BREAKING NEWS
How COVID-19 Helps Us Reimagine the Future of Housing, and The Role Density Can Play In It
By Rachel Lonto, Generation Housing, October 21, 2020
COVID-19 has raised questions about density and overcrowding leaving many of us wondering what cities can do to help improve the public’s health and curb the spread of viruses in the context of housing. Density does not necessarily have a good or negative health impact, but overcrowding does. [Read]
HUD Discussion on Federal Government’s Response to Homelessness – The Federal Government Response to Homelessness hosted by HUD Secretary Ben Carson
Webinar recording, 60 minutes, recorded on 10/21/20
“In a Nation as prosperous as ours, we can work together to lift our neighbors up off the streets and eradicate the threat of homelessness,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “Evidence shows us that current federal programs and policies intended to address homelessness need some serious improvement. The changes presented in the new USICH strategic plan should be implemented quickly so that we can reverse the trends we are seeing in homelessness across some American cities today and lead people back to self-sufficiency.” This roundtable will feature a discussion with homelessness providers, medical experts, faith-based organization leaders, and government officials. [Watch webinar]
The St. Vincent de Paul Free Dining Room will close on November 1st
An announcement was just posted on their Facebook page on October 20, 2020.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friends & Community Members:
It is with great sadness that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has decided to discontinue operation of the St. Vincent de Paul Free Dining Room effective November 1st, 2020. The Board of Directors has been weighing this question for years, but finally decided to close the facility during their July Board meeting. The decision was based on declining volunteer and donor interest. When the Kitchen opened back in 1981, it was run almost entirely by dedicated volunteers and required little financial support from donors and net profits generated by the Thrift Store. Since then, as volunteer interest declined, SVDP has had to dramatically ramp up donor dollars to fund paid staff in the kitchen. For over 10 years, the Dining Room has run a loss of varying amounts between $100,000 and $200,000 per year. For the longest time, SVDP covered this difference by digging into its reserves to cover the shortfall. Looking back, SVDP has spent well over $1,000,000 in financial reserves. What’s more, we are now seeing new volunteer-driven grassroots organizations entering the food-provision space, such as Sonoma Applied Village Services (SAVS), Sonoma Acts of Kindness, Sonoma Food Runners, among many other organizations in the area. At some point, any nonprofit must assess its costs, realize its opportunity costs, and face facts when there are others out there who are doing the work more cost-efficiently. That said, there is a good ending to this long-running story. St. Vincent de Paul is in talks with a local all-volunteer food organization that is interested in using the space to continue meal service. Should this partnership materialize, SVDP will provide basic supports, such as the space, utilities, a refrigerated food truck, and cover maintenence costs. This cost-effective partnership will hopefully provide a seamless transition, enabling service to continue. This will be cost-effective and allow SVDP to continue to pursue housing and sheltering the homeless, but allow new organizations to step forward in the food space. Like SVDP aided in the incubation of the Redwood Empire Food Bank in the late 80’s by allowing use of our Rohnert Park warehouse, we hope that this move will help another emergent organization get a toehold and become an impactful force of change.
As for SVDP, we have opened a new home for transitional-age foster youth, and as that program grows, we hope to open more homes like it in the future. We also hope to introduce 54 units of permanent supportive housing this winter by completing construction on the Gold Coin Motel, which SVDP purchased in December of 2019. Finally, SVDP will continue to operate the Los Guilicos Shelter, Non-congregate Shelter at the Fairgrounds, among other programs, such as the Homeless Court, Vehicle Registration Program, and Disaster Services. We are deeply grateful to the innumerable volunteers, staff, and donors who have supported this Dining Room for the past 40 years.
SCV Homeless Experts Look Into Potential Overnight Parking Options
By Tammy Murga, The Signal Santa Clarita Valley, October 21, 2020
“This program would not only provide a safe place for people, but link them with case management services and meals,” said Edwards, adding that it would also need security guard services. “Safety is one of the primary concerns for people on the street.” [Read]
New National Homeless Plan Cracks Down On ‘Housing First,’ Puts More Emphasis On Rehab Programs
By Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 2020
A new national strategic plan on homelessness is mostly a get-tough document that is already rankling experts and program managers who favor giving hard-core street people housing with few conditions so they’ll stay inside. “The big picture is that the status quo is not working, and homelessness is increasing across the board,” interagency council Executive Director Robert Marbut, who led creation of the 29-page plan, said Monday. “We need change.” [Read]
What is ‘Housing First?” [Watch video]
Expanding the Toolbox: The Whole-of-Government Response to Homelessness
A new strategy plan was released by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USIH) on October 19, 2020. The strategic plan emphasizes addressing the root causes of homelessness and prioritizing trauma-informed care to support the success of each individual and family experiencing homelessness. The plan also focuses on the importance of promoting self-sufficiency across federal agencies as a way of ending the cycle of homelessness and dependency. “The status quo is not working, and homelessness is increasing across the board with many cities in crisis. Real change needs to occur to truly reduce homelessness,” Dr. Robert Marbut, Jr. Executive Director of USICH. [Read]
Marin Still Developing Plan to Shelter Homeless in Winter
By Richard Halstead, Marin Independent Journal, October 19, 2020
Marin County is on the brink of acquiring two commercial buildings to house the homeless, but its plan for winter sheltering remains a work in progress. No decision has been made yet about how the county will provide for emergency shelter for the homeless this winter if the weather turns especially cold or rainy. “Our goal is to get people into permanent housing,” Ashley Hart-McIntyre, the county’s homelessness policy coordinator said. “Too much focus on shelter can really impair our ability to do that, but we also need to make sure people are safe when it is cold and wet.” [Read]
Updated Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response
The newly-updated Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response contains the most comprehensive changes to this document to date. The Framework has now been restructured around five Action Areas: Unsheltered People, Shelters, Housing, Diversion and Prevention, and Strengthening Systems for the Future. The new version brings greater focus to the future vision we all need to strive for in our responses, and more clearly expresses the priorities for strengthening systems for the work that lays ahead. [Read]
Shipping Containers in Los Angeles Becoming Homes for the Homeless
By Paul Vercammen, CNN, October 18, 2020
Recycled shipping containers are a cheaper alternative and faster way to provide much-needed housing to homeless families and veterans, and others who may be experiencing hard times, including during the coronavirus pandemic. Builders say shipping containers can easily be moved and stacked, allowing the units to fit varying and odd sizes of land parcels. [Read]
Hard Lives Made Harder by COVID: Homeless Endure a ‘Slow-Moving Train Wreck’
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Angela Hart, California Healthline, October 7, 2020
This was supposed to be the year that California finally did something about its epidemic of homelessness. COVID-19 upended that promise. [Read]
Broad Street Ministry Helps Homeless Individuals Cast a Ballot in Upcoming Election
Capital-Star, October 17, 2020
At 60 years old, Weems, who is experiencing homelessness, said he intended to vote for the first time in the presidential election. “I feel like it’s crucial this time to vote because of all the things that are going on in life,” Weems said. “There certainly needs to be a change.” [Read]
Lawsuit and 101 Freeway Underpass Evictions Lead to Shelter For Some
Los Angeles Daily News, October 16, 2020
More than 335 people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles have left the streets and entered housing since June. Of the target homeless populations, shelter has been provided for 20 people previously located within 500 feet of a freeway, 36 indigent individuals aged 65 or older, and 282 otherwise vulnerable people. [Read]
Three Years Later, $38.5 Million for Post-Tubbs Fire Housing Available to Santa Rosa
By Will Schmitt, Press Democrat, October 13, 2020
More than three years after the October 2017 firestorm, Santa Rosa finally has a line on $38.5 million for affordable housing to help rebuild from the Tubbs fire’s destruction. [Read]
Los Guilicos Campus Suffers Bulk of County’s Glass Fire Damages
By Kevin Fixler, Press Democrat, October 13, 2020
Included among the saves were the vast majority of prefabricated metal-framed huts that make up the Los Guilicos Village homeless encampment just north of St. Francis Winery. Only four of the tiny homes, valued at $10,000 apiece, would end up burned to the ground, with two of the adjacent vinyl-sided units also scorched and rippled from the heat of the fire. [Read]
Be Careful of the Homeless
A video podcast by Nas Daily
… that even if they don’t have money, they are not homeless or hopeless or lawless! They are just houseless. [Watch]
COVID-19 Has Shelter Providers Scrambling To Protect Homeless People Against the Coming Winter Weather
By Scott Greenstone, Seattle Times, October 12, 2020
Like King County, Washington, cold and wet weather is just around the corner. In a typical year, their churches would be opening shelters for those who need to get out of the cold. But many churches are older and not well-ventilated to protect against the virus. [Read]
The County of Sonoma has developed a COVID-19 Rental Assistance Program for renters and landlords – announced on October 14, 2020
Who is eligible?
– Renter Households having trouble paying rent or utilities due to COVID-19 job loss or reduced hours; have a COVID-19 positive exposure or diagnosis. (Households must be at, or below, 80% of Sonoma County Area Median Income).
– Landlords who have tenants behind on rent due to COVID-19 job loss or reduced hours; or have a COVID-19 positive exposure or diagnosis.
Local Agencies include:
– Sonoma Valley FISH Sonoma La Luz Center
– West County West County Community Services
– Santa Rosa Catholic Charities Community Action Partnership
– Windsor & North Sonoma Co. Corazon Healdsburg
– Rohnert Park/Cotati/Petaluma Petaluma People Services
Download a printable flyer – click here – https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CDC/PDFs/CARES-Flyer/
Researchers Gave Thousands of Dollars to Homeless People. The Results Defied Stereotypes
By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, CNN, October 9, 2020
You’ve heard this refrain before — giving money to homeless people is not the best way to help them because it might be squandered, or spent on harmful habits. But a new Canadian study makes a powerful case to the contrary. [Read]
San Leandro Homeless Compact Takes A New Approach
By Western City, March 1, 2018
The City of San Leandro won the Award for Excellence in the Community Services and Economic Development category of the 2017 Helen Putnam Award for Excellence program. How did they do it? [Read more]
Solutions to Homelessness on Trails
By Taylor Goodrich, American Trails, October 2020
In August of 2020 American Trails held a webinar called “Balancing Recreational Area Use with Homelessness and Vagrancy.” This webinar discussed how the city of Modesto, California dealt with the challenge of homelessness and vagrancy in their parks and trails. These are some key takeaways from the webinar. [Read more] Watch the webinar here [Watch]
Tiny House Nation
This is a series of video documentaries which is into its 4th season with 26 episodes. In “Tiny House Nation,” renovation experts and hosts, John Weisbarth and Zack Giffin, travel across America to show off ingenious small spaces and the inventive people who live in them, as well as help new families design and construct their own mini-dream home in a space no larger than 500 square feet. From a micro-apartment in New York City to a caboose car turned home in Montana to a micro-sized mobile home for road tripping – this is a series that celebrates the exploding movement of tiny homes. From pricey to budget friendly, “Tiny House Nation” is not a typical design show, but one that proves size doesn’t always matter – it’s creativity that counts. [Read and watch full episodes here]
Angela Struckmann to be Appointed as Human Services Director
The Human Services Department is Sonoma County’s largest department with more than 900 staff members and an annual budget of more than $350 million. Struckmann, who joined the Department as Assistant Director in August 2018, has overseen the department’s Human Resources and Information Technology functions as well operations of the South County Center in Petaluma. succeeds Karen Fies, who is retiring after serving four years as director. [Read press release dated Sept 23, 2020]
New Documentary Explores Homeless Camping Issues in Spokane
By Brandon Jones, KREM2, September 30, 2020
A new documentary filmed in Spokane is focusing on the issues that homeless people face. Filmmaker Maurice Smith, “A documentary is not going to solve homelessness in Spokane,” he said. “Hopefully, our documentary will get people’s attention and will get them motivated and involved.” [Read]
In Conversation with Richard Rothstein, Author of The Color of Law
An event organized by Generation Housing and Los Cien, Thursday, November 12, 2020, 6 pm (PT). The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America is a New York Times Best Seller and also received numerous book awards. It is an explosive, alarming history that finally confronts how American governments in the twentieth century deliberately imposed residential racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide. Author Richard Rothstein argues with exacting precision and fascinating insight how segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to dog our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife—is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal level. [Register here]
Other sources of information about Rothstein and his book:
• Richard Rothstein’s lecture at Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, September 23, 2019. (1:10 hr)
• Interview at NPR, May 17, 2017
• Article in the New York Times, June 20, 2017
Elderly and Homeless: America’s Next Housing Crisis
By Fernanda Santos, New York Times, September 30, 2020
Over the next decade, the number of elderly homeless Americans is projected to triple — and that was before Covid-19 hit. In Phoenix, the crisis has already arrived. [Read]
Webinar Recording – A Deep Dive: Homeless Services and Housing
50 minutes. Presented by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, September 25, 2020. [Watch]
Informed by extensive careers in homelessness research, Marybeth Shinn and Jill Khadduri recently published In the Midst of Plenty: Homelessness and What to Do About It. The book represents an exhaustive review of existing research on homelessness—why it exists and what practices have been shown to help reduce it. During this webinar, the authors will provided an overview of their findings and conclusions for policymakers.
