Greetings!
Here are the news articles that Google Alert has found for homeless housing that homeless activists should know about:
Here are the news articles that Google Alert has found for homeless housing that homeless activists should know about:
October 15, 2021
TODAY'S NEWS
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
[10-14-21] // This affordable housing project will be located at the Palm Avenue Trolley Station and is planned to include 390 affordable apartments — 288 for low-income households and 102 for moderate-income households, ground-floor retail, a child care facility and outdoor recreation space.
By Raheem Hanifa [10-14-21] // Ultimately, 13.4 million likely first-time homebuyers (67 percent) in the top 100 metros could not afford the median-priced home in their metro.
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
By Benjamin Schneider [10-13-21] // Virtually every construction project in the Bay Area is being affected in some way.
By Erik Sherman [10-15-21] // The lack of available labor has been a larger factor in project delays than the materials.
PODCASTS / MULTIMEDIA
[10-13-21] // Interviewee David Lynch: “But it is not entirely accurate to say that the Port of Long Beach has already gone 24/7. In fact, they have six container terminals at that port. Only one of the six has lengthened its hours in a pilot program. And at that, that terminal is open 24 hours Monday through Thursday.” (6:33)
[10-14-21] // The state is going it alone on one of the most controversial subjects in the nation: Reparations for African Americans. Tammerlin Drummond of the ACLU of Northern California and Chronicle reporter Dustin Gardiner tell host Demian Bulwa what is at stake. (11 min.)
LAND USE / PLANNING / REGULATION
By Mary Forgione [10-7-21] // Last Saturday, as part of the L.A. Park Forest Initiative, 20 trees — including Brisbane box, tipa and blue jacaranda — were planted in a corner of Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights. Trees 6 to 7 feet tall were planted to instantly provide a leafy shade canopy in a neighborhood where little shade exists.
HOUSING MARKETS / REAL ESTATE
By S.V. Ramaswamy [10-13-20] // Fifty-four percent of homes purchased by 31- to 40-year-olds were in a suburb or subdivision. Seventy-four percent of 22- to 30-year-olds prefer living close to work.
MORTGAGE / FORECLOSURE
By W.D. Larson, C.A. Makridis, & C.A. Redmer [10-13-21] // We offer three channels by which expectations affect forbearance behavior: choices of initial loan terms, associations with actual future events, and factors related to belief formation that are also plausibly associated with forbearance. Our findings highlight the crucial role borrower expectations play in both leverage choices and mortgage performance.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
[10-13-21] // Over a three-year period, The Fifth Third Bank, National Association, and Enterprise Community Partners program will invest in organizations that create cross-sector partnerships to serve majority-Black communities across seven states within Fifth Third’s retail banking footprint.
HOMELESSNESS
By Diane Yentel & Nan Roman [10-13-21] // (Opinion) Science, data and common sense make the importance of stable homes clear, yet federal funding to make it possible has been neglected for decades.
ECONOMY / EMPLOYMENT
By Ashley Fahey [10-14-21] // A recent report by Jones Lang Lasalle Inc. found, through August, average final construction costs for a commercial project had increased 4.5%. Total cost growth by year-end is likely to surpass 6% and, in 2022, cost increases between 4% to 7% are projected.
By Lucas Manfredi [10-15-21] // "It’s not a single lever we can pull today to open up all the gates, but what we’re doing is trying to squeeze every minute, every hour of efficiency out of this port complex that we can, sharing information, building on those strong decades-long relationships, and with the strength of the federal government behind this," Gene Seroka said during a media briefing Thursday.
By Akash Pasricha [10-14-21] // While terminal hours are one part of the equation…trucks moving containers from terminals to warehouses are also in short supply, and warehouses are already full, leaving little room to store new incoming containers.
TRANSPORTATION / TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT
By Sarah Ravani [10-14-21] // HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge called Oakland’s Fruitvale Transit Village a national model for building housing on transit corridors amid the state’s escalating housing and homelessness crisis.
By Julia Buckley [10-14-21] // Over a decade ago, when Francesco Galietti had to travel from his native Rome to Milan for work, he used to fly the nearly 400-mile route. Today, he takes the train.
By Ryan Fonseca [10-12-21] // An outdated formula for determining speed limits—which led to high limits over time—will be replaced.
By Eric Jaffe [10-14-21] // A new study estimates that replacing large vehicles with standard ones would have saved more than 8,100 lives since 2000. So, what can be done?
REDEVELOPMENT / INFILL / PRESERVATION
By Steven Sharp [10-15-21] // A proposal to redevelop Metro- and Los Angeles County-owned land next Expo/Crenshaw Station has cleared another hurdle.
By Alex Williamson [10-14-21] // What lessons can Ida offer to affordable housing managers and owners whose properties are at risk of extreme weather?
By Robert Steuteville [10-8-21] // Redevelopment of a commercial corridor in Minneapolis will occur over “over time” and lead to a “mixed-use street with more housing, public spaces, a walkable public realm, and transit service.”
NATIONAL HOUSING NEWS
By Heidi Groover [10-12-21] // The first requires landlords to give six months’ notice of any rent increase, up from the current two months. The second requires landlords to pay certain tenants relocation assistance if the landlord raises the rent by 10% or more and the tenant moves out.
FAIR HOUSING / EVICTION
By J.K. Dineen [10-14-21] // The case is significant because it is one of a handful of eviction cases that a San Francisco Superior County judge is allowing to go forward, despite a San Francisco city ordinance that extends the pandemic moratorium, according to tenant attorneys.
DEMOGRAPHICS / QUALITY OF LIFE
By Patricia Leigh Brown [10-8-21] // “That women who had unspeakable violence committed against them were not allowed to bring in evidence of the abuse is the quintessential injustice,” said Sunny Schwartz, the founder of Five Keys Schools and Programs.
POPULATION / CENSUS
By Nate Berg [10-11-21] // The expansive thought experiment reveals climate change solutions ‘hiding in plain sight.’
ENVIRONMENT / CLIMATE CHANGE / NATURAL DISASTERS
By Deb Kollars [10-6-21] // Over a dozen years of hard work and collaboration saved residential areas. The evidence can be seen in maps showing where this summer’s massive Caldor Fire burned – and where it didn’t.
By Danielle Echeverria & Yoohyun Jung [10-13-21] // In another alarming measure of California’s historic drought, the summer months this year were the state’s driest on record since 1895, when data-gathering for the government’s standard drought index began.
By Michael Cabanatuan [10-14-21] // Although Northern California may see up to two inches of rain later this month, the state is in for another dry winter.
COVERAGE INFORMATION:
California Department of Housing & Community Development WEB NEWS service coverage:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week includes electronic format articles retrieved from newspapers or news services that report housing and community development news in California and the nation. Coverage focuses on California news outlets and newspapers that are available electronically via the Internet. Please note that most newspapers require a paid subscription for access but also offer a limited number of free articles per month. HCD does not provide full text articles; users must obtain articles via newspaper subscription or newspaper databases available at local public libraries.
(C) Copyright 2021, California Department of Housing & Community Development
Links to web sites do not constitute an endorsement from The California Department of Housing and Community Development. These links are provided as an information service only. It is the responsibility of the user to evaluate the content and usefulness of information obtained from these sites.
Oct 13, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Angela Hui [10-11-21] // Supes approved the non-police outreach plan—so why isn't it happening?
By Sam Morgen [10-12-21] // Supervisors unanimously voted to set a hearing for a new ordinance that would make it illegal for individuals to camp and store belongings in many public areas. The county plans to use $8.3 million in American Rescue Plan money over four years to accomplish its goals, which include outreach to connect people to services.
By Ethan Varian [10-8-21] // “This was an experience that taught us people who were unwilling to take emergency (group) shelter were willing to take the non-congregant shelter,” said David Kiff, interim director of the Sonoma county’s Community Development Commission. “And that's changed a lot of how we approach things.”
Oct 11, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Renee Elefante & Tisha Lardizabal [10-11-21] // Counselors trained in mental health crisis intervention are expected to begin responding to service request calls, assisting law enforcement with specific attention toward the homeless community in Newport Beach starting in December, as part of a 12-month pilot program.
By Gary Warth [10-11-21] // Of the 124 (out of 147 participants) who left the program, 55 found some type of longer-term housing, including 14 who are in permanent housing, 13 in temporary or bridge housing and 11 in shelters. Another 16 were admitted to a residential treatment program and one was admitted to a recuperative care facility. Twenty-three people remain in a hotel.
By Natalie Orenstein [10-7-21] // Young unhoused people in Oakland and surrounding cities will lead the decision-making process about how to use the federal grant.
Oct 8, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Trisha Thadani [10-4-21] // San Francisco will conduct its next formal count of homeless people in January 2022. The last count was in 2019.
By Kevin Valine [10-7-21] // Officials are reporting this year’s count of homeless people throughout Stanislaus County tallied nearly 3,000 men, women and children. Previous counts have ranged from 1,156 to 1,923 people.
By Theresa Clift [10-7-21] // Sacramento city, county and state elected leaders are working to open a large homeless shelter at Cal Expo in the hopes of moving hundreds of people off the American River Parkway.
By Jeff vonKaenel [10-7-21] // The Capital City’s mayor sat down with SN&R to talk about where a spiraling, five-plus-year housing crisis is heading next.
By Sam Morgan [10-7-21] // A new ordinance would prohibit camping and living in public spaces; tiny homes; two response teams; and a new effort to connect with and assist those with addiction or mental health challenges.
By Mallory Moench [10-6-21] // San Francisco is moving forward with a plan for a massive site at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area for people living in vehicles. The city aims to start the two-year program in December.
By Claudine Sipili [10-8-21] // (Opinion) Pulling from first-hand knowledge of the barriers unsheltered humans face every day helps guide project.
Oct 6, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[10-6-21] // Heather Knight digs into the problem that is a public and individual health hazard and humanitarian crisis.
By Marisa Kendall [10-5-21] // Modular units will serve people camping in Guadalupe River Park.
By Mallory Moench [10-5-21] // An Outer Mission motel was approved Tuesday by city supervisors, while a student apartment building in SoMa and a single-room-occupancy hotel in the Mission will be voted on next week. These three will provide housing for 300 people.
Oct 1, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Amelia Parreira [9-30-21] // Petaluma Police plan to give notices to residents at the encampment in Steamer Landing Park on Saturday and Monday and evict residents on Wednesday. The city plans to fence off the property late next week. The eviction is in part due to a violation of a California Fish and Game code, prohibiting camping and depositing waste within 150 feet of a river.
By Rebecca Ellis [9-30-21] // Three Portland neighborhoods — downtown, Brentwood-Darlington and Hazelwood — will soon be home to the city’s first “safe rest villages.” Locking sleeping pods will have heat and electricity. Villagers will share bathroom, kitchen, and laundry facilities.
[9-30-21] // The city has allocated up to $185,000 for increased security and services for residents of an encampment at Marinship Park.
L.A. Times: Editorial: What Gov. Newsom is doing right on homelessness -- and how he could do better
[10-1-21] // Gavin Newsom has approached the state’s homelessness crisis with the seriousness it deserves — and has taken the right approach by embracing the Housing First concept that people should be in stable housing before they tackle their substance abuse needs. He has also, smartly, prioritized building permanent housing over shelter.
By Adam Beam [9-30-21] // The California Interagency Council on Homelessness, which replaces an existing homelessness council, will include the directors of half a dozen state agencies that must review and approve local governments' plans for spending the money.
By Benjamin Oreskes [10-1-21] // About 78% of Los Angeles sanitation workers assigned to clean homeless encampments have reported being fully or partially vaccinated, officials said Thursday, a sharp increase from an earlier report of 38%.
By Damien Newton [10-30-21] // Pacific Sunset has become a focal point in the debate about solutions to homelessness on L.A.’s Westside, and a large part of a campaign to recall Councilmember Bonin. Streetsblog investigates how effective this bridge housing project has been at reducing homelessness in Venice.
September 29, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Karen Velie [9-27-21] // Even though San Luis Obispo has a policy of not destroying personal property seized during raids of homeless encampments for at least 60 days, the lawsuit alleges the city has repeatedly discarded items such as tents, cooking utensils and sleeping bags.
By Supriya Yelimeli [9-28-21] // Where Do We Go Berkeley argued that the residents have disabilities that make shelter options unsuitable.
By Sydney Johnson [9-28-21] // “We need a much more aggressive strategy to provide beds for people.”
By Lori A. Carter [9-28-21] // The proposal would include 56 units, a community garden, restrooms, showers, laundry facilities, support service space, a pet area and a dining area. It would not include any public facilities or a meal distribution site.
By Lorraine Gabbert [9-28-21] // City officials want to house 20,000 people in the next five years through supportive housing and by doubling shelter capacity countywide. Employment would entail “cleaning up” the city.
September 27, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
House America: An All-Hands-on-Deck Effort to Address the Nation’s Homelessness Crisis is a federal initiative in which HUD and USICH are inviting mayors, city and county leaders, tribal nation leaders, and governors into a national partnership. House America will utilize the historic investments provided through the American Rescue Plan to address the crisis of homelessness through a Housing First approach.
By Richard Halstead [9-26-21] // Marin County, in partnership with Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco, hopes to win approval from the state to use some of the next round of Project Homekey funds to purchase a former skilled nursing center to convert to 43 apartments.
By Paul Downey [9-26-21] // (Opinion) Senior Homelessness: A Needs Assessment reveals significant differences between working with older adults experiencing homelessness and the general adult homeless population. Causes of and solutions to homelessness among seniors are distinct.
September 24, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By B. Oreskes, M. Dolan, & D. Zahniser [9-23-21] // A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who issued the order to offer housing to all unsheltered residents of Skid Row by October, failed to follow basic legal requirements. Carter’s decision was unanimously overturned.
By Marisa Kendall [9-22-21] // While most of the 683 new units will be modular apartments, some will be in converted motels. Liccardo also hopes to add 1,384 units of city and county-funded permanent housing, and 239 units funded by the state’s Homekey program to house some of San Jose’s estimated 7,000 homeless residents.
By Eli Wolfe [9-23-21] // The week started with San Jose Councilmember Matt Mahan announcing an ambitious proposal for housing up to 5,000 homeless residents on public land by the end of next year. His colleagues killed the plan before the week was out.
By Tran Nguyen [9-23-21] // Supervisors Joe Simitian and Otto Lee announced a proposal Thursday to grant LifeMoves, the region’s largest temporary housing provider, a multi-million dollar contract to help it replicate an existing shelter site in Mountain View at 10 other locations across the county.
By Marisa Kendall [9-23-21] // The goal is to build 10 new temporary shelter sites.
By Mallory Moench [9-24-21] // Assemblymember David Chiu, who lives near Candlestick, said in a statement that “while I appreciate that some would prefer we moved the center elsewhere, that’s not realistic given how many unhoused people already live here.”
September 22, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Sarah Ravani [9-20-21] // Oakland will receive about $11.3 million in federal funds as part of the House America program in addition to the nearly $2.6 million the city gets from the federal government every year. Mayor Libby Schaaf pledged to use the funds to house 1,500 homeless residents and build 132 new units of permanent affordable housing in 16 months.
[9-20-21] // House America is a federal initiative in which HUD and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) invite mayors, county leaders, Tribal nation leaders, and governors to partner and use funds provided through the American Rescue Plan to address homelessness.
By Theresa Clift [9-21-21] // The percentage of unhoused people who died during the winter was 10% higher than in previous years, according to an annual report by the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness using coroner data. Six of those deaths were due to hypothermia.
By Kevin Fagan [9-20-21] // “So many homeless people don’t want to go into congregate (group) shelters, and the tents have been a good outdoor alternative, but these cabins are a next big step,” said Elizabeth Funk, founder and head of DignityMoves, which developed the cabin site. Privacy and locking doors reassure residents.
[9-21-21] // The city wanted to build on an earlier success. El Monte was able to buy surplus land at a discount from a public railroad authority and, partnering with Mercy Housing, built housing that serves homeless veterans as well as low-income veterans and their families. Funding is also covered in this article.
By Monique Beals [9-22-21] // City officials told The San Francisco Chronicle that the site outside an indoor shelter will offer 24-hour parking for up to 40 vehicles annually. The program will reportedly cost the city about $410,000.
By Theresa Clift [9-22-21] // The business that filed the suit is located near the American River Parkway, on Railroad Drive — the same street where the city operated a large homeless shelter before closing it in April 2019.
September 20, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[9-17-21] // The Immanuel-Sobrato Community development will provide 108 permanent supportive affordable homes for those experiencing chronic homelessness. It is the first redevelopment of a place of worship in San Jose.
By Tran Ngyuen [9-19-21] // “The challenge that we have is due to the lack of affordable housing, (and) the lack of political will to create enough affordable housing,” Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home, told San JosĆ© Spotlight. “We continue to have people becoming homeless year over year.”
By Theresa Clift [9-20-21] // “I absolutely believe this city can be and will be the model city for this nation to show an alternative model,” said Bridgette Dean, director of Sacramento’s Department of Community Response. The five-person department sends teams to non-criminal 911 and 311 calls involving people experiencing homelessness.
Sacramento Bee: New lawsuit could halt Sacramento’s $100 million homeless shelter and tiny home plan
By Theresa Clift [9-21-21] // The lawsuit, filed by the Coalition for Compassion and city resident Michael Malinowski, alleges the new plan skirted an environmental review and that it would place homeless individuals at risk of air pollution by placing them under the W-X freeway.
Los Angeles Times: Candidates visit L.A. homeless encampments. Not everything goes according to plan
By Dakota Smith [9-20-21] // Political consultant Eric Hacopian said candidates who have news conferences at encampments to talk about homelessness “aren’t adding anything. …Unless you’re doing something constructive, you’re being opportunistic and exploitative.”
By Karli Barnett [9-20-21] // “We don’t put people in shelters these days. We put them in our quarantine program, which is a hotel program,” explained Ron Book, Chairman of Miami-Dade Homeless Trust. At the height of the pandemic, the county used six hotels; it is still placing people in three of them.
By Marisa Kendall [9-20-21] // The program has housed many homeless people, left others in limbo.
By Tess Kenny [9-18-21] // Monterey and San Benito counties’ Lead Me Home Continuum of Care program has been awarded $5,283,160 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to end youth homelessness.
September 17, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Marisa Kendall [9-16-21]// After months of sleeping in her Jeep, unable to shower regularly, Donna Ohnstad was ready to give up. A tiny home has made her “feel normal …like life’s worth living.”
By Mallory Moench [9-16-21] // Neighbors want a more permanent solution. Many were hoping for affordable housing to rise on the site.
September 15, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Till von Wachter et al. [7-2021] // Guided by the following research questions, we developed improved Prevention Targeting Tools that can be used in a variety of different settings to determine eligibility for homelessness prevention programs among people who self-identify as being at risk.
[9-14-21] // This guide “is intended to help leaders and planners within local governments and Continuums of Care in California understand and make strategic use of many important resources made available in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to support economic recovery, within efforts to prevent and end homelessness for Californians.”
By Mallory Moench [9-14-2] // Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton introduced the plan, co-sponsored by Mayor London Breed, at Tuesday’s Board meeting in the wake of neighborhood complaints about homeless people parking their vehicles on the streets.
By Jake Abbott [9-15-21] // Steinberg's proposal provides the largest chunk of American Rescue Plan funds, $41 million, for addressing the city's homeless and housing commitment, specifically to implement its Comprehensive Siting Plan.
[9-15-21] // (Video/text) Starting next week, up to a hundred people will be able to stay at the X Street Navigation Center, the city's newest homeless shelter.
By Joshua Molina [9-14-21] // One protester argues that the money could be better spent, but Santa Barbara officials say the program is making a noticeable difference.
September 13, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By K. Bojorquez [9-9-21] // The state plans to use $2.75 billion to rehabilitate rundown buildings so they can house homeless Californians. About 14,000 permanent, long-term housing units are expected to be created through an expansion of the Homekey program.
By Doug Smith [9-9-21] // Civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman called it “deceitful and sleazy” that the city continues to post parking restrictions “while concealing the fact that they were not enforcing the no parking signs.”
By H. Elattar [9-9-21] //Along with many other projects, about $2.5 million of the funds are slated to build more permanent supportive housing and another $2.5 million is going toward a healing center facility for the homeless.
By M. Kendall [9-9-21] // San Jose’s first city-sponsored safe RV site has neighbors up in arms.
By E. Ward [9-9-21] // Here’s everything you need to know about all things related to homelessness in the region.
By Angela Hart [9-7-21] // “At least the rats aren’t all over me in here,” the 59-year-old Oakland native said on a bright August afternoon, stretching her arm to grab the zipper to her front door.
By V. Vera [9-8-21] // The city plans to transform the dilapidated flatlands at Columbus Park in North San Jose into a premier public park and plaza—complete with playgrounds, sports fields and rest areas. But the “elephant in the room” is the presence of more than 200 homeless residents.
By L. Alaban [9-7-21] // Two years after launching a landmark program to house homeless San Jose students in Airbnb rooms, nearly half the participants dropped out of the program and ended up in hotels.
September 8, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By T. Thadani [9-7-21] // San Francisco officials are putting the brakes on plans to turn a tourist hotel in Japantown into housing for more than a hundred homeless people, after droves of neighbors complained about the proposal.
[9-8-21] // Responding to residents’ fears, a county supervisor wants to prohibit encampments to prevent wildfires.
September 1, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Theresa Walker [8-31-21] // Illumination Foundation's Plumeria House can provide emergency housing for up to six families. It's equipped to help the growing world of people who are homeless and raising children with physical challenges.
By Marisa Kendall [9-1-21] // Seattle-based Amazon recently became the latest tech titan to take up the cause, donating $100,000 to support New Haven Inn — a homeless shelter for LGBTQ+ residents in downtown San Jose.
By Mike Hodgson [8-31-21] // First District Supervisor Das Williams said each county department needs to report its vacant land that could be used for temporary housing.
By Sarah McGregor [8-31-21] // The number of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County could rise to more than 150,000 in the next few years from about 80,000 now, Alex Villanueva told Bloomberg News in an interview. Meanwhile, the County’s eviction ban expires at the end of September.
By Julie Gallant [9-1-21] // The Ramona community can weigh in on plans to expand homeless shelters and services in unincorporated areas of the county at the Ramona Community Planning Group meeting on Thursday, Sept. 2.
By Spencer Bokat-Lindell [8-31-21] // (Opinion) After more than $5 trillion and 17 months, why are so many Americans still hanging on a knife’s edge, and what would a long-term solution to the crisis look like? Here’s what people are saying.
August 30, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Kevin Fagan [8-27-21] // Left with time on his hands Friday after international crises forced the U.S. vice president to cancel a campaign rally for him, Gov. Gavin Newsom instead did one of the things he occasionally likes to do, recall election or not. He hung out at a homeless camp.
August 27, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Marisa Kendall [8-26-21] // Santa Clara County has housed nearly 5,000 people since January and cut its number of newly homeless residents by almost 30% over the past year. The situation is still dire.
By Aldo Toledo [8-26-21] // City says RV residents have “no basis” for fear they will be towed with notice, court documents say.
By Mallory Moench [8-26-21] // Many Japantown community leaders, business owners and residents are opposing San Francisco’s plan to buy a tourist hotel in the neighborhood and convert it into permanent affordable housing with social services for people experiencing homelessness.
By Ben van der Meer [8-27-21] // Architectural, engineering and construction firms have submitted three concepts to city officials for consideration. The firms’ goals are to create attractive, functional housing concepts that will be compatible with their proposed neighborhoods.
By Robert Strock [8-27-21] // (Opinion) State and local governments must change housing law and zoning rules to move toward permanently housing unsheltered Californians.
August 23, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By The Editorial Board [8-23-21] // None have anything to offer beyond sweeping but ill-conceived plans that would swoop up homeless people into shelters and force them to confront their mental illness or substance abuse issues.
Associated Press [8-23-21] // A judge dismissed most claims in a lawsuit that accused San Diego city and county officials of discriminating against homeless people with disabilities during the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
August 20, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes & Doug Smith [8-20-21] // While more than 5,000 languished on a waiting list, others found the program’s curfews and isolation too much to bear. More than a third of those who took a room left without explanation.
By Theresa Clift [8-19-21] // Modular housing, tiny homes, and safe parking lots are coming in a few months.
By Theresa Clift [8-19-21] // “I can’t breathe, I can’t talk, my throat hurts,” Twana James, 52, said, sitting in her tent in an encampment near Discovery Park, stopping to cough mid-sentence. “Every time it gets smoky it’s like this, every time.”
By Brandy Tuzon Boyd [8-10-21] // Jamboree Housing and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency will partner to convert Staybridge Suites in Natomas into a shelter for families and women with children experiencing homelessness.
August 16, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By B. Oreskes & D. Smith [8-13-21] // The 154-bed, city-funded site is on lockdown and no new people are being admitted.
By D. Zahniser [8-16-21] // Joe Buscaino is upping the ante in the debate over where and how to restrict homeless encampments, calling on his colleagues to prohibit tents from going up within 500 feet of any public school in the city.
By K. Pizzo [8-11-21] // Dumpsters that allow homeless people to keep their camps clean make a world of a difference. But getting that and other utilities can be challenging depending on where an encampment is located.
August 13, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Aldo Toledo [8-12-21] // The site is modeled on a similar transitional housing project in Mountain View.
By Kelly Walsh et al. [8-9-21] // HUD-DOJ are conducting a formative evaluation to assess whether providing permanent supportive housing (PSH) within a pay-for-success (PFS) framework is a successful and cost-effective way of using PSH to provide housing stability and reduce social service use and recidivism for a population continually cycling between homeless services and the criminal justice system.
By Richard Halstead [8-9-21] // T he county is working on a second round of building acquisitions for conversion to apartments for homeless people.
