Frank Saldana is ready to school the homeless — literally.

Saldana, who along with his wife Kim, run Inner City Action are gearing up to take the lead in Manteca’s efforts to get homeless off the streets.

They have secured office space in the building on the southeast corner of Yosemite and Fremont avenues where HOPE Family Ministries is located. They will provide computers for the homeless to use while working to secure a general education diploma (GED) equivalency needed for employment.

Inner City Action has signed a $160,800 contract with the City of Manteca to operate the city’s temporary homeless shelter that is wedded with services aimed at addressing issues aimed at making people employable as well as being able to get their lives back on track.

Saldana, when asked if Inner City Action will continue to allow homeless who opt to live in their vehicles whether they are cars or RVs to still park at the homeless shelter site, he answered in the positive with a qualifier.

He said Inner City’s model isn’t “to allow homeless to hang around and have no direction.”  Saldana said homeless — as in the past when Inner City previously ran a basic warming and cooling center for the city on their own accord steered homeless to services and such to get their off the streets — need to work toward getting their lives together, securing jobs, and getting off the streets.

He said they have to be willing to be “life coached.”

It is an approach that drew positive words from council members.

In fact such a model is a precursor to the permanent facility they are working for 8 acres on South Main Street where they hope a homeless navigation center will be established. The city’s goal is to have more than simply a drop-in shelter

Inner City Action will run the temporary shelter in the parking lot of 555 Industrial Park Drive through Sept. 30 as Turlock Gospel Rescue is winding down its contract with the homeless temporary departing the premises starting Monday.

It is expected to take 10 days for Inner City to get up and running.

During that time the homeless who have been sheltered will be forced back onto the streets.

Deputy City Manager Toni Lundgren said municipal staff is looking for other municipally controlled sites where the homeless vehicles can park instead of doing so randomly on the streets until Inner City Action is up and running.

The homeless staying in their vehicles have indicated they like having a place that is fenced in such as the 555 Industrial Park Drive parking lot as it heightens their sense of security.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com