Parolee Housing Causing Problems in Shasta County - What Can Be Done?
OPINION
Shasta County, CA — Local law enforcement and city officials have raised growing concerns that nonprofit-run transitional housing programs placing state parolees—including registered sex offenders and arsonists—in Redding motels and hotels are concentrating higher-risk individuals in the community, increasing calls for service, and straining limited local resources. Officials and residents in Redding, Anderson, Shasta Lake, and unincorporated areas of the county face related pressures as programs operate across jurisdictional lines.
Scale of the programs
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) decides where to place parolees, and according to Mary Xjimenez, Information Officer for CDCR, the Division of "Adult Parole Operations (DAPO) creates a reentry plan for incarcerated people that includes resources for substance use disorder and other programming, housing, education, employment, mental health treatment, and connections with benefit services. Post-release, supervised people meet regularly with their parole agents, who help them navigate available community-based resources and monitor to ensure that parole conditions are being met." She went on to state that by law, supervised persons return to the county of last legal residence (CLLR); however, there may be circumstances where they don't return to the CLLR based on individual case factors. "CDCR considers applicable legal requirements, community safety, victim and witness protection, and verified housing, family support, employment, education, or treatment opportunities. When transitional housing services conclude and the supervised person has no means to return to the CLLR, they can request transportation assistance through their parole agent."
Shasta Unfiltered inquired with the CDCR about the number of parolees being placed in Shasta County from other counties, and this was Xjimenez's reply:
"From January 1, 2023, through October 31, 2026, 102 supervised persons from other counties have been placed in Shasta County, including nine supervised persons placed in 2026."
Two primary organizations have operated motel-based interim housing in Redding: No Boundaries Transitional Housing and the New Life Discovery Project (NLDP).
No Boundaries has housed parolees, including registered sex offenders and arsonists, under arrangements with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Division of Adult Parole Operations. Reports from 2025 documented concentrations such as roughly 18–30 registered sex offenders and arsonists at the Guestplace Inn & Suites on East Cypress Avenue, with the nonprofit leasing blocks of rooms. NLDP has operated at multiple properties (including the Shasta Lodge, Stardust Motel, and Deluxe Inn) and has generally screened out registered sex offenders and arsonists while housing other justice-involved and unhoused individuals, often through Medi-Cal partnerships for stays of up to about 182 days.
According to the www.meganslaw.ca.gov website, currently there are over 300 registered sex offenders in the county. At the Guest Place Inn, at 536 East Cypress Ave., Redding, 17 offenders are listed. There are 20 sex offenders listed as residing at the Bridgeway Inn and Suites at 2731 Bechelli Lane in Redding.
By late 2025, city staff estimated roughly 270 people in hotel-based interim housing programs overall. Funding has come largely through state and Medi-Cal pathways rather than direct local support. Similar programs or placements can affect Anderson, Shasta Lake, and unincorporated county areas through regional reentry patterns and housing availability.
Law enforcement and community concerns
The Redding Police Department has documented a series of law enforcement contacts over the past two months on their Facebook page involving residents and affiliated individuals at locations tied to the New Life Discovery Project and No Boundaries. Shasta Unfiltered contacted the RPD and asked for a report, which they provided. During the last 12-month period, the Redding Police Department responded to 72 calls for service at the Guest Place Inn, including disturbing the peace, brandishing a weapon, public intoxication, grand theft, sex crime, suicidal subject, one death, and a financial crime. During this same period at the Bridgeway Inn and Suites, the Redding Police Department responded to 120 calls for service, including domestic battery, assault with a deadly weapon, sex crime, financial crime, suicidal subject, disturbing the peace, stolen vehicle, petty theft, subpoena service, and loitering.
According to the department, the incidents include multiple overdose investigations, one of which was fatal. Officers also responded to violent encounters that required significant resources, including threats against officers, resisting arrest, and use-of-force situations. Narcotics-related arrests involved methamphetamine, fentanyl, and drug paraphernalia. Additional actions included warrant arrests and enforcement involving parolees, probationers, and individuals from outside Shasta County.
A child welfare investigation involved a newborn who tested positive for fentanyl and was taken into protective custody. Property crime reports included stolen property recovery, vandalism, and theft. Officers conducted ongoing probation compliance checks at multiple New Life Discovery Project-affiliated locations. Many of the calls required responses from multiple officers, supervisors, specialized units, medical personnel, and jail staff. The department noted that resources committed to these incidents are unavailable for other public safety needs.
Additional local pressures include Shasta County Jail overcrowding, which limits the ability to hold parole violators for more than short periods (often up to 90 days locally rather than return to state prison), resulting in quick returns to the community. The concentration of higher-risk individuals in commercial lodging has drawn scrutiny across the region.