August 11, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Theresa Clift [8-11-21] // The Sacramento City Council unanimously approved 20 sites for homeless shelters, tiny homes and sanctioned tent encampments Tuesday, part of what the city has described as its Comprehensive Siting Plan to Address Homelessness.
By Marisa Kendall [8-10-21] // The tech company says it’s trying to come up with a solution.
By Marisa Kendall [8-111-21] // Founder never expected it would help as much as it did.
By David Zahniser [8-10-21] // Los Angeles should not pursue plans for overnight camping or other homeless facilities at Westchester Park, Mar Vista Park and a parking lot next to Will Rogers State Beach, city policy analysts said Tuesday.
[8-10-21] // As Caltrans and the governor cleared an encampment along I-80 at University Avenue, the team of state outreach workers also offered options for unhoused people to move out of their tents and into shelters or other housing.
By Jennifer Huffman [8-10-21] // OLE Health staffers assembled 50 care bags and gathered 100 gallons of water to deliver to a south Napa homeless camp called the Bowl. Their efforts are part of a series of events marking National Health Center Week (August 8-14).
By Jordan Ingram [8-10-21] // Encinitas: Homeless resident Victor “Vic” Ballance died of a suspected drug overdose on July 24 in a swath of undeveloped land just behind Oggi’s Restaurant in Encinitas, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
August 8, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[8-4-21] // The plan, which goes to the Sacramento City Council for a vote on Aug. 10, identifies strategies and sites to get more than 9,000 people off the streets annually when implemented.
By The Editorial Board [8-9-21] // City leaders have concentrated the 20 priority sites along the light rail corridor and on public properties where it was easiest to launch safe grounds. In plain language, that’s near south Sacramento transit stations, under the W-X freeway near Broadway and throughout the industrial hub in the northern city.
By Theresa Clift [8-9-21] // Carl White, an Army veteran, has been homeless for about 2½ years. When his seasonal job working as a painter ended, he could no longer afford rent. “Everything was normal up until about two and a half years ago and then I kinda got stuck out here,” White, 60, said.
By Matt Ring & Jenny Schuetz [8-9-21] // To gain some insight into how homelessness changes over macroeconomic cycles, we examine changes in homelessness rates from 2007 to 2020. Our analysis focuses on four metro areas that were particularly hard-hit by the 2007 foreclosure crisis: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Riverside, California.
By Allyson Waller & Sophie Park [8-9-21] // After weeks of educating people about the ban that voters approved in May, police are allowed to start arresting violators this week as the city tries to find more housing.
By Hayes brown [8-6-21] // (Opinion) We know what will solve the homelessness crisis. Criminalizing homelessness isn’t it.
By Patrick Sisson [8-9-21] // Compassion or crackdown? Residents of the Los Angeles beach enclave are bitterly divided over efforts to get unsheltered people off the streets.
August 6, 2021
August 4, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes [8-5-21] // Clearing encampments “forces a different pathway in decision making.”
[8-5-21] // During a visit to a Clean California site in Long Beach today, Governor Gavin Newsom outlined his plan for record investments in mental health services and behavioral health housing as part of a comprehensive approach to tackling the state’s homelessness crisis.
By Cody Dulaney & Jill Castellano [8-5-21] // San Diego County awarded a $30 million contract for operating COVID-19 hotels to an unqualified company with poorly trained staff, who forced residents to suffer through long delays for much-needed medication and who allowed for gaps in services that may have led to overdoses and suicide. See SDSU’s Institute of Public Health report.
By Jessica A. York [8-5-21] // The five-hour “Operation Sit the Bench” first targeted criminal complaints Wednesday morning at a large and enduring unsanctioned encampment behind Santa Cruz Memorial cemetery.
By Aldo Toledo [8-4-21] // RV dweller advocates had hoped the city council would choose not to defend against the case and enter into negotiations.
August 4, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Andy Newman & Nicole Hong [8-2-21] // Cleanup crews are clearing encampments, but advocates say the sweeps just move people from one place to another and fail to address the housing crisis.
By Marisa Kendall [8-4-21] // Millions of dollars in federal funding hang in the balance.
By David Zahniser & Benjamin Oreskes [8-2-21] // The ordinance prohibits sitting, sleeping or storing items on public property near “sensitive” uses — libraries, parks, daycare centers and schools. But it also states that enforcement in any of those locations would not occur until the City Council has reviewed each location and voted to give the go-ahead.
By Mary Stringini [8-3-21] (Video) Authorities on Tuesday were using bulldozers as part of a mass sanitation effort at the Brentwood homeless encampment outside the VA hospital on San Vicente Blvd.
By Leo Stallworth [8-2-21] // (Video/text) Clusters of homeless encampments line the San Gabriel River bed off the 210 freeway in Azusa. Those living here are terrified. They've been told to leave by Tuesday morning or else.
By Emily Nonko [8-3-21] // Can truly supportive housing help keep people out of the criminal justice system?
August 2, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By B. Oreskes & G. Molina [8-2-21] // Roughly 200 campers who were relocated. All were offered someplace else to live — a few in apartments, many in private but temporary rooms in hotels, and a few in congregate shelters. Most took up the offer. Many locals are waiting to see how long the clear boardwalk lasts.
Desert Sun: Riverside County awarded $25.5 million for housing projects, including 2 in Palm Springs
By Ema Sasic [7-30-21] // The funding comes from HCD’s No Place Like Home Program, which invests in permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness and those in need of mental health services.
July 23, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Jeong Park [7-17-21] // Businesses must pay at least 120% of the state’s minimum wage to be eligible. Businesses must also get certification from a homeless service provider for each hire.
By Annie Vainshtein [7-22-21] // Novato officials say they’re fighting back after an advocacy group and residents of homeless encampment filed a lawsuit and a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the city’s new limits on homeless camping.
By Frank Shyong [7-23-21] // Residents say encampments are often dangerous fire traps where drug use and violence are rampant, and that’s often true. But I think these encampments, though deeply flawed, are also examples of homeless people attempting to meet their own needs and make their own homes.
July 19, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Chris Haxel [7-8-21] // Article and separate audio segment describes this project and focuses on a formerly homeless veteran who lost everything due to experiencing PTSD. Homes are designed from the ground up with security in mind to help veterans feel safe.
By Tracy Hobson [6-25-21] // A wise woman shared with me recently that homelessness can be understood one story at a time. While I don’t pretend to have all the answers to this complex problem, I know ļ¬rst hand how it happened to me. And how it has happened to a number of others.
By Amy Taxin & Julie Watson [7-3-21] // Pomona: Teenage boys chased down soccer balls on grassy fields. Dormitory beds were organized into small pods with a TV in each section. Some kids laid on the cots reading, while others played cards nearby with caseworkers.
July 16, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Jeffrey Taylor [7-12-21] // The municipalities and communities that have achieved significant reduction in homelessness have focused on permanent housing solutions, measurable shared objectives and technology.
By Andy Newman [7-13-21] // The ruling blocks the city from transferring anyone with a disability to another site until evaluating whether it meets their needs.
By Richard Freedman [7-13-21] // How do people become homeless? Some have psychological challenges. Some battle addiction. Some have PTSD. Some burned family bridges and ran out of options. Some simply lost their jobs. “I see intelligent people and wounded people,” said McInerney MacMillan, a retired parochial school teacher.
[7-15-21] // At least 59 residents at a homeless shelter in Northern California have tested positive for the coronavirus, half of whom were vaccinated, health officials said.
July 12, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Andy Newman [7-9-21] // New York City’s effort to move more than 8,000 homeless people from pandemic hotels to barrackslike group shelters ground to a halt on Friday morning, after the Legal Aid Society filed a motion accusing the city of violating the rights of people with respiratory conditions and other medical and psychological problems.
By Diane Nilan [7-11-21] // Millions of people not in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded shelters fail to qualify as homeless, and thus are ineligible for assistance.
By Ryan Stuart [7-10-21] // Connor Kensok and Abbi Cundall are both co-founding presidents of the Slug Shelter, a student-run organization created to house students who face homelessness during their studies.
By Doug Smith & Benjamin Oreskes [7-9-21] // By Friday, several people who were camped on the north end of the boardwalk had left, but those remaining had substantial spreads, one a structure of two-by-fours and siding and another a store window-type display of art and collectibles.
By Madalyn Amato [7-9-21] // Water is critical. Consider offering chilled water bottles on your lunch hour or weekends to people experiencing homelessness. Cooling towels, hats, umbrellas, and ice packs from meal delivery services are also helpful.
By Theresa Clift [7-12-21] // Orvella Myers stood Friday morning in the dirt where her tent used to be, a shady spot underneath the trees. Earlier that day, her tent, bed frame and clothing were scooped up by a bulldozer and destroyed. Later, her chicken coop went, as well.
By John Wilkens [7-11-21] // Carroll began handing out peanut butter sandwiches downtown in the early 1980s and ultimately created Father Joe’s Villages, a charitable network which provides housing, food, health care, education, vocational training and other services to thousands of people annually.
By John Cox [7-10-21] // At the center of many efforts to address homelessness is the simple notion that, if society wants to get people off the streets, there need to be more homes and apartments people can afford.
July 9, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
Voice of San Diego: Housing Commission Valued Mission Valley Hotel as if the Pandemic Never Happened
By A. Keatts [7-8-21] // The Housing Commission paid $67 million for a Mission Valley hotel based on an appraisal of the value of the hotel just one month before the pandemic massively disrupted the market value of hotels.
By D. Maharidge [1-13-21] // “There is no precise date that denotes the birth of modern homelessness, but there are numerous markers. One pivotal point is 1980, which was also the year I moved to California. After…living out of my Datsun pickup for months, I applied for a job at The Sacramento Bee.”
By R. Willis [7-8-21] // Influenced by her own experiences of homelessness, Kayla Gore, alongside Illyahnna Wattshall, began serving the Memphis transgender community nearly five years ago with My Sistah’s House.
By C. Janzer [7-9-21] // To date, Missoula’s Mobile Support Team has had 499 calls that have led to 389 hours on scene since November, resulting in 128 emergency room diversions and 22 jail diversions. Additionally, Missoula offers follow-up services, which not all cities’ outreach teams do.
By S. Sharp [7-8-21] // Plans call for a five-story building.
July 2, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Shawn Hubler [6-30-21] // The mayor called for a “right to housing” law as the homelessness crisis intensifies in cities across California.
By Eddie Rivera [7-2-21] // New home will serve as supportive housing for formerly homeless.
[7-1-21] // (Text/video) The four main recommendations are outlined here.
By B. Oreskes & D. Zahniser [6-30-21] // Meetings and interviews have made an impact on someone with deep pockets and eye to helping.
By Jessica York [7-1-21] // Santa Cruz County as a whole has one of the highest per-capita rates of homelessness in the state, with 79.3 homeless individuals per 10,000 residents.
By M. Kendall [7-1-21] // Federal Aviation Administration order could displace hundreds from San Jose camp.
June 30, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[6-30-21] // HUD’s 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress(AHAR) is now available.
By Angelique Ashby [6-30-21] // (Opinion) Right now, pregnant moms are sleeping next to roadways, inhaling toxic exhaust fumes with each breath. Our unhoused trans youth and families of color experience extreme trauma on Sacramento’s streets. This is inexcusable.
By D. Zahniser & B. Oreskes [6-29-21] // The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to draft new rules barring homeless people from camping near schools, parks, libraries and other “sensitive” facilities. See also ABC coverage.
NBC: LA Launches an Effort to Move People in Venice Beach Homeless Encampment into Permanent Housing
[6-28-21] // (Video/text) Homeless encampments on Ocean Front Walk in Venice have grown during the coronavirus pandemic and become a political flashpoint.
[6-29-21] // The funds will enable Step Up to renovate a former motel by September. The project will provide housing, counseling, treatment and other services vital to help veterans transition to civilian life.
[6-29-21] // Two Los Angeles city councilmen spent the night at a newly constructed San Fernando Valley community, opening in July, that consists of 75 small homes, 150 beds, 10 bathrooms and 10 showers.
By Gary Warth [6-28-21] // Social workers and mental health professionals fanned out Monday morning in the biggest outreach ever in San Diego as the city attempts to reduce the growing number of encampments on sidewalks. The effort will last three or four weeks downtown.
By Jason Ruiz [6-24-21] // Long Beach’s Homeless Court is officially in session and its participants can have old convictions and charges expunged or dismissed while being connected to services to try and obtain housing or work.
By Jake Ingrassia [6-29-21] // (Video/text) Funds have been set aside for two projects, and the city is hoping to build modular housing to save money and time.
By Natalie Hanson [6-27-21] // “People are already pushed to the margins. They’re out as far as they can get.”
By Ken Carlson [6-28-21] // The Center for Homeless Services will open the Youth Navigation Center in Modesto to provide shelter, temporary housing, and services for teenagers and young adults 13 to 24 years old.
By Ken Carlson [6-23-21] // The CARE team goes to downtown Modesto, McHenry Avenue, and nearby parks to make contact with people experiencing mental health crises, to build trust and design intervention plans connecting them to the services they need.
By V. Vera [6-29-21] // Living in the crash zone of an airport flight path has its downsides, like constant threat of eviction—but the unhoused residents of the 40-acre plot of land in San Jose say the stability and community they find there is worth the risk, so far.
By Laura Sandoval [6-28-21] // As a housing and homeless service provider, PATH is aware that inequities exist within the LGBTQ+ community and that this community is overrepresented in the unhoused population. A key example of this is the fact that one in five transgender people will experience homelessness at some point in their lives…
June 28, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By E. Alpert Reyes B. Oreskes, & D. Smith [6-28-21] // During the pandemic, hundreds of homeless people have been housed at the sprawling hotel and conference center outside Van Nuys Airport through Project Roomkey. Kathy Vandiver was one of at least eight people to die there.
Mike Harris [6-5-21] // Thousand Oaks has taken the first step to build its first homeless housing facility, asking local developers and property owners to help it find a site.
By A. Stafford & K. Rendon-Alvarez [6-28-21] // Outreach teams will fan out across downtown San Diego to connect unsheltered residents with shelters and other resources.
By Da Lin [6-27-21] // About 35 people live at the Dunphy Park encampment, which they have been asked to vacate by Tuesday. Some of them are former boaters who anchored in Richardson Bay and were ousted from the water.
By Josef Norris [6-25-21] // A special report on vaccinations, the COVID crisis, and San Francisco's unhoused.
June 25, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Sasha Abramsky [6-25-21] // New plans are promising, but they’re also just stopgap measures in confronting the West Coast’s burgeoning housing crisis.
[6-23-21] // The Los Angeles City Council today delayed a vote to fund Councilman Mike Bonin's initiative to offer all people living in encampments along Ocean Front Walk in Venice a pathway to permanent housing, but the vote won't delay the program's start on Monday.
By Mallory Moench [6-25-21] // Bola Mydrs, who has lived on the streets of San Francisco for 20 years, now resides in a blue-tarped tent outside Boeddeker Park in the Tenderloin.
By Trisha Thadani [6-24-21] // The program currently costs $18.2 million for about 260 tents. Unlike the city’s homeless hotel program, the tent villages are not eligible for federal reimbursement.
[6-24-21] // Ben Metcalf’s testimony to the House Financial Services Committee offered five next steps to effectively realize the vision of housing voucher expansion…
By Thomas K. Arnold [6-23-21] // “…My parents divorced when I was ten, and my mom…took the other three, but not me. So I wound up living with my dad, who was an alcoholic and always working so he couldn’t pay attention to what I was doing. I was ten years old when I started smoking weed, and from there I just went on a destructive path.”
By M. Kushi & S. Baird [6-25-21] // A formerly unsheltered San Diego woman said the program helped her to "feel human again."
By Brianna Taylor [6-24-21] // …But with a GoFundMe drained of cash and California returning to a new normal, Lytal, who says he is currently in heart failure, doesn’t have an option but to wait for help while he and his three volunteers continue to fund an effort much bigger than themselves.
June 23, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Theresa Clift [6-22-21] // On May 16 at 6:16 p.m., Crystal Sanchez sent an online message to nearly 400 Sacramentans: A woman who had fled a domestic violence situation was sleeping outdoors and needed a tent, blanket and food.
By Brandon Downs [6- 22-21] // The City of Chico developed a plan that could house 571 homeless at the Chico Municipal Airport as the city has been searching for a solution for the homeless.
[6-22-21] // In a statement posted online, Bonin said housing and services will be offered starting Monday to relocate up to 200 people humanely, without threats of arrest or incarceration.
By Sarah Ravani [6-20-21] // While Oakland waits for construction to begin on 361 homes, including 108 affordable units, near Lake Merritt, the city plans to build 60 tiny homes to provide shelter for the people encamped on and near the one-acre building site. The developer is cooperating with the idea.
By Marisa Kendall [6-23-21] // Group rallies for ‘support not sweeps’ outside Caltrans office.
By Jessica A. York [6-21-21] // Caltrans employees dismantled a homeless encampment where 30 to 45 people were living along a Santa Cruz highway. The city’s communication manager said no internal process was made to prepare for the influx of unhoused individuals. The city is trying to establish 150 new overnight sleeping-sites.
By Jack Bradley [6-15-21] // The city council in Santa Ana, California, on June 15 tentatively approved the opening of a 75-bed temporary homeless shelter in partnership with the Salvation Army.
June 21, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Matthew King [6-19-21] // The number of unhoused individuals counted on the beach and in the Downtown Santa Monica area has fallen over the past two years, with a 14% decrease from 2019-20. That follows a 19% dip the prior year. Outreach teams have made 1,400 engagements, often connecting vulnerable people to support.
By Mallory Moench [6-19-21] // The Compassionate Alternative Response Team, or CART, would respond to diverted 911 and 311 calls related to homelessness that are low priority and don’t pose a danger. A group of supervisors backs the proposal, but Mayor Breed opposes it.
By Sarah Holder [6-17-21] // The project joins a growing list of local experiments in no-strings-attached payments to residents.
June 18, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By John Eberling [6-18-21] // (Subscribe) SB 6 will directly unlock the potential of thousands of square miles of urban and suburban commercial districts throughout the state where new housing development is not allowed today.
[6-16-21] // The city of Los Angeles filed a motion on Wednesday seeking dismissal of what it called a “misguided” lawsuit that attempts to compel local government to provide shelter to thousands of homeless people living on downtown sidewalks and next to freeways.
By Doug Smith [6-18-21] // Stanley Spence got a break in December when the City of Redondo Beach opened a shelter on a former public works yard. He moved into a tiny home and started working with the homeless services provider PATH to find housing. Now he is housed, working, and clean and sober.
By Ben Brazil [6-16-21] // When the Jamboree Housing Corporation’s new 57-unit project is completed, it will be the nonprofit’s first permanent supportive housing community in Buena Park.
By Kate King [6-16-21] // California was front and center during a virtual congressional hearing last week over whether expanding federal housing vouchers could help the growing homelessness crisis.
By Jerome Shaw [6-17-21] // You can’t house 20,000 people by 2025 when less than 1,000 permanent housing units are in the works…
By Will Lightbourne [6-12-21] // To ensure the stability of everyone’s homes, we need to expand the capacity of physical stores for behavioral medical services.
[6-18-21] // The first phase of the strategy will begin June 28 with outreach teams hitting the streets. The next phase will assist those struggling with severe substance abuse; there are currently no housing options for people unwilling to stay sober or commit to a sobriety program.
By Phil Diehl [6-18-21] // Construction of a 60-unit building was approved.
JUne 16, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Christal Hayes [6-13-21] // “These are humans, and we can’t lose sight of that,” says Karen Barnes of People Assisting the Homeless (PATH).
By M.T. Ault & M. Jaske [6-16-21] // (Op-Ed) The streets of Sacramento County were home to more than 11,000 people experiencing homelessness over the past year. Deaths recorded among the unhoused population have increased by 94% since 2016, with a 151% increase in the last two years.
By Bob Erlenbusch [6-16-21] // The plan needs to go beyond siting and do what the original title states: address operational and programmatic components, which only our Community Plan does…
By Jared Brey [6-15-21] // On January 6 of this year, Bakersfield and Kern County, California, announced that they had reached a milestone known as “functional zero” for chronic homelessness.
By P. Szekely & A. Moore [6-16-21] // An influx of homeless people into Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood after an emergency move by New York City to ease crowding in shelters has been a fact of pandemic life for the neighborhood since last spring.
By K.T. Dugan [6-15-21] // New York City plans to move residents from hotels back to shelters. Hoteliers are concerned about the rapid loss of a partnership that could still be valuable in light of reduced tourism.
By Theresa Vargas [6-11-21] // For about five years, Len Williams had been homeless. At first, he tried staying in shelters, but as a transgender man, he faced harassment in the ones designated for women and abuse in the ones designated for men. So, eventually, he started sleeping outside.
June 14, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Michael Finch II [6-11-21] // The county will invest in a monitored pretrial release program that started as a state-funded pilot in the probation department; psychologists to operate a call center and respond to mental health emergencies in unincorporated areas; and government-sanctioned campsites.
By Adhiti Bandlamudi [6-10-21] // (Audio/text) LifeMoves Mountain View is part of Homekey, a statewide program that in just the last year has produced nearly 6,000 new units of housing at 94 different sites across the state. LifeMoves worked with the city to build modular housing on an empty industrial parking lot.
By Sarah Ravani [6- 12-21] // “I want this battle between homeless people and housed people to stop,” Nino Parker said. “We are all in the same community, we are just unhoused.”
June 11, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Greg Rosalsky [6-8-21] // As of January 2020, 72% of homeless Californians were unsheltered. Compare that to New York state, where only 5% are unsheltered.
By B. Oreskes & D. Smith [6-10-21] // In a nearly two-hour interview, Bonin weighed in on how the fights over homelessness have consumed the neighborhood and laid out his vision of how a humane clearing of tents that run along the boardwalk could occur.
By Lisa Halverstadt [6-9-21] // The city is preparing to temporarily house misdemeanor offenders enrolled in a diversion program in a South Bay hotel it acquired nearly four years ago for that purpose. There are no specific plans to replace the beds that will no longer be available for homeless families.
By Lauren Hepler [6-8-21] // For some, having their car towed amounts to being evicted.
By Sarah Ravani [6-9-21] // Anthony Bledsoe walked with his bicycle through the courtyard of the Lake Merritt Lodge on Wednesday morning, carrying a guitar on his back and in his pocket a Styrofoam cup that read, “Care to Share?”
Associated Press [6-10-21] // Under the measure, a homeless person charged with violating a ban on camping or loitering would have an affirmative defense against a law that is not “objectively reasonable.” A person experiencing homelessness may also sue to challenge the objective reasonableness of a city or county law.
By Sophie Peel [6-10-21] // It’s unclear if this bill will staunch sweeps come July 2023: “What the city has endeavored to do is make this a health and safety thing, and not a punishment thing.”
June 9, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Jared Brey [6-8-21] // NYC vouchers don’t cover the median cost of rent in the city.
[6-3-21] // The county is working with nonprofit organizations to find property owners and managers to offer housing to those experiencing homelessness. One of the organizations contracted by the county, Abode, said they will give a $1,000 bonus for anyone who offer a unit.
By K.M. Guzman [6-9-21] // People would be allowed to camp on public property if sanctioned sleeping spots, shelter beds and hotel vouchers are not available.
By Joshua Sabatini [6-4-21] // Teams are able to work with those experiencing serious mental health issues and get them into temporary housing.
By Joshua Molina [6-8-21] // Mayor Cathy Murillo pushes for the city's airport property near Goleta as a backup location, but the council opts for the Carrillo-Castillo commuter lot.
June 7, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Steve Lopez [6-5-21] Every part of the city has people “who are for the homeless or against the homeless,” Venice Beach resident Arthur Krause said, but there’s no consensus, or middle ground, or leadership. “You have to have a plan and you have to have markers. I don’t know what the markers are, but every month you need a report saying what progress has been made.”
By Annie Vainshtein [6-7-21] // Over the course of the last few months, the Richardson Bay Regional Agency has increased its focus on removing boats anchored illegally in the middle of the bay, and the consequences have stretched into Sausalito and its greater homeless community at large.
By Scott Lewis [6-2-21] // San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria says homelessness may get worse before it gets better and National City Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis is struggling to clean up a persistent encampment.
By Carla Hall [6-6-21] // City Council has asked city agencies to research the idea. It’s an idea whose time has come.
By Tina Rosales [6-7-21] // (Opinion) Violence against unhoused people is a major problem in California, and “dirty” rhetoric perpetuates it.
June 2, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Trisha Thadani [6-1-21] // The amount is in addition to the approximately $300 million already spent directly on homelessness each year. “In the past, the city would spend a lot of money without a plan. Now… Prop. C is the plan,” said Supervisor Matt Haney, chair of the board’s Budget and Finance committee.
By Gary Warth [5-29-21] // Assistant City Manager Michael Gossman said of 36 people who have left the hotel, 19 are “successful exits” while 17 are considered unsuccessful because they left without entering another program after their three-week vouchers expired, they were told to leave because of rules violations, or because they walked away on their own.
By Vanessa Serna [5-13-21] // The city’s new strategy deploys community response teams professionally equipped to manage clients with addiction and mental health issues. More than 400 people have exited the streets.
By Robin Abcarian [6-2-21] // Maybe it was the house fire near a homeless encampment off Main Street in Venice that killed a beloved family dog. Or the blaze that leaped from one of approximately 223 tents on the Venice Boardwalk and destroyed a commercial building. Or the surge in violent crime, the rash of stolen bicycles, or videos of RVs dumping their sewage in the streets…
[5-31-21] // “So the solution is to move them from in front of expensive offices into neighborhoods? Really forward thinking. Just make sure you find a neighborhood too poor to fight back.”
May 28, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Jade Martinez-Pogue [5-16-21] // Undeterred by COVID-19 pandemic, organization has stepped up collaborative services and helped 475 people make transition to permanent housing.