Panelists:
Marybeth Shinn, Vanderbilt University, National Alliance to End Homelessness Research Council
Jill Khadduri, Abt Associates, National Alliance to End Homelessness Research Council
Joy Moses, National Alliance to End Homelessness (Moderator)
This webinar is a part of the Researching an End to Homelessness: Policy Ideas for Election Year 2020 Webinar Speaker Series, which presents research-based solutions to ending homelessness developed by a list of researchers who have recently published in this area. [Watch]
‘They Save Lives’: The Lettings Agency That’s Exclusively For Homeless People
By Lauren Brown, The Guardian, September 30, 2020
The he affluent town of Walton-on-Thames in Surrey is probably the last place you would expect to find a lettings agency for homeless people. But on the corner of the high street stands RentStart, on the site of a former bank and estate agents, its shop window looking into a light-flooded space with high ceilings and modern, funky furniture. [Read]
Shelters of People Experiencing Homelessness Are Photographed within Affluent Residences to Demonstrate Inequality
By Grace Ebert, Colossal, September 24, 2020
Photographer Jana Sophia Nolle‘s series titled Living Rooms situates the shelters of those experiencing homelessness within the dwellings of affluent folks in San Francisco. “Art cannot, unfortunately, solve problems or change society: at least one work on its own cannot. It does not provide solutions, but it can wake up people,” she says. [Read]
Oakland Moves Forward With New Rules Governing Homeless Encampment
By Marisa Kendall, Marin Independent Journal, September 22, 2020
Oakland officials are moving forward with a new set of rules to govern the city’s homeless encampments — a contentious effort to placate neighbors and businesses upset by sprawling tent camps and trash, while also preserving the rights of unhoused residents. [Read]
What’s Stopping King County From Opening More Homeless Shelters?
By David Kroman, Crosscut, September 21, 2020
In response to the pandemic, officials opened several centers throughout the county, enough to house several hundred at a time. One of those facilities, on a vacant property in Bellevue, cost the county around $4.5 million to build, plus an additional $25,000 a month in utilities, security and upkeep. Since that facility was completed, however, it hasn’t been used, at least not for its stated purpose.
Here’s How California Is Turning Hotels Into Housing for Formerly Homeless People
By Erin Baldassari and Molly Solomon, KQED, September 21, 2020
A motel, a mountain lodge and a village of tiny homes are just some of the buildings that will soon become permanent homes to hundreds of formerly homeless people across California. All of the housing is part of Project Homekey, which draws from $600 million in mostly federal CARES Act funds to help California cities and counties convert hotels, motels, apartments and other buildings into permanent housing for formerly homeless people. [Read]
Months After Uprising, Minneapolis Sanctuary Movement Raises Alarm Over Homeless Crisis
By Miguel Otárola, Star Tribune, September 21, 2020
Elected officials called them disobedient. Social workers said they’re inexperienced. Neighbors saw them as rabble-rousers. Through it all, the Minneapolis Sanctuary Movement has persisted. What was born out of a mad dash to find shelter for the homeless while the city burned has turned into a loose coalition of locals, many of them young and out of work during the pandemic, seeking to help some of the most vulnerable people in the Twin Cities. [Read]
If We Realised the True Cost of Homelessness, We’d Fix It Overnight
The Conversation, September 21, 2020
It’s the story of two Nevada police officers who spent much of their day dealing with homeless people such as six-foot-tall ex-marine and chronic alcoholic Murray. They regularly picked up Murray and drove him to hospital, drying-out clinics, the police lock-up and mental health facilities. Those two Nevada policemen did something that is rarely done anywhere – they calculated (OK, roughly) the cost to the taxpayer of one man’s homelessness. And, in doing so, they showed, as Gladwell pointed out: The kind of money it would take to solve the homeless problem could well be less than the kind of money it took to ignore it. [Read]
The Constitutionality of Homeless Encampments
By Steve Martinot, Counter Punch, September 20, 2020
Authority Alert: This article has two parts. The first part, written by me, is maybe two pages in length. The second part is written by the US government and redacted by me, and is longer.
The city of Berkeley did it again. They raided a homeless encampment, and drove it off public land. The historical irony, this time, is that what the city did was illegal, directly in violation of the US Constitution. The police acted against the law of the land. [Read]
Caritas Village Housing Project in Santa Rosa Secures $1 Million From County Vintners
By Will Schmitt, Press Democrat, September 20, 2020
The gift, announced last week, brings a fundraising campaign for the project, a joint effort of Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa and Burbank Housing, slightly closer to its $28 million goal. Public funds, such as tax credits and grants, are also eyed to help pay for the ambitious 46,000-square-foot project. It would include shelter space for 210 homeless people and 126 apartments for low-income renters. [Read]
SC Man Goes From Homeless To Hero With Sunday Dinners
By Angelia L. Davis, The News Tribune, September 20, 2020
Redd Martin spent years living on the streets, eating from trash cans, and doing what he could to survive. His life began to change after he met a woman who introduced him to God. Today, he and that woman, now his wife, Cassandra Burgess Martin, are working to make life a little better for those in the place he’d been — homeless. [Read]
An RV Park Housing the Homeless in San Francisco Has Become a Runaway Success Story
By Nicole Karlis, Salon, September 19, 2020
Over the last decade, San Francisco’s Pier 94 has undergone something of a renaissance. A hidden wetlands habitat that was once buried in heavy scrap metals and star thistle, environmentalists hailed this corner of the Bayview neighborhood as a restoration success story. The Golden Gate Audobon society helped transformed the pier into a haven for butterflies, birds and mammals. But once the coronavirus pandemic hit, Pier 94 became a spot for another kind of refuge: 120 recreational vehicles to house people who long called the streets home. [Read]
Trump Administration Puts Dozens Of Homeless Housing Projects On Hold In California As Winter Approaches
Project Home, KPIX5, September 17, 2020
First came the pandemic… Then another roadblock, this time from Washington. It turned out the Trump administration yanked approval to use highway land for homeless projects across California, after President Trump made remarks criticizing California’s handling of the homeless crisis. [Read]
El Paso County Organizations Want To Help House More Homeless Youth — And It Starts With Better Data
By Elena Rivera, KRCC, September 17, 2020
In early 2020, the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care started reporting more specific, system-wide data to a national collaborative focused on youth homelessness called A Way Home America. Colorado Springs is one of ten communities in the United States participating in the collaborative. A Way Home America aims to end youth homelessness by rooting their data collection in equity: addressing the barriers that LGBTQ youth like Tidwell and youth of color in the community might face that could lead to entering and remaining homeless. [Read]
The Extreme Difficulty of Moving Off the Streets and Into a Home
By Otis R Taylor, Jr, San Francisco Chronicle, September 17, 2020
Private landlords are wary of her credit and rental history. Meanwhile, her applications with affordable housing programs run by the city aren’t going anywhere. “I’m not getting a lot of this stuff because I’m not disabled.” [Read]
TechCrunch Cuts Ties With SF Event Manager After Homeless Sweep Outside Disrupt Conference
By Roland Li, San Francisco Chronicle
TechCrunch said Thursday it will no longer work with event manager Non Plus Ultra after the vendor swept the tents of homeless people and threw out their belongings last week outside of a venue used for the tech website’s Disrupt conference in San Francisco. [Read]
Homeless For A Night 2020
Glasgow Courier, September 16, 2020
September 19, “Homeless for a Night”, is an opportunity for students to take action on the homeless problem. Those who participate will spend a night in front of the Pioneer Museum to discuss, think, and learn about homelessness. Although one night outside can in no way simulate homelessness, this awareness-raising activity can promote advocacy, protest, and education. [Read]
CoCo County Plans to Turn Motel Into Permanent Homeless Support Hub
KPIX, September 16, 2020
Contra Costa County plans to turn a 174-room motel in Pittsburg into a permanent support hub for helping homeless residents transition into supportive housing, county officials said Wednesday. The county recently received a $21.5 million grant from the state to turn the Motel 6 into a permanent hub for supportive services. [Read]
She was Homeless and Living in a Store’s Parking Lot. Then the store hired her.
By Cathy Free, Washington Post, September 16, 2020
“We were all feeling empty from the uncertainty of the times,” he said. “All we really have are each other.” [Read]
Ending Homelessness One Step at a Time
By Tianna Kelly, National Alliance to End Homelessness, September 10, 2020
A homeless youth wants to see homelessness ended during his lifetime. He decided to do it one step at a time – walk 550 miles from Virginia to Boston College, document his journey on an Instagram page, and raise funds for the homeless on a GoFundMe page. “I hope people who see my story give the homeless a second thought, and hopefully find it in their heart to be kind to them. I want to see homelessness completely fade away in America, and I will keep finding ways to bring attention to it until the problem is extinguished.” [Read]
A Master Plan for Aging – Goal 2: Livable Communities & Purpose
Published in August 2020, The Master Plan for Aging provides the catalyst needed to prepare for the reality of an older population. To have truly livable communities, California must address the systemic disparities inherent in our built and social environments by intentionally advancing solutions that build toward equity. To be truly livable, communities must value people of all ages, races, and backgrounds and fully integrate them into the social world. [Read] Read the background to the creation of the Master Plan for Aging here.
OTHER NEWS
Operations and Maintenance Budget – Fiscal Year 2020-21
Published by City of Santa Rosa, July 1, 2020
FY 2019-20 was a challenging year for the City and its budget. This budget is a byproduct of the uncertainty our local economy faces as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The shelter-in-place order for Sonoma County deeply affected businesses, restaurants, and tourism and lodging industries within the City. The City Council goal setting process had to be cancelled as public gatherings and meetings were not allowed and was rescheduled to August 2020, after budget adoption. [Read]
SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America
Tents, evictions and gentrification. SOLD OUT envisions what home should be by examining California, the epicenter of the nation’s housing affordability crisis. Meet the dreamers and doers who are finding solutions to high housing costs because none of us can afford to wait. [Listen] [More podcasts on Homeless Action! website]
Montage Healdsburg Builder Seeks to Renegotiate Deal With City As Resort Nears Opening
By Kevin Fixler, Press Democrat, September 14, 2020
Initial discussions are underway between the builder of a long-planned luxury hotel just months away from completion in Healdsburg and city officials over public benefits in the original development deal that the builder wants to forgo, including on-site construction of affordable housing. [Read]
I Love My Community in Sonoma County, and That Love Drives Me To Fight For Change
By Media Misfits SoCo, September 14, 2020
My years in college gave me the language to describe the problems around me, but it was my community that taught me the solutions. And as my generation steps into the legacy of our forebears, we know we have to fight hard for even a chance at a better future. The good news is, we already are. [Read]
Homeless Family’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Frozen Due to Lack of Residential Address
By Nate Morabito, WCNC, September 14, 2020
For families teetering on the edge of homelessness, a program meant to help can punish them because of a common issue. [Read]
3-Part Webinar Series – Seize the Housing Narrative: A Housing Justice Narrative Playbook for the Bay Area
The Bay Area “Shift the Narrative” Initiative is excited to present the results of our months-long, coalition-driven initiative to advance housing and racial justice in the Bay Area.
There will be a 3-part web series to review strategies and message guidance, dig deep into our Bay Area-specific research, and explore application ahead in your own work.
- Session 1: Unveiling the Shift the Narrative Playbook: Moving a Housing Justice Agenda Forward (September 16)
- Session 2: Shift the Narrative Research (September 23)
- Session 3: Moving from Messaging to Narrative (September 30)
- (BONUS) Practitioner Panel: Seize the Narrative — Educate, Agitate, and Mobilize for Policy Wins (September 25)
Proposition C Court Win Delivers Nearly $500 Million for San Francisco’s Homeless. But How Will it Be Spent?
By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, KQED, September 12, 2020
Although Proposition C passed nearly two years ago, San Francisco hasn’t been able to spend a dime of the money collected until just this week. That’s because of a legal challenge mounted in April 2019 that halted spending, forcing city officials to sock away the cash, while waiting, purse strings in hand, for a court decision to come down. [Read]
During Dual Crises of COVID-19 and Wildfire Smoke, City and County Partner to Open New Healthy Air Center in SoDo for People Experiencing Homelessness
By Anthony Derrick, City of Seattle, September 11, 2020
Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine announced the opening of a new healthy air center in SoDo for people experiencing homelessness during the wildfire smoke this weekend. The SoDo site will open this afternoon and will provide approximately 80 people with healthy air and shelter. [Read]
Getting To Know Three Latina Artists In Sonoma County Inspired By Their Heritage
By Ricardo Ibarra, Press Democrat, September 11, 2020
Lucero Vargas’s tattoo skills helped her take up the brush again and put color on a series of projects in Santa Rosa. She participated in the making of a mural at Los Guilicos homeless shelter that illustrates the cultural roots of a homeless woman with Pomo origins playing Native American drums. [Read]
Friday Night in Downtown Santa Rosa!
Generation Housing is organizing a webinar on Fri, Sept 25 at 5:30 pm to talk about the future of life and living in downtown Santa Rosa. Redwood City approved a downtown specific plan in 2014 that has changed a yawn of a downtown with little housing into a dynamic city center with mixed income housing and a cultural pulse. When the City of Santa Rosa is on the cusp of passing its own city plan, what lessons can we learn from Redwood City? [Read and register]
Know-Your-Rights Toolkit for Unaccompanied Youth & Families Who Lack Stable Housing
Published by the Homeless Homelessness Law Center, this toolkit is about students’ rights under a federal law known as the McKinney- Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Students have these rights whether they are homeless alone (in which case they are an unaccompanied youth) or with their families. Students are homeless if they lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime home. [Read Toolkit]
Major Housing Projects Tracker
Generation Housing just launched a new tool for housing advocates. In this tool, Gen H helps track and update local residents about proposed housing projects to engage a broader audience about the local housing happenings. Gen H endorsed projects, which have gone through our project review process and align with our guiding principles, are noted as such. [Read on Homeless Action! website] [Use the Tool]
Folks Who Are Homeless Are Not Your Enemy
By Taylor Ketamines Biro, Tallahassee Democrat, September 13, 2020
When you place the deviance on the person, and not the system that created homelessness, you become part of the problem. [Read]
Homeless Man Gets $1,000 Ticket For No Mask
By Nikita Braxton-Benjamin, Sunday Express, September 12, 2020
Citizens described as socially displaced were yesterday ticketed in San Fernando for failing to wear a mask in public. The $1,000 fine has to be paid in 14 days or they will face a magistrate. [Read]
Supervisors Approve $2 Billion Sonoma County Budget
By Guy Kovner, Press Democrat, September 11, 2020
Overcoming a projected deficit as wide as $20 million this week, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $2 billion budget Friday in an uneventful, hour-long virtual public hearing. This includes $2 million to support the purchase of Hotel Azura in Santa Rosa and the Sebastopol Inn in Sebastopol for permanent housing for homeless residents. Whether the purchase of the hotels will happen depends on successful funding application at the California State level. [Read]
Proposition C Court Win Delivers Nearly $500 Million for San Francisco’s Homeless. But How Will it Be Spent?
