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Friday, February 10, 2012
More than 100 winter shelter beds not available
by Kathleen Haley, published on November 23, 2009 at 10:03 PM
Storyline: Regional Issues
The number of beds available for the homeless in the Sacramento region during the cold-weather season is lower this Thanksgiving week than it was last year, according to Tim Brown, director of the Ending Homelessness Initiative. In addition, a Rancho Cordova city official expressed skepticism Monday about a plan to provide beds for 105 homeless people in that city.
However, a multiagency task force still plans to achieve its goal of providing 269 winter shelter beds, Brown said in an interview.
As of Friday, 52 winter shelter beds were available for the homeless. This week, the task force expects to offer 82 beds because 30 motel vouchers are available, Brown said.
Still, at this time last year, there were 150 winter shelter beds, according to Brown’s figures.
He noted that the task force is creating a new winter shelter system; it is not using Cal/Expo this year.
Brown addressed the delays in a letter sent Monday to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. “We have faced implementation challenges, but that is to be expected any time an effort is made to do innovative work across several organizations and jurisdictions in a short period of time,” he wrote.
Mayor Kevin Johnson asked the task force earlier this fall to create a plan for winter shelter in about a month-and-a-half.
The task force plans to have 164 beds ready for the homeless by next week, Brown said. “By Dec. 1, we’ll have more than the beds we had last year.”
Tom Armstrong, a Sacramento resident who is homeless, criticized the task force in a Nov. 20 article in The Sacramento Press, arguing that the task force’s work deserves an “F.”
But the task force maintains its goal of 269 beds. Brown said the group hopes to open some beds at a Rancho Cordova site before Christmas. The task force and city of Rancho Cordova staff are working on the issue. Rancho Cordova’s City Council must approve the plan.
One Rancho Cordova city official said there are many problems with the panel's plan to transform old bungalows into winter shelter. The bungalows need many repairs in order to be used for shelter, said Curt Haven, director of economic development and neighborhood services for Rancho Cordova. There are problems with lead paint, mold and broken windows, he said, adding, “It’s a mess."
The bungalows are near the Mather Community Campus, which provides services for 362 homeless people, Haven said.
He said he did not know of any available funding to bring the same kind of services to the a new group of 105 homeless people. The result could be that there will be one group of homeless people with many services at Mather Community Campus, and then 105 homeless people housed in the nearby bungalows without comparable services. “I feel like we’re setting this up to be a failure and set up a second class of homeless,” Haven said.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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The forecast for Sacramento, from weather.com right now, is sub-40-degree night lows for nine of the next ten days.
http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/95811?from=36hr_topnav_undeclared
I spoke to a mayor's aid, regarding ideas and the progress of the Task Force on August 21. At that time, I presented my ideas, which are pretty much what can be found here: http://sacramentohomeless.blogspot.com/2009/08/winter-of-our-discontent-shelter-or.html It is not true that the task force has had only a month and a half. And, you know, winter comes predictably; it's not a surprise, like an earthquake. What does that MEAN 'they only had a month and a half or that they were overcome by implementation challenges. This was a year that required dilligence and many avenues. Where was Plan B? And Plan C?
Meaning no great offence, but Tim Brown is never prepared. The first Homeless Connect in Sacramento that he "organized" failed utterly because of a three-hour wait in the parking lot homeless people had to endure for "triage." The event was only open for five hours, total. At Homeless Connect #2, with Brown still in charge, the event wasn't advertised. So it was little attended. [Of course, too, homeless people remembered the sting of what happened the prior year.]
Their bungling has REAL implications. I can tell you that there is misery out there on the streets at night. In this matter, the mayor can be strong, NOW. He can make some adjustment re who's on the floor. It's late in the game, but it's not over. He can put in some fresh players who can make some shots from the outside.
Your claim of 700 at the Homeless Connect 2009 was GIVEN BEFORE the event. See this Bee article from BEFORE THE EVENT: http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1903947.html The actual number of people there is unknown, but my understanding is that attendance was way down.
You have an integrity problem, Mr. Brown.
-- Tom Armstrong