By Joshua Molina [5-25-21] // The City Council is considering several possible sites, including the Carrillo-Castillo commuter lot and City Hall.
By Pam Marino [5-26-21] // The 100-bed SHARE center has a low barrier for entry and accepts pets. It is Monterey County’s first housing-first shelter.
By [5-26-21] // The community is made up of over 50 cabins equipped with air conditioning and heating and offers meals and wrap-around services.
By M. Mangus & A. Spurlock [5-26-21] // Redding: Faithworks Executive Director Crystal Spencer says, “We work in their home, on-site and we’re just there to walk alongside them as they experience life and overcome the challenges that led them to homelessness.”
By B. Oreskes [5-27-21] // Attorney Skip Miller maintained that the county is already doing as much as it can to help the unhoused population but welcomed the prospect of getting together to talk more. “We don’t need a lawsuit to tell us to deliver services. We’re going to do it whether there’s a lawsuit or not.”
May 26, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Sharon McDonald [5-24-21] // The task of developing the infrastructure to deliver the urgently needed assistance quickly is certainly overwhelming. Here are five tips for success.
By Sierra Lopez [5-24-21] // In Redwood Shores, MidPen is operating Shores Landing. The 95-unit site is the only hotel conversion fitted for long-term housing while also being dedicated to housing low-income and formerly homeless seniors, like the Riveras, married 45 years and living on a fixed income of $42,000.
[5-24-21] // Current submission deadline is July 27, 2021. HUD, its federal partners, and youth with lived experience of homelessness designed the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) to drastically reduce the number of young people experiencing homelessness, including unaccompanied, pregnant and parenting youth.
By Marisa Kendall [5-25-21] // Former City Council candidate Seneca Scott, who spearheaded an outdoor meeting to discuss concerns, called it “absolutely insane” that mountains of dumped trash, burned cars and other rubble are allowed to accumulate at encampment sites like the one on Wood Street.
May 24, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Paul Webster [5-20-21] // (Opinion) The seriousness of chronic, life-long illness, like substance use and schizophrenia and related brain disorders, defy being lumped in with economic hardship; they need a whole different approach focusing on housing combined with clinical treatment and intensive supportive services.
By Marisa Kendall [5-22-21] // One or two tents in Novato, San Rafael, and Sausalito have grown to entrenched encampments of those in need of housing.
By T. Thadani & D. Deloso [5-24-21] // When Tracey Mixon walks through the Tenderloin with her 11-year-old daughter, she often shouts a warning as she winds past tents and people shooting up on the sidewalk: “There’s a kid coming!”
Editorial Board [5-23-21] // Among the many obstacles to providing shelter and housing for homeless people is finding available land.
May 21, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Theresa Clift [5-21-21] // As part of Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s “homeless master plan,” all eight City Council members recently unveiled new potential sites to shelter homeless individuals in their districts.
By Jack Ohman [5-21-21] // (Opinion) Mayor Steinberg is pushing for safe campgrounds where social workers can help the homeless where they are. Portland got to where it is now by waiting too long for permanent housing that never was built to the scale of the problem. Steinberg doesn’t want to wait.
[5-12-21] // Eligible households will be identified through the Coordinated Entry System, administered by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, which helps identify the most appropriate housing resource for each individual or family experiencing homelessness, based on their needs.
[5-17-21] // (Video/text) Two months after hundreds of homeless people left the San Diego Convention Center, “temporary shelters” have been bursting at the seams and the streets of San Diego are once again filling up.
By Andrew Keatts [5-21-21] // A real estate broker the San Diego Housing Commission hired to purchase hotels for homeless housing invested in the company that the agency purchased one hotel from, a potential criminal violation that further complicates a purchase that had already been scrutinized as too expensive.
By Maggie Angst [5-19-21] // Instead, the San Jose City Council this week decided to simply expand the number of homeless encampments that are regularly provided with hygiene and sanitation services, trash pickup and dumpsters and housing outreach.
By Ashley Ludwig [5-20-21] // Orange County Rescue Mission has completed an expansion of the Tustin Veterans Outpost (TVO), a housing facility that offers transitional housing for homeless or formerly homeless veterans in Orange County, as well as veteran-specific services.
May 19, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
HUD [5-17-21] // National Alliance to End Homelessness recently hosted a panel discussion that examined the advantages and disadvantages of using hotels as shelter or housing during the pandemic and whether hotel conversions might represent a worthwhile strategy even after the public health emergency ends.
[5-18-21] // Encampments along southbound I-805 will be cleared. The mayor is hoping the state will provide funding for housing.
By Trisha Thadani [5-18-21] // Hummingbird Valencia, a 30-bed facility for those struggling with extreme mental illnesses and drug use, finally opened in the Mission District on Tuesday, following more than a year of delays that underscore San Francisco’s challenges in expanding services for its most vulnerable.
Brandon Richardson [5-18-21] // Sixty-year-old Rob Wood was among the approximately 100 unhoused people who were cleared out of one of Long Beach’s largest and most visible homeless encampments stretching from Shoreline Drive in Downtown to Anaheim Street.
By Christian Kallen [5-12-21] // Despite multiple needs for improvements at The Haven that a $295,000 grant from California’s Homeless Emergency Aid Program, or HEAP, could buy – the city of Sonoma had to turn down a 2020 Homeless Emergency Aid Program, or HEAP, grant from the state worth $295,000 because it came with a ticking clock: it had to be spent by June 30.
By Heather Bailey [5-12-21] // Sonoma County will lease The Holiday Inn on Old Redwood Highway to provide temporary housing to unsheltered individuals who are considered at high-risk of serious complications should they contract COVID-19.
By Doug Smith [5-18-21] // Called the universal housing application, the app allows case workers to fill out a single digital form for every purpose, cutting through paperwork and saving time.
By Steve Lopez [5-19-21] // The proposal from the Committee for Greater L.A. …might never find traction. But it has one thing going for it: What we’ve been doing hasn’t worked, so we need to try something different.
May 17, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Todd Guild [5-12-21] // Rules can take effect when city establishes at least 150 “safe sleeping sites.”
By Nick Gerda [5-13-21] // Santa Ana city officials moved Thursday to clear a high-profile homeless encampment at a local cultural center while offering everyone shelter.
By Brandon Pho [5-13-21] // It’s unclear how many people who left over the prior weekend were placed into nearby shelters or motels — or left to another area. Volunteer Ben Vasquez said on Monday that he didn’t know, and City of Santa Ana Spokesman Paul Eakins said the city didn’t know either.
By Trisha Thadani & Megan Cassidy [5-17-21] // In San Francisco, where thousands of people live on the streets, early program data shows that the city’s four Street Crisis Response teams are able to address only a fraction of the overwhelming demand.
May 14, 2021
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
By Sarah Lozanova [5-13-21] // Mighty Buildings embraces robotics, 3D printing and automation to create modular homes in California. The company can print a floor, walls and ceiling in 24 hours while dramatically reducing the waste associated with new builds.
By Ida Mojadad [5-12-21] // The start of construction on an affordable housing project on the site of a former Haight-Ashbury McDonald’s will be delayed by as much as a year due to a redesign and state financing issues, according to city officials.
May 12, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Marisa Kendall [5-11-21] // More than 160,000 people are without housing in California. This two-year strategy, part of the governor’s $100 billion economic recovery plan, aims to move tens of thousands of people off of the streets and end family homelessness in five years.
By Manuela Tobias [5-12-21] // The Homekey program streamlines local zoning and environmental laws that make building in California so difficult, at a fraction of the cost, to convert mostly rundown hotels and motels into shelters and, eventually, affordable housing. Expanding Homekey is just part of the plan.
By Adam Mahoney [5-10-21] // Interviews with policy experts and municipal leaders suggest that poor governing relationships between federal and local governments, a difficult reimbursement process, and decentralized planning left the program to be largely ignored…
By Jared Brey [4-30-21] // Around 40% of unhoused people in the region between the ages of 18 and 26 are LGBTQ.
By Doug Smith, James Queally & Genaro Molina [5-12-21] // The fire began at 3 a.m., quickly destroying the clapboard bungalow two blocks from Venice Beach. The tenant was away for the night, but her dog, Togo, succumbed after his howls of panic and pain left helpless neighbors with a memory they can’t forget.
By Jared Brey [5-11-21] // The Housing Authority of Kern County has been uniquely committed to serving people experiencing homelessness for years; now, more housing authorities are starting to focus explicitly on the issue.
May 10, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Alexei Koseff [5-9-21] // The surplus offers the state a chance to “make transformative changes,” as State Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said.
[5-7-21] // The $41 million proposed to address homelessness would go toward preventing more, stabilizing homeless residents with interim housing and hygiene supports and helping them obtain permanent affordable housing.
[5-5-21] // According to newly released data from the office of Mayor London Breed, as of April of this year, there were 383 tents in the city — a significant reduction compared to 1,108 tents recorded back in April 2020.
By Hayley Munguia [5-7-21] // Residents pay 30% of their income as rent, and along with housing, they also receive services like case management, mental health support, job training and health care.
By Maggie Angst [5-8-21] // A vacant building at 1185 Pedro Street — previously home to the Atria Chateau Gardens assisted living facility — has been repaired and updated to accommodate 91 housing units, as well as common areas like a kitchen, dining hall, recreational room, meeting room and laundry facilities.
By Carla Hall [5-7-21] // (Opinion) The drawback to all these campgrounds is the possibility that they become, purposefully or inadvertently, long-term housing solutions. They are not. And to the extent that they siphon off money and energy from real housing alternatives, that’s bad.
May 5, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Marisa Kendall [5-4-21] // In a new Bay Area Council poll, 60% of respondents said they are very concerned about homelessness in the nine-county Bay Area. At the same time, residents are less worried this year about housing affordability and availability, and they are slightly less willing to support new residential development.
By Brandon Pho [5-5-21] // A partnership between Santa Ana officials and a Mexican cultural center to voluntarily clear a homeless encampment outside the center’s building appears to have fallen apart, and the city may forcibly clear the encampment by itself.
May 3, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Adam Murray [5-3-21] // By failing to acknowledge the root of the problem — that renter incomes have not kept pace with skyrocketing housing costs — the order’s shelter-focused solutions may be worse than our horrendous status quo.
By Kylen Mills [4-30-21] // Alabama running back Najee Harris is living proof that anything is possible if you pursue your dreams.
By Heather Knight [5-1-21] // Most people who’ve interacted with the charismatic, upbeat Gary McCoy as he’s climbed San Francisco’s political ladder never would have guessed he nearly died on the city’s streets as his drug addiction ravaged his body.
By Vicente Vera [4-30-21] // As county leaders push plans to revitalize the barren Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, dozens of RV dwellers could soon be pushed out.
By Phil Diehl [5-2-21] // Carlsbad approved a 12-month pilot hotel-motel voucher program last week as part of an array of new and expanded services intended to reduce homelessness by 50 percent in the city over the next five years.
By Lance Orozco [4-28-21] // Ventura County and the City of Oxnard have an agreement to develop and operate a permanent homeless shelter at Second and B Streets in Oxnard.
By Alena Maschke [5-2-21] // When the 64-year-old Beverly Sesson recounts the precise moment a social worker at the Long Beach Multi-Service Center told her she could move out of her car and into a small room at the Coast Motel near the Traffic Circle, Sesson is so overtaken she struggles to catch her breath.
By Chris Nichols [4-21-21] // Maintaining the county’s three Project Roomkey motels through at least August will provide a respite for the nearly 500 formerly homeless residents who live at the temporary shelters.
By Josh Copitch [4-26-21] // (Video/text) From dance studio to homeless shelter, the building that is currently home to the Arthur Murray dance center in Monterey is on track to becoming an emergency shelter for women and families.
Apr 30, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[4-29-21] // On the same day that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued an order lambasting L.A.’s political leaders for failing to treat homelessness like the humanitarian crisis it is, Councilman John Lee moved to kill one of the few homeless housing projects in his affluent North San Fernando Valley district.
By Kellie B. Gormly [4-29-21] // “I said, ‘Hey, do you want a job?’” Hodges recalled. “He said, ‘Oh my God, do I?’”
By Norberto Santana Jr. [4-27-21] // After three years of direct leadership from the Orange County supervisors, the county’s homelessness commission officially declared itself lost at sea last week and pulled off a mutiny of sorts, hoping to chart itself back to relevance.
By Marisa Kendall [4-29-21] // The Bay Area mayors’ proposal would dedicate $4 billion every year for five years to continue the historic efforts California has made to house and shelter people during the pandemic. That sum would be roughly half of the state’s projected 2021 budget surplus, when factoring in $26 billion California was allocated in federal stimulus money.
By Marisa Kendall [4-30-21] // Sick of living without basic resources and tired of waiting for the city to help, a group of homeless Oaklanders and activists have built their own unsanctioned community center from the ground up — creating a kitchen, shower, toilet, health clinic, free store and more.
By Mallory Moench [4-29-21] // The 100-year-old Granada Hotel had problems for years, though its decrepit state seems improved with city ownership. Currently, San Francisco is reviewing 70 other hotel properties for purchase and conversion.
By Soreath Hok [4-29-21] // Fresno’s homeless population increased almost 70% from 2019 to 2020. City Manager Tommy Esqueda has proposed a solution that includes potential tiny home villages the purchase of motels through Project HomeKey. Hotel purchase and renovation costs about $70,000 per unit as opposed to $350,000 to $400,000 per unit for new supportive housing.
By Nazy Javid [4-27-21] // The primary purpose of the proposed Resident Engagement and Support Team (REST) is to increase access to mental health services for homeless individuals or those at risk of becoming homeless.
Apr 28, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Aldo Toledo [4-26-21] // City officials are set Tuesday to consider putting aside millions in federal community development money to help Santa Clara County buy the Crestview Hotel in the city’s south side to house homeless people in the coming years. Santa Clara County Supervisors could vote on buying the hotel in June or July.
By Sam Morgen [4-22-21] // One of the legal questions at the center of the dispute involves whether Casa Esperanza is a “roominghouse,” which would need a conditional use permit (or CUP) to operate in the single-family residential neighborhood, or “transitional housing,” which would not need a permit. Either way, the city does not believe Casa Esperanza can occupy its chosen site.
By Steven Sharp [4-28-21] // New developments would bring 206 apartments to Panorama City and Sun Valley.
By Emily Alpert Reyes [4-27-21] // Los Angeles City Councilman John Lee is again battling plans for a homeless housing project along Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Chatsworth, more than a year after the council voted to approve funding for the development.
By Dakota Smith [4-26-21] // Now the city has 60 days to detail how its planned $1 billion in funding for homelessness will be spent.
[2-5-21] // As we have said previously, a clear, long-term strategy would make it more likely that the state’s investments would have a meaningful, ongoing impact on its housing and homelessness challenges.
[4-28-21] // Los Angeles’ Safe Sleep Village will have room for up to 72 tents and 120 people. Advocates say the same amount of funding could place people in housing.
Apr 26, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By J.K. Dineen [4-22-21] // Dubbed Cob on Wood, the complex is a pint-size civic center offering services to the unhoused residents who live in vehicles, tents and improvised lean-tos along the half-mile Wood Street encampment beneath Interstate 880. Between 200 and 300 people live there.
By Marisa Kendall [4-26-21] // About a half-dozen people who don’t want to or can’t afford a traditional apartment live in trailers and RVs outfitted with solar power, hot water and most of the other comforts of home on a vacant lot leased by Adam Garrett-Clark.
By Dakota Smith [4-25-21] // The mayor of Los Angeles pointed out that no one person is responsible for the homelessness crisis. “I’m not in charge of the mental health care system,” Garcetti said. “I didn’t declare wars that brought people back with PTSD; I haven’t been putting people into prisons for years; I didn’t declare the drug war; I haven’t been in charge of the foster care system.”
By Shwanika Narayan [4-24-21] // According to several studies by UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health over the past year, the coronavirus crisis has eroded an already frayed safety net for young people experiencing homelessness, further ostracizing a vulnerable population with disproportionate numbers of Black, brown and LGBTQ youth.
By Laura Sandoval [4-26-21] // Crafted out of a partnership between the city of San Jose and Abode Communities, Evans Lane is one part of the city’s effort to create safe and dignified shelter options for the more than 6,000 unsheltered people living in our city.
Apr 23, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By E. Lucas [4-21-21] // Like Project Roomkey and similar initiatives covered by the CARES Act, the Community Care Response Team’s mission is, in part, to prevent COVID-19 from spreading unchecked among the homeless. The pilot program will be reviewed in six months.
By Molly Sullivan [4-22-21] // The small town of Auburn, the county seat, has an encampment of approximately 100 people who need assistance and shelter.
By S. Sharp [4-22-21] // East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC) has started construction on another affordable and permanent supportive housing complex containing 34 studio and one-bedroom apartments.
[4-22-21] // "All of the rhetoric, promises, plans, and budgeting cannot obscure the shameful reality of this crisis," the ruling said.
By K. Pearlman [4-22-21] // Construction is set to begin Friday on two dormitories that will house 100 individuals at the East County Transitional Living Center in El Cajon—established in a converted hotel in 2004. Residents will be able to stay for 28 days and receive life skills training, job placement, and follow-up care.
Apr 21, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By A. Hart [4-19-21] // A six-month experiment that charted a new course for the city’s approach to homeless services.
By M. Kendall [4-18-21] // The app will help connect people with shelter, other resources.
By J. Sabatini [4-19-21] // Advocates say funding better spent on permanent housing.
By E. Rode [4-19-21] // This Friday “Well in the Desert” and “Martha's Village and Kitchen” will display examples of shelters made by Pallet, a "Social Purpose Company" focused on ending unsheltered homelessness.
By J. Reber & S. Rhode [4-21-21] // Three city-owned properties are being sold and will be converted into six affordable housing units by the nonprofit Shelter Providers of Orange County to help alleviate homelessness.
By N. Welsh [4-17-21] // The County of Santa Barbara has purchased a former youth hostel at 134 Chapala Street. It will be transformed into transitional bridge housing and may be managed by the group operating Good Samaritan homeless shelters in Santa Maria. Funding will be from state and federal sources.
By C. Dougherty [4-17-21] // For homeless people, a place to live is life changing to a degree that almost no other intervention can provide.
By B. Oreskes, E.A. Reyes, & D. Smith [4-20-21] // Judge David O. Carter granted a preliminary injunction sought by the plaintiffs in the case last week and now is telling the city and county that they must offer single women and unaccompanied children on skid row a place to stay within 90 days, help families within 120 days and finally, by Oct. 18, offer every homeless person on skid row housing or shelter.
By F. Shuster [4-20-21] // According to documents filed overnight by the city and county of Los Angeles, the court order would improperly usurp the role of local government and upend longstanding programs already dealing with the crisis.
[4-21-21] // Plans include tiny home villages, shelters, and “safe spaces.”
By Richard Halstead [4-19-21] // The count found 486 people living in 381 vehicles, a 91% increase over 2019. A majority, 293, were living in a van or recreational vehicle, while 193 were living in a car.
[4-20-21] // After four years of discussion, Los Angeles is close to adopting a tenant anti-harassment law that — if it’s not watered down in the final weeks — could deliver stiff penalties for landlords caught abusing their tenants.
Apr 19, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By B. Oreskes & D. Zahniser [4-19-21] // The spending plan represents a nearly sevenfold increase from the mayor’s budget five years ago, when he and other city leaders began acknowledging that much more money would be needed to address the crisis. The plan will be discussed at today’s state of the City address.
M. Garske [4-19-21] // His proposal includes more training to hire workers who will help those who are struggling, an additional 300 interim shelter beds in the city and more.
By Rosalio Ahumada [4-16-21] // “Creepy, scary, cold as hell,” said Christina Qualls, describing American River encampments at night. “Hearing fireworks go off right around here, gunshots go off…”
By Soreath Hok [4-16-21] // (Text/audio) Norma Chapa has been homeless for eight years and suffered a stroke in December. Norma is getting better. ‘It’s because I’m here, because I get sleep now, because I’m not assaulted, and because I get food.’
By J.D, Evans & T. Thorne [4-15-21] // Now showing at the nonprofit art space,
The Hill Street County Club: “Stories from the Street,” which features work by photographer Jordan Elijah Verdin.
By David Rosenfeld [4-16-21] // A review of both initiatives led to an extension of the June expiration date.
By J. Grover & J. Davis [4-8-21] // From the Boardwalk and on surrounding streets, NBC4 viewers have filmed assaults, tent fires and just about every kind of violence -- part of a spike in crime in Venice where the housed and unhoused are often targets.
By S. Echeverry [4-14-21] // Starting this week, anyone facing of a misdemeanor in Long Beach will now be considered for the program if there’s evidence the defendant has a mental health condition or substance-abuse disorder, City Prosecutor Doug Haubert announced Tuesday.
Apr 16, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Sam Morgen [4-12-21] // A project to aid homeless women and children that was nearly unanimously rejected by the Bakersfield City Council can now proceed after intervention by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
[4-15-21] // Senate Bill 234 would establish a forgivable loan program for government agencies and nonprofits to create new affordable housing units for 16- to 26-year-olds struggling with homelessness and those exiting the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
By N. Hanson [4-16-21] // After Butte County Behavioral Health Director Scott Kennelly presented comprehensive data on the need for behavioral health support among those living without shelter, Chico City Council voted 5-2 to …rescind the city’s shelter crisis declaration.
By Marisa Kendall [4-14-21] // Oakland was overwhelmed by the crisis, leaving staff working to solve the problem without proper training or resources, according to the report.
By C.A. Miranda [4-15-21] // Chandler Street Tiny Home Village in North Hollywood offers a private 8-foot by 8-foot space and shared bathrooms, kitchenette, and laundry facilities. Several other completed projects are also described.
By Heather Janssen [4-9-21] // (Video/text) “We are homeless – and it’s all depressing,” Chris Mclintock of Modesto said. He’s been without a home since 2018. “When my wife died, that’s about when everything went downhill,” he said.
By Jeff Benziger [4-14-21] // Unlike its neighbors Modesto and Turlock, Ceres is without services and shelters for the homeless, said City Manager Tom Westbrook, “therefore, having access through the Stanislaus County Response Guidelines (SCRG) is a benefit to the Ceres community.”
By B. Oreskes [4-13-21] // Attorneys for the plaintiffs want the city and county to offer some form of shelter or housing within 90 days to every homeless person between 3rd and 8th streets and Alameda and Main streets, a downtown quadrant that essentially encompasses skid row.
[3-2021] // In response to the pandemic, many communities have created facilities that provide 24/7 shelter, urgent and medical respite care, and infection prevention and control measures. This guide captures in one document the social and medical complexities that staff will face in such centers.
By R. Kaufman [4-13-21] // How a small central Texan city reached "functional zero" for veteran and chronic homelessness.
Apr 14, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes & Doug Smith [4-12-21] // The Los Angeles City Council appears to be heading toward a settlement of a federal lawsuit by agreeing to provide new housing or shelter for thousands of homeless people, while being able to use anti-camping laws to clear anyone remaining on the streets.
By Natalie Hanson [4-11-21] // A legal aid provider filed suit against the city’s enforcement operations sweeping unhoused individuals and filed an additional temporary restraining order, which was granted. The plaintiffs include Camp Fire survivors and other indigent Chico residents “who cannot afford housing and who live outdoors because they have no other shelter options.”
By Kriston Capps [4-12-21] // A first-ever study of homeless encampmentsfinds that cities are paying millions in clearance costs — only to shuffle unhoused people from one camp to another.
By Gary Warth [4-13-21] // Those living in approximately a dozen tents near the Town & Country shopping center were moved by an outreach team to Marty’s Valley Inn. They will have rooms and services for up to 28 days.
[4-13-21] // The Riverside Board of Supervisors Tuesday signed off on a plan by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and Riverside University Health System to expand behavioral health teams that can be deployed to assist in defusing situations involving mentally ill residents, or others who may need help finding treatment opportunities.
By Doug Smith [4-13-21] // The survey, released Tuesday, found homelessness down 12% on average in the 40 census tracts that make up Hollywood and East Hollywood. But the change was markedly uneven across that area.
Apr 12, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[4-8-21] // The American Rescue Plan funds will be allocated through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program to 651 grantees, including states, insular areas, and local governments.
By Alexei Koseff [4-11-21] // The Homekey program, which was started last summer with money from the federal coronavirus relief package, awarded nearly $800 million to dozens of California cities and counties to purchase sites and convert them into housing with supportive services by the end of 2020.
By Matthew Hetz [4-8-21] // With schools under COVID pandemic closure, children have been locked in their cramped home quarters, and with Echo Park becoming a homeless community, their one local place to get outside and let loose was no longer available.
By Will Schmitt [4-5-21] // Samuel L. Jones Hall’s reinstated exit policy, which takes effect Thursday, impacts about three dozen people at present who have stayed longer than six months. However, most are eligible for extensions.
By Hugh Hewitt [4-10-21] // Federal District Court Judge David O. Carter now sits in judgment in a civil suit brought last March by residents and business leaders against the city and county of Los Angeles.
Apr 9, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Doug Smith 4-8-21] // On Wednesday, California launched a public website that, for the first time, combines all 44 databases, and reports some basic statewide statistics that describe homelessness and local efforts to address it.
By Marisa Kendall [4-7-21] // 37% received housing, and 47% are still waiting.
By Tony Bizjak [4-9-21] // The new site is an overflow parking lot near the city’s Sacramento River marina in Miller Park, a mile from the existing initial city-authorized camping site on a parking lot next to the W-X freeway at Sixth and W streets. Here, people can get connected to services and, hopefully, housing.
By Benjamin Oreskes [4-8-1] // With no bank accounts, little access to the internet and a general lack of awareness that the money is available, many homeless people haven’t received the stimulus checks.