By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, KQED, September 12, 2020
Authored by the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, the measure raised taxes on businesses in the city making more than $50 million annually in gross receipts to provide additional funding for homeless services, particularly mental health needs. But although Proposition C passed nearly two years ago, San Francisco hasn’t been able to spend a dime of the money collected due to a legal challenge mounted in April 2019 that halted spending. On September 9th, California Supreme Court declined to block the measure, arguing that San Francisco needed a two-thirds majority to pass the tax. So where will the city spend their millions? And who will ultimately make that decision? The answer is both simple and complicated. [Read]
Webinar Recording – Business Responses to Homelessness & COVID-19: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
An informative webinar organized by the National Homelessness Law Center, September 2020
It is extremely important that homeless advocates learn how to work with businesses. Both sides want to see no more homelessness on our streets even though we approach the end result in different ways. Private businesses can play a powerful role in addressing homelessness. Join us to hear about businesses around the country that have used their influence and resources to help house, feed, and serve America’s growing unhoused population, and business efforts to keep unhoused people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. You will also learn about the harmful ways that businesses and Business Improvement Districts have contributed to the rise and enforcement of policies criminalizing homelessness. (1:31 hr) [Watch webinar]
House Keys Not Sweeps – A Campaign for Dignity and Respect
By Western Regional Advocacy Project, Homeward Street Journal, September 2020
Over the course of their research into local ordinances and Constitutional protections, each of the interns remarked on how — while technically and theoretically unhoused people maintain rights the state must adhere to — basic civil rights are uniformly ignored, violated, and worked around. Court decisions that are supposed to protect the rights of unhoused people often lead to the opposite outcome: a whack-a-mole strategy in devising schemes to harras with them. People who are unwanted in public because they are homeless are stripped of the straight-forward claim to their right to exist in public spaces. [Read]
Sonoma Developmental Center Specific Plan
The first Community Virtual Workshop for the SDC Specific Plan, the first of five planned workshops, will be held on Wednesday, September 30, 2020. It will consist of a brief presentation about big takeaways from the Background Report and small group discussions responding to proposed guiding principles and brainstorming a vision for the SDC site. [REGISTER HERE]
Background: In 2015, the Sonoma Land Trust and other community members partnered to create Transform SDC, a group committed to identifying future uses of the site and preserving its important ecological functions. Transform SDC held a community visioning workshop in May, 2015. Communication conversations and surveys were conducted and reports published. All project documents can be accessed HERE.
Tent City? Tiny Homes? What’s the Solution to Salt Lake’s Homeless Camp Cleanups?
By Katie McKellar, Deseret News, September 10, 2020
Protesters call cleanups an inhumane ‘Band-Aid.’ County officials say they’re needed to address public health issues. [Read]
Countywide Food Emergency Is Growing
By Rollie Atkinson, Sonoma West, September 20, 2020
The lines at free food giveaways are the longest ever with wildfire victims, thousands of unemployed workers, the chronic homeless, fixed-income seniors and families with school-aged children cued up in drive-thru, no-touch vehicle distribution points. Grocery store prices are high and some food inventories are spotty. Many local community leaders are saying these food-related emergencies will be with us for many more months or years to come. [Read]
Panel Discussion on Report “Cited For Being in Plain Sight: How California Policies Being Black, brown and Unhoused in Public“
Wednesday, September 20, 2020 at 10 am (PT) [REGISTER HERE]
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area is excited to invite you to a panel discussing our new groundbreaking report, Cited for Being in Plain Sight: How California Polices Being Black, Brown and Unhoused in Public.
Police in California issued over 250,000 non-traffic infraction citations in 2019 for offenses that primarily criminalize everyday behaviors such as standing, sleeping, owning a dog, and crossing the street. The result is hundreds of dollars in fines and fees people cannot afford to pay, and, in some counties, warrants and arrests for people who do not either pay or appear in court. This ongoing form of police harassment of Black, Latinx, homeless and disabled people is the cause of ongoing trauma, and enforcement of minor infractions has led to significant police violence.
82 California Public Records Act (PRA) requests were sent to County Courts, Police Departments, and Sheriff’s Departments. Data were pulled data from 8 counties across the state.
Denver, Co. City Arrests and Takes Property Of Homeless People With No Notice
By Jonathan, Western Regional Advocacy Project, September 10, 2020
Today, September 10th 2020, the police arrested two black homeless men – one for being 6 minutes late to move his stuff, the other for supposed threats – after sweeping them from the block. [Read]
$492 Million in Prop. C Money Unlocks for SF’s Homeless
By Annika Hom, Mission Local, September 9, 2020
Some $492 million dollars held in escrow, pending a final legal decision on Proposition C, can now flow to city homeless and housing services after the California Supreme Court today declined a legal challenge to the 2018 ballot proposition. [Read]
Homeless Californians Face New Crisis: Living Outside In Smoke-filled Air
By Vivian Ho, The Guardian, September 7, 2020
“They’re saying people like me with vulnerabilities need to be in a safe place, but I don’t have a home,” Sant’Anna said. “Now I have two hazards to face.” [Read]
Denver District Judge Rules Against Denver County Judge On Survival Ban: The Fight For Survival Continues…
By Jonathan, Western Regional Advocacy Project, September 8, 2020
In December 2019, the Denver County Judge Barahas ruled that the Denver Camping Ban law was unconstitutional – cruel and unusual punishment. The City appealed it to the Denver District Court where Judge Eric Elliff just ruled the opposite – ruling the ban is constitutional. This Judge’s ruling is wrong. This fight will continue to a higher court. [Read]
He Ran Restaurants in Cotati and Petaluma and Now Cooks For Free, And Loves It
By Chris Smith, Press Democrat, September 5, 2020
“It’s my favorite time of the week typically,” Markey said of his regular volunteer shift in the kitchen at The Living Room. That’s the ambitious day center for women and children on Santa Rosa’s Cleveland Avenue. [Read]
Voting Is A Challenge For the Homeless. Advocates Are Trying To Make It Easier
By Justin Wm. Moyer, The Washington Post, September 10, 2020
“It’s really hard to find a politician to stand beside someone homeless and say, ‘This is our neighbor,’ ” she said. “If we still have in most parties an elitism . . . that excludes people who are homeless, that refuses to back their dignity, their humanity, their rights, why would someone who is homeless choose to participate in that process anyway?” [Read]
Candidate List for November 2020 Election
Published by Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Office
A final list of candidates will be posted prior to September 1, 2020. All terms are 4 years, unless specified. (Scroll down for candidates for individual cities and districts). [Read]
Download PDF of Santa Rosa City Council candidates and contact information HERE.
Additional information about District 1 candidates:
– Eddie Alvarez
– Duane De Witt
– Jorge Inocencio
– Elizabeth Valente
Additional information about District 5 candidates:
– Hanna Azmina
– Chris Rogers
Additional information about District 7 candidates:
– Eric Christensen
– Daniela Pavone
– Natalie Rogers
Homeless Californians Face New Crisis: Living Outside In Smoke-filled Air
By Vivian Ho, The Guardian, September 7, 2020
As wildfire smoke chokes the state, residents without shelter or protective masks face dangerous, extended exposure. [Read]
Portland Woman Giving Back to Shelter That Helped Her Transition Out of Homelessness
By Christelle Koumoué, KGW8, September 7, 2020
Christell Smith once battled drug addiction. She eventually lost everything and ended up homeless. One day, she got tired of struggling and decided to change her life. Taking back control started with a connection to Transition Projects, an organization helping people go from homelessness to housing with programs and resources. [Read]
Cooling Center will be opened in Santa Rosa on Sunday and Monday at Steele Lane Community Center
The City of Santa Rosa will activate a cooling center on Sunday, 9/6 and Monday, 9/7 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued an Excessive Heat Warning for Labor Day weekend for Sonoma County, including Santa Rosa, and the City-operated cooling center is being activated to offer residents a place for relief during the heightened conditions. [Read]
Census Workers preparing to Count Homeless People
By Tiffany Tan, Bennington Banner, September 4, 2020
Homeless people are among the population groups that the bureau considers “hard to count,” because they can be hard to locate and contact. Advocates believe these factors lead to their being undercounted in the census. [Read]
The System Is a ‘Revolving Door’ Says Homeless Study
By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, KQED, September 4, 2020
Unhoused people in San Francisco say the city’s system for helping them creates a “revolving door,” shuffling homeless people into shelters and right back out again. The entire homeless system needs to change, they say. Throw it out. Reinvent it. Take police out of the homelessness response entirely, replace overcrowded shelters with service-oriented tent encampments and provide rental subsidies to tenants on the verge of eviction. Those are the top-level findings of “Stop the Revolving Door,” a study conducted of homeless people, by homeless people, who were trained by academics from universities across the Bay Area, including UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University and San Francisco State University. The report was organized by the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness. [Read article] [Read report]
Addressing Homelessness in Oakland
Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, September 4, 2020
Appointing an administrator is an effort by the City of Oakland to centralize the myriad departments and agencies that intersect homelessness. Like his role coordinating COVID-19 response, Daryel works with human services, housing and community development, public works, fire, and police, and others. At weekly task force meetings, he oversees the entire system and coordinates between departments, making sure they’re keeping lines of communication open and not duplicating efforts. [Read]
With 380 Homeless Sleeping Outdoors in St. Paul, Officials Race To Find Them Shelter Before Cold Sets In
By Mara H. Gottfried, Twin Cities Pioneer Press, September 4, 2020
The city is hiring downtown ambassadors — they’ll be picking up trash, and able to provide people with basic information about where they can find a bathroom or someone to talk with about getting help — and should be on the streets in the coming weeks, Cervantes said. St. Paul is also looking into partnering with a social service provider to open a daytime space where homeless people can take showers, do laundry and meet with case managers, Tincher said. [Read]
Berkeley Mayor Vows to Set Up Sanctioned Homeless Camp as Willard Park Conditions Worsen
By Emilie Raguso, Berkeleyside, September 4, 2020
Six months into the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen an increase in homeless campsites around town, Berkeley is stepping up efforts to tackle problematic behavior and firming up plans for its first sanctioned camp. [Read]
Barstow Community College Students Homeless No More Thanks to Partnership
By Rene Ray De La Cruz, Victorville Daily Press, September 4, 2020
School partners with New Hope Village to address issue affecting 19% of community college students in California. [Read]
Let’s Tackle Homelessness Together. Help Pass AB 1845 Today!
Housing California, September 4, 2020
Assembly Bill 1845 (L. Rivas/Chiu), which establishes a cabinet-level Office on Homelessness, has passed the Legislature with bi-partisan support, and Governor Newsom should sign it. Period. Right now, 13 independent state agencies providing homelessness support and resources have no single point of authority overseeing their activities. It’s wasteful & inefficient. We need one state Office to End Homelessness that will give structure and coordination to California’s currently fractured response to homelessness. [Read]
Native American Homeless Encampment Grows At Haiwatha and Franklin, Community Demands Housing Support
By Jessica Miles, KSTP, September 3, 2020
“You’ve been told so many times and you get shut down so many times you learn to put your head down and walk away you become empty and hopeless,” the woman shared. The County told KSTP, “Increasing access to affordable housing remains the only permanent solution to homelessness. So far in 2020, more than 1,200 people transitioned from shelter or unsheltered homelessness to permanent housing in Hennepin County. We continue to work in new and innovative ways to create and preserve affordable housing in our communities that meets the needs of our most vulnerable residents.” [Read]
We All Should Stand With Our Unsheltered Neighbors
Media Misfits SoCo, September 2, 2020
I was one of the volunteers who came out to help people move their possessions, and I asked the residents I worked with if they knew where they were going to go. Most of them said they weren’t sure. The city keeps proposing solutions that are more hot air than substance, and when new encampments form it’s a matter of time before the cops send another eviction notice. Police and city employees brought construction equipment to destroy any possessions that people couldn’t move with, callously dumping the remnants into enormous metal crates. This is more than kicking a can down the road, this is kicking people when they’re down. [Read]
Coalition for the Homeless Statement on Recent NIMBYism
Posted by the Coalition For The Homeless, September 2, 2020
The Coalition for the Homeless is the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women and children in New Yor City. They believe that affordable housing, sufficient food and the chance to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society. In a statement published on September 2, 2020, “The critically necessary relocation of homeless individuals from crowded congregate shelters to hotels as a life-saving measure during the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a wave of disgraceful and inhumane NIMBYism from certain members of our community…” [Read]
Fremont Park Eviction
News of the North Bay, September 1, 2020
For the second time in just over a month, unsheltered campers at a downtown park were ordered to vacate by the city of Santa Rosa.The order to vacate Fremont Park came just over a month since city officials ordered half the encampment to leave on July 29th, citing fire hazards.This time the order cited illegal camping on the park site which is public property, and ordered that residents pack up and vacate by 6 am. By midday, a half dozen police officers moved in to insure campers were moving along. The encampment at Fremont Park had grown tremendously since downtown Santa Rosa underpasses were cleared of unsheltered tents in late June. Staff from the city’s Homeless Outreach Services Team, operated by Catholic Charities, were on hand to offer housing assistance. According to those present, a few residents were offered space at Sam Jones Hall, a few others at the Finley social distancing site, and some others at the Sandman Hotel. However homeless advocates assisting on-site say many of those present need special accommodation that was not being immediately provided. Among the organizations assisting unsheltered park campers to relocate and find services on Tuesday were Sonoma County Acts of Kindness and Sonoma Applied Village Services, or SAVS. At present, the city of Santa Rosa operates two main shelter sites, Sam Jones Hall, and the Finley social distancing site on West College Avenue which will operate until the coronavirus emergency ends. During the coronavirus crisis they have also made downtown hotel rooms available to some sheltered individuals considered at greatest risk of COVID-19. [Watch video]
Young Woman Helps Local Homeless Population
By Gregory Pollak, News4 San Antonio, September 2, 2020
Ever since she was a little girl, helping the homeless is something Summer Vinton has always loved to do. She just turned 13 and now she helps the local homeless community with a free little pantry. [Read]
County’s Homeless Crisis Pushed to Backburner by COVID-19 Pandemic
By Rollie Atkinson, Sonoma West, August 15, 2020
On July 30, the Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury released its annual report that included two investigations into the county’s homeless issue, which they labeled a “crisis.” While saluting county officials’ response to the crisis, the grand jury found numerous faults in cohesive leadership, tracking of expenditures and the lack of a “countywide plan to address future homeless needs and issues.” [Read]
Talks On Hold For Lodi Tiny Homes For The Homeless
By Emily Maher, KCRA3, September 2, 2020
A vote on the location for tiny homes in Lodi to help those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless was put on hold. The City of Lodi received a $1.25 million grant from the San Joaquin County Continuum of Care Homeless Emergency Aid Program. The delay will likely push the project back several months. The city must spend the grant money by June 30, 2021, or lose it altogether. [Read]
CalHome Program Notice of Funding Availability
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is pleased to announce the release of the CalHome Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for approximately $57 million. Please visit the CalHome webpage for application materials.
