committed to sobriety and self-sufficiency. These homes offer a structured, sober living environment with daily routines, support groups, and life skills training to prepare residents for independent living.
Residents often stay between six months to a year, depending on their individual recovery goals and housing readiness. The Coalition of Tracy also connects participants with employment assistance, counseling, and permanent housing resources to support long-term success.
Shelters in San Joaquin County
If local shelters in Tracy are at capacity, there are additional options throughout San Joaquin County:
St. Mary’s Community Services– The largest emergency shelter in the county, serving individuals, families, and veterans with meals, case management, and housing assistance. (Note: Stockton Shelter for the Homeless merged its services with St. Mary’s)
Hope Ministries, Inc. (Manteca) – Shelters and housing options for women and children who have been displaced for up to 60 to 90 days. Offering case management, counseling, and mental health referrals.
Gospel Center Rescue Mission (Stockton) – Offers faith-based residential recovery programs, emergency shelter, and transitional housing for men, women, and families.
Family Promise of San Joaquin County – Focuses on helping families with children transition from homelessness to stable housing through short-term shelter and case management.
Anything missing from this list? Info that needs to be updated? Any questions about how Tracy Community Connections can help? Please get in touch with Carrie, our Executive Director at [email protected] or call TCCC at (209) 407-9649.
In September, Our Executive Director, Carrie Grover, was featured on the Grow Healthy. Help People. podcast, produced by Accordus. In this in-depth conversation, Carrie shared the story behind her journey from volunteer to nonprofit leader, and how TCCC continues to meet the growing needs of Tracy’s unhoused community through compassion, creativity, and connection.
Carrie spoke about the real, human side of TCCC’s work, including moments that remind her why it matters. “There was a young kid who showed up on our [TCCC] office and my staff helped him… the next morning I was on Facebook and somebody had posted a picture of a missing person and it was that kid… We ended up getting him a bus ticket, got him back home to Oregon where he was from… we helped reunite a missing family, which was really exciting.”
She also highlighted that the heart of the organization is the staff and volunteers who bring empathy and lived experience to every outreach effort. With programs like mobile showers, laundry services, case management, and street outreach, TCCC provides hands-on, life-changing assistance across San Joaquin County. “Four of my staff were previously unhoused themselves,” Carrie shared. “Not only are we providing resources for people, but then I’m able to employ people and keep them employed and therefore housed after—and their experience is just invaluable in working with our clients.”
Carrie also discussed the challenges of leading a growing organization, from funding uncertainties to finding permanent space for TCCC’s expanding services. Yet, her optimism and belief in the Tracy community are unwavering. “We do great work and I’m really privileged to be a part of it,” she said.
You can listen to Carrie’s full interview on the Grow Healthy. Help People. podcast, or view it below, where she offers a genuine look into what it takes to create lasting change.
Back in September, we were honored to welcome representatives from Leprino Foods for a check presentation and meet-and-greet with our staff and outreach team. This marks the second year that Leprino’s Community Foundation has generously supported our mission to serve Tracy’s unhoused and at-risk residents.
Last year, Leprino funded the purchase of the truck that pulls our mobile laundry trailer, an essential part of providing free laundry services throughout the community. This year, their donation helped fund a portion of our Outreach Van, which transports clients to medical appointments, shelters, and family reunifications, and allows staff to deliver food, hygiene kits, and other necessities directly to people in need.
During the visit, Leprino employees had the chance to tour the outreach van and learn more about how their contribution helps us reach people where they are. We’re deeply grateful for Leprino’s continued partnership and their commitment to improving lives right here in Tracy.
Thank you, Leprino Foods, for standing with TCCC and helping us bring care, compassion, and connection to our community.
It’s November 1, 2025, and the government shutdown has not been resolved. This means that an estimated 130,000 people who receive SNAP benefits in San Joaquin County are no longer receiving these benefits. Approximately 2/3 of these recipients are children. It’s vital that right now that all of us in this community increase our efforts to help hungry people, and this post provides all resources in Tracy that we are aware of. If there are any programs or resources not listed here, please email Carrie at [email protected] to ensure that we make sure that we get everything listed here in one place.
We also have our Get Help page always up to date with where you can receive a daily meal, as well as info on our shower program, laundry program, shelters, housing, and multiple other resources.
While waiting for SNAP benefits to resume, we encourage you to take advantage of the food resources here in our community, listed below.