HUD: Exploring Homelessness Among People Living in Encampments and Associated Cost: City Approaches to Encampments and What They Cost
By Lauren Dunton et al. [4-5-21] // This study lays out a novel framework for approaches to encampments in cities around the country: clearance with support, clearance with little or no support, tacit acceptance, and formal sanctioning. The four cities that were the main focus of the study were Chicago, Houston, San Jose, and Tacoma, WA.
By Erika D. Smith [4-7-21] // A community needs to move as a community, no matter what type of community that is.
By Tracy Jan [4-8-21] // Grants which must be spent by 2030 can be used to provide temporary or permanent housing, including buying and converting hotels and motels.
Apr 7, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
Mercury News: Palo Alto: Council dinged for talking about homeless housing but doing little about it
By Aldo Toledo [4-6-21] // At a study session on Monday, Santa Clara housing advocates pointed out that Palo Alto doesn’t have a permanent 24-hour homeless shelter or a safe parking program and it hasn’t aggressively pursued county and state funds to convert struggling hotels to temporary housing through Project Homekey. Council members remained non-committal.
By Steven Sharp [4-7-21] // Yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to authorize the Department of General Services to negotiate an agreement with Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission to operate two new interim housing facilities.
By Christina Pascucci [4-6-21] // The motion asks the city administrative officer to evaluate and identify funding for temporary sites for “single-occupancy tiny homes or safe camping” at Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades, Dockweiler Beach in Playa del Rey and Fisherman’s Village in Marina del Rey. Dockweiler would include “safe parking” sites.
By Jessica A. York [4-6-21] // The River Street Shelter, among city’s first publicly owned, first opened in 1987 and is operated by nonprofit Encompass Community Service, in contract with Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Division. A joint statement references an evolving time for county housing support service models.
Apr 5, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Jim Jacobs [3-25-21] // Supervisors approved a conditional use permit and affordable housing regulatory agreement that will bring 52 modular homes to Goshen for affordable permanent housing, available by November 2022.
[3-26-21] // This report provides an assessment of the YHDP CoCs’ planning efforts during the two-year planning phase of the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program grants.
By Marisa Kendall [4-2-21] // Tiny home community is a first for Oakland.
By Jessica A. York [4-2-21] // The federal judge overseeing a homeless civil rights lawsuit against the city has finalized an order allowing the city to clear encampments out of San Lorenzo Park, except where provided in a 122-space city-designed and -controlled area in the benchlands.
By Brooke Holland [3-27-21] // People’s Self-Help Housing project provides newly renovated home base amid conveniences and amenities of downtown.
By Chris Frost [4-1-21] // Oxnard is moving from a “housing readiness” model to “housing first,” beginning by building a Homeless Solutions Center at 241 West Second Street. That will include a 110-bed low-barrier shelter on the first floor and 50 additional permanent supportive housing units above.
By Erika D. Smith [4-3-21] // Former encampment resident Olga expected to stay for months in a Century City hotel under Project Roomkey, but now she must leave.
D. Debolt & E. Baron [4-2-21] // Firefighters had to stop train traffic in East Oakland for several hours to battle a fierce fire believed to have started in a homeless encampment that spread to 16-foot pallets of cardboard and paper.
Apr 2, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Peter Hegarty [4-2-21] // Covenant House California will rent the property to house 30 young people.
By Bianca Barragan [3-28-21] // A Watts Work supportive housing project will be built using decommissioned shipping containers at a cost of about $378K per unit. Funding will come from Measure HHH, No Place Like Home funds, and vouchers from the Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool.
By Michael Albrecht [4-1-21] // Just like some of our housed neighbors, some unhoused neighbors may suffer from mental illness or drug addiction, or they may be underemployed and cannot afford rent. They deserve services and shelter as much as anyone else.
[4-1-21] // The recently launched SDS Supportive Housing Fund — a first-of-its-kind private-equity impact fund that finances new, financially-sustainable permanent supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness – today announced it has closed $10.3 million in funding to develop new housing in South Los Angeles. The site will provide 60 one-bedroom units.
By John King [4-1-21] // California College of the Arts dorm Clifton Hall now provides emergency family shelter and will soon offer apartments to previously homeless men and women.
By Mallory Moench [3-30-21] // As of Monday, the city has housed 181 people since November of the 2,000 who have sheltered in place in hotels during the pandemic. The city plans to find housing for 200 people per month.
By Amanda Hari [4-1-21] // (Video/text) More than 1,700 people experiencing homelessness are still in hotel rooms after the city of San Francisco moved them inside during shelter-in-place.
By Robert Morrison [4-2-21] // The framing of our city’s response as benevolent patience for those who are “not ready” to “choose housing” is laughable when our local housing system falls short by every measure.
By Mary Wilson [4-1-21] // The housing-insecure population grew 15 percent from 2019 to 2020. Those living without shelter are doing so in virtually every neighborhood of Los Angeles.
By Marisa Kendall [4-1-21] // The Junior Center of Art and Science, located in Lake Merritt’s Lakeside Park, was ready to open for in-person camps this summer, but a fire that started in its patio severely damaged the building.
By Hannah Wiley [4-2-21] // The move out of the tent and into Sacramento’s Vagabond Inn came with privacy and personal space, a hot shower, comfortable bed and three meals a day.
Mar 29, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes et al. [3-27-21] // The “approach of intensive outreach followed by a ‘choice date’ must become the standard if we are going to move people living on our streets into a better situation…We no longer have the luxury to wait until people are ready,” Councilman Joe Buscaino said.
By Trisha Thadani & Mallory Moench [3-29-21] Part of Breed’s plan includes giving out 1,100 rental vouchers that allow homeless people to, in theory, live in apartment buildings around the city or elsewhere in the Bay Area. Voucher recipients would be assigned a case manager to help connect them to services.
By Steve Rubenstein [3-26-21] // Construction workers excavating at the site of an old bridge in Vallejo found something on Friday they weren’t expecting: two people living in a 20-foot-long cave dug into the side of an embankment, authorities said. Due to construction, their relocation was a rescue operation.
By Theresa Walker [3-23-21] // This 70-bed shelter is the result of a partnership between the two cities. It received additional funding from a county homelessness grant and Hoag Hospital.
By Marisa Kendall [3-28-21] // Court orders are preventing cities from Sausalito to Santa Cruz from clearing homeless encampments. Other lawsuits are fighting anti-camping ordinances or securing basic rights for unhoused residents, such as the right to keep their belongings and receive advance notice before a camp is disbanded.
Mar 26, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Times Editorial Board [3-23-21] // The city and county of L.A. invest a huge amount of money and effort into sheltering, housing and providing services to homeless people. And that should not stop; we need more permanent housing, and we need it faster. But the city and the county are not investing enough in prevention measures.
[3-18-21] // The City Council had previously planned to use a California state grant and city funds totaling over $500,000 to establish a sanctioned RV parking program in the Hilltop Mall parking lot. The council later changed their minds following neighbor opposition, deciding instead to locate the program in the parking lot of the Richmond Civic Center. That plan was also met with community opposition.
By Benjamin Oreskes et al. [3-26-21] // City officials have offered homeless people who had been staying in the park a room in one of several downtown hotels, which most accepted.
By Alfredo Lubrano [3-10-21] // Plans are underway to start building in 2022 a pocket park where people experiencing homelessness will not only be welcome but will also be a part of the building process.
Mar 24, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Marisa Kendall [3-23-21] // Recognizing the city doesn’t have enough housing or shelter beds for everyone who may be displaced, officials have proposed setting up a temporary, city-sanctioned encampment for the duration of the pandemic. It would be the city’s first.
By Ben van der Meer [3-17-21] // The 68-unit, two-story project at 2314 Northview Drive would provide supportive housing for people who were formerly homeless, and it would include community space and offices for services.
By Henry Grabar [3-23-21] // “…America’s homelessness crisis has taken on a depressing air of inevitability—not something that can be solved or even directly addressed, but an immovable fact around which we do our best to adjust everything else.”
HUD [3-22-21] // Mino Oski Ain Dah Yung, a permanent supportive housing development in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota, opened its doors in November 2019. The Ain Dah Yung Center, a local nonprofit, partnered with Project for Pride in Living to build the facility to prevent homelessness among young people aging out of social service eligibility.
By Libby Denkman [3-24-21] // Residents of the tent community at Echo Park Lake and allies on Wednesday morning protested plans by the city to close the property and clear the longstanding homeless encampment.
By B. Oreskes & D. Smith [3-23-21] // Over the last year, the encampment has evolved into a commune-like society with a shared pantry, a garden, a veneer of self-policing and a tenuous grasp on basic sanitation. It has also divided the Echo Park community and illustrates rising neighborhood conflicts…
Mar 22, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Michael Smolens [3-21-21] // (Column) There has been a constant push-pull of prioritizing permanent housing over temporary tent shelters and vice versa. …While it might not be the original sin that exacerbated homelessness, the loss of nearly 10,000 inexpensive, single-occupancy hotel rooms between 200 and 2016 stands out.
By Marisa Kendall [3-22-21] // Santa Cruz is struggling with a homelessness crisis which, in proportion to its size, is more extreme than that of major Bay Area cities including Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco, where the problem has drawn far more attention. A new policy would ban daytime camping.
[3-19-21] // “The challenge we have to remember is that every day on average 207 people make their way back into housing either with our help or on their own, and at the same time, 227 people are pushed into homelessness every day,'' said LAHSA Executive Director Heidi Marston.
Mar 19, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[3-18-21] // The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today released its 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1 to Congress. The report found that 580,466 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in 2020, an increase of 12,751 people, or 2.2 percent, from 2019.
[3-17-21] // Summary of recent changes.
By Steve Berg [3-16-21] // The new law includes important low-income housing and homelessness provisions – most notably $5 billion in new funding specifically to reduce homelessness, more than $21.5 billion to replenish the emergency rental assistance fund, and $5 billion in emergency housing vouchers.
By Hunter Sowards [3-16-21] // (Video) Three people died and several others were injured when a car jumped a curb and plowed into an encampment on Monday. What will happen to those transitioning out of the Convention Center?
Mar 17, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Lloyd Alaban [3-16-21] // Councilman Matt Mahan first proposed changing the city’s approach to encampments in a February newsletter. “But something like 6,000 people every day are living on our streets. Without better managing their living conditions, it’s terrible for them and the broader community.”
By Katie King [3-9-21] // Across the country groups that work with unhoused populations have ditched paper records for new technologies, but not in Silicon Valley. According to a report released last month by State Auditor Elaine Howle, the coalition of groups that work with homeless residents in Santa Clara County rely on outdated methods to track the people they help.
By Molly Sullivan [3-16-21] // Emergency housing for domestic violence survivors and their families in Sacramento has been tough to find during the COVID-19 pandemic. Really tough.
By Marisa Kendall [3-16-21] // Lawsuit is latest Bay Area skirmish over RVs.
By Roxana Kopetman [3-15-21] // What began as a few people sleeping outside El Centro Cultural de Mexico in downtown Santa Ana has, in recent months, grown to more than 40 homeless living in tents in the non-profit’s parking lot, pitting center operators against the city and neighborhood residents who complain of filthy conditions.
By Gary Warth [3-15-21] // The transformation of an aging motel into a new recuperative care center with temporary housing for homeless people has passed some major milestones, and supporters of Interfaith Community Services will get to see the project’s progress and hear about an ongoing fundraiser on March 25.
By Elisabeth Buchwald [3-17-21] // Homeless Americans who don’t have a fixed address or bank accounts will have to jump through an array of hoops to claim their payment.
By Emily Nonko [3-16-21] // Business owners in Portland’s Central East Side were concerned about what they said was an increase in homelessness, trash and biowaste. So they proposed forming an “enhanced services district,” known in other cities as a business improvement district.
Mar 15, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Hayley Munguia [3-13-21] // The city purchased the 102-room hotel, 1725 Long Beach Blvd., for $21.7 million last year using money from the state’s Project Homekey program and other state and federal funds. L.A. County also purchased a Motel 6 in East Long Beach and a Holiday Inn in Central Long Beach through the Homekey program.
By Luis Sinco [3-8-21] // Homeless encampments are steadily spreading across the vast sprawl of Los Angeles. The scenes evoke John Steinbeck’s classic novel “The Grapes of Wrath.”
By Benjamin Oreskes & Doug Smith [3-12-21] // This week, new research from UCLA epidemiologists found that nationally, homeless people who did contract COVID-19 were 30% more likely to die than those in the general population. In Los Angeles County, homeless COVID-19 patients were 50% more likely to die.
By Benjamin Oreskes & Doug Smith [3-13-21] // By latest count, 174 tents or makeshift structures were bunched at the north end of the lake and spread along its western shore.
Mar 12, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Donna Littlejohn [3-11-21] // A proposal to use two overflow and mostly empty parking lots near the old Ports O’ Call Village as a safe-camping site for those who are homeless has been discussed this month but so far has been resisted by the property owner — the Port of Los Angeles.
By Gary Warth [3-8-21] // A 28-bed shelter at Father Joe’s Villages in downtown San Diego opened just about a month ago, but some clients there already say their lives have changed.
By Lisa Halverstadt [3-11-21] // Mayor Todd Gloria has yet to institute a major overhaul of police enforcement efforts affecting homeless San Diegans, though the mayor told Voice of San Diego he has directed some changes as he reviews the city’s strategies.
By Jessica Harrington [3-11-21] // (Video/text) Neighbors reported the encampment. Homeless residents will be offered shelter as the camp is removed.
Visalia Times-Delta: Tulare County homeless project hobbled by substandard conditions, mismanagement
By Joshua Yeager [3-11-21] // On a crisp early February evening, Juan Flores began to notice the smell of sewage filling his room at the 99 Palm Inn & Suites, just outside Tulare on Highway 99…
Jessica A. York [3-10-21] // An overhauled but unfinished city homeless sleeping law was approved early Wednesday morning by the Santa Cruz City Council. Enforcement of the “Temporary Outdoor Living” ordinance, including banning people from sleeping outdoors or setting up their tents and bedding at certain times and locations, will be delayed pending review of a lengthy series of amendments to the ordinances discussed and approved Tuesday.
Mar 10, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Steven Sharp [3-8-21] // After eight months of construction, Linc Housing has completed the wood-and-concrete frame of Cadence, a new supportive housing development in the Watts neighborhood.
CBS SF Bay Area: San Francisco Breaks Ground on Affordable Housing for 96 Homeless Residents in SoMa
[3-4-21] // The $52 million project at 53 Colton St., for residents exiting homelessness, is expected to be completed by late 2022.
By Justine Brady [3-4-21] // State grants allow for the purchase of Hotel Diva and the Granada Hotel with the intent to transform these buildings into permanent supportive housing. These purchases are part of Mayor London Breed’s Homeless Recovery Program.
Mar 8, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Lisa Halverstadt [3-4-21] // Two men staying in county-funded hotel rooms for homeless San Diegans considered especially vulnerable to coronavirus recently lost their temporary homes after being hospitalized for the very health conditions that qualified them for the program.
By Lloyd Alaban [3-7-21] // Casitas de Esperanza, which opened earlier this month, is one of the county’s latest tiny home projects to house homeless families. The 50-unit tiny-house complex is located in the parking lot of the old San Jose City Hall.
By Nick Welsh [3-4-21] // Effective plans exist to bring people without housing off the streets, but stakeholders need to help.
By Natalie Hanson [3-7-21] // This is the first in a weekly series, Community Stories from the Streets, on the diverse mix of unsheltered individuals living in Chico.
By Tony Bizjak [3-8-21] // As many as 300 homeless people living in rows of sidewalk tents under the elevated W-X section of Highway 50 are about to be ordered to pack up and move. Caltrans is launching a highway widening project, and the teeming tent cities between Sixth and 26th streets are directly under the construction zone.
[3-8-21] // About 700 homeless people sheltered for months at the San Diego Convention Center are scheduled to move into smaller shelters starting March 22, as officials move toward converting the Center to a mass vaccination site.
Mar 5, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes [3-5-21] // As of late last month, the county was renting 12 hotels with 1,350 rooms through the HCD’s Project Roomkey. It plans to keep 11 of those 12 sites open through September, at the latest. The city won’t expand the program due to budget concerns.
[3-5-21] // Two homeless San Diegans whose health conditions helped them secure hotel rooms via a county program to temporarily house homeless people considered particularly vulnerable to coronavirus recently lost their rooms after leaving them to be treated in local hospitals.
By Karla Rendon-Alvarez [3-5-21] // Mayor Todd Gloria made it clear that residents who have been staying at the San Diego Convention Center will not be "forced back onto the streets" but be relocated to reconfigured shelters.
By B. Oreskes & D. Smith [3-3-21] // The city has sharply scaled back the hotel program in recent months, leading advocates and lawyers for the homeless to say the Garcetti administration is showing a lack of political will to protect some of L.A.'s most vulnerable residents.
By Sarah Ruiz-Grossman [3-4-21] //Advocates in California are urging the state to prioritize the single-dose vaccine for unhoused people, who can be harder to reach.
By Jay Barmann [3-4-21] // In the six "Safe Sleeping Villages" set up by the city of San Francisco during the pandemic, the cost of maintaining a single tent-camping spot is $5,000 per month, or $61,000 per year — more than it would cost to put each of these people in a market-rate apartment.
By Kristin Lam [3-4-21] // Crews on Tuesday cleared tents, blankets and other belongings near the intersection of South First and D streets, prompting one homeless woman to ask where her friends are supposed to go now.
By Martin Velasco-Ramos [3-4-21] // One morning Tom Duval woke up and was shocked to find that he couldn’t lift his arms anymore. Naturally, Duval left his motorhome and went to the hospital. Little did he know, this was the beginning of his journey into homelessness.
[3-4-21] // Recommendations call for strengthening operational effectiveness, streamlining its governing bodies, and engaging elected officials.
By Kriston Capps [3-4-21] // Based on real-time data and a focus on individuals, the “Built for Zero” model for delivering homeless services is designed to break cities of ineffective habits.
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Nov 2, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Mallory Moench [3-2-21] // An ordinance expected to pass will extend the federally reimbursed program that leases hotel rooms for around 2,000 vulnerable homeless individuals, fill even more hotel rooms and make available permanent housing for those in hotels.
By Mallory Moench [3-2-21] // Shelter-in-place hotels, opened during the pandemic for vulnerable homeless individuals, offer private rooms with bathrooms and three meals a day, but the program is temporary. In contrast, a newly available permanent supportive housing option in a recently renovated hotel has communal bathrooms and charges 30% of a resident’s income as rent.
[3-2-21] // To be eligible, households must be renting and have experienced a financial hardship directly or indirectly related to COVID-19 or have qualified for unemployment during the pandemic.
By Gary Warth [3-1-21] // Each tent has a storage unit to keep it free of clutter.
Mar 1, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Lori Teresa Yearwood [2-26-21] // On the first Sunday in February, Darin Mann knew sleep would not come easily. It had been hours since the community activist had watched police and paramedics take away the body of a woman who had been living in a tent in his front yard.
By Erika D. Smith [2-28-21] // Looking around at what she sees as a glut of buildings emptied by the COVID-19 pandemic, and considering the skyrocketing need for housing in an economy that’s pushing people into homelessness, Rose Rios is telling everyone who will listen that she plans to buy a vacant building in South L.A. and turn it into a shelter.
By Debbie L. Sklar [2-25-21] // Urban Street Angels, San Diego Youth Services and San Diego LGBT Community Center are partnering with the city to provide a new shelter and outreach opportunities specifically targeting people between the ages of 18 and 24 who are experiencing homelessness or transitioning from state custody or foster care.
By Jeff McDonald [2-21-21] // The city appears to have paid above-market rates for the two Residence Inn hotels it purchased late last year for just over $106 million, properties that city officials are relying on to help reduce the homeless population across the community.
By Debbie L. Sklar [2-25-21] // The Health and Homeless Systems committee will dive into best practices within each of the health and homelessness systems, as well as identify potential future funding strategies for capacity development in the areas of recuperative care and shelter for people who are discharged from hospitals.
[2-12-21] // Construction is finally underway on a new 100-bed homeless shelter on a lot bounded by Broadway and X Street, tucked under a freeway.
By Theresa Walker [2-24-21] // The shelter can accommodate up to 72 homeless people from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.
Feb 26, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Laurence du Sault [2-22-21] // Senate Bill 739 would create a pilot basic income program offering the roughly 2,500 California youth transitioning out of the foster care system this year at age 21 unconditional direct monthly payments for three years.
By Hayley Munguia [2-25-21] // The nonprofit People Assisting the Homeless has announced an expansion of its LeaseUp program, which connects people who are homeless with landlords who have available units.
By Garvin Thomas [2-25-21] // Dan Bodner’s shelter is constructed out of just a handful of pre-fabricated sections. He says one can be assembled by three people in roughly 30 minutes using just a single tool and a pair of ladders.
By Jessica York [2-6-21] // Alekz Londos explains that his pilot project “helps raise awareness of tiny homes, micro-tiny homes, minimalism, and our transition toward sustainability. This also helps with our transition toward a caring society, caring for the homeless population.”
Feb 24, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
Editorial Board [2-24-21] // Taking back HHH dollars from numerous projects not yet built is a colossally bad idea. Even if the city can legally do this, it shouldn’t. Although shelter beds are in short supply, permanent housing is more important in the long run.
By Mark Ridley-Thomas [2-11-21] // (Opinion) Despite housing more than 22,000 people in 2019, despite moving nearly 5,000 Angelenos from the streets into hotel rooms through Project Roomkey amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and despite the city creating housing stability for close to 50,000 low-income households through rent subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic, results have not reached far enough.
By Mike Sprague [2-18-21] // “We’re looking to have a conversation with Judge Carter, just to see what the options are,” Mayor Jennifer Perez said, referring to U.S. District Judge David O. Carter who is overseeing a lawsuit involving the city of Los Angeles and Orange County over homelessness issues.
By Annie Sciacca [2-24-21] // After an hours-long public meeting Tuesday night, Richmond City Council voted to build the so-called “safe park” program at the Civic Plaza parking lot at 25th Street and Barrett Avenue. It is intended to be a year-long pilot program that would allow people living in their RVs or cars to park in a secure location with access to power and water.
Feb 22, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[2-17-21] // The Capitol Park Hotel in Sacramento will feature 134 apartments for individuals who are formerly homeless.
By Steven Sharp [2-19-21] // The Nook, at the former site of the South Whittier Library, will provide a manager's apartment and 26 one-bedroom apartments reserved for homeless persons earning 30 percent of less than the area median income. Plans include parking for 10 vehicles.
By Beverly L. Jenkins [1-27-21] // Erik de Buhr of Eugene, Oregon, designed a temporary shelter called the Conestoga Hut, more akin to the covered wagons for which they’re named than to tiny houses—and much less expensive.
Feb 19, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Mallory Moench [2-17-21] // The city, which purchased two hotels last year with $74 million from a state program, is looking into buying more. At least 70 hotels responded to a city request for information from potential sellers.
By the Editorial Board [2-18-21] // UC Berkeley plans to build desperately needed housing for students and formerly homeless residents on the hallowed ground of People’s Park, and some people are upset…Come on, people.
By Aldo Toledo [2-18-21] // The Crestview Boutique Hotel is a 61-room building to be used for transitional housing. The city said it would commit $3.7 million for the rehabilitation of the property and intends to find other funding sources, including through a partnership with Santa Clara County.
By Kriston Capps and Laura Bliss [2-18-21] // In cities like Houston and Portland, many unsheltered people sleep outdoors, leaving them particularly vulnerable during this week’s extreme cold.
Feb 17, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Hannah Wiley [2-17-21] // Assembly Bill 816 would first require HCD and local governments to complete a “gaps and needs analysis” to identify what resources are available and what’s needed to tackle the problem. By 2023, agencies and city officials would have to submit proposals that detail plans to reduce homelessness by 90% by the end of the decade, with an emphasis on racial and ethnic disparities in the community.
By Benjamin Oreskes [2-15-21] // Locating those who need the vaccine—twice—and who are often suspicious of authority pose problems for outreach workers.
By Joseph Geha [2-17-21] // Though it’s been discussed by the Fremont City Council as something the city should be pursuing since the middle of 2018, city staff said there are still several hurdles to clear before a safe parking program could be set up. Potential funding sources are unclear.
By Lorenzo Morotti [2-16-21] // Housing activists and homeless people living in a camp behind a waterfront park in Sausalito clashed with police enforcing an eviction notice Tuesday. The group filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt the eviction and sparred at length with city officials about the legality of moving the camp from Dunphy Park.
[1-26-21] // Century Villages at Cabrillo occupies a 27-acre site where housing for the U.S. Navy once stood and provides supportive housing for more than 1,500 people who experienced or were at risk of homelessness, including veterans, Native Americans, and persons living with disabilities.
Long Beach Post: ‘We are seeing more people struggling’: Deaths, fatal overdoses rise among homeless
By Sebastian Echeverry [1-30-21] // Long Beach saw a 30% rise in total deaths among homeless people last year compared to 2019, with one of the driving forces being drug overdose, data from the city shows.
By Dawn Hodson [2-12-21] // El Dorado County’s move to consider acquiring Hangtown Motel comes as Community Development Block Grant Program and CARES Act rounds two and three funds became available.
Feb 12, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes [2-11-21] // Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday that three hotels the city has been renting for vulnerable homeless people will stay open until the end of September. The hotel shelters are funded primarily through California’s Project Roomkey and provide 1,200 beds.
By Janie Har [2-11-21] // California has spent $13 billion in the last three years to tackle a massive homelessness problem likely to worsen with the pandemic, yet its approach is so fragmented and incomplete as to hinder efforts at getting people into stable housing, the state auditor said in a report released Thursday.