Applications are due October 29, 2020 by 11:59 p.m.
Register to attend the NOFA webinar on September 22, 2020, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Ambassadors In North Oakland Provide Outreach to Homeless
By Peter Hegarty, The Mercury News, August 31, 2020
They are hard to miss in their red jackets and black pants as they scrub away graffiti, pull weeds and powerwash grime from sidewalks in North Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood. The aim is to get to know the homeless people, their names and backgrounds, and better understand what they are going through to build trust. [Read]
Homeless Deaths Are Spiking in Los Angeles and Beyond
By Jessica Goodheart, Capital & Main, August 31, 2020
That’s a monthly spike greater than any seen in the last three-and-a-half years and perhaps ever. The pre-COVID month that came closest to July was January 2019, when 112 homeless people were reported to have died. Overall, the county has seen a 23 percent increase in deaths in the first seven months of 2020 when compared to the same period last year. And things could deteriorate further. [Read]
From Homeless To Law School: Man Writing His Own Story
By Sean Giggy, WKYC, August, 31. 2020
“Whenever you’re homeless, that’s your living situation, but that doesn’t have to be your frame of mind,” Lee said. “What matters most is when the doors are closed, when no one is watching, how you feel about yourself and you know in your heart what you have done.” [Read]
Converting A Motel To Homeless Housing, Step By Step
By Matt levin, Cal Matters, June 9, 2020
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to go on a hotel shopping spree to help California’s homeless. Will it work? [Read]
California Poised To Become National Leader on Mental Health and Addiction Coverage
By Jocelyn Wiener, Cal Matters, August 27, 2020
Current state law requires health plans to cover medically necessary treatment of just nine serious mental illnesses; A bill that is expected to clear the Legislature this week would significantly expand what treatments are considered medically necessary for health insurance coverage. [Read]
The Rent Eats First, Even During a Pandemic
By Matthew Desmond, New York Times, August 29, 2020
Threatening to turn families out of their homes during the coronavirus fight isn’t just morally suspect; it’s dangerous. Congress must do its job: protecting the security and health of American families. We need a nationwide eviction stoppage and bold assistance to renters. [Read]
Sebastopol Homicide Victim Was Turning Life Around, Family Says
By Yousef Baig, Press Democrat, August 30, 2020
She had been homeless for more than three years after a schism between relatives led to the sale of the family’s longtime Laguna Road property east of Forestville, displacing several members who lived there, Dora Janssen said. Prohibitive housing costs made it difficult to find a stable home in the area, so Dora would spend the workweek in her RV so she could maintain a job she loved at a medical supplies manufacturer in Santa Rosa, she said. [Read]
North Bay Spirit Award Winner Works Tirelessly for Clean Water, Less Trash in Russian River
By Meg McConahey, Press Democrat, August 28, 2020
Crusader Chris Brokate mobilizes the homeless and other volunteers to keep trash out of the Russian River. [Read]
Longmont Breaks Ground on Tiny Home Village for Homeless Veterans
By Julie Baxter, 9News, August 30, 2020
The Longmont Village in Longmont, Colorado, will feature 26 tiny houses where veterans can live for free and a 3,000-square foot community center. But the village is more than just homes built with “trauma-informed design.” It also will provide the “sanctuary and emotional space” for veterans and the Veterans Community Project team to address the underlying cause of homelessness. That model is based on the Veterans Village in Kansas City, Missouri. [Read]
San Diego Rescue Mission Helping Homeless at Convention Center
By Natay Holmes, 10News, August 30, 2020
The City of San Diego recently announced its plan to close the convention center by December. The state has reserved funds to help the city buy at least one hotel to house the homeless. Unfortunately, the hotel’s 340 units won’t be enough space for everyone. The San Diego Rescue Mission is stepping in to help. Their emergency shelter is available for women and children.
They also have a year-long “Mission Academy.” It’s a three-semester program. Semester one focuses on wellness. Semester two is center around education and training. [Read]
Legal Aid Threatens Lawsuit If City Moves Homeless Out of Hotels
By Rob Abruzzese, Brooklyn Eagle, August 29, 2020
Judith Goldiner, attorney-in-charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit at the Legal Aid Society, said that the city is caving to pressure from Upper West Side residents and is ignoring science when it is considering moving homeless New Yorkers out of hotels during the coronavirus pandemic. [Read]
LA’s Homeless Communities Are Avoiding Cooling Centers, and It’s Not Just Because of COVID-19
By Alexandria Herr, Grist, August 25, 2020
The reasons for that are complicated. Henderson says he hasn’t been to a cooling center yet, nor has anyone he knows, for fear that his belongings will be gone when he gets back to the area where he keeps them. [Read]
Activists Blockade Major Cleanups at Homeless Encampments
By Elizabeth Chou, Daily News, August 29, 2020
Activists set up blockades this week along Los Angeles-area streets to resist comprehensive sanitation operations that they contend displace people from their tent homes and makeshift shelters, despite public health guidelines that advise against dispersing homeless encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic. [Read]
Homeless Essential Workers Face Greater Risk of COVID-19
By Megan Lupo, Nino Abdaladze, Molly Bohannon, Sanjana Garg, Jamie Fields, and Katie Surma of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, The Columbian, August 30, 2020
Many homeless people work low-wage essential jobs on the front lines of the pandemic, putting them at higher risk of catching and possibly transmitting the virus. [Read]
People Make Art and Sleep Outside Homeless Shelter to Show ‘The Upper West Side is a Compassionate, Welcoming Place
By West Sider, West Side Rag, August 30, 2020
The hotel and three others like it on the Upper West Side have become a flashpoint. Opponents say that people in the shelters should be moved to other locations, because they’re causing problems, including using drugs on the streets. But the people who gathered on Saturday, called the UWS Open Hearts Initiative, said neighbors should show more compassion for people facing difficult times and can deal with problems at the shelters through engagement rather than demonization. [Read]
City of Santa Rosa Update on Efforts to Address Encampment at Fremont Park
Updated on August 27. 2020
Next week, the City’s Homeless Encampment Assistance Program (HEAP) will proceed with efforts to resolve the growing encampment in Fremont Park (also known as Cancer Survivors Park). Over the past several weeks, HEAP has been monitoring conditions in the park which continue to deteriorate, raising safety concerns for persons experiencing homelessness and residing in the park, as well as to the surrounding community. The City previously took measures to address immediate fire threats caused by encampments in areas of Fremont Park, including temporarily securing the west side of the park. Druing that time, the City also provided sanitary facilities (with support from the County of Sonoma and in alignment with the Centers for Disease Control) and waste and sharps containers; and worked with its contracted outreach provider, Catholic Charities’ Homeless Outreach Services Team (HOST) to encourage individuals to relocate to safe, secure, and healthy options for shelter. Despite these actions, the growing size of the encampment, coupled with worsening conditions, have prompted the City to proceed with resolving the encampment at Fremont Park. HEAP protocols will be implemented, including outreach and notification to individuals residing in the park, in advance of efforts to clean and restore the area. The City will be provide an update on its efforts following next week’s operation. [Read]
Oakland Wants to Buy More Than 20 Buildings for Homeless and COVID-19 Housing
By Natalie Orenstein, The Oaklandside, updated August 28, 2020
At a special meeting Friday morning, the Oakland City Council unanimously approved plans to request and use state coronavirus funds to buy two hotels, a dormitory, and 20 single-family homes, to open supportive housing sites for homeless people. The success of these plans is dependent on Oakland actually receiving the $37 million it’s applied for from the state “Homekey” program, however. [Read]
Balancing Recreational Area Use with Homelessness and Vagrancy
Thu, August 27, 2020, 10-11:30 am (PT)
This webinar will share how the City of Modesto, CA, dealt with the challenge of homelessness and vagrancy in their parks and trails. [Register]
She’s ‘Breaking the Law’ to Help Fresno Homeless. Will the Government Stop Her?
By Manuela Tobias, Cal Matters, August 26, 2020
“Am I breaking the law by trespassing? Yes,” Martinez said. “But for five years, I’ve been asking for this. We have now added four other shelters in Fresno, and every single one was full within a week. And we still have thousands of people out here in the streets.” [Read]
COVID-19 Is A ‘Crisis Within A Crisis’ For Homeless People
By Molly Bohannon, Katie Surma, Austin Fast, Nino Abdaladze, Megan Lupo, Jamie Fields, and Sanjana Garg, Cronkite News, August 24, 2020
Homeless people are one of the most vulnerable populations in the coronavirus pandemic, yet they’re largely invisible victims of the crisis. Very little is known about how they’re faring, in part because the Department of Housing and Urban Development – the main federal agency overseeing programs for them – has not required its national network of providers to gather information on infections or deaths. [Read]
COVID-19 Spike in Seattle Shelter Amplifies the Many Uncertainties Facing King County’s Homeless in the Fall
By Scott Greenstone and Sydney Brownstone, Seattle Times, August 26, 2020
After few reports of COVID-19 in Seattle’s homeless shelters earlier this summer, August has seen a spike focused mainly at Harborview Hall, a shelter on First Hill. It’s potentially a bad omen for the fall, when cold weather will encourage more people to stay at shelters rather than outside, and make leaving windows open to ventilate a room less of an option. [Read]
Redding Moves A Step Closer To Allowing Homes For the Homeless
By David Benda, Redding Record Searchlight, August 26, 2020
Small transitional housing communities for the homeless in Redding took a step forward Tuesday. The Planning Commission unanimously approved sending a recommendation to the City Council to allow for the housing. The zoning change would establish a new land-use category called micro-shelter supportive communities that would be regulated in various zoning districts throughout Redding. [Read]
Dehumanizing the Homeless Must Stop
By David Giffen and Giselle Routhier, NY Daily News, August 25, 2020
The use of hotels has been working. In fact, the Coalition for the Homeless and others have been urging the city to utilize even more hotels in order to protect the well-being of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness. But if our elected officials cave to pressure from the echo chamber of NIMBYism and fear-mongering and prematurely move people from hotels into congregate settings, we will surely see the virus spread again, and lives will be lost. [Read]
People Experiencing Homelessness Can Now Obtain Free Identification Cards
This is a piece of “old” news now valid since January 2016, but it is worth sharing again. Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 1733 into law. Under AB 1733, Californians experiencing homelessness, as defined further in the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, are eligible to receive at no cost, a certified record of live birth or a state-issued photo identification card. Consequently, as of January 1, 2016, a homeless person, child or youth will be able to get a free new or replacement California identification card from the Department of Motor Vehicles subject to several conditions. [Read] Also, visit this California DMV webpage to to apply for a no-fee ID card.
11 Homeless Outreach Teams For San Antonio Proposed for FY 2021
By Garrett Brnger, KSAT, August 18, 2020
Outreach teams that could help connect the city’s estimated 1,300 unsheltered homeless residents with services would cover every corner of the city under the current proposed budget. [Read]
The US Is Facing An Eviction Tsunami. We Must Cancel Rent Before It’s Too Late
By Lupe Arreola and Amee Chew, The Guardian, August 17, 2020
As many as 40 million people nationwide face eviction due to inability to pay rent. In comparison, the 2008 foreclosure crisis saw the loss of 10m homes. Now, millions – seniors, people with disabilities, parents and children – are at risk of homelessness. [Read]
Rental Assistance and Tiny Homes: Sacramento Outlines $62 Million Homeless Spending Plan
By Jason Pohl and Maria Heeter, Sacramento Bee, August 17, 2020
Mayor Darrell Steinberg and a host of city housing program leaders announced the initiative Monday morning as part of a broader $62 million package to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness in Sacramento. [Read]
Boy, 7, Donates 900 Pounds Of Food To Annapolis Homeless Shelter
By Jacob Baumgart, Patch, August 17, 2020
An Annapolis boy donated 900 pounds of food to the Light House, a homeless shelter in Parole. He wrote handwritten notes asking for help. [Read]
‘If you don’t have a home, what do you do?’: Covid-19 Highlights Texas Homeless Crisis
By Alexandra Villarreal, The Guardian, August 17, 2020
The campsite is tucked away from the rest of Austin, but during the coronavirus pandemic, people living on the street have become more visible. [Read]
Media and Narrative Building on Homelessness and COVID-19
Webinar recording (1:31 hr) by Housing Not Handcuffs and National Homelessness Law Center, August 12, 2020 [Watch]
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the value of housing, as staying home has become a literal matter of life-or-death. As the moratorium on eviction comes to an end, a new consciousness is emerging that anyone may become homeless.