During Public Comment at the October 27, 2026, Board of Supervisors' meeting, a woman saying she represented "Save Our Children - Upper Northern California", brought attention to this subject and called out New Life Discovery Project and No Boundaries for taking in and releasing too many parolees and registered sex offenders into the community (although New Life Discovery Project indicates that they screen out sex offenders as mentioned above).
Local responses to date
In December 2025, the Redding City Council directed staff to enforce existing zoning rules requiring proper “residential hotel” classification and use permits for long-term transitional use, prohibit mixed tourist and shelter operations in the same properties, and draft requirements for nonprofits to obtain business licenses with screening and zoning clearance. Some properties in Redding’s Downtown Specific Plan area cannot legally operate as residential hotels. These steps increase oversight within the city but do not fully address concentration or extend automatically to Anderson, Shasta Lake, or unincorporated areas.
The CDCR told Shasta Unfiltered that they do not track recidivism for specific programs. The CDCR's latest recidivism report found that formerly incarcerated people are substantially less likely to return to prison if they've successfully completed rehabilitative programming. More than 66 percent of those released stayed conviction-free.
Recommendation: coordinated ordinances by cities and the County
The cities of Redding, Anderson, Shasta Lake, and any other affected municipalities, as well as the County of Shasta, should draft and adopt consistent ordinances limiting the density of parolees in any single hotel, motel, or similar facility and setting overall limits on program scale. Coordinated rules would prevent operators from shifting concentrations across city and county lines, improve law-enforcement visibility, and better match local capacity.
Other California jurisdictions have adopted concentration limits. Fresno County recently capped the number of sex offenders in single-family dwellings (drawing on state limits of six). Desert Hot Springs has restricted the number of parolees that hotels and motels may house in any 28-day period and imposed distance and operational rules on parolee/probationer homes.
Any such ordinance would need careful review by each jurisdiction’s counsel to address potential state preemption, fair housing, and equal-protection issues. The following draft language is offered as a starting point that cities and the County could adapt:
Draft Ordinance Language (for discussion by cities and the County): An Ordinance Establishing Limits on the Concentration of Parolee Transitional Housing in Hotels, Motels, and Similar Facilities
The [City Council / Board of Supervisors] of the [City of Redding / City of Anderson / City of Shasta Lake / County of Shasta] ordains as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. The purpose of this ordinance is to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by preventing the over-concentration of persons on parole in commercial lodging facilities, ensuring adequate law-enforcement oversight, and preserving the character of residential and commercial areas.
Section 2. Definitions.
“Parolee” means a person under the supervision of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Adult Parole Operations or equivalent state parole authority.
“Transitional housing unit” means any room, suite, or unit in a hotel, motel, inn, or similar facility that is rented, leased, or otherwise provided primarily for the housing of one or more parolees as part of a reentry, interim, or transitional program.
“Facility” means any hotel, motel, inn, or similar commercial lodging establishment.
Section 3. Concentration Limits.(a) No facility with 14 or fewer rooms shall provide transitional housing units to more than three parolees in any consecutive 28-day period.(b) No facility with 15 or more rooms shall provide transitional housing units to more than five parolees in any consecutive 28-day period.(c) No single operator, nonprofit, or program shall control or lease more than 10 transitional housing units in total within the jurisdiction at any one time without a conditional use permit approved by the [City Council / Board of Supervisors] after public hearing and review of public-safety impacts.
Section 4. Operational Requirements.(a) Any facility providing transitional housing units shall register annually with the local law-enforcement agency and provide the name and contact information of an on-site or designated manager.(b) Facilities shall not mix traditional transient guests and transitional housing clients in a manner that conceals the nature of the use or violates residential-hotel zoning requirements.(c) Operators shall notify the local law-enforcement agency of any significant change in the number of parolees housed within 48 hours.
Section 5. Enforcement and Penalties. Violations shall be subject to administrative citation, civil penalties not to exceed $1,000 per day per violation, and, for willful or repeated violations, misdemeanor prosecution. The jurisdiction may seek injunctive relief.
Section 6. Severability. If any provision is held invalid, the remainder shall continue in effect.
Section 7. Effective Date. This ordinance shall take effect 30 days after adoption.
City councils in Redding, Anderson, and Shasta Lake, together with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, could direct their respective legal and law-enforcement staff to refine this language, align provisions where possible, and schedule public hearings. Residents concerned about concentrated placements may contact their city council members or county supervisor and attend meetings to urge coordinated action that balances legitimate reentry needs with community safety and local capacity.