By Matt Charnock [2-10-21] // After FEMA's announcement that approved shelter-in-place (SIP) hotels would be entirely reimbursed with federal funds, five SF supervisors have now introduced legislation to expand the City's SIP hotel program and house 500 more homeless San Franciscans.
Feb 10, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Doug Smith [2-10-21] // A tower of concrete and wheat-toned cladding between a taqueria and a stucco house is the prototype for an initiative to be announced Wednesday to build up to 1,800 units of supportive housing for homeless people utilizing partnerships among private entities, non-profits, and the faith community.
By Elizabeth Chou [2-9-21] // Motion calls for federal government to provide upfront funding, or quicker reimbursement by FEMA of local spending on Project Roomkey hotels.
By Lucy Wang [2-9-21] // Shared outdoor spaces and supportive services complement the 40 prefabricated units (total of 75 beds) of Chandler Boulevard Bridge Home Village in North Hollywood. Twelve photos show it off.
By Will Schmitt [2-10-21] // Although Santa Rosa City Council expressed approval for creating safe parking areas for unsheltered people on city property, plans to relocate an encampment were suspended when several people living in RVs on Industrial Drive were found to have contracted COVID-19.
By Shawna Khalafi [1-22-21] // (Video/text) At the end of January, Fresno will start placing people into temporary housing in motels through Project Roomkey. “It’s an off-ramp from the freeway, an off-ramp from the life of homelessness and an on-ramp to housing services and a productive life,” said Mayor Dyer of the initiative.
By Gil Duran [2-10-21] // Sacramento opened warming stations, but many don’t want to come inside.
Feb 8, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Marisa Kendall [2-8-21] // Standing in a circle in an empty parking lot, the neighbors debated the most pressing issues in their community. They needed new security guards. The street lights were out. Certain people weren’t cleaning up their trash.
By Megan Carroll [2-8-21] // The Spokane [Washington] Regional Health District says it will continue offering COVID-19 immunization clinics at local shelters.
By Vincent Moleski [2-7-21] // The Saturday night protest was led by a loose confederation of left-wing activists who have been vocal critics of the city of Sacramento’s leadership since this summer.
Feb 5, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes [2-3-21] // U.S. District Judge David O. Carter spent the weekend on skid row bringing tents to people who had nowhere to shelter and now wants elected officials and attorneys for the city and county to come there as well.
By Mike Sprague and Elizabeth Chou [2-4-21] // “There is the much larger question of the disproportionate number of people who are homeless that are people of color,” as well as the vulnerability of women and those with mental illness on the streets of L.A., Judge David O. Carter said. He compared the conditions to those preceding the landmark Brown v. Board of Education, which led to federal government intervention in desegregating schools.
By Damien Newton [2-4-21] // While any move that brings even one unsheltered person indoors is good news, the announcement was certainly less dramatic than when Garcetti and the County Supervisors pledged to bring 15,000 indoors via Project Roomkey in L.A. County. The county served under 5,000 with Roomkey.
Sacramento Bee: Why do Sacramento County leaders keep failing in their duty to address homelessness?
By Michele Steeb and David Flanagan [2-5-21] // (Opinion) Counties, not cities, have the personnel and policy apparatus in place to perform these “health and human services” duties to meet their funding requirements.
Feb 3, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Carly Wipf [2-2-21] // Business and property owners in downtown San Jose are demanding the city take action to end vandalism, theft and increasing illegal camping they say is destroying their livelihood.
Feb 1, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Nita Lelyveld [1-30-21] // A year ago I told you about the man and his corgi and the couple who had stepped in to help them early last March, less than two weeks before COVID-19 shut down California.
By Lorenzo Morotti [1-31-21] // A camp of homeless people, including displaced Richardson Bay mariners, has grown to nearly dozen tents since the first poles were pitched in a corner behind Sausalito’s Dunphy Park in December. “If you're going to run us off the bay, where are we going to go?" said Jeremy Casimir, whose boat was confiscated by the Richardson Bay harbormaster.
By Emily Nonko [1-5-21] // About two years ago, the Fresno Madera Continuum of Care shifted from serving individuals who had already become homeless to including “inflow,” or homelessness prevention.
By Tammy Murga [1-27-21] // Recipients include Bridge to Home, Salvation Army of Santa Clarita, College of the Canyons Foundation, Santa Clarita Grocery, Single Mothers Outreach, and the William S. Hart Education Foundation.
Jan 29, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Stephanie Lin [1-29-21] // The Library Galleria on I Street is expected to be open through at least Saturday. In a first-time move, the city also opened an overnight safe parking zone at the City Hall Garage for those living out of their cars. Two homeless residents died during the winter storm on Tuesday night.
By Kevin Forestieri [1-27-21] // The owner of Crestview Hotel has offered to sell the property for use as a homeless housing development, an idea unanimously approved by council members.
By Benjamin Oreskes [1-27-21] // Local elected officials hope a shift in how FEMA reimburses municipalities will breathe new life into an effort to rent hotel rooms for homeless people who are vulnerable to the virus and struggle to isolate.
By Carolyn Jones [1-27-21] ‘Invisible’ homeless students may be missing out on services they need.
Philip Jankowski [1-28-21] // Austin’s city council decided in August to restructure the police department's budget by cutting $21 million right away, primarily by cancelling three cadet classes. The decision also left room to cut an additional $129 million by the end of the fiscal year. Some of the money required to run the motel will come from this change.
[1-26-21] // The state of Oregon is reviewing 19 applications from non-profits and government agencies in 14 different counties to create unconventional motels-turned-apartment complexes to house wildfire victims and others experiencing homelessness.
Jan 25, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Bethany Dawson [1-22-21] // The wood and steel cabins, which can fit up to two people, protect against the cold, wind, and humidity. They also guarantee fresh air circulation.
By Trisha Thadani [1-24-21] // Most hotels that have already qualified to house homeless residents at risk for COVID-19 should be covered 100% by FEMA funds through September. City officials are wondering if the new executive order will provide retroactive funding.
By Benjamin Oreskes [1-22-21] // President Biden’s proposals for another round of pandemic stimulus spending include billions that would help people on the streets — and those in danger of winding up there.
By Phil Matier [1-24-21] // On Friday, there were 38 tents and 26 makeshift structures on the sidewalks. “That’s way down from the 448 we had in May, but it is also a big increase from the daily count of 20 or so tents that we had in the fall,” said Rhiannon Bailard, chief operating officer for UC Hastings College of the Law, which is located in the Tenderloin.
Jan 22, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Will Houston [1-20-21] // The city of Novato intends to sell the former bachelor officers’ quarters building adjacent to the former Hamilton gymnasium on San Pablo Avenue. Some homeless residents and supporters hoped the property would be converted into housing.
By Trisha Thadani [1-21-21] // In January 2020, the mayor was on track to meet her goal. Now 200 beds are still needed. Additionally, plans have changed in order to provide more space between people for COVID-19 health and safety.
By Morgan Cook [1-19-21] // On an upper floor of the San Diego Convention Center, above huge halls where several hundred people have been sheltering nightly during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a nerve center…
Martin Estacio [1-21-21] // The 168-bed, 24-hour Wellness and Recuperative Care Center is expected to be built on 4 acres overall near Eva Dell Park.
By Chris Smith [1-16-21] // As envisioned, the undertaking will provide shelter and life-altering solutions to many without secure housing through the building of 128 affordable-rent apartments and a multiservice shelter that could accommodate as many as 210 people.
By Janelle Bitker [1-20-21] // The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved of a Chinatown relief plan Tuesday, aimed at bringing $1.9 million to restaurants to feed the neighborhood’s single-room occupancy hotel residents. The ordinance still needs to pass a final vote next week.
Jan 20, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Heather Knight [1-20-21] // Jerry Bartlett, a 66-year-old disabled veteran with bad knees and a worse back, must push himself out of his chair in his little room on the third floor, lunge for a pair of crutches and ever-so-slowly make his way down the hall to the stairs.
By Sarah Ravani [1-15-21] // Keep Oakland Housed, a program launched by Mayor Libby Schaaf to help people on the brink of homelessness, prevented nearly 5,000 households from losing their homes with cash assistance and legal services, officials said.
By Theresa Clift [1-19-21] // The city of Sacramento will allow small sanctioned homeless encampments to open in vacant lots across the city, where up to 80 people can sleep in tents, vehicles or tiny homes.
By Vicente Vera [1-19-21] // Sitting on a curb outside a now-closed Office Max in downtown San Jose, colostomy bag under his sweatshirt, Anthony Domondon said he was under the impression that he only needed three pre-existing medical conditions to enroll in Project Roomkey.
By Abigail Higgins [1-20-21] // The capital has the highest income inequality in the country and the highest per capita rate of unhoused in the United States.
Jan 15, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes [1-12-21] // When the Los Angeles City Council opens its 2021 term on Tuesday, Councilman Kevin de LeĆ³n will introduce a range of motions with the goal of creating 25,000 new housing units for homeless people by 2025.
By Alexei Koseff [1-13-21] // A coalition of state legislators, big-city mayors and housing advocates introduced a bill Wednesday, AB71, that would raise the tax rate by nearly 0.8% for companies that earn more than $5 million in annual revenue in the state.
By Barbara Bingley [1-14-21] // On Thursday, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced the city would receive $15.3 million for rental assistance through federal stimulus funding. He will also seek approval from city councilmembers next Tuesday to roll out 60 tiny homes in the next 30 days.
By Ben van der Meer [1-15-21] // In addition to 116 affordable housing units, the 5.5-acre site on Stockton Boulevard would have a commercial building with tenants such as HeadStart and the Sacramento Employment Training Agency, announced Mutual Housing California.
Jan 13, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Carly Wipf [1-12-21] // The San Jose City Council unanimously adopted a $11.3 million expenditure plan for its Homeless, Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program, which provides homeless outreach and shelter services citywide. The budget approval allows the city to apply for $11.3 million in state grants to support a regional effort to end homelessness.
By Matthew Pera [1-11-21] // By the time the federal government had agreed to extend funding indefinitely for California’s Project Roomkey, Marin County had already moved most of the homeless residents in the program out of the hotel rooms where they had been isolating. The County won’t move people back into hotels but does plan to use $450,000 in Project Roomkey funding to help people find housing.
By Adele Peters [1-13-21] // A Vancouver study gave $7,000 each to 50 people living on the street. The effect was immense.
By Elizabeth Chou [1-12-21] // De Leon said there needs to be a "clearly defined objective and timeline" to address homelessness, and a way for "the people we represent to hold us accountable for delivering results."
Jan 11, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[12-27-20] // Town Center Studios offers 40 units for chronically homeless people. Renovation of the former hotel was funded primarily by California’s Homekey program.
By Benjamin Oreskes [1-8-21] // Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget, unveiled Friday, includes $750 million to continue Project Homekey and another $750 million to create beds for those having mental health emergencies to prevent them from ending up in hospitals.
[1-11-21] // LeaseUp receives funding from the Los Angeles Housing Authority and works with more than 600 property owners and managers across Southern California to provide stable tenants for subsidized market-rate rentals.
Jan 8, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Kacey Montoya [1-7-21] // Supervisor Kathryn Barger: “In partnership with [provider] Valley Oasis, LAHSA and the LA County Homeless Initiative, we were able to come together to identify immediate resources to continue to provide vouchers to families currently residing in motels [in Lancaster and Palmdale].”
[1-5-21] // A navigation center providing a variety of services to homeless Angelenos opened on Monday in the Vermont Knolls area of South Los Angeles.
By Nathaniel Levine [1-7-21] // (Video) Workers from the city of Sacramento, Caltrans and private contractors clear a large homeless camp on Alhambra Boulevard near Highway 50 in Sacramento on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021.
By Susie Steimle [1-7-21] // (Video/text) Don Hardy’s latest project is a documentary series called “The Way Home,” an in-depth look at homelessness in California.
By Carmela Karcher [1-8-21] // Originally, state building codes would only allow overnight sheltering at facilities that had proper sprinkler systems. Now, Chico is looking into how other cities have been handling the situation while remaining compliant.
Jan 6, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
By Adele Peters [1-6-21] // In January 2020, Bakersfield, California, had housed nearly everyone who had been homeless for more than a year. Then they sustained it during the pandemic.
By Sydney Page [1-6-21] // Sean Currey was sifting through a rusty dumpster behind a coffee shop in San Rafael, Calif., when he spotted something unusual.
By Vicki Gonzalez [1-5-21] // Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is asking the city council to create a master plan to respond to the city’s homeless population. Recommendations include a map of properties where shelters and safe parking lots can be readily opened.
By Da Lin [1-2-2] // A non-profit organization in Oakland is enacting a pilot program to manage homeless encampments by paying campers for their belongings.
Jan 4, 2021
HOMELESSNESS
[11-9-20] // The Accelerating Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative shows that significant results can occur when philanthropic and nonprofit organizations strategically complement the public sector to achieve a shared, evidence-based vision.
By Benjamin Oreskes [1-1-21] // “It’s such a relief to be here,” said Natosha Johnson, 41, whose fatigue was a symptom of her lupus. “Our cramped situation was difficult, especially during COVID.”
By Doug Smith [1-3-21] // The day after Christmas, Dr. Heidi Behforouz, medical director for L.A. County’s Housing for Health program, sent out a call of distress. People living in skid row shelters were being diagnosed with dozens of new cases of COVID-19, and Behforouz needed a place to send them quickly to isolate.
By Ted Land [-1-21] // The Health Through Housing initiative uses revenue from a .1% sales tax increase to develop a network of apartment-like shelters, with the goal of getting people out of tents, off of sidewalks, and into safe, clean homes.
By Joel John Roberts [12-28-20] // (Opinion) Our essential homelessness workers became counselors, health care workers and even food shoppers for people afraid to go to the grocery store.
By Natalie Hanson [1-3-21] // Local nonprofits say they are ready and anxious to begin administering a sanctioned campground, as hundreds spend each winter night camping in local parks.
Dec 30, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By D. Treglia, D. Chimbel & R. Brown [12-28-20] // This report provides guidance on conducting a street-based Point-in-Time (PIT) count that maintains the health and safety of individuals performing the count and of individuals experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Gary Warth [12-28-20] // Under new program, one outreach worker will connect with a single homeless person for a full year.
By Vicki Gonzalez [12-29-20] // (Video/text) Sacramento: The goal of the team is not to criminalize those experiencing homelessness, but to connect them to services and housing. Each unsheltered resident has a unique story to tell.
By Vanessa Arredondo [12-24-20] // Over the summer, Oakland and the nonprofit Bay Area Community Services received $10 million from the state to purchase and remodel 17 residential homes to provide permanent housing to 100 unsheltered people. Move-in begins this month.
Editorial Board [12-24-20] // In Los Angeles, a soon-to-open village of 39 tiny homes on an empty city lot in North Hollywood cost a stunning $5.2 million to set up. By contrast, the city of Riverside set up a village of 30 tiny homes last year for a total cost of about $514,000. Why the vast difference?
By Shaena Montanari & Natalie Walters [12-29-20] // The challenge facing the small community in The Dalles is a microcosm of the difficulty faced by homeless service providers nationwide as they race to figure how best to use the largest influx of homeless aid in American history.
By Andy Blye & Austin Fast [12-28-20] // “If we’re going to try and address homelessness, we should use a formula that prioritizes homelessness,” said Alex Visotzky, legislative affairs manager for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, one of the groups that advised HUD on ways to rework the formula.
Michele Chandler [12-20-20] // The Director of Housing and Community Action Programs for Shasta County, Jaclyn Disney, will give a presentation to the supervisors during their meeting on Jan. 5 about Square One Homes, a pilot program aiming to house up to 15 homeless individuals in five homes.
By Dani Masten [12-29-20] // A law firm in Chico has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the city, challenging the city's decision to evict homeless campers from parks.
[12-30-20] // The organizations benefiting include the Los Angeles Rescue Mission, Community Action Partnership of Orange County, Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, Watts Community Labor Action Committee, and Inland Valley Hope Partners.
By Shelby Nelson [12-28-20] // The Ramsey Street Village community was built in April to house several homeless people. The fire destroyed 19 of the 20 pods and heavily damaged one.
By Drew Andre [12-25-20] // (Video/text) “This is not actually addressing the problem [of homelessness], but it’s a really good band-aid to the solution,” Alekz Londos said.
Dec 28, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Joseph Giovannini [12-27-20] // Deny a human being territory, a space of her own, and you deny her agency. Deny her running water, and you take away her self-respect.
By Lisa Halverstadt [12-28-20] // Leaders tasked with executing the city’s plan to address the homelessness crisis say the coronavirus pandemic in some ways helped advance certain goals. But on other key metrics, the city has acted with less urgency and has less progress to show.
By Emma Gallegos [12-24-20] // When Alberto Aguado returned from the hospital to his one-bathroom home for continued COVID-19 recovery, he worried that even taking a shower could put his family at risk. The Housing for the Harvest program allowed him to quarantine in a hotel room away from his wife and children.
By Phillip Palmer [12-25-20] // Redondo Beach officials are piloting a Tiny Pallet village with wrap-around services, including permanent housing placement. Pallet shelters were designed for disaster victims and are easy to sanitize and relocate.
By Lorenzo Morotti [12-23-20] // A handful of people have been living at a former military base in Novato since December 18. They have plans to restore the buildings, purchase the property and convert it into a housing cooperative, said homeless Novato resident Jason Sarris.
Dec 23, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Gregg Colburn et al [12-2020] // This joint UW/King County study evaluates the “effects and outcomes on individuals who were moved to non-congregate hotel settings. …the shelter deintensification strategy limited the spread of COVID-19 among individuals moved to hotel locations as compared to those who stayed in congregate settings.” Hotel residents experienced additional positive outcomes.
By Sarah Ravani [12-16-20] // Residents from a nearby shelter will begin moving into a former college dormitory in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood starting Dec. 28, a small but promising step in housing the city’s massive and swelling homeless population.
By Aaron Groff [12-18-20] // The city says conditions then deteriorated at the location, posed a fire threat, became a COVID-19 hotspot and danger to city staff and the public.
By Kate Cimini [12-19-20] // A much-publicized new housing development serving residents experiencing homelessness opened Thursday at the former Good Nite Inn. Organizers hope to house up to 101 Salinas residents.
By Aldo Toledo [12-2-20] // The action has drawn ire from Redwood City residents who believe the senior facility will cause public safety issues.
By Fareeha Rehman [12-16-20] // Joe Gebbia’s donation will support homeless prevention and support programs by Rising Up-Larkin Street Youth Services and All Home.
By Chris Nichols [12-15-20] // Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the Main Library Galleria in downtown will be used as a warming center for up to 60 people when temperatures drop below 33 degrees during a 24-hour period. That’s less strict than county guidance that calls for the facilities to open only when it drops below freezing three nights in a row.
Dec 21, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Alexei Koseff [12-20-20] // In a letter to “Project Roomkey partners” Friday, Newsom wrote that FEMA “authorized reimbursement for this life-saving mission through the duration of the COVID-19 emergency,” providing greater stability to cities and counties as they work to transition hotel residents into permanent housing. The letter did not specify what would determine the end of the emergency.
Dec 18, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
[12-17-20] // The district says 25 families are unsheltered right now or living in motel rooms. On Wednesday night, the board voted unanimously to use district funds to help those families find housing.
By Susie Steimle [12-17-20] // After two decades of public pushback, a community for developmentally disabled adults is finally being built in Half Moon Bay.
Safia Samee Ali [12-18-20] // Vital housing assistance, such as rapid rehousing, may not be available to families that don’t meet the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s definition of homeless, including those who have had to move in with other households.
Ida Mojadad [12-16-20] // 2018 measure expected to generate $340 million annually focused on permanent housing solutions.
By Jonathan Sherin and Henry Stern [12-18-20] // Legislators with the best of intentions have tried for decades to set the proper balance between self-determination and humane intervention.
By Julie Drake [12-18-20] // Lancaster: Eighty-nine Families staying in local motels with vouchers from Valley Oasis received a temporary reprieve Wednesday and will be able to remain at the motels through the first two weeks of the new year.
By Jim Johnson [12-17-20] Construction delays have slowed the opening of Casa de Noche Buena shelter in Seaside.
Dec 16, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Jason Ruiz [12-11-20] // Starting in February the Motel 6 that sits at the “Iron Triangle” intersection of Pacific Coast Highway, Bellflower Boulevard and Seventh Street will begin to serve as an interim housing site, but the speed at which that happened has alarmed some residents in the surrounding neighborhoods. The 43-room site is part of the Project Homekey.
By Vincent Medina [12-11-20] // This 174-bed facility was built with COVID-19 in mind, in terms of space planning and resident admissions.
By Phillip Palmer [12-16-20] // (Video/text) Placentia: Regional center helps streamline the process of finding permanent housing, counseling, health resources, and job and social skills for homeless community.
By Michael Cabanatuan [12-16-20] // Rising Up/Larkin Street Youth Services and All Home will each receive $12.5 million to help San Francisco manage the impact of the pandemic on its residents.
By Riordan Frost [12-16-20] // Homelessness increased in 2019 in both high- and low-cost states—yet declined in some states.
By Michele Chandler [12-14-20] // Five houses in residential neighborhoods in Anderson and Shasta Lake will become the first in the county to house homeless residents under a new program spearheaded by Hill Country Health and Wellness Center.
By Michele Chandler [12-16-20] // The Redding City Council today began examining whether to formally declare the city to be in a shelter crisis, which would open the door for zoning changes allowing certain kinds of emergency housing in the city for people who are homeless.
Dec 14, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By M. Rile-Schmidt & A. Chacon [12-13-20] // (Opinion) In just four years, 129 homeless individuals have died on the streets of Santa Barbara County. Their average age of death was just 58 years old, compared with 76 years in the housed population. This means that being homeless in Santa Barbara decreases life expectancy by almost 20 years.
By Amy Vitalicio [10-14-20] // The Pasadena City Council plans to review a pre-developmental plan for a 70-unit mixed-use project at 710-738 N. Fair Oaks Ave. and 19-25 E. Orange Grove Blvd. The project would include 69 supportive housing units for homeless seniors, one manager’s unit, approximately 2,200 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, and a 37-space surface parking lot.
[12-12-20] // In other cities, 64-square-foot aluminum and composite sheds are being used as quick and inexpensive emergency shelter for homeless people. In Los Angeles, quick solutions come with access roads, underground utilities and concrete foundations — and commensurate planning delays.
By Brandon Pho [12-14-20] // On top of these issues, the lawsuit alleges the facilities are rife with other inhumane conditions — such as overcrowding, filthy plumbing, rodent and bedbug infestations, showers in disrepair and extreme temperatures — echoing similar claims in an ACLU report from 2019.
Dec 11, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Wealthy Gener [12-9-20] // (Video/text) Poverello House and WestCare have provided support and shelter in Fresno for more than forty years. On Wednesday, both received news that they will be receiving $2.5 million each from the Bezos Day One Families Fund.
By Karah Rucker [12-9-20] // (Video/text) The homeless population in the greater Fresno area increased by 96% over the past two years. CBS47 took a hard look at the money that has poured into our community this year to help reduce the homeless population – and discovered tens of millions yet to be spent.
[12-8-20] // Fifty homeless individuals in Manteca are set to have a shelter over their heads later this week after a faith-based group rallied together with city officials.
By Erin Baldassari [12-10-20] // Data show that nearly 16% of people who have already been discharged have been place into permanent housing and that 84% have gone to emergency shelters, transitional housing, family, or other hotels paid with funds other than Project Roomkey.
By Heather Knight [12-8-20] // Neighbors in the Castro knew her as Princess Leia because she often wore her long hair in two buns on the sides of her head, sometimes held together with syringes.
By John Palminteri [12-10-20] // Next week some of the homeless living in tents in Isla Vista will be welcomed into a 'tiny home' as part of a special transitional program in Santa Barbara County.
Dec 9, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Benjamin Oreskes [12-8-20] // The Board of Supervisors, citing the pandemic, voted Tuesday to ask the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for an exemption.
By Doug Smith & Benjamin Oreskes [12-9-20] // …The management of the extended-stay Studio 6 motel in Commerce was locking out residents who had lived there for months or even years, forcing some into homelessness without the relocation benefits they were entitled to under state law.
[12-8-20] // City Administrative Officer Richard Llewellyn does not think the Hillside Villa Apartments will be eligible for purchase under federal guidelines. It would be purchased for low-income families with $45 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds.
By Lisa Halverstadt [12-8-20] // Mayor Kevin Faulconer wants to replicate his approach to homelessness statewide. The gist: Deliver more homeless services, and force homeless Californians to either accept them or face consequences from police.
[12-7-20] // (Video/text) If passed, this citywide master plan would make it so any site consistent with the proposal's guidelines could move forward, Steinberg wrote in a letter to city officials. In recent years, each homeless shelter site proposal required individual approval.
Dec 7, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Richard Halstead [12-6-20] // Marin County has budgeted fewer emergency shelter beds for the homeless this winter, but officials say the funds set aside will be sufficient to meet the need. The amount of money budgeted, about $106,000 from the county’s general fund, is the same amount that was budgeted last year.
By [12-4-20] // Mountain View’s bitterly debated Measure C passed last month with 57% of the vote and will effectively ban RV parking on hundreds of city streets.
By Marissa Kendall [11-27-20] // Homeless services provider LifeMoves is working to open modular units for at least 124 people in Mountain View by the end of January.
Dec 4, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Gina Avalos [12-3-20] // The first-ever homeless shelter in Paso Robles opens this Friday with the help of Project Home-Key grants.
By Brenna Visser [12-3-20] // Bend, Oregon, is applying for an Oregon Community Foundation program called Project Turnkey.
[12-4-20] // "I had nowhere to go … I was sleeping on my daughter's couch, in my car, here, there and everywhere." When Victoria Deal moved into her apartment in September 2020, County Full-Service Rehousing Shelter Program also helped with moving costs, the rental deposit and helped furnish her home with some basic furniture.