This webinar features experts on media, including those with lived experience of homelessness, to discuss how to use this moment to shape the narrative moving forward.
This webinar will feature:
• Mark Horvath, Founder of Invisible People
• Theo Henderson, Founder of WeTheUnhoused
• Karianna Barr, Director, Development and Communications, The Law Center
• Tiffany Manuel, Ph.D., President & CEO of The Case Made
• Kate Chatfield, Senior Advisor for Legislation and Policy, The Justice Collaborative
2020 NAMI California Annual Conference “Driving the Change”
Online and Free, October 12-13, 2020
Scheduled for Monday, October 12th and Tuesday, October 13th, this annual conference will offer keynote speakers and workshops that look at current trends, practices, treatments and activities in mental health across the State. Featured speakers include:
* Thomas Insel, MD, Governor Newsom’s Special Advisor on Mental Health and former Director, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
* Sandra Hernandez, MD, President and CEO, California Health Care Foundation
Note: Workshops will be recorded and viewable after the end of the conference, so don’t worry if you miss a session!
For details and registration – NAMICA.org.
Better HUD Oversight of Data Collection Could Improve Estimates of Homeless Population
Published by U.S. Government Accountability Office, July 14, 2020
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found homelessness in the U.S. grew 3 years in a row (2017-2019). Rising homelessness in metropolitan areas drove the increases. We found HUD’s count likely underestimated the homeless population. Organizations across the U.S. provide data for this inherently difficult count. HUD could improve its instructions to them, which in turn could improve data quality. In addition, our statistical analysis found median rent increases of $100 a month were associated with a 9% increase in homelessness in the areas we examined. We recommended ways for HUD to improve measurement of homelessness. [Read]
What’s The Difference Between Houseless and Homeless?
By Maggie Vespa, KGW8, August 13, 2020
KGW viewers have noticed in recent years a change in our wording referencing the homeless community. We still use the word “homeless” in our reporting, but we have also started using “houseless.” Kaia Sand, executive director of Street Roots, said she takes the lead on what word to use based on what the people she works with want to use. [Read]
The Homeless Project: Learning Hope From Those Who Have Little Else
By Reed Cowan, News3 La Vegas, August 13, 2020
We took that question to the streets, where many are facing homelessness for the first time. We asked our homeless population what they look to, when times are tough. Immediately we heard from the homeless how hard it can be. [Read]
Camp For Homeless Opens in Guerneville, Offering Refuge to 25 People during Pandemic
By Mary Callahan, Press Democrat, August 12, 2020
The site is a collaboration between West County Community Services, the West County Health Centers and the County of Sonoma, through its Community Development Commission, and is intended to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 among vulnerable homeless individuals. But the agencies also are hopeful that onsite housing navigation services will help guide at least some residents into more stable housing during the time they are sheltered there. [Read]
Sonoma County Effort to Buy Sebastopol Inn For Homeless Housing Draw Opposition
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, August 12, 2020
The county’s proposal for the Sebastopol Inn that would situate a homeless housing site near downtown Sebastopol and at the doorstep of the small city’s highest-rent commercial district, including the Barlow, has already proven controversial. [Read]
Tiny Homes Made in Amish Country Could Soon House Philly’s Homeless
By Alfred Lubrano, The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 12, 2020
Sena, who considers homelessness a human rights violation, is on a first-name basis with many of the roughly 1,000 street homeless in Philadelphia. Sena expects to soon start a pilot program that would create a village of 20 tiny homes per acre for the homeless on available city land. She’s looking at a price tag of $40,000 to $50,000 per unit, 8 1/2 feet wide by 30 feet long by 13 1/2 feet high. The cost includes water, sewer, and electrical hookups. It’s not yet clear how many acres would be used. [Read]
Who Are We Really?
By Kathleen Finigan, Sonoma County Gazette, August 13, 2020
The FACES photo exhibit – Portraits of Dignity in the Face of Adversity – was created by Homeless Action! to allow us all to better know our unsheltered neighbors. Look at their faces and into their eyes with an open heart and mind. If you do, I think you’ll see their dignity and humanity even as they struggle daily just to exist under terrible circumstances. Each portrait is accompanied by the participant’s first name and age, and the answer to the question asked of each: “What would you like to say to the world?” The answers may surprise you. [Read]
Update on Restoration of Bed Capacity at City’s Homeless Shelter to Pre COVID-19 Levels
City of Santa Rosa News Flash, Updated August 13, 2020
On August 18, the Santa Rosa City Council will consider a contract award to Graves Construction for the emergency expansion of the Samuel L. Jones Hall Homeless Shelter (SJH). For more information about this City Council agenda item, click here. [Read]
Racial Disparities in Housing Security from COVID-19 Economic Fallout
By Lindsay Rosenfeld, California Housing Partnership, August 11, 2020
Racial disparities in access to safe, stable, and affordable housing were present long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit California. Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s new Household Pulse Survey, conducted for twelve weeks beginning in the spring of 2020, shows that the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified the racial disparities in California’s housing crisis. [Read]
Respect the Homeless
By Margaret Hastings, Southside Pride, August 10, 2020
On Monday night, Aug. 3, Margaret Hastings, Carin Peterson and Janet Nye, on behalf of the Decriminalization of Homelessness Working Group, pitched tents in the U.S. Bank Plaza across the street from the Government Center and City Hall. [Read]
Santa Rosa Focuses on fire threat From Homeless Camps
By Lori A. Carter, Press Democrat, August 10, 2020
Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal “has identified at least 85 fires in city limits this year started by homeless residents. They include cooking or warming fires in a field that didn’t spread — and vegetation and structure fires that put lives and livelihoods at risk. The fires have caused in excess of $1 million in damage, according to Press Democrat records, including the destruction of at least two large buildings, one a business, and a handful of unoccupied buildings. No injuries were reported.” [Read]
Study: Small Group of Sonoma County Residents Use $162 Million in Social Services Annually
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, august 9, 2020
Sonoma County launched an initiative three years ago to share data among county agencies in hopes of improving their ability to coordinate services. In Sonoma County, 6,600 people accounted for more than a quarter of the county’s jail time and behavioral health costs, and more than half of the total nights in housing or shelters provided to the homeless. All told, these individuals, the hard cases representing just 1.3% of the county’s population, put an annual strain of $162 million on Sonoma County’s systems of care. [Read]
The COVID-19 Eviction Crisis: An Estimated 30-40 Million People in America are at Risk
By Emily Benfer, David Bloom Robinson, Stacy Butler, Lavar Edmonds, Sam Gilman, Katherine Lucas McKay, Zach Neumann, Lisa Owens, Neil Steinkamp, and Diane Yentel, The Aspen Institute, August 7, 2020
Many property owners, who lack the credit or financial ability to cover rental payment arrears, will struggle to pay their mortgages and property taxes, and maintain properties. The COVID-19 housing crisis has sharply increased the risk of foreclosure and bankruptcy, especially among small property owners; long-term harm to renter families and individuals; disruption of the affordable housing market; and destabilization of communities across the United States. [Read]
Napa Valley Expo’s Homeless Shelter to Stay Open Into Winter
By Howard Yue, Napa Valley Register, August 9, 2020
The shelter at the Napa Valley Expo, which the county has kept open throughout the pandemic, was slated to operate at least through Aug. 30. But a spokesperson announced Tuesday the county is working to extend its lease at the state-owned fairground to allow visitors to stay there all the way into its normal seasonal schedule, which begins in mid-November. [Read]
Handwashing Station Locations in Downtown Sebastopol
City of Sebastopol, August 9, 2020
We’ve added more locations and re-located some of the stations to be more convenient, including new portable restrooms and handwash facilities on Morris Street for homeless support services. Current locations are:
1) City Parking Lot at Main St. and Burnett
2) North Main St., mid-block (south side of street between Bodega and Wilton)
3) 328 N. Main Street – On sidewalk entrance Community Bank parking lot
4) Adjacent to southwest corner of Town Plaza parking lot against rear wall of Silk Moon
5) Sebastopol Ave. (Route 12) at alley between Ramen Gaijin and WestAmerica Bank
6) 6902 Sebastopol Ave – Screamin’ Mimi’s Ice Cream- at side window on Petaluma Ave
7) & 7A) Outside public restrooms on east side of Town Plaza. There are also portable toilets at this location.
8) & 8A) Morris St. north of Laguna Park Way, northeast side of street. There are also portable toilets at this location
Editorial: Marin Needs to Keep Pushing to House Homeless
Editorial Board, Marin Independent Journal, August, 9, 2020
Marin officials want to get in line for a slice of the $100 million state Project Homekey funds. Those funds, including federal coronavirus relief cash, must be spent by the end of 2020 and applicants face an Aug. 13 deadline to submit their proposals. [Read]
Suzi Kochems Takes on Role of Homeless Solutions Coordinator
By Natalie Hanson, Chico Enterprise-Record, August 9, 2020
Kochems says a progressive system of care “that holds the homeless, the service providers and the public accountable for action” is necessary to improve the situation. That will mean behavioral health costs across the nation have to be addressed, she said. [Read]
Sonoma County Supervisors Send Mental Health, Homeless Services Tax to November Ballot
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, August 4, 2020
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to place a sales hike for mental health and homeless services funding on the November ballot, saying the timing is right and the need is too great to wait despite a promise last week from local business groups to oppose any new tax. The proposal calls for a quarter-cent sales tax increase over 10 years, which would generate $25 million per year for behavioral health facilities, emergency psychiatric services, homeless services and more. [Read]
Homeless Advocates and Community Safety Advocates Mixed on Proposal to Cut Navigation Team
By Suzanne Phan, Komo News, August 8, 2020
Seattle City Council is scheduled to vote on dramatic cuts to the city’s police department. On the chopping block, the SPD Navigation Team. Critics say the team unfairly removes people from homeless encampments. [Read]
COVID-19 Homelessness Services Update
City of Santa Rosa News Flash, August 6, 2020
Last week, the City took measures to address immediate fire threats caused by encampments in areas of Fremont Park. Park maintenance crews secured these areas of the park, and outreach and notification were provided to individuals residing in these areas. Catholic Charities’ Homeless Outreach Services Team (HOST) was successful in engaging 25 individuals located in the encampments into services, including placement at the City’s Samuel L. Jones Hall Homeless Shelter, Safe Social Distancing Program at Finley, hotel rooms, and permanent housing. [Read]
First By-Right Housing Project Approved in City
City of Santa Rosa News Flash, August 6, 2020
The City of Santa Rosa has approved its first By-Right Housing Project. Mahonia Glen is a 99-unit, 100% affordable housing complex located at Calistoga Road and Highway 12. This project is the first in the City to meet the requirements under California Senate Bill 35 (SB 35), which requires qualifying residential projects be reviewed through a ministerial, streamlined process, and only requiring City staff-level approval. [Read]
America Could Have ‘Great Depression’ Levels of Homelessness by Year’s End
Emma Ockerman, Vice News, August 7, 2020
Housing advocates warn of a huge crisis if Congress doesn’t come through soon with significant and sustained financial assistance. As many as 40 million Americans could face eviction by the end of the year if the federal government doesn’t come up with significant financial assistance and tenant protections, according to research published Friday. [Read]
How COVID-19 Could Deepen California’s Housing Crisis
By Daniel Tan, Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), August 7, 2020
As COVID-19 remains an immediate threat to the health of Californians, the public health response to the virus has also brought on a major economic downturn. These concurrent crises may exacerbate the state’s existing housing crisis. Prior to the pandemic, Californians identified housing costs as among the state’s highest hurdles. Concern is underscored by California having the third highest rate of cost-burdened renter households in the nation. [Read]
Counting People Experiencing Homelessness in the 2020 Census
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, August 6, 2020
Between September 22-24, the U.S. Census Bureau will send specially trained census takers to count people experiencing homelessness at shelters, soup kitchens, regularly scheduled mobile food vans, and previously identified locations where people are known to sleep outdoors as part of an operation known as service-based enumeration. People experiencing homelessness will be counted where they are staying when census takers visit between September 22-24. [Read]
Park Board Approves Two Temporary Permits For Homeless Encampments
CBS Minnesota, August 6, 2020
The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board approved two temporary permits for new homeless encampments in city parks. According to the park board, the city cannot shutdown or limit people in homeless encampments unless there is a documented threat to public safety, per Gov. Tim Walz’s executive order on COVID-19. [Read]
Keep the Door Open for Transgender People at Emergency Homeless Shelters
By Julie Cassidy, Michigan League for Public Policy, August 6, 2020
It’s time to speak out against a proposal by President Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to allow emergency shelters to discriminate against transgender and nonbinary people. While it’s always cruel to roll back protections for people experiencing homelessness, it’s especially so when everyone, regardless of gender identity, needs a safe place to live to protect ourselves and our communities from COVID-19. [Read]
Seattle City Council Votes to Defund Team That Removes Homeless Encampments, In Victory for Activists
By Scott Greenstone, The Seattle Times, August 6, 2020
In the culmination of years of activists’ efforts to stop removal of homeless camps, the Seattle City Council voted Wednesday to dismantle the city’s Navigation Team, a team of police and outreach workers who try to get homeless people to accept shelter before removing their camps. [Read]
Webinar: Lenders and Investors Respond to COVID-19 Impact, Part II, August 18, 2020, 3 pm PT
Presented by California Housing Partnership, announced on August 3, 2020
Join the California Housing Partnership on Tuesday, August 18 from 3:00-4:30 pm for Part II of the conversation we began in April about the challenges that nonprofit developers of multifamily affordable housing face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This timely discussion with investors, lenders, and nonprofit developers will delve into how the field is adapting to a changing lending and equity market, construction and lease-up delays, and closings and conversions. [Read and Register]
Homeless In The Land of Plenty: Veterans Part II
By Ted Waddell, River Reporter, August 4, 2020
“Now it’s worse than ever. You see pieces about homelessness in San Francisco and Los Angles,” said Doug Sandberg of the homeless situation in America, “the Land of Plenty.”