If you are fortunate enough to help those who have lost these benefits, please do! The ways in which you can help are below the resources listed below, or click here to jump to how you can help.
2nd & 3rd Thursday from 10:00 – 11:00am: Pantry Drive-Thru at Valley Christian Church, 903 Corral Hollow Rd
Friday
9:00am – 2:00pm: New Heart Church, 1647 Bessie Ave, during our Shower Program.
Saturday
3rd Saturday from 9:00 – 11:00 am: Groceries at City on a Hill Mission Church, 489 W Mt Diablo Ave; proof of ID requested
How You Can Help
Ready to help the community during this time of need? If you want to help any specific location listed above, go to their website to see if they have a list of needs, or give them a call to see what they need the most.
If donating to us here at Tracy Community Connections Center, we need:
Local food bank needs the following items, and these can be dropped off at Tracy Interfaith M-Th 10am-2pm and Saturdays 10am-12pm at 311 Grant Line Rd:
Standard needs
Rice
Pasta
Canned vegetables
Canned fruit
Tuna
Soup
Cereal
Holiday Needs:
Turkeys
Canned Yams
Stuffing mix
Mashed potatoes – boxed
Cranberry sauce
Canned vegetables
Canned fruit
Donating directly to us is also very helpful for all our programs. Thank you so much for helping those in need in our community!
At Tracy Community Connections Center (TCCC), we’ve always known the need for support in our community was significant, but the past year has shown us just how quickly that need can grow. In the first six months of 2025, the number of homeless people seeking help has more than doubled compared to last year.
From January through June of 2023, TCCC served 548 clients. That number rose to 837 in the same period of 2024. But in just the first half of 2025, we served 1,954 clients. “Just straight numbers-wise, that’s kind of alarming,” said our Executive Director, Carrie Grover. “Just looking at that there is obviously something going on. I’m glad we’re here and that people are aware of us and coming to receive help but there is definitely an increase in need.”
We believe much of this increase is tied to rising housing costs and evictions. “We just aren’t keeping up with housing costs. We’ve seen the increase in mortgage rates — but I think a lot of it comes down to wages and housing costs, that’s just my best guess. It seems to be an affordability issue,” Grover explained.
At TCCC, our core programs continue to meet those needs: showers three days a week at New Heart Community Church, laundry services twice a week at Redemption Road Church, and Street Outreach every weekday providing food, hygiene kits, blankets, and transportation to appointments or housing placements. At our office, our case managers work one-on-one with clients on housing applications, rental assistance, and eviction prevention. “We’re trying to keep people who are housed, housed, and then people who are unhoused we’re trying to get them housed,” Grover said. “Whatever it is, my case managers will walk with them one-on-one, identifying their barriers to housing, and ultimately the goal is to get them in and keep them housed.”
Despite hiring additional staff, our team of 12 continues to face an overwhelming demand. “For the one family we get housed the next day a new one pops up, it does feel like we’re just treading water sometimes,” Grover noted. The challenge is compounded by lost federal funding, including cuts to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and ongoing concerns about Medi-Cal reductions.
Still, the work continues. Our partnerships with Tracy PD’s Familiar Faces Program, Community Medical Centers, and SJ Cares allow us to connect people with medical and behavioral health care while addressing immediate needs. Yet Grover emphasizes that homelessness isn’t always visible: “What we have seen is the city has done a good job of cleaning up the encampments but that necessitates people going elsewhere… couch surfing, living in a motel, living with family. It still is considered housing instability.”
Above all, we remain focused on the humanity of those we serve. “We see a mom living in her car with kids and these kids go to the same school as my kids go to,” Grover said. “That woman didn’t do anything wrong. She doesn’t have a lot of support. She lost her job due to a disability.”
Homelessness in Tracy is not about stereotypes but our own neighbors, families, and people who have fallen on hard times. “It’s all ages, all circumstances and I really want people to understand that is not primarily driven by drug abuse and mental health — those are an issue — but so many people we see are just down on their luck,” Grover said. “Nobody can make minimum wage and afford to live in Tracy unless you have a family, and housing prices are out of control.”
Click here to get involved. Together, we can meet the rising need and help our community’s most vulnerable find stability and hope.
Information for this article was collected by Tracy Press in collaboration with Tracy Community Connections Center. View article here.