[12-3-20] // People around the world have sent gifts and notes of encouragement to Phil and some of the others in the videos.
[12-2-20] // Parthenia Place is the city’s first State Homekey Project site to house homeless people, and it is located in Martinez’ Council District 6.
By David Downey [12-2-20] // Riverside leaders have rejected a $1.4 million effort to curb wildfires along the Santa Ana River by relocating homeless people camping in the riverbed.
By Linda Stansberry [11-26-20] // On Nov. 17, the Eureka City Council voted to repeal and replace its existing camping ordinance, approving new language that prohibits camping in the city's business districts and trails, anywhere in the city during daylight hours and anywhere on public property where said camping would be considered "obstructive conduct."
By Janelle Egger [12-3-20] // (Letter to Editor) Please ask city council to tell staff, "Thanks, but no thanks; please use what you have to open a camp under the core components of Housing First, including no requirement to be in a program and with the rights/responsibilities of tenancy."
By Vicente Vera [12-3-20] // Jeff Scott, a spokesperson for the San Jose housing department, said 40 to 50 residents of the encampment at Coyote Creek Trail in Kelley Park, at the corner of Story and Senter roads, were offered the opportunity to move to a shelter before the camps were cleared. But only one person accepted.
By Natalie Hansen [12-1-20] // It is likely at least another month could pass without a new solution for expanded emergency shelter during the winter in Chico.
Dec 2, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Francesca Mari [11-30-20] // As the pandemic makes an already terrible housing crisis worse, a new version of house-sitting signals a broken real-estate market.
By Trisha Thadani [12-1-20] // The Dept. of Homelessness and Supportive Housing will leave seven hotels open, having received $10 million in state assistance. The department promised to find housing for all residents, but there is not enough housing outside of the hotels.
By Office of Policy Development & Research [11-2020] // “The Accelerating Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative shows that significant results can occur when philanthropic and nonprofit organizations strategically complement the public sector to achieve a shared, evidence-based vision.”
By Debbie L. Sklar [12-1-20] // Officials said that to date, more than 840 individuals and 45 families sheltered at the convention center have obtained housing, while around 400 others will soon be moved into housing units the city secured through the purchase of two hotels in Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa.
Nov 30, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Nita Lelyveld [11-27-20] // (Column) So many of us chafe right now at the inability because of pandemic restrictions to eat inside a restaurant or sip a coffee in a cafe or go browse the shelves of a public library. But I couldn’t stop thinking about how much harder having such communal indoor spaces closed is on those of us who don’t have any indoors to call our own.
By Matt Levin [11-30-20] // “Project Homekey” could deliver in months what homelessness advocates have wanted for decades: a huge infusion of cash, and a way around cumbersome regulations. But the silver lining comes with a time limit.
By Zarina Khairzada [11-27-20] // Canoga Park: The cold days of winter are a crucial time for Pastor Kathy Huck to make sure tents, blankets, and other supplies are in the hands of homeless people. "From this point last year, in mid-November until the first week of December, nine people that I know that I serve died, and six of them was from exposure," Huck said.
By Tom Umberg & Robert Garcia [11-28-20] // (Opinion) Many of those that are struggling with homelessness are medically vulnerable and living on the streets, in their automobiles, or in shelters. There are families and individuals staying in motels across California because they cannot pass a credit check to lease an apartment.
[11-25-20] // The roughly 20,000-square-foot vacant lot on Oxnard Street in the west San Fernando Valley will provide a place for people living in their vehicles to park overnight.
Nov 25, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
[11-23-20] // (Video/text) L.A. City Councilman Bob Blumenfield plans to put 50 to 75 cabins for the homeless in his Reseda parking lot, which is across the street from a townhome complex.
By Rick Sallinger [11-20-20] // “There are bathrooms, laundries, showers, three meals a day. We’re bringing in outreach workers, case management workers, mental health workers,” said Dr. Kathleen Van Voohris.
By Grace Taylor [11-18-20] // (Opinion) Encampment Management Policy (EMP) “criminalizes homelessness and encampments in nearly all of Oakland, thereby placing the health of encampment residents at extreme risk.”
Nov 23, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Joel John Roberts [11-23-20] // (Column) There is something wrong with a society that treats the most vulnerable, hurting people in our communities as if they were demons.
By Curtis Driscoll [11-21-20] // Coastside Inn and Quality Inn to be bought by the county Dec. 8.
By Jessica A. York [11-20-20] // Coral Street five-story apartment complex would benefit chronically homeless.
By Bob DeCastro and Mary Stringini [11-23-20] // 82nd Street Development is converting shipping containers into 16 two-bedroom supportive housing units. The project is “financed predominately with private capital from caring individuals, with the balance funded through a $1 million grant/forgivable loan awarded to Flyaway from LA County’s Housing Innovation Challenge.”
By Adele Peters [11-20-20] // Connect Homes started making modular tiny houses, but now cities are starting to use its units as a quick way to build new supportive housing.
By Joseph Bishop & Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez [11-23-20] // (Opinion) Our research at UCLA shows that more than 269,000 K-12 students are experiencing homelessness in California, the highest number in the country, and a figure so large it could fill Dodger Stadium five times over.
By Holly Ober [11-17-20] // In “Coming Out to the Streets,” UC Riverside gender and sexuality studies professor Brandon Andrew Robinson shows that in a society where most institutions are organized to enforce or reward heterosexuality and a rigid male/female gender binary, LGBTQ youth must navigate barriers that push them to make up a disproportionately large portion of the youth homeless population.
By Kate McKellar [11-21-20] // Salt Lake City mayor wants to mirror a tiny home village for the chronically homeless that is catching the nation’s eye.
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski [11-23-20] // Although this year’s event was virtual, over 2,500 people registered to walk or run “alone but together.”
Nov 20, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
[11-19-20] // (Video/text) After being closed for eight months due to the pandemic, the San Fernando Valley rink will be sold and converted into a 100-bed Bridge homeless housing facility.
By Trisha Thadani [11-19-20] // On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced $62 million in funding for counties sheltering vulnerable residents in hotel rooms during the pandemic. It’s unclear how much funding will go toward San Francisco, where more than 2,300 homeless people are staying in hotels.
By R. Mandelman and C. Kenady [11-20-20] // (Opinion) Safe sleeping sites offer the city a sustainable and scalable citywide response to the shelter needs of those camping on our streets.
Nov 18, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
E.D. Carreon, M. Morton & J. Brodie [2020] // This new report finds shortcomings in identifying youth in need or at risk of becoming homeless in rural areas. Authors cite the need for unconventional methods for preventing and addressing rural youth homelessness.
By Lloyd Alaban [11-17-20] // A request to halt turning a Milpitas hotel into permanent housing for unhoused individuals was denied Monday, clearing another roadblock for the project to move forward.
[11-17-20] // The development—a partnership among Bridge Housing, HealthRight 360, and San Francisco’s Offices of Community Investment & Infrastructure and Homelessness & Supportive Housing—will provide wraparound supportive services and stable housing for 140 adults exiting homelessness.
By Hayley Munguia [11-17-20] // The Long Beach City Council voted to move ahead with the purchase of the property at 1725 Long Beach Blvd. for $21.7 million using money from the state's Project Homekey program.
[11-18-20] // This week, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) announced Fresno Housing as a 2020 Awards of Excellence winner for Renaissance at Parc Grove development.
By Manuela Tobias [11-14-20] // Fresno’s response to homelessness lacks oversight and cohesion, which threatens progress, according to a report issued by the Fresno County Grand Jury in October. The report, published in October, was put together by a group of citizens selected by the county superior court each year to investigate civil matters and hold local government to account.
By Kurt Rivera [11-17-20] // (Video/text) San Joaquin County Supervisor Tom Patti envisions the office building alone and its close to 120,000 square feet of space as transitional housing for the homeless.
Nov 16, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Zoie Matthew [11-16-20] // In March, a group of unhoused and housing-insecure families drew national attention when they began occupying 13 vacant CalTrans-owned homes in El Sereno. Now, members of the "Reclaiming Our Homes" movement are moving into some of those properties legally, as part of an unprecedented partnership between the state transit agency and the city.
By Jessica A. York [11-10-20] // Strategic plan would set actionable goals for three years.
[11-16-20] // Mercy House will operate a 174-bed emergency shelter opening later this month in Huntington Beach. Placing residents in permanent housing will be a priority.
By Hosam Elattar [11-11-20] // Costa Mesa will be using more than $2.5 million in grant money from Orange County to help fund a permanent bridge shelter near John Wayne Airport.
By Nick Gerda [11-16-20] // The new 425-bed Yale Transitional Center in Santa Ana will replace the open-air bus terminal shelter in the city’s Civic Center. The non-profit PATH is on track to operate the Yale shelter at a cost of $6.4 million per year, under a contract up for approval Tuesday by county supervisors. Civic Center shelter residents will be transferred when the new facility opens.
By Theresa Walker [11-13-20] // The aim of the next seven days, from Sunday, Nov. 15, to Saturday, Nov. 22, is to spotlight the hurdles faced by people who struggle with food and shelter, and to encourage people who don’t struggle with those issues to make some kind of difference — from making donations to attending Zoom classes on homelessness.
By Sue Dremann [1-12-20] // As the fallout from COVID-19 continues to grow, some of the most vulnerable people who rely on agencies that provide them with vital services are not able to access the programs because they are now online, according to Palo Alto's recent Human Services Needs Assessment survey.
By Hayley Munguia [11-10-20] // The vote approving the purchase of the Atlantic Avenue hotel came two weeks after the board approved the purchase of eight other hotels in LA County through Homekey, including a Motel 6 in East Long Beach. The Holiday Inn conversion will provide 135 units of permanent supportive housing.
Nov 13, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Ben van der Meer [11-10-20] // (Subscription) The suit, filed last week in Sacramento County Superior Court, opposes not only the conversion of the former Hawthorn Suites at 321 Bercut Drive, but it asserts that Project Homekey is funded by an inappropriate use of federal money for COVID-19 relief.
By Elisabeth Smith [11-12-20] // The state says an appraisal of the Hawthorn Suites Hotel property on Bercut Drive is lower than the price for which owners wanted to sell the land, and an agreement has fallen through. The state grant money will now be allocated to other Project Homekey projects on a waiting list.
By Tim Redmond [11-12-20] // San Francisco: Hearing shows that there is no financial reason to kick people out of hotel rooms, and no place for them to go.
[11-11-20] // Several San Francisco supervisors and homeless service providers on Tuesday blasted a plan by city leaders to rehouse 2,300 individuals currently staying in hotels as part of the city’s COVID-19 response.
[11-12-20] // Participants would be paid via programmable and reloadable debit cards through a partnership with Mastercard.
[11-11-20] // In closed session Tuesday afternoon, the County Board of supervisors discussed and rejected the potential acquisition of the Inn Marin at 250 Entrada Drive, Novato. The Board released this statement.
By Kevin Fagan [11-11-20] // A proposal to turn a 70-room Novato hotel into supportive housing for homeless people fell through Tuesday when the Marin County Board of Supervisors decided not to buy the complex under the state’s Homekey program.
By Kevin Fagan [11-10-20] // Hotel and motel conversions funded by Homekey face neighborhood opposition in Novato, Corte Madera, and Milpitas. Officials are holding community meetings rather than filing law suits, a hopeful sign for those in need of housing.
By Richard Halstead & Will Houston [11-10-20] // The board signed off Tuesday on a $4.1 million deal for a hotel at 1591 Casa Buena Drive in Corte Madera and a $7.2 million deal for an office building at 3301 Kerner Blvd. in San Rafael. The acquisitions are intended to provide 62 apartments for the homeless.
By Peter Johnson [11-12-20] // Paso Robles is on track to have its first-ever homeless shelter up and running by the start of winter, a former Motel 6, which the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo (HASLO) just purchased with $12.4 million in state grants.
Nov 9, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
[11-6-20] // U.S. District Judge David Carter last week told parties involved in the suit that production of homeless housing is too slow in light of the threat of the coronavirus and the rise in deaths on city streets.
By Benjamin Oreskes [11-8-20] // Pressure from Judge David O. Carter, a new federal administration, and three new City Council Members (Nithya Raman, Kevin de Leon and Mark Ridley-Thomas) may spur changes.
By Tyler Silvy [11-8-20] // The county is poised to spend more than $18 million to acquire Hotel Azura in downtown Santa Rosa and the Sebastopol Inn. While the Board of Supervisors is set to authorize the acquisition of both hotels Tuesday, the Sebastopol Inn deal will remain on hold indefinitely until the county obtains state funding to complete the purchase.
By James Brasuell [11-4-20] // Phoenix is centering housing—affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, and eviction protections—in a new planning framework designed to reduce the number of homeless people living on the streets of the city.
Nov 4, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Jane Kim [11-4-20] // “…it is irresponsible, immoral and even illegal for our local governments to sweep away their unhoused residents.”
By Rhoda Shapiro [11-2-20] // Residents are fighting a Homekey-funded purchase and conversion of Extended Stay America on Hillview Drive.
By Marissa Kendall [11-1-20] // But just a handful are attributed to COVID-19.
By Tony Bizjak, Theresa Clift and Phillip Reese [11-3-20] // The dearth of workers downtown has exposed the extent of homelessness in Sacramento. Encampments and aggressive behavior have increased, according to the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, which has requested that local officials “create a safe, clean, and welcoming physical environment” for downtown office workers when they return. There is not enough housing for those without shelter.
By Tyler Silvy [11-4-20] // A ballot measure that will raise sales taxes in Sonoma County to boost local spending on mental health and homelessness services by $25 million annually was passing Wednesday morning.
Nov 2, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Ben van der Meer 11-2-20] // With Homekey funds, West Sacramento will convert two motels to affordable housing, part of the city’s long-term efforts to upgrade its main streets.
By John Bartell [10-28-20] // Ready to Work helps those experiencing homelessness find permanent homes and get job training.
By Michele Chandler [11-1-20] // Starting next week, individuals recovering from surgery or other reasons for hospital stays will be able to convalesce at local motels until renovations are completed on Redding's first formal medical respite center for homeless people.
[10-30-20] // The final round of funding totals $129.6 million awarded to nine jurisdictions for 17 projects totaling 982 units. Projects are summarized in this article. The State has now awarded nearly all available Homekey funding: more than $835.6 million awarded to 48 jurisdictions for 93 projects totaling 6,055 units—all in a very short time frame.
Oct 30, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Hayley Munguia [10-28-20] // The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted this week to buy the 43-room Motel 6 at 5665 E. Seventh St. for $5.6 million as a part of Project Homekey. The state is funding the purchase and operation of the properties with money it received through the federal CARES Act, which must be spent on the coronavirus response.
By Lauren Good [10-30-20] // On Wednesday, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma announced an additional $450 million in funding for the state's No Place Like Home, or NPLH, program to address housing issues.
By Benjamin Oreskes & Doug Smith [10-28-20] // Facing intense opposition from the public and some of their colleagues, the seven council members who pressed for the amendments to the city's anti-camping ordinance were unable to muster a majority to move it to a quick adoption.
By Adriana Marinescu [10-30-20] // The 86-unit project broke ground in April 2019 as part of the San Diego Housing Commission's homelessness initiative.
By Trisha Thadani [10-29-20] // Advocates, city supervisors and residents fear people will end up in shelters and on the streets.
By Omar Perez [10-29-20] // (Video/text) Bernal Monterey Emergency Interim Housing Community opened last week. It consists of 78 individual bedrooms within 20 buildings to offer unsheltered residents housing amid the pandemic and is the first of three communities the city has planned to provide more than 300 unhoused residents transitional homes. This story contains additional information on San Jose's efforts to provide affordable housing.
Oct 28, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
[10-25-20] // Hoping to take matters into their own hands, a group of unhoused Angelenos illegally started occupying vacant homes owned by CalTrans in El Sereno. The move led to the creation of the group, Reclaiming Our Homes, which looks to create safe housing during the coronavirus pandemic.
By Benjamin Oreskes & Doug Smith [10-27-20] // The proposed change in the law would effectively prohibit anyone from camping in public anywhere in the city if authorities offer shelter as an alternative.
By Theresa Clift [10-28-20] // Ten tiny homes are currently sitting unused in a city lot.
By Phil Matier [10-28-20] // "The fairgrounds are miles from Oakland. Why not use the Oakland Coliseum site," Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley said.
[10-202-] // HUD has made available the Winter Planning Guide Overview: Meeting Winter Shelter Needs and Mitigating Health Risks, along with supporting documents.
Oct 26, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Jana Kadah [10-26-20] // The newest Homekey award for San Jose plus others for Oakland, Santa Clara, and San Francisco are summarized.
By Joshua Sabatini [10-23-20] // A $29.1 million Homekey award will allow the city of San Francisco to purchase Hotel Diva, a 130-room hotel located near Union Square at 440 Geary Street, to convert to permanent supportive housing.
[10-26-20] // The Coordinated Street Outreach Program would be a new approach to conducting homelessness outreach in the City of San Diego, addressing gaps in the existing system while leveraging and enhancing outreach resources citywide.
By Velena Jones [10-23-20] // The city has already allocated $3.5 million that could buy up to 500 tiny homes. If an emergency ordinance passes, tiny home communities and tent cities could pop up before the end of the year.
By Hilary Silver [10-23-20] // (Opinion) "Ever improving data collection, measurement and experimental assessments provide unprecedented evidence for the Housing First approach."
By Doug Smith [10-23-20] // A motion to be considered by the council Tuesday asks City Atty. Mike Feuer to draft a new ordinance that would allow the removal of tents and other makeshift shelters close to the nearly two dozen shelters that have opened in the last two years under Mayor Eric Garcetti's A Bridge Home program...
Oct 23, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Laura Newberry [10-21-20] // There were at least 269,000 K-12 students in California experiencing homelessness at the end of the 2018-19 school year-most likely a gross underestimate, according to a recent UCLA study.
By Joseph Geha [10-22-20] // The Milpitas City Council decided to "pursue litigation against any and all parties involved in the Homekey project located at Extended Stay America." The roughly $80 million proposal would cover the cost of purchasing the Extended Stay America at 1000 Hillview Court, and converting it from a 146-room hotel into 132 studio apartments for homeless people with supportive services on site.
[10-19-20] // In partnership with the State of California's Department of Housing and Community Development and with funding from Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield of California, Enterprise will deploy $45 million to support operating costs and wraparound services for more than 2,100 homes assisted by Project Homekey.
[10-9-20] // Two vacant, city-owned properties in San Diego-a former library and a park-and-ride-have been chosen for development of permanent housing with on-site supportive services to house veterans, seniors, youth and young adults who have experienced homelessness.
By David Mendez [10-22-20] // Redondo Beach has approved a tentative plan to build and maintain temporary transitional homeless housing. The 13-month housing pilot program would build 15 individual micro-homes in Redondo and become the only shelter in the South Bay region between the coast and San Pedro.
By Benjamin Oreskes [10-23-20] // U.S. District Judge David O. Carter wants homeless encampments beneath freeways cleared. ...This month outreach workers posted notices on official city letterhead, citing a lawsuit filed in March by downtown Los Angeles business owners and residents, telling people they needed to move. It's unclear, however, on whose authority the moving of these people was issued.
By J.K. Dineen [10-22-20] // San Francisco philanthropists Chuck and Helen Schwab have donated $65 million to build supportive housing for formerly homeless people - a gift that will help fund a 145-unit South of Market apartment complex as well as the conversion of two hotels on Lower Nob Hill.
Oct 21, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By NAEH [10-20-20] // "The [USICH] document contains an extensive, inaccurate, and largely incomprehensible analysis of homelessness and the federal efforts to address it."
[10-19-20] // This article summarizes the findings of the latest Family Options Study, released in July 2020.
By Tyler Silvy [10-20-20] // While county health and housing leaders maintain hope a state grant program to curb homelessness amid the coronavirus pandemic will help the county buy the Sebastopol Inn, the state is withholding money for another hotel local officials want because of questions about how much it's worth.
By Felicia Alvarez [10-21-20] // On Monday, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership delivered a letter to the mayor's office to warn local leaders of "growing anxiety over public safety, cleanliness and other quality-of-life issues" Downtown. Business owners are worried that these conditions will impact their ability to recover from the pandemic.
By Sarah Ravani [10-20-20] // The Oakland City Council unanimously approved a controversial policy Tuesday that restricts homeless people living in encampments from sleeping in parks and near homes, businesses and schools but allows them to set up camp elsewhere.
By Joshua Sabatini [10-20-20] // Supervisor Rafael Mandelman's proposal, "A Place for All," will "ensure that all unhoused people have a safe place to spend the night so that no one has to camp on our streets, and that no neighborhood has to offer up its sidewalks as shelter of last resort."
By Sarah Ravani [10-20-20] // The city is planning to create more safe sleeping sites with services such as food, social workers and handwashing stations.
By Trisha Thadani [10-20-20] // By the end of 2020, city officials hope to launch Mental Health SF, providing more street outreach teams, more targeted drug and mental health treatment, a new drop-in center for those in need.
By Doug Smith [10-21-20] // Homes variously called independent living, transitional housing, shared housing or sober living, are subject to neighborhood complaints and inspections by the fire department. The homes also provide shelter to those who might not otherwise have it, including the aged, mentally ill, and recovering alcoholics.
Oct 19, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Theresa Clift [10-16-20] // During the first six months of this year, 3,790 people in Sacramento County escaped homelessness, but another 3,736 became homeless, a new database released last month estimates. Furthermore, of those counted in the "leaving homelessness" category, Sacramento Steps Forward was only able to confirm that 1,606 found permanent housing.
By Kevin Fagan [10-19-20] // A new plan, "Expanding the Toolbox," is set to be released today by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. It asserts that housing first is not as successful as it could be and emphasizes required participation in programs to improve health and self-sufficiency.
By Steve Lopez [10-17-20] // Lopez shares Suzanna's story because in a county with 60,000 homeless people, three or four of whom die each day on average, it's just so good to hear about a successful intervention.
By Julia Paskin [10-19-20] // The South Bay Cities Council of Governments is working with Silvernest, an online platform, to help all homeowners - but especially seniors - keep up their mortgage payment by renting out rooms. They are targeting potential tenants who are employed but can't afford a place on their own.
By Paul Vercammen [10-18-20] // Features a family of five living in a four-bedroom shipping container apartment. Their complex has seven other units, housing 32 people.
[10-19-20] // Amounts of Homekey funding awarded to projects in San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, and the Yurok Tribe are also listed.
By Natalie Hanson [10-18-20] // As Chico leadership stalls on decisions about dedicating resources to homelessness, staff have not completed a cost analysis of what is already spent on law enforcement and medical services for those living unsheltered during COVID-19.
By Joseph Geha [10-19-20] // Over $29 million in Project Homekey funds at stake.
Oct 16, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Sarah Ravani [10-16-20] // The City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a new policy, which will designate where people can set up encampments. The city would provide garbage service and sanitation and require makeshift structures to comply with fire and building codes. More than 3,200 people are unsheltered out of a total homeless population of more than 4,000.
By Michael Finney & Renee Koury [10-15-20] // Shelby Hughes lost both her job selling life insurance and her job waiting tables, and then the California Employment Development Department denied her benefits. "I'd made a life for myself and now it's gone, just like that," says Hughes.
By Debbi L. Sklar [10-15-20] // A collaboration between the San Diego Housing Commission and San Diego City College will provide specialized education, training and job placement assistance to develop the workforce needed for programs and services that help San Diegans experiencing homelessness, it was announced Thursday.
[10-15-20] // Created by San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon in January 2014, the Homeless Outreach Proactive Enforcement Team uses a community policing philosophy to work with the homeless population throughout the county. The team's milestone was reached on September 30.
Lompoc Record: '100-day challenge' aims to house homeless veterans, families in Santa Barbara County
By David Minsky [10-15-20] // The challenge initiative was launched by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year and calls on counties and cities across the state to end or reduce homelessness in targeted populations, such as youth or veterans.
By Hayley Munguia [10-14-20] // Homekey funds will be sued to turn hotel rooms into 135 units of permanent supportive housing.
Oct 14, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Katie Johnston [10-13-20] // The deal calls for the city to provide 6,700 new beds in exchange for $300 million in funding over five years from the county.
By Sarah Ravani [10-12-20] // "The problem is people have been priced out of their homes," said Raymond Joseph, who has been without a home for almost six years. "Homeless lives matter too."
By Gary Warth [10-14-20] // San Diego City Council members on Tuesday unanimously approved the purchase of two hotels that within two months could become permanent homes for 400 people now at a temporary shelter at the Convention Center.
By Will Houston [10-11-20] // Nine campers in a Novato park have filed claims alleging Marin County neglected to protect their health and safety by not servicing portable bathrooms and wash stations it set up as part of its coronavirus prevention efforts.
By Laurence du Sault [10-12-20] // The story of the Oakland mothers who secured housing for their families with help from a community land trust.
Oct 12, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Elliott Almond [10-11-20] // The city hopes to convert an Extended Stay America hotel into long-term housing for homeless residents, using Homekey award money. Residents in the nearest neighborhood want a say. The new housing would provide 132 housing units as an alternative to living on the streets of Milpitas.
By Steve Lopez [10-10-20] // She is barefoot, caked in dirt, may be pregnant and is often naked as she wanders the streets of Silver Lake.
By Joel Grover [10-10-20] // Every week, encampments go up in flames. There were 1,900 more such fires this year as compared to last year.
By Jim Jakobs [10-9-20] // Fresno County has been awarded $15.3 million by the state's Homekey program to acquire the former Smuggler's Inn on Blackstone Ave. to provide permanent housing for more than 200 people staying in emergency shelter beds.