Sandberg, a veteran of the United States Air Force (USAF), serves as producer and show host of “Let’s Talk Vets,” a popular radio broadcast “produced by vets for vets” that airs on WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5 FM the second Wednesday of the month from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., or 19:00 to 20:00 for those folks who keep track of things on 24-hour military time. [Read]
Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury 2019-2020 Final Report
Published by the Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury, August 2, 2020
“The Grand Jury’s mission is to facilitate positive change in Sonoma County. We are changed with overseeing city, County, and special district operation. We investigate these entities to evaluate their efficiency, honesty, fairness, and dedication to serving the public. Based on our findings, we make recommendations.” Reports relevant to homelessness are:
– Homeless Youth Report, and
– Grand Jury Homeless Report
[Read]
Sonoma County Eyes Sebastopol Inn as Potential Homeless Housing
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, August 4, 2020
Sonoma County housing officials are negotiating to buy the Sebastopol Inn, eyeing the 31-room boutique hotel near the heart of Sebastopol’s downtown as a landing spot for vulnerable homeless residents amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The move opens a new front in the county’s battle against homelessness, and would expand county control over more commercial real estate as it struggles to contain a deadly disease and combat one of its most intractable socioeconomic problems. [Read]
Evoking Empathy Or Seeking Solidarity: Which Is Preferable When Covering People Without Homes?
By Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis, Nieman Lab, August 4, 2020
The essential contribution that Varma makes is to draw a distinction between two themes in the project’s coverage that humanized people without homes: empathy and solidarity. If empathy, she argues, focuses on personalizing individuals — on illustrating how “they’re just like us” to help audiences identify with homeless people — solidarity instead emphasizes politicizing the structural conditions that contribute to homelessness, or bringing to the fore the community-wide constraints that the marginalized face. [Read]
Sonoma County Supervisors Poised to Advance Tax Measure to Bolster Mental Health, Homeless Services
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, August 2, 2020
A tax increase for mental health and homeless services long envisioned by Sonoma County leaders eager to expand the county’s work in both areas is poised to secure approval this week from the Board of Supervisors, advancing the measure voters in November. The proposed quarter-cent sales tax boost would generate $25 million during the next 10 years for behavioral health facilities, emergency psychiatric services, homeless services and more. [Read]
What the Pandemic Taught Us About the Homeless – and What We Shouldn’t Forget
By Thomas Hugh Byrne, Benjamin F. Henwood, and Anthony W, Orlando, The Hill, August 2, 2020
To date, California has procured more than 15,000 rooms and housed over 14,000 people — faster progress than we have ever seen in such a short time span. All it took was a public health emergency. [Read]
Coronavirus Changed King County’s Homelessness System. Could It Now Be Working Better for Black People?
By Sydney Brownstone, The Seattle Times, August 3, 2020
Local policymakers have embraced a housing philosophy that says the most vulnerable people should be at the front of the line for permanent housing. Under normal circumstances, Johnson likely wouldn’t have been considered at risk enough to get into a rare spot. But during the pandemic, early data shows that Black people have been more likely to get housing when they are no longer required to have the highest scores on the evaluation, which has been criticized in the past for favoring white applicants. Now, housing providers are asking whether relying less on the evaluation, a fluke of the pandemic, should become the norm. [Read]
The Life Stories of Homeless Youths
Photos by Nema Etebar, November 2015
I was born in a shelter. I had always been in and out of shelters. [Read]
Tacoma’s New Tiny Home Community Has Big Goals to Get People in Houses
By Keith Eldridge, KOMO News, July 30, 2020
A new tiny home village that is now open in Tacoma has generated enthusiasm and excitement for the first group of residents who are set to move into the development. [Read]
Ten Bucks Left, No Place To Go
By Kyle Swenson, The Washington Post, August 1, 2020
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the nation’s capital have been sucked down the same confusing abyss. Through July 29, the employment office has fielded more than 133,000 claims, nearly five times the number processed in all of 2019. [Read]
COVID-19 – More Resources for People Experiencing Homelessness
Published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updated July 31, 2020
– Guidance and Planning Documents
– Web Resources
– FAQs
[Read]
Santa Rosa City Council Seeks Volunteers to Serve on Boards, Committees and Commissions
By City of Santa Rosa News Flash, July 30, 2020
City Council is seeking volunteers interested in serving on the following Boards that have current vacancies:
– Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Board (One senior community representative, one at-large position
– Board of Building Regulation Appeals (Two positions)
– Board of Community Services (One at-large position)
– Community Advisory Board (One at-large position)
[Read]
Why America Needs More Social Housing
By Peter Dreier, The American Prospect, April 16, 2018
Subsidizing market prices to make housing affordable is a losing strategy. There’s a better way—on display for a century in Vienna. [Read]
Theo – Homeless At Age 7
Photo essay, story by Sarah Ravani, photographs by Gabrielle Lurie, San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 2020
Homeless kids as young as Theo, though, are rare. Berkeley’s official homeless count, in fact, showed no families with children among the more than 813 unsheltered people in the city in 2019. But Berkeley officials know well that Theo sometimes lives on the city’s streets with his mother. They have tried several times to help the two find stable housing, without success. [Read]
Santa Rosa Police Clear Half of Homeless Encampment at Fremont Park
By Austin Murphy, Press Democrat, July 29, 2020
Going tent to tent on Wednesday morning, Santa Rosa police cleared homeless residents from the western half of Fremont Park in downtown, where their presence near a grove of redwood trees constituted a fire hazard, according to city authorities. Those living in the eastern half of the plaza were not required to leave. [Read]
Fire Threat Addressed in Encampment in Fremont Park
By City of Santa Rosa News Alert, updated July 29, 2020
Outreach and notification to individuals within the park was led by the Santa Rosa Police Department and Catholic Charities’ Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST). Through this effort, the City was successful in placing 25 individuals from the encampments into services, including 2 into permanent supportive housing, and others at the City’s Samuel L. Jones Hall Homeless Shelter, the Safe Social Distancing Program at Finley, and hotel rooms. [Read]
California Landlords Are Locking Out Struggling Tenants. A ‘Tsunami of Evictions’ May Be Next
By Sam Levin, The Guardian, July 30, 2020
Some California tenants have faced increasingly aggressive eviction efforts over the last month, despite emergency protections meant to preserve people’s housing during the coronavirus pandemic. And although advocates have urged state officials to strengthen the rules, key renters’ protections are set to expire without new state plans in place. [Read]
Webinar: Future Planning for the Homelessness Response System: Lessons Learned from Birmingham, Detroit, and New Orleans
Presented by the United State Interagency Council on Homelessness on July 27, 2020. Watch and download webinar slides here.
Plan to Convert Hotel into Housing for Homeless Worries Some Santa Rosa Neighbors
By Will Schmitt, Press Democrat, July 26, 2020
County officials — operating largely behind closed doors — are moving forward to purchase the Hotel Azura that sits on the northeast corner of the St. Rose neighborhood, at the intersection of College and Mendocino avenues. If the county goes through with the purchase in the next few months, it would turn the 42-room hotel into permanent housing with on-site services for people experiencing homelessness. The growing concentration of those service providers has irked some residents of the residents in the St. Rose district and adjacent West End neighborhood on the west side of Highway 101. [Read]
Emergency Expansion at City’s Homeless Shelter Property to Restore Bed Space to Pre-COVID-19 Levels
By City of Santa Rosa News Flash, July 23, 2020
The Samuel Jones Hall (SJH) Homeless Shelter, located at 4020 Finley Avenue, is a critical facility providing shelter and services to persons experiencing homelessness. In March 2020, it was necessary to put measures in place to help protect SJH guests from COVID-19 by relocating some individuals out of the facility so that required social distancing measures could be implemented, resulting in a loss of 56 beds. The City is now planning an emergency shelter expansion at SJH to restore available bed capacity back to pre-COVID-19 occupancy, while maintaining social distancing requirements. The purpose of the expansion is to restore these critically needed shelter beds that were lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, not to increase overall bed capacity at the facility. [Read]
Transgender Homeless Adults & Unsheltered Homelessness: What the Data Tell Us
Published by National Alliance to End Homelessness & Homelessness Research Institute, July 24, 2020
Limited information exists about the number of transgender people experiencing homelessness. There are very few data sets relative to this population, but all the data tells a similar story: transgender people are more likely to be unsheltered than their cisgender peers, and those who are unsheltered have considerably more health and safety challenges than those who are sheltered. [Read]
A Los Angeles Nonprofit’s Call for Homeless Housing Solutions Draws 40 Shelter Ideas—and Counting
By Lucy Wang, Dwell, July 24, 2020
In a bid to safely bring the unhoused public indoors, Los Angeles–based nonprofit The Housing Innovation Collaborative (HICo) has launched The Rapid Shelter Innovation Showcase—an open-source, online platform for rapidly deployable shelter solutions to the homeless crisis worsened by COVID-19. [Read]
Where To Get Food, Financial Assistance in Sonoma County During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Elissa Chudwin, Press Democrat, July 23, 2020
If you or someone you know is in need of help during the pandemic, here is a list of local organizations that are providing food and financial assistance. This list is being updated as we learn more, and you can let us know what we’ve missed at onlineideas@pressdemocrat.com. [Read]
Nowhere To Go
Nowhere To Go is a project created in an unprecedented collaboration among seven university journalism programs spanning the country led by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland. The project wanted to take a nationwide snapshot of how homeless people are being treated in America, criminalization, encampments, and Dignity Village in Gainesville, FL. Americans priced out of housing increasingly land in jail, in court or in tents on the street. As we shelter in place, they have nowhere to go. [Read]
Our Housing First Approach to Homelessness in the Bay Area
By Jacquelline Fuller, President, Google.org
In the California Bay Area, it’s estimated that there are more than 35,000 people who are homeless, making it the third largest region for homelessness in the country. The pandemic has only exacerbated this crisis.
