Riverbank Mayor Richard D. O’Brien invited community members, those from non-profit organizations and representatives of various governmental agencies to join him recently for his Annual Homeless Report.

Attendees gathered on Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Riverbank Community Center to discuss the issues that O’Brien said he had been pursuing since 2014. The most recent efforts the city has reported include the completion in November of a few of the residential units at the Sierra House facility the city is opening.

Also discussed were plans for the city to build some “tiny homes” in western Riverbank.

City Manager Marisela Garcia noted that plans “are still in draft form, so nothing is final, but the project will be located on city-owned property off of Stanislaus and Jackson streets,” north of the Galaxy Theatres.

She said the project is proposing “approximately 23 units, with an office to provide on-site services, a community garden, dog park and play area,” but, since it’s early in the process, a timeline has not yet been established.

The mayor’s gathering coincided with the scheduled Point In Time (PIT) Count, which is held yearly to tally the number of homeless in each area.

During the Jan. 25 discussion, Garcia noted that preliminary totals indicated the count that morning reached 38 homeless identified in Riverbank.