By Jason Pierce [9-15-20] // The Gathering Inn is a Placer County nonprofit working to help people experiencing homelessness by taking a "housing first" approach, buying several homes in area neighborhoods where up to six residents can live and participate in the community. Costs are much less than developing new or refurbished housing.
By Vanessa Rancano [10-12-20] // (Audio/text) For those who lived for years without shelter, being displaced by fire from transitional housing they finally obtained is especially traumatic.
By Cory Turner [10-7-20] // (Audio/text) For families with children, unavailability of classrooms and cafeterias with vital food service has been disastrous. Many children have inadequate digital access to their educational programs.
By Nick Gerda [10-7-20] // Several sites are closing this month and next as Project Roomkey winds down. Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett says all 557 people participating in the program will have a chance to be placed in some type of housing, shelter, or recuperative care program.
[10-10-20] // Orange County and Jamboree Housing were awarded $23.1 million in Homekey funds to convert The Tahiti Motel and Stanton Inn and Suites to permanent housing for those experiencing homelessness.
By Erin Rode [10-9-20] // Latest round of funding provides $11.15 million to purchase the Vagabond Inn in Oxnard.
By Gary Warth (SD Union-Tribune) [10-11-20] // San Diego city officials hope to purchase two hotels that could house 400 people currently staying in temporary shelter at the Convention Center. Business owners and residents near the sites have expressed concerns.
Oct 9, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Kim Eckart [10-7-20] // A King County initiative that moved people out of homeless shelters and into hotel rooms earlier this year helped slow the transmission of coronavirus, according to early findings from a study of the intervention.
By Shannon Handy [10-5-20] // Some neighbors said they didn't have an opportunity yet to voice their concerns or ask questions.
By Hayley Munguia [10-7-20] // A new ordinance will allow motels to voluntarily partner with homeless services agencies to temporarily convert to homeless housing.
[10-5-20] // The village-style development will provide year-round bridge housing and services for people experiencing homelessness.
By A.M. Barry-Jester & A. Hart [10-8-20] // (Audio/text) The state's efforts to shelter homeless residents amid COVID-19 have played out in starkly contrasting storylines, bent and molded by local politics and resources.
By Emily Hamann [10-6-20] // The county plans to use state Project Homekey funds to convert the 14-room 7 Pines Motel in Kings Beach into housing.
Oct 7, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By J. Hogsett, B. Poppe & M. Cunningham [10-5-20] // Punitive measures only trap people in a homelessness-jail cycle. Indianapolis is showing that there's a better way.
By Jared Brey [10-6-20] // "Even for the very sickest of the sick, they were really able to get into housing and stay housed," UC San Francisco researcher Maria Raven says.
Oct 5, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Nicole Hayden [10-5-20] // The western Coachella Valley's three overnight homeless shelters have closed as Riverside County officials cite lack of funds to continue operations, sending nearly 100 individuals back onto the streets amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
[9-24-20] // One hundred twenty shelters built by the company Pallet Shelter will replace Tuff Sheds, which have been in use for almost twenty years.
By Jocelyn Ortega [10-1-20] // Businesses are voicing concerns of disruptive behavior, littering and alleged sights of sexual activity from homeless encampments along the Front Street and Laurel St area in Santa Cruz.
Oct 2, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Sebastian Echeverry [10-1-20] // The city on Thursday celebrated the opening of its first year-round homeless shelter-a facility dubbed Atlantic Farms Bridge Community housing complex. At full capacity, it will offer 120 beds, but COVID-19 restrictions have reduced current capacity to 100.
By Lisa Halverstadt [9-30-20] // For months, the city and Family Health Centers of San Diego have been privately discussing terminating the contract allowing the nonprofit to run the controversial new homeless navigation center. Family Health Centers has raised a slew of frustrations with both the city and the program itself.
[10-1-20] // A long-awaited shelter for women experiencing homelessness opened on Thursday in Sacramento's Meadowview neighborhood.
By Justine Frederiksen [9-27-20] // Mendocino County will purchase the motel on Orchard Avenue and convert it to housing using Homekey funds. While the initial purpose of the facility will be transitional housing, the county plans to upgrade at least 50% of the facility into permanent housing within ten years of acquisition.
[9-28-20] // Mariposa County will purchase a 27-room hotel that the County has already been operating, ensuring the County can continue to provide shelter and patient care at the site for years to come. The project will focus on serving seniors and people under 65 who have a disability.
Sep 30, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Jared Brey [9-29-20] // "The terrible pandemic we're facing has given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy all these vacant properties, and we're using federal stimulus money to do it," Newsom said at the announcement in June.
By Sarah Mizes-Tan [9-29-20] // Sacramento is considering a formal permitting process to allow for the creation of more privately-owned temporary housing sites, similar to the current tent city set up in the Alkali Flats neighborhood of downtown.
By Phil Willon [9-29-20] // Voters are seeing homelessness persist in their neighborhoods and are also feeling the financial pinch of high rents and out-of-reach home prices.
[9-29-20] // The state awarded more than $137 million to 15 applicants for 19 projects totaling 938 units. Awards include five projects (269 units) in Los Angeles and a hotel conversion in Sutter County with partner Habitat for Humanity.
By Alena Maschke [9-28-20] // Mayor Robert Garcia announced via Tweet that "the state will partner with Long Beach on 150 new housing units for people experiencing homelessness as part of Project Homekey." The property selections have not yet been identified.
By Bob Highfill [9-29-20] // The grant is for converting the Relax Inn into 39 units of permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals.
By Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health [9-30-20] // "A constant threat of feeling unclean, combined with pervasive menstrual stigma, takes a toll on these individuals' self-esteem, their confidence, their sense that they can be respected in the world around them, and even their ability to seek out services, training and work."
Sep 28, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Sara Cardine [9-23-20] // A collaboration of local churches, businesses and organizations has created an Enough for All Fund and is seeking donations to help people who need temporary assistance to pay bills and stay afloat. City officials said they are currently working on a gap rental assistance program that could come before the council in October. The city has also dedicated $11.4 million to acquire and retrofit a 12,285-square-foot portion of an industrial warehouse on Airway Avenue to accommodate a 70-bed shelter.
By Jessica York [9-25-20] // A multi-agency initiative first launched in 2012 announced this week it reached a milestone goal of housing 1,000 formerly homeless people.
Sep 25, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Theresa Clift and Tony Bizjak [9-24-20] // The lawsuit, filed by 500 Bercut LLC, claims the city is violating a 1989 resolution that said the city would not add new services and housing for homeless people in the River District. The city's planned homeless housing project, at the Hawthorn Suites Hotel, sits across the street from the planned 250-unit high-end apartment complex.
[9-22-20] // City officials in Mountain View announced this afternoon that they're buying a 1-acre site at 2566 Leghorn St., where they will house 300 homeless people in prefabricated homes by the end of the year.
By Gary Warth & Karen Pearlman [9-22-20] // La Mesa: A divided San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to withdraw an application for $19 million in state Homekey funds to help buy and convert a La Mesa motel into housing for homeless people. A week earlier, supervisors had voted to pursue the purchase, but on Tuesday, they agreed with City Council that the matter had not been handled properly.
Sep 23, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
[9-21-20] // On Monday, Governor Newsom announced recipients of Round 2 Homekey funding. Twelve entities will receive a portion of $236 million for 20 projects that will result in 1,810 converted housing units for those experiencing homelessness. Recipients include the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewart's Point Rancheria, the first tribal community to receive Homekey funds. Other recipients include Ventura, Riverside, and Fresno.
By Marisa Kendall [9-22-20] // Funding will go to sites in Oakland ($20M for two projects), Milpitas ($29.2M for hotel conversion), Mountain View ($11.9M to establish modular housing), and San Francisco ($44.8M for hotel conversion).
By Monica Coleman and Giacomo Luca [9-22-20] // Sacramento Council Members debated on whether or not the homeless should be housed at a motel off I-5, near Discovery Park.
By Dustin Gardiner [9-21-20] // A residential hotel in San Francisco and an unused college dormitory in Oakland will be turned into long-term housing for homeless people, providing 661 new housing units. The projects are two of several in the Bay Area to be funded through a $661 million Homekey grant.
By Jim Jakobs [9-22-20] // Fresno Housing describes Parkway Drive as a densely developed strip of underutilized motels in an area of concentrated poverty. Individuals and families in this area who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness, are at an extreme risk during the pandemic.
[9-22-20] // A third 24-hour site for the housing vulnerable to park for an extended period is now open in Mountain View at 1020 Terra Bella Ave.
By David Rosenfeld [9-16-20] // A plan is underway to provide 15 small shelters beside Aviation Gym but it is still subject to additional review and further vote.
By Doug Smith & Benjamin Oreskes [9-22-20] // After peaking at just over 4,300 guests - about 30% of its ambitious goal - L.A.'s Project Roomkey will shed several hundred beds monthly until it closes down early next year, said LAHSA's Heidi Marston. FEMA funding, which accounts for 75% of the program's support, has become uncertain.
Sep 21, 2020
HOMELESSNESS
By Theresa Clift [9-18-20] // Sacramento expects to receive about $30 million in Homekey funds to create more than 210 units of permanent supportive housing. "These converted motels and manufactured homes are a key piece of the $62-million plan we are executing to get people indoors and keep them indoors," said Mayor Steinberg. Sites include the Hawthorn Suites on Bercut Drive and the WoodSpring Suites near the intersection of Mack Road and La Mancha Way.
By Quinn Wilson [9-20-20] // Kern County received $14,970,935 in Homekey funds from HCD. Four sites will provide housing for 150 community members at two existing motels, one vacant multifamily property, and a condominium.
By Gary Warth [9-15-20] // The San Diego Housing Commission plans to purchase two Marriott hotels to convert them into permanent housing for about 400 people currently sheltering at the Convention Center.
From HCD News, Feb 3rd
By Alicia Victoria Lozano [2-2-20] // "Without question, the primary driver is a lack of affordable housing," said Tommy Newman of United Way of Greater Los Angeles.
By Dennis Wyatt [1-31-20] // Not everyone chooses shelter, even when it is available. We are in error if we devote all of our energy and resources to try and get the homeless like the woman and even her companion off the streets. It is much more pragmatic and effective at reducing homeless issues in the long run if we concentrate on preventing people from becoming homeless.
By Kevin Fagan [1-31-20] // Merry Potter surveyed the soggy mound of bags, blankets, pans and clothes laid out on a tarp around her. She had until the end of the day to stuff everything she needed into two 80-gallon plastic tubs, and then it was off to a tiny home a few miles from where she stood.
From HCD News, Jan 31st
By Reggie Ellis [1-29-20] // Tulare and Kings counties, where most of the homeless population lives in Visalia, had the highest percentage of homeless people who have lived on the streets without shelter for several years, according HUD's 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.
[1-29-20] // Oakland: The new cabins bring the total number of cabin beds throughout the city to 232.
[1-29-20] // About 260 people who live in tents and makeshift shelters will be forced out. County leaders said about 60 of those homeless residents will be relocated to a temporary housing village at a juvenile justice center in East Santa Rosa. The other 200 people evicted from the encampment will need to find somewhere else to go.
From HCD News, Jan 29th
By Kris Reyes [1-27-20] // (Video/text) San Jose State has the highest rate of student homelessness in the CSU system, which has 53,000 homeless students overall. This comprehensive solution includes basic needs grants, expansion of a rapid re-housing and rental assistance program, emergency bed pilot program, and development of a below-market-rent mixed-use housing project.
By Sarah Ravani [1-27-20] // Oakland will shut down a large homeless encampment in front of a Home Depot store in the Fruitvale neighborhood next month and, starting Monday, move most of its residents into a new "safe RV parking" site. City officials will offer shelter beds or space at a community cabin site to others living in tents, cars or small, makeshift homes.
By Kevin Fagan [1-27-20] // Elester Shelton spent 20 years off and on in the streets of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley - sometimes housed, always poor even though he often worked as a roofer, always hoping for help. It wasn't until he landed at a homeless aid center in Oakland a year ago that things began to turn for him.
By Sarah Ravani [1-28-20] // Under the plan, Berkeley would give priority to RV dwellers with children, people who work or study in Berkeley, and former city residents. Those eligible could park in six city lots for up to three months but would have to leave during business hours. Social services will be provided.
By Will Schmitt [1-29-20] // The City Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to expand a lightly used safe parking program, potentially allowing people living in cars and RVs to park on certain pieces of public land or even on private residential property. The vote did not create a final expansion plan but will send city staff to the drawing board to craft a range of options the council will consider over the next several months as it writes a new budget.
By S. Kambhampati, S. Kannan, I. Lee, A. Roberson, D. Smith, L.I. Elebee, and J. Schleuss [1-29-20] // Animated data story illustrates Proposition HHH project costs, which exceed $1.2 billion. The HHH fund covers about 30% of building costs; developers raise the remaining funding elsewhere.
By Editorial Board [1-28-20] // Assemblyman Gatto says for years he has watched unsheltered homeless people intimidate others on the street and on public transportation. He believes their behavior constitutes "cries for help."
From HCD News, Jan 27th
By Jenna Chandler [1-24-20] // Camp residents are asking Mitch O'Farrell to relax enforcement of city rules that ban camping in public parks.
By Ryan Hagen [1-27-20] // For Kim Lindsey, the last straw came after she told a panhandler at a gas station that she didn't have any money to give him. "He said, 'Yes, you will give me something," Lindsey said. "He had two other men there, also vagrants. I felt unsafe, being a woman."
By David Benda [1-22-20] // Noah's Community Village applied to the BLM office in Redding to lease 30 acres on Middle Creek Road off Highway 299 west of Redding where it wants to build 180 tiny homes.
By Adam Brinklow [1-23-20] // The city council voted to plan for the opening of a city-managed homeless encampment of its own in the near future, hoping to maintain a safe and sanitary place for homeless relief even while assuring skeptical residents that it's only temporary.
By Emily Nonko [1-27-20] // San Francisco's approach exemplifies what civic leaders are waking up to: The homelessness crisis demands coordination among numerous city agencies, nonprofit and housing providers, and public entities, such as hospitals, that don't typically coordinate with one another.
[1023020] // LAHSA is accepting proposals for its 2020 Safe Parking Program.
[1-26-20] // "We were used to a comfortable life," Greiss said. "We lived in Santa Monica for four years, but our apartment had mold and we broke ties with our landlord. It was too quick to find another place."
From HCD News, Jan 24th
By Matt Levin [1-23-20] // Levin provides a description, cost, speed of implementation, and political/public support for multiple approaches to addressing homelessness.
By Don Thompson [1-22-20] // California is asking the Trump administration to provide surplus federal land that could be used to build housing for the homeless, mirroring a new state program.
By Noah Bierman and Benjamin Oreskes [1-23-20] // Garcetti said Thursday that he hopes to reach a preliminary agreement with the Trump administration on a joint plan to help combat the city's swelling homelessness crisis when he meets with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson on Friday.
By Heather Knight [1-24-20] // Until ground is broken in two years on an affordable housing development at the corner of Turk and Jones, how should this lot be used?
By Steve Scauzillo [1-22-20] // During appearances Tuesday, Jan. 21, before elected officials, law enforcement, service providers and educators in San Bernardino County, President Trump's homeless czar said California will fail to solve its homeless crisis unless it reverses its housing-first policy. California's homeless population is estimated at 151,278, the highest since 2007.
From HCD News, Jan 17th
By Tyler Silvy [1-15-20] // Crews are working to establish an emergency homeless shelter complete with individual units, a warming station and service hub, showers and even a dog run with kennels.
By Tyler Silvy [1-13-20] // The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is set to consider outdoor shelter and housing options that could offer alternative living space for 80 to 140 people. But the $999,000 home on Davis Street, alongside Highway 101 between 10th and 9th streets, won't be part of that package.
By Marissa Kendall [1-16-20] // Gov. Gavin Newsom kicked off his ambitious homelessness agenda Thursday by deploying 15 trailers in Oakland that will house up to 70 unsheltered residents.
By Thomas Fuller [1-16-20] // Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that he would send an envoy to meet with administration officials and discuss ways to address the issue together. The state has identified more than 1,300 state-owned properties that could potentially be used to shelter homeless people, a list that includes state hospitals and buildings used by the state's Department of Veterans Affairs, the governor said.
By Emily Alpert Reyes [1-16-20] // Seven years ago, Los Angeles leaders decided to create a new, alternative system to handle minor violations of the Municipal Code such as drinking in public, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk or letting a dog run off leash. A skid row group is suing the city over the program.
By Natalie Hanson [1-16-20] // At least 70% of Oroville's high school students are considered socioeconomically-disadvantaged. In Chico, Between 400 and 500 children are categorized as housing insecure at any time during the Chico Unified School district's school year...
By Katy Grimes [1-16-20] // Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) and Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee) announced this week that they have requested a statewide audit of homelessness spending in California. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will consider the request on February 26, 2020.
By Conor Dougherty [1-13-20] // Here is an interview with UCSF doctor Margot Kushel, who has spent the last twenty years researching the underlying causes and consequences of homelessness.
By Katherine Guimapang [1-13-20] // "Those affected [by homelessness] receive - without prerequisite - a small apartment and advice. 4 out of 5 affected people create the path to a stable life. It is cheaper for the state than homelessness."
From HCD News, Jan 15th
By Rachel Brown, Rob McMillan and Rob Hayes [1-15-20] // (Video/text) "We're bringing out medical units and tents that we use in post-disasters," he said. Fifty-eight trailers are currently available. Forty-two more will be soon. One hundred parcels of vacant state land is being transferred to local authorities for parking the trailers.
By Faith E. Pinho [1-14-20] // In an executive order addressing homelessness, Gov. Gavin Newsom last week ordered the California Department of Food and Agriculture to assess "fairgrounds in or near jurisdictions where a shelter crisis is currently in effect" to determine whether the state-owned properties could be viable venues for short-term shelters for people experiencing homelessness.
By Alissa Walker [1-13-20] // "Evacuating" 150,000 people to distant sites would be akin to internment camps, housing advocates say.
By Dakota Smith, Benjamin Oreskes, and Noah Bierman [1-13-20] // Trump officials are prepared to offer Los Angeles an array of resources, including emergency healthcare services and federal land. In return, L.A. would need to empower and utilize local law enforcement and reduce housing regulations to expedite affordable housing construction.
By Dominic Fracassa [1-15-20] // A vacant administrative building once used by City College of San Francisco may provide a 200-bed Navigation Center.
By Theresa Clift and Sophia Bollag [1-13-20] // A state task force is calling for a statewide measure to be placed on the November ballot that would require localities and the state to meet aggressive goals to house the homeless. Localities that fail to meet benchmarks could face court action.
By Don Thompson [1-13-20] // An advisory council appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom called Monday for California voters to consider a legally enforceable mandate to end homelessness, as the most populous state grapples with one of its most pressing and politically fraught problems.
By Kate Irby [1-14-20] // Washington, D.C.: Rep. Josh Harder (D-Turlock) wants to allow states to apply for emergency funding for homelessness crises in the same way they're granted funding for natural disasters like wildfires or hurricanes.
By Steve Lopez [1-15-20] // Reader solutions: "I just wanted to ask if you're aware of an abandoned and very large 5 floor LA city-owned property that is at 401 North Ave 19," Marty Bracciotti wrote to Steve Lopez just before Christmas. This past Sunday, Patricia McVerry of West L.A. emailed him of St. Vincent Medical Center's impending closure after roughly 150 years in business.
By Rob McMillan [1-13-20] // (Video/text) An empty lot north of downtown Riverside will soon be filled with 10 small cottages designated for the homeless. It's part of the city's ongoing effort to solve the problem of homelessness.
By Omar Perez [1-14-20] // The California Department of Housing and Community Development has awarded $461,261 through the 2019 Emergency Solutions Grants Program.
From HCD News, Jan 13th
By Joe Mathews [1-12-20] // (Opinion) California's tendency to turn everything - from housing to health - into an investment, full of speculation, has made everything, even our booms, volatile and risky. The signature effect of the now-concluding decade of boom is, of course, homelessness.
By Nita Lelyveld [1-11-20] // Direct donations of clothing and gift cards for Subway or McDonald's help.
By Khristopher J. Brooks [1-13-20] // (Video/text) The six homeless women have less than five days to leave the house they have been squatting in since November.
By Sabrina Huang [1-6-20] // Improving and Maintaining Homeless Opportunity through Mentorship and Education, an organization at UCLA dedicated to mentoring elementary school students as they transition out of homelessness, is a testament to the pressing needs of homeless children in LA.
By Susie Steimle [1-6-20] // When children end up homeless, it's usually because someone in their life dropped the ball. Dr. Coco Auerswald of UC Berkeley says it's up to society to pick them up.
By Dominic Fracassa and Trisha Thadani [1-13-20] // The shared priority project is part of a broader effort to revamp the city's system of care as a shortage of mental health workers, drug treatment beds and stable housing hobbles its ability to help the most vulnerable. The project has built upon efforts by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to catalog the city's population of unhoused people and match them with services.
From HCD News, Jan 10th
By Don Thompson (AP) [1-8-20] // (Audio/text) A billion-dollar investment last year has yet to curtail California's growing homeless crisis, and with the state awash in revenue, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spend a billion more on programs aimed at getting people off the streets.
[1-9-20] // Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday directing agencies under his command to identify state land that could be used as temporary shelter locations for the homeless. ...The governor said the final portion of $650 million in emergency homeless aid to cities and counties approved in June was being released Wednesday after a final federal homelessness count.
Sacramento Bee: While Trump tweets about California's homeless crisis, Gavin Newsom offers solutions
By Editorial Board [1-9-20] // There's been a lot of chatter about whether Gov. Gavin Newsom will keep his promise to appoint a state "czar" to deal with California's apocalyptic crisis of homelessness. So far, Newsom has refused - and perhaps we should all be fine with that.
By Kate Irby and Manuela Tobias [1-10-20] // In Fresno, before being appointed head of USICH, Robert Marbut Jr. left a lasting impression when he "embedded" in camps and recommended policies that some worried downplayed the importance of providing shelter to homeless people. Fresno rejected his major recommendations.
[1-10-20] // Assemblymember Phillip Chen (R-Brea) on Wednesday introduced assembly bill 1908, which would require the Department of Transportation to establish the Homeless Encampment and Litter Program on department property.
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester [1-10-20] // In sweeps, personal possessions, including medicines and necessary medical devices, are routinely thrown away.
By Andy Corbley [1-8-20] // Oakland: "There are the allegations that homeless people are dirty or don't keep the space clean," 37MLK resident EcheverrĆa-Fenn said. "There's only one reason why we're clean and other encampments are dirty: we have actual access to trash facilities and we have access to running water that other encampments don't."
[1-10-20] // Modesto: James and Lynette Scott put up a tent behind their store, but they are taking it down on Friday after being cited by the city for their effort to try to control the homeless crisis on their property.
By Adam Brinklow [1-6-20] // Former California Assemblymember Mike Gatto wants to get tough on "quality-of-life" crimes while still being gentle with the people-often the homeless-most likely to be charged with them, with a new voter initiative that he hopes will land on the November ballot.
By Theresa Clift [1-9-20] // The city expects to receive roughly $14 million in state money - more than double what it got last year- and two large shelters are set to open in the spring. Meanwhile, nearly every City Council member has announced a proposal to help address the problem.
From HCD News, Jan 8th
By Doug Smithy [1-7-20] // More than 60% of the inmates with a mental illness in the Los Angeles County Jail would be eligible for diversion if there were more facilities capable of providing supportive care, according to a study released Tuesday.
By Alexei Koseff and Kevin Fagan [1-8-20] // Gov. Newsom intends to sign an executive order today which will open vacant state land to emergency shelters and create a fund to pay rent and build affordable housing for homeless people. The governor will propose to start the fund with $750 million in taxpayer money, which the Legislature would have to approve.
By Associated Press [1-8-20] // The governor also directed the state to provide 100 travel trailers and modular tent structures to cities and counties that meet certain criteria.
By John Myers and Doug Smith [1-8-20] // As part of his new state budget proposal, Gov. Gavin Newsom will ask lawmakers this week to allocate more than $1.4 billion to a variety of local and state-run efforts, with much of the money earmarked as subsidies for immediate housing and community healthcare services. Newsom also plans to embrace a permanent change to boost state funding for homelessness needs by way of a November statewide ballot measure to rework the rules of the tax on millionaires imposed by voters in 2004, money that now is directed to programs first aimed at mental health.
By Sophia Bollag [1-7-20] // (Video/text) Assemblywoman Luz Rivas on Monday introduced a bill to create an Office to End Homelessness run by a cabinet secretary for housing insecurity and homelessness who would report to the governor.
By Dominic Fracassa [1-7-20] // San Francisco is making 151 units in two residential hotels (ABC News) available for formerly homeless people, a more affordable and faster option than creating new units in a city where subsidized housing costs $700,000 a unit and takes five years to build. There are more than 8,000 people living without homes in San Francisco.
By Mike Luery [1-6-20] // (Video/text) "We've partly caused our own problems," Joy Gonzales said. "I'm not saying we haven't. We do drugs. We don't follow the rules. We're society's outcasts, but we do need some help. And we do need to see that Social Security is not enough money." Gonzalez lives on $961 a month.
By Anne Wernikoff [12-30-19] // This most recent submission of a year-long series in mental health care in California explores the possibilities of forced conservatorship for severely mentally ill people living on the streets-through the lens of one individual who developed a mental illness after a severe brain injury.
By Terence Chea and Juliet Williams (AP) [1-7-20] // "I want to thank Moms 4 Housing for taking that house and for demonstrating that nowhere, nowhere should there be a vacant house anywhere in California when we have the housing crisis that we have," said Democratic Sen. Nancy Skinner of Berkeley. "And it was totally legitimate for those homeless moms to take over that house."