Last year, we made a $1 billion commitment to accelerate the production of affordable housing in the Bay Area, and Google.org made a pledge to grant $50 million to community organizations working on the front lines. Google.org has since granted $7.75 million to nonprofits, to support more than 33,000 people with services like mental health care, food distribution and job training, and to house 9,000 of those individuals over the span of four years. [Read]
Google Company Announcements: A Year of Work On the Bay Area Housing and Homeless Crisis
By Rebecca Prozan, Senior Manager, California State & Local Policy, July 23, 2020
Today, we’re marking the one-year anniversary of our Bay Area housing commitment. Since last year, we’ve met with hundreds of advocates, developers and community leaders to understand how to quickly create affordable housing and support solutions to homelessness. In the Bay area, there’s a severe housing shortage of nearly 500,000 affordable units and the homelessness crisis affects around 35,000 people. So we focused our efforts on two areas: grants to assist people experiencing homelessness and investments to produce more affordable housing. [Read]
“Nobody Asks Us”: Stories From the Joe Rodota Trail
Oak Leaf, January 27, 2020
Coverage of Sonoma County’s homelessness crisis and the people who live on the trail. [Read]
Austin Tackles Homelessness With a Village of Sustainable Tiny Homes
By Lauren Jones, Dwell, March 26, 2020
Local architects from McKinney York explain their schemes for two sustainable models designed to give the formerly homeless a permanent place to call their own. [Read]
Santa Rosa Plans to Evict Sprawling Homeless Encampment in Fremont Park
By Austin Murphy, Press Democrat, July 24, 2020
Santa Rosa is making plans to evict members of the city’s latest sprawling homeless encampment. Early next week, the city will begin relocating roughly 100 residents living in Fremont Park, a 1.7-acre plaza between Fourth and Fifth streets, just a few blocks east of downtown. [Read]
Homelessness Can Be Eradicated – Fight Big Real Estate with Nithya Raman
By Abby Martin, Empire Files, February 9, 2020
Abby Martin meets with Nithya Raman, progressive candidate for LA City Council in District 4, about her campaign to end homelessness in the nation’s epicenter and how local politicians refuse to take easy actions to eradicate the phenomenon–but refuse to in the interests of big real estate developers. [Read]
Gardeners Help Homeless in Greenfield’s Energy Park
By Anita Fritz, Recorder, July 24, 2020
A group of volunteers who have been gardening in Energy Park, some for more than a decade, have formed bonds they never expected with the homeless men and women who spend time there every day. The gardeners have been bringing them water, fruit and garbage bags, and one nonprofit has installed a needle box that is emptied regularly. [Read]
Statement Re: HUD Proposed Regulations for Homeless Shelter Access for Trans and Non-Binary
National LGBTQ Task Force, Washington, DC, July 23, 2020
“This morning, the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) formally published a proposed regulation on how service providers should interpret nondiscrimination protections for transgender and nonbinary people who need access to homeless shelters. Not only does the proposed rule lay bare Carson and Trump’s transphobic views, it is riddled with misunderstandings of the law and functional impossibilities.” [Read]
City of Homelessness – Philadelphia’s transients ride out the pandemic on the city’s public trains
By Thom Nickels, City Journal, July 23, 2020
Philadelphia’s train vagabonds are a varied, distressing lot—from the small, older woman who twitches uncontrollably on the Market Street El to the younger homeless who pass through trains, carrying signs and announcing that they haven’t eaten since yesterday. “Anything will help, a sandwich, a quarter,” they plead. Commuters sometimes hear Dickensian monologues about starving children holed up in hotels or pregnant wives sitting under underpasses, waiting for those sandwiches. [Read]
Emergency Homeless Shelter Village Officially Moves Forward
By Natalie Hanson, Chico Enterprise-Record, July 23, 2020
As of Wednesday, a new emergency shelter complex to be located on the northeast end of Chico is underway for 2021. Dubbed Everhart Village, the shelter units will be located adjacent to Behavioral Health services at Rio Lindo Avenue near Cohasset Road and will house clients referred by Behavioral Health who are currently unsheltered or at risk of homelessness. [Read]
Homeless Service Providers Received Millions in PPP Loans
By Avi Bajpai, Street Sense Media, July 23, 2020
As the rest of D.C. was shutting down amid rising cases of the coronavirus this spring, at least 14 homeless service providers and community organizations received support from the Paycheck Protection Program, a relief measure designed to help cover payroll costs and keep workers employed during the pandemic. [Read]
Denver Eyes National Western Complex Lot For First Sanctioned Homeless Encampment
By Conrad Swanson, Denver Post, July 23, 2020
The National Western Complex parking lot sits as the top contender to be the location of Denver’s first sanctioned homeless encampment, and while nothing is finalized, organizers and neighbors already disagree over the site. “This is too much, goddamn it,” said Drew Dutcher, president of the Elyria and Swansea Neighborhood Association. “We’re right in the thick of it. We have homeless people roaming around in our alleys, off their meds. We’re picking up a lot of extra trash. Women don’t feel safe. People are worried about their children.” [Read]
Coronavirus Crisis Pushes SF Mayor Breed to Move More Homeless Into Permanent Shelter
By Dominic Fracassa, San Francisco Chronicle, July 21, 2020.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed unveiled a plan on Tuesday that attempts to chart the city’s course for addressing homelessness over the next two years, a proposal shaped in large part by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Breed’s “Homelessness Recovery Plan” seeks to find shelter or housing accommodations for 6,000 homeless people, a figure that includes 4,500 placements in permanent supportive housing. An estimated 1,500 of those will be new units — a figure the mayor’s office said represents the biggest increase in permanent supportive housing in the last two decades. The city will lease 1,000 of those units in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. [Read]
Judge Orders Sacramento Police To Stop Clearing Homeless Camps During COVID-19 Pandemic
By Theresa Clift, Sacramento Bee, July 17, 2020
Sacramento police violated a county health order when they cleared homeless people from public property last month without giving them a place to go, Sacramento County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday. The judge will issue a court order requiring the city to comply in the future. [Read]
Sonoma County Contract for Healdsburg Hotel Quarantine Space Worth Up To $725,000
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, July 22, 2020
Sonoma County has agreed to pay up to $725,000 for the use of 60 rooms at a Healdsburg hotel to quarantine COVID-19 patients amid a surge of cases heading into the fall, according to the county’s contract with the hotel. The deal, signed late last week with the Best Western Dry Creek Inn, secured replacement space for similar county quarantine units used to house at least 122 people this spring and early summer in student dorms at Sonoma State University. The hotel contract goes to the end of August, but allows for month-to-month extensions. [Read]
Time to Invest in Affordable Housing and Education, Not Tear Gas, Batons, and State-Sanctioned Murder
By Robert Reich, Common Dreams, July 22, 2020
Some societies center on social control, others on social investment. The more societies spend on social controls, the less they have left for social investment. More police means fewer social services. American taxpayers spend $107.5 billion more on police than on public housing. It’s time to defund the police, and invest in communities. We have no time to waste. [Read]
San Diego Approves Region’s First Tiny Houses Law To Help Solve Housing Crisis
By David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, July 21, 2020
San Diego became the first city in the region Tuesday to allow homeowners to install movable “tiny houses” in their back yards. City Council members said before unanimously approving a tiny houses ordinance that tiny houses will help solve the local housing crisis by creating another affordable option for low-income residents that doesn’t require a taxpayer subsidy. [Read]
‘I’m going to die out here.’ Brutal Heat Is Even More Dangerous With Coronavirus
By Stephanie Lai, Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2020
Charlotte Oliver is well acquainted with heat. She grew up in the desert regions of the Inland Empire, where temperatures this month have reached 121 degrees. But for the 50-year-old, living with heat became an urgent matter when, amid alcohol addiction two years ago, she found herself on the streets. [Read]
Caltrans Ordered to Pay $2M For Destroying Bay Area Homeless Camps
By Andrew Chamings, SFGate, July 21, 2020
The California Department of Transportation has agreed to pay $2 million for destroying belongings during sweeps of homeless encampments from 2014 to 2019. The class-action lawsuit, filed in 2016 on behalf of unhoused Californians, claims that belongings, including, food, clothing, and medical supplies, were destroyed during the sweeps enacted by Caltrans. [Read]
Stories of Fear, Hope, Survival – Portraits of life on the street during the pandemic
By Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle, July 8, 2020
For most of the 35,000 people who find themselves without a home on any given night in the Bay Area, the coronavirus crisis has been a gnarled mixture of blessing and fear. More than 4,500 of the sickest and most vulnerable have been shepherded into hotel rooms or spots in temporary trailer parks, a significant upgrade from the streets or a shelter bed. Perennially crowded shelters have been thinned out for more physical spacing, making them safer and more livable. [Read]
House Passes Pandemic Housing Bills; Pressure on Senate Republicans to support More Housing Assistance
By Chris Holden, Affordablehousingonline.com, July 14, 2020
A housing bill passed in June by the House of Representatives is one of several moves to pressure Senate Republicans into supporting major housing provisions in the next coronavirus stimulus package. Called the Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020, this bill would authorize a national moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, give emergency rental assistance, and provide extra funding to federal housing programs. The bill includes all of the housing assistance in the recently passed HEROES Act, but in legislation that stands on its own. [Read]
Flowchart – State of California COVID-19 Recommended Protocol for People Experiencing Homelessness
Developed in partnership with Margot Kushel, MD and the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative
[Read]
City-sanctioned Homeless Encampment Proposed for Denver Coliseum Parking Lot
By Aaron Kremer, Business Den, July 19, 2020
Colorado Village Collaborative, a local nonprofit that’s working with the city to build and manage 10,000-square-foot campsites with port-a-potties, washing stations and 24-hour staffing, said last week that a pilot location has been proposed for the Denver Coliseum parking lot. [Read]
Eden Village to Bring Affordable Housing to Homeless in Wilmington
By Tanner Barth, WWay3, July 19, 2020
Affordable housing for the chronically homeless population is on its way to the Cape Fear with the new Eden Village. The project is set to bring 32 tiny homes to Wilmington by 2021. The tiny community will be specially designed to provide permanent homes for chronically homeless individuals including patients of the local hospital. [Read]
Sonoma County Secures New Coronavirus Quarantine Site At Best Western In Healdsburg
By Mary Callahan, Press Democrat, updated July 17, 2020
Sonoma County next week will open a new quarantine site for those in need of coronavirus isolation and lower-level care at the Best Western Dry Creek Inn in Healdsburg, where 60 rooms will be used to bolster the county’s fight to curb the pandemic’s spread. [Read]
Sacramento Homeless Advocates Declare Victory As Court Ruling Prohibits Homeless Sweeps During Pandemic
By Lonnie Wong, Fox 40, July 17, 2020
The public health order issued in June cited the danger of moving homeless people infected with COVID-19 all over the city. Homeless advocates said the court order to follow a county health mandate was cut and dry: Homeless camps cannot be broken up on public property unless officials have somewhere to house the homeless individuals. [Read]
6 Reasons Why Displacing the Homeless Must Stop, Regardless of COVID-19
By Chris Young, The Canadian Press, July 10, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted calls to suspend evictions of homeless encampments. Victoria, Edmonton, Toronto, and other cities did so. But many were soon back at it. Forcible decampment of homeless people continued, albeit with greater emphasis on securing housing. Suspending homeless camp evictions during the pandemic is a start, but it is not enough. The problem is failed housing policies, not COVID-19. [Read]
City of Santa Rosa Requests the Community for Help in Shaping the Future of Santa Rosa
The General Plan Update project will provide an important opportunity for the community to discuss ways to ensure housing for all, improve neighborhood quality and connectivity, foster economic development, improve public health, create more equitable access to community amenities and services, enhance education, and reinforce environmental stewardship. Community online meetings (July 18 & 25) and public review and comment period (June 25-July 25). [Read]
Philadelphia Delays Unhoused Encampment Eviction as CDC Says “Let them Remain” & Stop COVID Spread
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, July 17, 2020
CDC guidelines state, “If individual housing options are not available, allow people who are living unsheltered or in encampments to remain where they are.” Despite this, sweeps have been conducted in New York, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Denver and elsewhere… Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement Thursday the camp, “casts an important light on the racial inequities in our society that impact homelessness,” and said he’s committed to taking steps to provide affordable housing. [Read/Watch/Listen]
PD Editorial: Progress on Homelessness But Unfulfilled Promises, Too
Editorial Board, Press Democrat, July 15, 2020
The arrival of two dozen trailers from the state is the latest in a series of encouraging signs that our community is making progress toward providing shelter for the homeless. But local officials still have critical deadlines to meet — and more than a few promises to fulfill — to ensure progress continues. [Read]
Will California Guarantee Housing as a Right? Here’s How the Pandemic Is Shaping the Debate
By Molly Solomon, KQED, May 21, 2020
California’s housing crisis is driving state lawmakers to think big. One question they’re considering: How can the Golden State guarantee housing as a right? This week, state legislators looked at two different approaches that tackle the legal right to housing and how the coronavirus pandemic is shaping the debate. [Read news article] [Read AB-2405]
Sonoma County Zeros In On New Coronavirus Quarantine Site
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, July 15, 2020
The unidentified location would house people with mild to moderate coronavirus symptoms who need to isolate from vulnerable family members, but it also could serve as a backup location for virus patients and ease pressure on area hospitals should there be a surge of area infections at one time, health officials said.
Barbie Robinson, director of the county Department of Health Services, said Wednesday. “We hope to have the contracts in place by the end of the week.” [Read]
Apple Taps First $400 Million of $2.5 Billion California Housing Pledge
By Louis Hansen, Mercury News, updated July 14, 2020
Making a downpayment on its housing pledge, Apple announced Monday it has committed $400 million to affordable housing projects this year across California, including immediate assistance for struggling Bay Area tenants and four, new low-income projects across the region. [Read]
Information Meeting hosted by NAMI Sonoma County Hosting re 2020 Ballot Measure to Support Mental Health, Homeless, Housing, & Substance Use Services
Wed, July 22, 2020, 5:00 – 5:45 pm
Speakers include Sonoma County’s Barbie Robinson, Bill Carter & Leah Benz.
To participate, email info@namisoco.org. Read ballot details here.
Project-Based Voucher Waitlist on Studio and 1-Bedroom Units in Cloverdale and Petaluma, CA Open
The Sonoma County Housing Authority will accept applications from June 26 – July 31, 2020 for new Project-Based Voucher Waitlists tied to studio and 1 bedroom units at Kings Valley Senior Apartments in Cloverdale, and Lindberg Senior Apartments in Petaluma.
Applications may be completed online at www.waitlistcheck.com/CA085. If you require a paper application, please contact the Housing Authority office by calling (707) 565-7501. Applications are due Friday, July 31, 2020, by 5 p.m. if submitted in person at the Housing Authority’s offices, or by 11:59 p.m. if submitted online. [Read more]
State Trailers Arrive to House Vunerable Unsheltered at Fairgrounds
News of the North Bay, July 13, 2020
Twenty four state trailers will be in place by late Monday at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds to help house vunerable homeless people who will be moved from Sonoma State University housing this week. [Read]
Bay Area Homelessness: 97 Answers to your Questions
By Kevin Fagan, SF Chronicle, updated July 11, 2020
Ask any dozen people in the Bay Area what they think of homelessness, and you’ll get a dozen different answers. For the past two years, we asked Chronicle readers to submit questions about this most vexing, heartbreaking, seemingly insoluble problem in the Bay Area, and received more than 700 submissions. [Read]
Racist Zoom Bomb Ends Sonoma County Meeting on Homeless Solutions
By Will Schmitt, Press Democrat, July 11, 2020
Digital intruders with racist and violent messages stormed into a virtual Friday meeting of a Sonoma County agency tasked with ending homelessness, forcing officials to call off the meeting and spawning a hate crime investigation by Santa Rosa police. [Read]
Report Finds 1% of Sonoma County Residents Account for Over 25% of Jail, Shelter, and Behavioral Health Utilization
Press release by Elsa Augustine & Evan White, July 7, 2020
Counties across California report that a large bulk of government programs and services are used by a relatively small group of familiar faces who cycle in and out of hospitals, homeless shelters, behavioral health programs, and jails. [Read press release] [Read report]
COVID-19 Crisis Only Makes Homeless Solution Clearer
By Jennifer Loving and Tracey Edwards, Mercury News, July 12, 2020
Since the pandemic began, we’ve known that our homeless neighbors are among the most vulnerable members of our community. Those without stable housing not only face greater difficulty taking preventive actions, they are often in poorer health than the average resident. They also are disproportionately people of color, yet another sign of how the suffering in our community is not felt equally… We need to take steps to speed up the development process that continues to slow down all types of housing production. Several promising streamlining bills have been introduced in the State legislature, including AB 1907 that would provide a CEQA exemption for supportive housing, shelters and many other affordable projects. [Read]
Sonoma County Advances Bid to Purchase Hotel for Homeless Quarters
By Will Schmitt, Press Democrat, July 9, 2020
Sonoma County on Thursday agreed to to take a closer look at the potential purchase of a 42-room hotel in downtown Santa Rosa that would be modified and used to house the area’s COVID-vulnerable homeless population. [Read]
Update on Efforts to Address Encampments in the Corporate Center Parkway Area
Posted in City of Santa Rosa Newsletter, July 9, 2020
The City’s Homeless Encampment Assistance Process (HEAP) focused efforts on Thursday, July 9 to address encampments located in the Corporate Center Parkway area. This follows prior actions by the City to address illegal dumping into storm drains, vehicle code violations and criminal activity as well as connecting individuals within these encampments with support and services. [Read]
Joe Biden’s Surprisingly Visionary Housing Plan, Explained
By Matthew Vglesias, Vox, July 9, 2020
Joe Biden has a housing policy agenda that is ambitious, technically sound, and politically feasible, and that would — if implemented — be life-changing for millions of low-income and housing-insecure households. According to original modeling by Columbia University scholars, it could cut child poverty by a third, narrow racial opportunity gaps, and potentially drive progress on the broader middle-class affordability crisis in the largest coastal cities as well. The plan hasn’t stirred an intraparty debate or really much attention at all, which could make it politically feasible to enact.[Read]
HOME Sonoma County Leadership Council Meeting Agenda Package Available (POSTPONED due to technical difficulties)
Meeting on Friday, July 10 at 1 pm by zoom. Read meeting agenda and package here.
