Napa’s homeless problem continues to vex city officials, with Police Chief Rich Melton warning Tuesday the situation could get worse if the state cuts its prison population.

Either Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or a federal judge could decide within the next few months to ease prison overcrowding by releasing thousands of inmates early, Melton said.

“It appears imminent that something significant could happen,” said Melton, who worries that this could bring more crime to Napa. “You (will) start having a more violent population,” he said.

Recent high-profile crimes, including several robberies, a stabbing and a murder, have put Napa’s homeless population in the public eye. The city and social service agencies sponsored a forum last month on continuing problems associated with the city’s homeless people.

Police responded to more than 3,000 calls for service involving homeless people last year, up 20 percent from the year before, Melton said.

On Saturday, city employees and workers with other agencies mounted a day-long cleanup effort at homeless encampments along the river. They filled more than three Dumpsters worth of trash, Melton said.

Melton said the homeless problem, targeted for years by social service agencies and police, needs a fresh effort to find solutions.

“There needs to be some policy-level oversight on a regular basis of all the agencies that deal with it,” the chief said. No agency can do it alone, he said.

Charlene Horton, program director of the Napa Valley Shelter Project, said local cities and agencies launched a Homeless Policy Council last fall, but the effort lost momentum. “It needs to regroup,” she said.

A long-standing group, the Homeless Services Planning Council — The Continuum of Care, continues to meet regularly to coordinate services, she said.

Social service agencies are doing good work with the homeless population, Horton said, but the public’s perception is soured by the behaviors of a relatively small number of troublemakers.

These individuals, numbering just a few dozen, don’t want to turn their lives around, she said. Instead, they flaunt “streetwise” behaviors that antagonize neighbors, she said.

Within two months, the city expects to hold a public hearing on a new use permit for the Hope Resource Center on Fourth Street that serves the homeless.

Many nearby residents and businesses view the Hope center as a magnet for people with mental and drug problems who hang out all day in downtown Napa. The center is between the Salvation Army and First Presbyterian Church, where free meals are served daily.

The council was scheduled to approve $700,000 in federal Community Development Block Grants Tuesday for social service agencies, including $8,700 to repaint the interior of the Hope center.

Councilwoman Juliana Inman questioned this expenditure. What if the center’s use permit extension is denied? she said.

Rather than use federal money to paint the center, Inman suggested churches or community groups could do the job with volunteer help, assuming the center stays downtown.

Councilman Jim Krider said the homeless could do the work. “There are people in the community who have plenty of free time,” he said.

The council won’t make a final decision on how to spend the federal money until May.

Napa City Manager Mike Parness said hearings on the future of the Hope center should happen by June.

The center opened in the fall of 2001 to provide job search, social services and laundry and shower facilities during the day.

“The Hope center is really a critical component of adult homeless services,” Horton said. “If it didn’t exist, then what?”

The problems of some homeless people are so seemingly intractable that the situation can be “discouraging,” Horton said. “These people can be very challenging to work with. It can also be very rewarding when they do succeed.”

The issue of homelessness is significant enough that it should be discussed by the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency, Councilman Mark van Gorder said. The agency recently expanded its membership and added a new mission as a forum for issues of countywide significance.

“I don’t believe it’s just a Napa problem,” Krider said.