How to Run for City or Town Council
Presentation by the League of Women Voters of Sonoma County on Wednesday, July 15 at 6 pm.
Esther Lemus, Town Council of Windsor Vice Mayor, Victoria Fleming, Santa Rosa City Council Vice Mayor, Marta Cruz-Concepcion, Cloverdale City Councilwoman, and former Santa Rosa City Councilman, Lee Pierce will share how they successfully ran for office and what kinds of decisions are made by council members. Also hear about the nuts & bolts of running a campaign from League member Karen Weeks, including filing to run, deadlines, and other requirements to run a successful campaign.
Join via YouTube Live at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvppI3yS3Hcus_mTECDsbFA, or Live on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/lwvsonomacounty/
Big Skills Tiny Homes Teaches on the Job
By Kary Hess, Bohemian, July 8, 2020
The homes may be tiny, but the career options are big with Big Skills Tiny Homes. This Marin nonprofit provides self-discovery, mentoring and skill development to students interested in the trades. [Read article]. [Read about Big Skills Tiny Homes]
Sonoma County Supervisors Consider Hotel Purchase As SSU Exit Spurs Search For Homeless Quarters
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, July 9, 2020
The proposed purchase of the Hotel Azura could act as a suitable replacement, county officials hope, serving as a centralized shelter that would get more of the area’s most vulnerable homeless people off the streets while easing strain on the existing shelter network. [Read]
San Francisco Takes Steps To Find Long-Term Housing For Some Homeless Now In Hotels
By Jay Barmann, SFist, July 9, 2020
At least 200 of the homeless people currently residing in hotels due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be placed in long-term housing, subsidized by philanthropic funds for 18 months. [Read]
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Meeting
Documents on the July 7, 2020 meeting of the Board of Supervisors are available on the County webpage. Video of the meeting is not yet available, but check on this same webpage later. [Read]
Sonoma County Extends Disputed Homeless Encampment Indefinitely
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, July 7 2020
A split Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to extend operations of a county-sponsored homeless camp near Oakmont indefinitely, defying staunch opposition from neighbors and an equally entrenched but politically isolated board chair who cast the lone no vote. [Read]
Sonoma County Homeless Census Finds 7% decline in Population Despite High Visibility
By Mary Callahan, Press Democrat, July 7, 2020
A preliminary report presented to the Board of Supervisors this week shows 2,745 people were tallied during the Feb. 28 point-in-time count, compared with 2,951 a year earlier, a drop of 206 people. [Read]
Santa Rosa Plans New Shelter for 60 People at Samuel Jones Hall
By Will Schmitt, Press Democrat, July 6, 2020.
Santa Rosa plans to restore its homeless shelter capacity by building a 60-person structure later this year in the parking lot of the Samuel L. Jones Hall shelter near the city’s southwest corner.
The move would come about the same time Santa Rosa aims to wind down the managed homeless camp established in May outside the Finley Community Center. That first-ever sanctioned camp for Santa Rosa was created to get some of the scores of campers living at downtown underpasses along Highway 101 into safer shelter. [Read]
Documents show SSU told Sonoma County in late May that deal for coronavirus care site wouldn’t be extended
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, July 7, 2020
Top Sonoma County health officials have known for at least five weeks that Sonoma State University would end in June its contract with the county for COVID-19 quarantine and isolation space at the university dorms, a revelation Monday that underscores the county’s failure to identify a replacement site amid a rising coronavirus caseload. [Read]
Sonoma County Scrambles to Secure Extra Hospital Beds After Sonoma State University Cancels Contract
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, July 5, 2020
Sonoma County officials are scrambling amid a harrowing spike of coronavirus cases and deaths to secure extra space if needed for hospital patients, in the wake of a Sonoma State University decision to reject the county’s request to continue using the campus. [Read]
A Mini-Urban Miracle,’ New Berkeley Homeless Housing Could Be Model for the State
By Emilie Raguso, Berkeleyside, July 10, 2020
On Thursday night, the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board unanimously approved a new project from Panoramic Interests for a 39-unit complex made from modular construction to house people who were formerly homeless. Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency(BOSS), a 49-year-old Berkeley nonprofit, will run the operation, which could open within a year, barring delays. [Read]
Berkeley’s Most Ambitious Homeless Housing Project Ever Breaks Ground
By Emilie Raguso, Berkeleyside, July 7, 2020
The project also includes 89 units of affordable housing, at 50%-60% of the area median income, that will be available to the general public on a lottery basis. It is slated to open in 2022. [Read]
Project Roomkey and Project Homekey Updates, Week of July 5, 2020
From California Department of Social Service
The CDSS Housing and Homelessness Branch sends these weekly program updates relevant to Project Roomkey. We also hold “office hours” every other Tuesday at 11:00am to provide an opportunity for local Project Roomkey leads to share opportunities, challenges and ask questions. Our next “office hours” call will take place on Tuesday, July 14 from 11:00am – 12:00pm. [Read]
Sonoma County Poised to Make Homeless Near Oakmont Permanent
By Tyler Silvy, Press Democrat, July 3, 2020
A pop-up homeless shelter once envisioned as a temporary site on Santa Rosa’s eastern flank could soon be designated a permanent fixture at the Los 
Guilicos Juvenile Justice Center campus. Sonoma County supervisors will discuss the sanctioned encampment at their Tuesday meeting [Read details of July 7th meeting], and Chair Susan Gorin said the board will most likely be asked by county staff to make the camp permanent, a move that if approved would break a promise to residents of the nearby Oakmont Village senior community. [Read]
City of Santa Rosa Appoints Community Engagement Division Director
City of Santa Rosa News Flash, June 29, 2020
The City of Santa Rosa has hired Magali Telles as the next Community Engagement Division Director. The position is a key role for the City as Telles will be the lead on efforts to create equitable and effective engagement with all City Departments and the community. [Read]
UC Hastings Proves That If You Want Homeless Moved Off the Streets in SF (During the Pandemic), You Should Sue
By Jay Barnmann, SFist, July 1, 2020
The effort that began two weeks ago to move hundreds of homeless tent-dwellers off the sidewalks of the Tenderloin has succeeded in relocating at least 388 people — and it all seems to be thanks to threats of legal action that were taken by UC Hastings and a neighborhood merchants association in early May. [Read]
Governor Newsom Visits Project Roomkey Site in Bay Area to Announce “Homekey,” the Next Phase in State’s COVID-19 Response to Protect Homeless Californians
Press release from Governor Newsom’s office, June 30, 2020
Governor announces Homekey, the next phase of COVID-19 response to protect homeless Californians. State and counties will spend upwards of $1 billion to purchase hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings and tiny homes and provide services to the homeless. [Read]
Converting a Garage into ADU for Homeless
The Living Room, a shelter for women and their families in Santa Rosa, recently converted a garage into a studio apartment for the homeless. The garage was part of the house purchased by The Living Room (TLR) in April 2019 with money lent by a group of investors, and are currently housing several previously unsheltered women and families. The converted studio apartment is about 390 sq.ft. The project costs of less than $80,000 was covered with money from grant, and individual donations, donated materials, and pro-bono service for the engineering service. The unit will be ready for occupancy by early July. See a video of the unit here.
Santa Rosa groups help homeless register for $1,200 government stimulus checks
By Austin Murphy, Press Democrat, June 19, 2020
In oppressive Thursday afternoon heat and with little fanfare, they broke through the $100,000 barrier.
Under a pair of tents pitched on Challenger Way in west Santa Rosa, a cadre of do-gooders helped vulnerable people overcome the small challenges preventing them from collecting a large windfall from Uncle Sam. [Read]
Video – Prioritizing ESG-CV Resources
Marc Dones (National Innovation Service) and Nan Roman (National Alliance to End Homelessness) discuss how to best use ESG-CV funds in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 6:09 mins, posted on June 23, 2020 [View]
Meet Victoria
by artist Susan Cornelis on her blog – Conversations With the Muse, and Life Shared in Sketches, June 2020
Victoria is a member of Homeless Action! and a board member of SAVS Sonoma Villages.
Susan wrote: “Victoria is one of the first ladies I met a year and a half ago at The Living Room. She was in the knitting group and later I would see her in the art groups. One day she told me about her connection with Homeless Action, a group of grassroots activists in Sonoma County working towards ending the suffering of people who do not have a home.” [Read]
Liz Theoharis: Organizing the Rich or the Poor?
Which America Will Be Ours After the Pandemic?
Posted by Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, June 5, 2020
“We look to the rich for answers to the very problems they are often responsible for creating and from which they benefit. The wreckage of this pandemic moment is a bitter reminder of this affliction, as well as a signpost suggesting how we must emerge from this crisis a just and more equitable nation. With a possible depression ahead and more social unrest on the rise, isn’t it time to stop vindicating the wealthiest people in this country and look instead to leadership from those who were living in a depression before Covid-19 even hit and already organizing and protesting?” [Read]
By the Numbers – Housing in Sonoma County
Posted by Generation Housing, June 1, 2020
This is a series of charts showing housing data in Sonoma County, including median home prices, median rents, job growth to housing production, severely crowded renter households, building permits, homeownership, housing production, funding, etc.
Generation Housing (Gen H) has an inspiring new vision of housing and quality of life in Sonoma County, advocating for and supporting the action to build the housing our community needs to thrive. [Read]
Close to Home: Privilege and Inequity in the Time of COVID
Written by James Gore, Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Press Democrat, May 31, 2020
[Read]
200 Homeless Minneapolis Residents Turned a Hotel Into a Communal Sanctuary
Lauren Kaori Gurley, Vice, June 3, 2020
The Sheraton, just blocks from where police killed George Floyd, is being managed as a commune, run by the residents and without leaders. [Read]
A Window onto an American Nightmare
Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, May 25, 2020
As the homelessness crisis and the coronavirus crisis converge, what can we learn from one city’s struggles? (Long article, but extremely detailed and well-written). [Read more]
City-sponsored homeless camp at Finley Community Center draws dozens of residents
Will Schmitt, Press Democrat, May 25, 2020
One week after Santa Rosa opened its first sanctioned homeless camp, dozens of people have moved from outdoor encampments to a parking lot near the Finley Community Center, where the vast majority of new residents of the temporary shelter site have stuck around with few problems, officials said. [Read more]
2020 Consolidated Plan and One Year Action Plan Now Available for Public comment
By Sonoma County Community Development Commission, May 1, 2020
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), requires jurisdictions receiving federal funds from Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnerships, and Federal Emergency Solutions Grant programs to develop and submit a Five-Year Consolidated Plan. The plan identifies the needs of lower-income persons in the locality and the proposed actions to be taken to serve those needs. [Read more]
Download Draft 2020 Consolidated Plan and One Year Action Plan (PDF: 2 MB)
Safe Social Distancing Program at Finley Parking Lot
Posted by City of Santa Rosa, updated May 20, 2020
The City of Santa Rosa is establishing a Safe Social Distancing area, in the City-owned parking lot at Finley Community Center, for temporary use by vulnerable unsheltered individuals amid the coronavirus pandemic. To help answer questions about the program, the following FAQs have been developed and will continue to be updated as we receive additional questions from the community. [Read more]
* General Questions about the Program
* Site & Program Operations
* Public Safety
* Homelessness Amid Coronavirus
PD Editorial: Santa Rosa needs to include public in homeless plans
Press Democrat Editorial Board, May 24, 2020
Santa Rosa officials cut more than a few corners as they established the city’s first sanctioned homeless camp, which opened this past week at the Finley Community Center.
There wasn’t a City Council vote or a public hearing.
The City didn’t even notify Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s public health officer, who has largely determined what can stay open and what must remain closed during the coronavirus pandemic. [Read more]
Innovations in Affordable Housing Virtual Summit 2020 – August 11-12, 2020
Invitation to register posted by PopHLC (Population Health Learning Collaborative), May 8, 2020. [Watch video introduction] [Register here]
A sample of talk categories that may be of interest to homeless advocates like you:
- Innovative Small Residences (Tiny Homes and ADUs)
- Helping the Individual Who Need Housing
- Reducing the Construction Cost of Housing
- Zoning, Coding, and other Local Policies
- Innovations in Home Sharing, Ownership, and Rental Models
- Providing Housing for the Unhoused and High-Risk Groups
Safe Social Distancing Program for Unsheltered Individuals
Posted by City of Santa Rosa, May 6, 2020
The City of Santa Rosa is preparing to open a City-owned parking lot for temporary use to provide safer social-distancing space for unsheltered individuals amid the coronavirus pandemic. A section of the parking lot at Finley Community Center located at 2060 W. College Ave, will serve as the managed site and will include up to 70 tents, with each tent accommodating an individual or couple. The 24,600 square foot parking lot space to be utilized is located between the Person Senior Wing building and the Finley tennis courts. [Read more]
COVID-19 Webinar Recording Now Available May 12, 2020
Webinar presented by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness: Operating Isolation and Quarantine Facilities and Providing Medical, Behavioral Health, and Substance Use Treatment: Lessons Learned from King County. [Read more]
NEWS ARCHIVE
This is a collection of local, regional, national, and international news and media reports on homelessness in the form of an Excel spreadsheet which can view it on your browser, searchable, sortable, with clickable hyperlinks, and downloadable. It is being updated continuously. Please check back often. Click here.