By Gary Warth [1-7-20] // A motel in South Bay will be renovated into an 82-room housing structure for formerly homeless people, run by Father Joe's Village. The organization's goal is to create 2,000 affordable housing units through construction and procurement of existing properties. Father Joe's breaks ground on a new 16-story, 407-unit housing project in two weeks.
By Doug Smith [1-7-20] // For months, the wooden frame rising at 88th and Vermont stood as a constant reminder of the unfulfilled promise of Proposition HHH, the $1.2-billion bond for homeless housing that Los Angeles voters approved more than three years ago. On Monday, there was a grand opening.
From HCD News, Jan 6th
By Colleen Shalby [1-3-20] // Devices that authorities say were made to look like explosives were discovered Thursday night in Venice at the site of a future homeless shelter that has been a long-standing point of contention.
By Krista Niemczyk [1-2-20] // (Opinion) "We need financial help for housing for at least six months or so," one survivor said when surveyed for our Growing the Seeds of Healing and Justice project. "Because of (domestic violence) I lost my job and left my house with nothing but my children. It's hard to find a job that fits my schedule since I (have) sole custody."
By Andy Krauss [1-2-20] // HUD says the homeless population increased in California by 21,306 people between 2018 and 2019, accounting for more than the entire national increase. That means roughly one in four homeless Americans live in California, according to CalMatters.
By Gary Warth [1-6-20] // About $3.8 million in federal dollars are being allocated to help veterans through San Diego County find housing and services that can lead to long-term recovery from homelessness.
By Luke Money, Faith E. Pinho, Hillary Davis and Priscella Vega [1-3-20] // Orange County elected officials and their staffers will say their cities are willing to do their "fair share" to address homelessness - or tout efforts that they say prove they're already doing it.
By Luke Money et al. [1-3-20] // This is the last article of Unsheltered, a five-part series examining homelessness in the cities of Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach. This part examines whether ending homelessness is a realistic goal.
By Gary Warth [1-5-20] // Homeless people who face a ticket or arrest by San Diego police officers are being offered a chance to have the infraction cleared if they agree to stay for 30 days in one of the city's large tented bridge shelters.
From HCD News, Jan 3rd
By Camille von Kaenel [1-2-20] // The immediate shock of around 35,000 people becoming homeless overnight in an area with an existing housing shortage has mostly passed as many have been able to relocate. In its place has emerged a secondary, more chronic crisis as hundreds of lower-income, under-insured or non-property-owning residents continue to survive on the edge, in and out of homelessness, unable to start truly recovering from the hit of the disaster.
By Emily Deruy [1-2-20] // The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced last week it was awarding the Oakland Housing Authority more than $2.8 million as part of a program to help families that rely on public assistance relocate if their homes are demolished or converted to other uses.
Los Angeles Times: $500 million from Newsom could keep L.A.'s most vulnerable from becoming homeless
By Doug Smith [12-31-19] // In an effort to keep thousands of people with mental illness from becoming homeless, a coalition of L.A. County officials and homeless advocates is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to put $500 million into his January budget proposal to shore up financially struggling board and care homes.
[12-23-19] // (Video/text) The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Monday unanimously approved proposals to provide housing for the 3,000 homeless people in the county, particularly the 210 people who have been camping along the Joe Rodota Trail in a county park in Santa Rosa.
[12-28-19] // Mabury Bridge Housing Community will serve as interim and transitional housing via tiny homes for homeless people in San Jose.
By Luke Money et al. [12-31-19] // Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Kim Carr said Surf City's task force - consisting of two full-time police officers, one program coordinator and four case managers - has "helped over 262 individuals get off the streets and reunited over 70 individuals with their families." And Part 3: Can Orange County Cities Find the Political Will to Fix Homelessness?
By Matt Tinoco [12-31-19] // In September, Bellflower became the first city outside of Orange County to voluntarily enter a judicial consent decree overseen by U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter.
HOMELESSNESS
By Sam Levin [12-27-19] // In a state with the world's fifth largest economy, physical assaults and criminalization efforts have made 2019 a particularly grim year for the homeless.
By Kevin Fagan [12-26-19] // The Healing Well offers yoga, acupuncture, 12-step addiction recovery meetings, lunch, people to talk to-things that take the place of doing drugs, as one patron puts it.
By Mayde Gomez [12-24-19] // Stockton City leaders allocated $100k to the Gospel Center Rescue Mission and another $100k to the Stockton Shelter to help support another 50 beds at each location.
By Wilson Walker [12-26-19] // A pair of homeless Oakland mothers occupying a vacant home as a housing protest on Thursday was given another four days to make their case. The judge has tentatively ruled in favor of eviction.
By Marco della Cava [12-24-19] // East Palo Alto: "Before, the kids could never go outside the RV because of people fighting and doing drugs, but here they can ride their bikes around," said Morales, who, like many others here, preferred to speak in Spanish. "We are grateful."
From HCD News, Dec 23rd
HOMELESSNESS
By Adam Brinklow [12-19-19] // At no point was a solution ever on the horizon, though SF tried seemingly everything to get there.
From HCD News, Dec 18th
HOMELESSNESS
By Thomas Fuller and Josh Haner [12-17-19] // This photo essay portrays a third-world sprawling homeless encampment in Oakland where the journalists spent three months getting to know its residents.
By Jill Cowan [12-16-19] // A 2017 report by the city of Los Angeles on the state of toilets on Skid Row found that there were just nine public toilets available for its 1,964 homeless residents. By contrast, the United Nations' standard for refugee camps requires there to be one toilet for every 20 people.
By Joel John Roberts [12-17-19] // (Commentary) We certainly need to respond to homelessness like it is a natural disaster-by setting up enough temporary structures immediately to get people off the streets now...
By Cornell W. Barnard [12-17-19] // (Video/text) The moms and their children recently moved into a vacant home without permission from the owners, but are now using legal channels, asserting their right to live there. Mother Monique Walker pointed out, "There's four vacant homes for every one homeless person on the streets in Oakland. That's criminal to me during winter."
By Benjamin Oreskes [12-17-19] // The U.S. Supreme Court decision to not hear an appeal of the City of Boise vs. Martin limits cities' power to prevent people from sleeping in public places when there is no other shelter available.
By Lisa Halverstadt [12-16-19] // Two San Diego lawmakers have joined Gov. Gavin Newsom in urging the Trump administration to swiftly release homeless census data amid continued speculation about a possible federal crackdown on homelessness in the state.
By Melinda Meza [12-17-19] // (Video) Last year Stockton received no money from the state. This year, the governor's Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Fund is providing San Joaquin County $12 million to create mobile showers, navigation centers, expanded shelters, and affordable, permanent housing.
By Tyler Silvy [12-17-19] // Sonoma County supervisors stalled Tuesday in their bid to advance a solution to the growing homeless crisis on the Joe Rodota Trail in Santa Rosa, postponing action on a set of shelter recommendations county staff hastily cobbled together early this week.
By Joe Goldeen [12-17-19] // Longtime unsheltered homeless residents liken it to a cat-and-mouse game. As soon as the cat leaves, the mice return.
By Kriston Capps [12-17-19] // As advocates and service providers brace for an executive order on homelessness, HUD Secretary Ben Carson heads to Houston.
From HCD News, Dec 16th
HOMELESSNESS
By Kevin Fagan [12-16-19] // Kat MacKay, who lives at the biggest homeless camp Sonoma County has ever seen, is tired of screams erupting around her at night. She's tired of the outbreaks of syphilis and stomach flu in the nearby tents, the stench of trash, the rats and mice chewing anything resembling food.
By Pete Williams [12-16-19] // By refusing to hear the case, the court leaves in place a lower court ruling that said Idaho's camping ban violated the Constitution.
By Justin Jones [12-2019] // I became homeless at the age of 8 or 9 after my mom enrolled in a 90-day rehab program. My dad was a part of the problem and wasn't present after she took the steps to a better life.
By LA Times [12-13-19] // Los Angeles can move forward with plans to open a homeless shelter in Venice after a L.A. County Superior Court judge rejected a legal challenge to the project.
By Phil Matier [12-16-19] // Built at cost of $4 million, the 200-bed Embarcadero Navigation Center takes about up half of a 2.4-acre parking lot along the city's picturesque waterfront near Beale and Bryant streets.
Sacramento Bee: More people are sleeping on sidewalks in Sacramento - even as federal spending rises
By David Lightman [12-16-19] // Congress wants to spend about $2.8 billion in fiscal 2020, the 12-month period that began Oct. 1, on homeless assistance grants, the major funding source to help the homeless. Final votes are likely sometime this month on what would be about a 6% increase over last year.
By Ryan Hagen [12-14-19] // Riverside mayor Rusty Bailey has spent about 15 nights in an uninsulated structure since October to garner attention for the needs of those without homes in Riverside. He wants City Council to approve similar structures at tomorrow's meeting.
By Benjamin Oreskes [12-14-19] After a public outcry at a Lancaster City Council meeting, Mayor R. Rex Parris postponed a vote on a proposal to sharply restrict how charitable groups feed homeless people in public spaces.
By Sherilyn Adams and Jennifer Stojkovic [12-14-19] // Tech employees across the city put together gift kits of socks, underwear, hats, shirts and handwritten holiday cards for 300 young people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. The kits will be distributed by Larkin Street Youth Services.
From HCD News, Dec 11th
HOMELESSNESS
By Eve Garrow [12-10-19] // After she became homeless, Callie Rutter entered Bridges at Kraemer Place, an emergency shelter that promises to "connect participants to housing as quickly as possible." For her, however, the shelter has been a bridge to nowhere. Callie has lived in the converted warehouse shelter for almost a year.
[12-2019] // Key findings include the increase of laws criminalizing homelessness; these laws are rooted in prejudice, fear, and misunderstanding; criminalization is costly and ineffective as well as harmful and, often, illegal.
By Gary Warth [12-10-19] // San Diego's vehicle habitation law is mentioned in the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty Law's 2019 Housing Not Handcuffs report, but the city was not listed among others as part of the report's "Hall of Shame." It also noted some progress around the country in trying to help homeless people off the street, and mentioned Clairemont Lutheran Church's plan to build affordable housing units on its parking lot.
By Associated Press [12-11-19] // Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan told a city council meeting Tuesday that she has been contacted by cruise ship companies about providing a ship for emergency housing...
By Trisha Thadani [12-10-19] // More than 1,700 people live in their vehicles in San Francisco, up 45% over the last two years.
From HCD News, Dec 9th
HOMELESSNESS
By Otis R. Taylor Jr. [12-9-19] // Look, we all really need to take a deep breath, because we can't afford to get sidetracked and lose sight of what's really at stake here: the lives of people trying to mentally and physically survive living on the street.
[12-8-19] // HomeAid, a non-profit provider of housing for the homeless in Northern California, is building six "Tiny Homes" at the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward to service residents participating in a California housing program.
By Will Schmitt and Tyler Silvy [12-7-19] // For 10 years, Patty Alden has lived in a small home near the Joe Rodota Trail, a Sonoma County park path on an old railroad line stretching more than 8 miles from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol. In recent months, more than 150 homeless people have set up camp along the trail not far from her house. One of the camp residents is her 40-year-old son.
From HCD News, Dec 6th
HOMELESSNESS
By David Wagner [12-6-19] // Research shows that prevention strategies in cities like Chicago and New York have been working.
By Theresa Clift [12-5-19] // (Audio/text) The development, on city-owned land at Northgate Boulevard and Patio Avenue, south of Interstate 80, would open next winter at the earliest, Councilman Jeff Harris said.
By Margie Shafer [12-3-19] // (Audio) A potential safe transitional site has been identified in Menlo Park for the working poor and homeless living in their cars and RVs. They may park overnight and receive services, pending federal approval.
[12-5-19] // Gavin Newsom, asked President Donald Trump on Thursday to stop withholding federal housing vouchers that could benefit 50,000 homeless people.
By Emily Deruy [12-6-19] // Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed the Trump administration for bureaucratic delays. On Wednesday, Newsom said cities and counties can begin applying for a piece of the $650 million in emergency homeless aid set aside in the state budget.
By Sammy Caiola [12-2-19] // Paula Lomazzi, executive director of the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee, said when she was homeless it was "like a miracle when someone gave me a $5 bill, and also it was a miracle when someone would give me their leftover dinner from a restaurant." Caiola provides lots of other suggestions.
By Martin Wolk [12-5-19] // "Sixty percent of all gang members are essentially, effectively homeless," said Father Gregory Boyle, who is planning to add transitional housing near Homeboy headquarters.
By Emily Alpert Reyes [12-5-19] // Los Angeles city officials won a key battle Thursday over a pair of local laws meant to ease the way for more housing for homeless people, defeating a challenge from Fight Back, Venice! The group argued that the ordinances flouted state law and sought to overturn them.
By Sarah Ravani [11-4-19] // In its proposal to an Oakland City Council committee, city staff noted that "encampments in parks have a disproportionate impact on the entire community as these areas are no longer available for recreation."
By Anderson Cooper [12-1-19] // (Video/text) Cooper visits a tent city in the Seattle area and hears from some of America's more than 500,000 people who are experiencing homelessness.
By Benjamin Oreskes [12-4-19] // Robert Marbut, who has worked with Fresno and several other California cities and counties, would succeed Matthew Doherty as executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. He is also known for urging cities to stop "enabling" homeless people and is skeptical of the housing first model.
From HCD News, Dec 4th
HOMELESSNESS
By Trisha Thadani [12-3-19] // HealthRight 360's tie-dye-painted van is parked in the Tenderloin and offers treatment for wounds, rashes, and the common cold as well as preventive care such as TB testing and blood pressure checking.
[12-4-19] // "Tenderloin residents and businesses deserve clean and healthy sidewalks just like any other neighborhood," said Supervisor Matt Haney.
By Doug Smith and Benjamin Oreskes [12-2-19] // Peter Lynn announced Monday that he is stepping down as head of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Lynn plans to continue working in the homeless field..."I think America, in general, provides really poor funding ... for mental health, substance use treatment," he said. "And I will say, people are really suffering for that."
By Adam Brinklow [12-2-19] // And the Bay Area's ten largest cities combined sport three empty homes for every two persons without one...
By Phil Matier [12-4-19] // San Francisco officials have declared the recent test run of keeping the city's Pit Stop public toilets open all night a success - and at about $28.50 per flush, it ought to be.
From the HCD News, Nov 27th
HOMELESSNESS
By Matt Tinoco [11-25-19] // "The reality is that we messed up. We should not have published the story without fully vetting the methodology first. That said, we are desperately in need of accurate numbers."
By Benjamin Oreskes and Doug Smith [11-26-19] // In all, 30 shelters are in some stage of development for a total of 2,300 new beds, including about 900 that the city plans to fund from other sources. But the unanticipated success of Garcetti's A Bridge Home program has put the city at odds with Los Angeles County over who should pay for it, leaving further expansion of the shelter program in doubt at time when residents have become frustrated by the explosion of homeless encampments.
By Noah Bierman [11-26-19] // Administration officials have floated a range of potential plans - including using police to clear skid row and other encampments, reducing regulations for building new housing, and increasing temporary shelter space by making federal facilities available or erecting temporary structures. Advocates and officials in California say they would welcome a truly cooperative effort with Washington.
By John Tozzi [11-5-19] // Under a law passed in 1986, people who need medical care can seek it in an emergency room, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. But that's where our country draws the line. We'll pay for a hospital bed but not for a home, even when the home would be cheaper in the [not so] long run.
By Joel Grover and Amy Corral [11-25-19] // Some prominent California politicians are now calling for the Golden State to emulate the Empire State, where only 6% of people experiencing homelessness live outdoors, compared to 75% in Los Angeles.
HOMELESSNESS
By Martin Macias, Jr. [11-22-19] // The mayors of Oakland, Sacramento and Los Angeles said at a housing policy summit Friday that curbing the state's homelessness and housing affordability crises requires legislative action making housing a right for all Californians.
By Theresa Clift [11-22-19] // This year, Sacramento County will not offer their winter sanctuary program that in the past has bused 100 homeless men and women to places of worship for shelter and medical care. Instead, the county will add services, 24 beds, and expanded hours at two River District shelters.
By Mark Noack [11-22-19] // Volunteers gathered voter signatures to block parking ban affecting homeless RV-dwellers.
By Michael Andersen [11-22-19] // The search for housing justice shouldn't ignore the empty luxury spaces we subsidize most.
By Cody Dulaney [11-25-19] // It's been more than a year since the San Diego City Council voted to provide 140 new housing units for homeless and disabled residents in each council district by 2021, but little has been done to meet that commitment.
[11-24-19] // A new statewide survey has found that most Californians are concerned about homelessness in their community and that a majority supports the concept of a law that would require local governments to build more shelters.
From the HCD News, Nov 18th
HOMELESSNESS
By David Zahniser and Emily Alpert Reyes [11-15-19] // Acknowledging Los Angeles's "state of emergency," three City Council members proposed on Friday to grant Mayor Garcetti emergency powers to rezone property and suspend city rules that block or delay approving new sites for housing, overnight parking areas, and public restrooms.
By Steve Lopez [11-17-19] // Part One: The residents. The trash, the fights, the drugs, the blaring music. For months, it was relentless, said one who lives in a Hollywood neighborhood surrounded by homeless encampments. ...The author found "not a lack of support from authorities but an inefficient response sabotaged by a lack of coordination and clear strategy."
By Steve Lopez [11-18-19] // Part Two: The homeless camp. Hollywood has long had a dark underbelly. Maybe the darkness, rather than the glitz, was always the bigger draw. Maybe there were always more people running from something rather than to something. But I have never seen it as ruptured as it is now, with thriving commerce and astonishing social collapse side by side.
By Jessica Flores [11-14-19] // Construction is getting underway on a new $34 million permanent supportive housing complex for homeless Angelenos on a vacant lot on the corner of Imperial Highway and Broadway Avenue in South LA.
By Nicholas Iovino [11-14-19] // A neighborhood group asked a state judge on Thursday to halt the ongoing construction of a 200-bed shelter in San Francisco, arguing the city failed to get required approval from a state commission that oversees public lands.
The Eastsider: Councilman Ryu proposes second Los Feliz homeless housing facility on Riverside Drive
[11-14-19] // The owner of a building at 3061 Riverside Drive that's being used for office space is interested in leasing it to the city as a temporary shelter, Ryu's office said on Wednesday.
From the HCD News, Nov 13th
HOMELESSNESS
By Ruthie Snyder [11-3-19] // Snyder suggests many possibilities for housing people experiencing homelessness.
By Barnini Chakraborty [11-12-19] // This is the latest report in an ongoing series by Fox News on the severe homelessness crisis West Coast cities are enduring due to rampant drug addiction, skyrocketing housing prices, mental illness and, in many cases, misguided governmental policies.
By Melinda Meza [11-12-19] // (Video/text) About 450 people call an outdoor shelter under the 9th Street Bridge in Modesto home. The city has to close the shelter, which was designed to be temporary emergency shelter, as part of an agreement with the Tuolumne River Regional Park. The city of Modesto said there will be enough beds for the 450 homeless in various shelters.
By Joel Grover and Amy Corral [11-11-19] // (video/text) Untreated mental illness and drug addiction contribute to violent attacks by homeless people on passerby. Incidents increased 50% from 2017 to 2018 and are on track to continue rising.
By Will Heryford [11-11-19] // (Video) Three women who met at church have teamed up to provide hot showers for people experiencing homelessness in Lodi and Stockton. The service, called Showered with Love, has been an idea of Mary Jarrard's for a few years, but it was this past January when things started to become a reality.
By Elizabeth Roberts [11-4-19] // At least two burn victims were transported to area hospitals shortly after 5 p.m. today after a fire consumed a homeless encampment under the connecting ramp bridge from the westbound Crosstown Freeway to northbound Interstate 5 over Mormon Slough.
By Janice Bitters [11-12-19] // Days after Santa Clara County leaders approved nearly $1 million in funding to add 19 beds in San Jose for homeless women and families, Google has jumped in to double that money.
From HCD News, Nov 8th
HOMELESSNESS
By Adele Peters [11-6-19] // Many people living on the streets avoid shelters because of how unpleasant and undignified the conditions are. A new design would give people more privacy while they wait to find permanent housing.
By Diana Kruzman [11-6-19] // For thousands of women in Los Angeles mental illness, drug abuse and housing costs intersect with the challenges of pregnancy and raising children.
By Inyoung Kang [11-6-19] // Several readers in and near California raised a similar question. Data shows that most homeless people in California are, in fact, Californians...
By Doug Smith [11-6-19] // The news came in September: Long Beach Residential, a 49-bed home for adults who are mentally ill, was being sold. The residents of the converted apartment building, some of whom had lived there for decades, would have 60 days to move, an increasingly common scenario across the state.
By Doug Smith [11-6-19] // The details of the motion are still being worked out by county staff. But their recommendations are likely to include a mandate to improve data collection, to use unspent mental health funds from the state for maintenance of board-and-care homes and to advocate for increased state funding levels for them.
By Ryan Fish [11-6-19] // Santa Barbara County: Firefighters were able to douse Monday night's fire near the 101 Freeway in Goleta, but fires in and around homeless encampments remain a daily threat in California. Meanwhile, city leaders are planning how to spend funds carefully and efficiently to maximize assistance to those experiencing homelessness in Goleta.
By Kayla Epstein [11-7-19] // The new ordinance, passed at a contentious council meeting, makes it a misdemeanor for homeless people to camp or sleep on the streets if beds at established shelters are available.
By Michael Finch II [11-7-19] // As the ranks of the homeless rise throughout the region, and tent encampments spring up around the city, some advocates question whether swapping debt for community service alone is effective.
From HCD News, Aug 5th
HOMELESSNESS
By Matt Markovich [7-31-19] // San Francisco and Seattle share many commonalities. Two large west coast progressive cities facing a growing affordable housing crisis coupled with an increase homeless population with many of those suffering mental health and drug addiction issues.
By Otis R. Taylor [8-2-19] // Marcus Emery called me every few weeks to update me on his life - and to give me his new phone number. ...The last time I saw him in June, we sat on couches in the living room of his apartment on MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland. He gave me a goodbye hug.
By Vivian Ho // All around the Bay Area, they hide in plain sight, the vehicles doubling as shelters. Some, as Brown described, are easily recognizable - an overstuffed RV with so many items strapped to the sides that the wheels appear sunken down, a van with a taped-up window, a camper so antiquated that it doesn't seem operational.
By Steve Lopez // Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, both involved in homeless issues for years, have proposed a new approach, in which the state would establish a right to shelter and make sure there's a bed for every homeless person now camped on streets, riverbeds and parks.
From HCD News, Aug 2nd
HOMELESSNESS
By Heather Knight [8-2-19] // If a major earthquake struck San Francisco today and cast thousands of residents out onto the streets, would City Hall create endless task forces to study the problem? Call for hearings and reports? Create new positions to come up with plans - eventually? Let's hope not.
By Carla Hall [8-2-19] // (Op-Ed) I've rarely met a homeless person on the street who wanted to go to [a shelter]. But the homeless woman sitting on the sidewalk on an industrial stretch of Cotner Avenue in West L.A. was different.
By Lisa Fernandez [8-2-19] // President Donald Trump took time during a 90-minute rally in Cincinnati on Thursday to slam California for the number of homeless people living on the streets.
By Benjamin Oreskes [8-1-19] // Across the country, L.A. isn't considered to be a failure. To the contrary, at last week's National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Washington, D.C., attendees repeatedly held up the city, the county and the state as models of political will for getting people into housing.
By Evan Sernoffsky [7-31-19] // The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has agreed to lease a former jail to the city of Oakland for a mere $1 a year in a plan to convert the facility into housing for the city's ballooning homeless population, officials said Wednesday.
San Luis Obispo Tribune: SLO County's Homeless Population Rises - Here's What the Latest Count Found
By Lindsey Holden [8-1-19] // The census counted 1,483 people experiencing homelessness, up nearly 32% from the 1,125 people counted in 2017, according to the results released on Thursday.
From HCD News, July 31st
HOMELESSNESS
[7-31-19] // This photo essay shows 24 hours inside San Francisco's homelessness crisis.
San Francisco Chronicle: Why Are More Mentally ill People Wandering SF Streets? Report Gives Answers
By Heather Knight [7-30-19] // A new report from the Board of Supervisors' Budget and Legislative Analyst examines conservatorship. Despite the growing crisis on our streets, the number of conservatorship referrals in San Francisco plunged by almost 50% percent between 2012-13 and 2018-19.
By Emily Alpert Reyes [7-30-19] // The decision extends the L.A. regulations, which had expired at the beginning of July, until January. Under the rules, people cannot spend the night in their cars on residential streets, or live in their vehicles at any time within a block of a park, school, preschool or day care facility.
By Chris Nichols [7-30-19] // "You can't compel individuals to be held in a place where they don't want to be" unless they are a danger to themselves, said Curt Child, legislative director for the advocacy group Disability Rights of California.
[7-30-19] // When completed, this permanent housing development will consist of a series of 3 interlocking buildings. Two will consist of studios and one-bedroom units for a total of 57 apartments. The third will be dedicated to resident service spaces.
From HCD News, July 22nd
HOMELESSNESS
By L.A. Times [7-21-19] // If adopted, this policy would compel cities and counties to build enough large shelters to accommodate any homeless person who asks to come indoors. Steinberg and Ridley-Thomas want to also require that homeless people be forced to accept shelter if offered.
From HCD News, July 17th
HOMELESSNESS
By Mike Duffy [7-15-19] // Woodland was just awarded $5.3 million through the California Department of Housing and Community Development for a new proposal to build a five-acre campus on the outskirts of town complete with temporary housing, services and the opportunity to transition to permanent housing.
By Trisha Thadani [7-15-19] // A parking lot near the Balboa Park BART Station will be turned into a "triage lot," where people can park their vehicles overnight and access showers, bathrooms and services to help them find other housing options.
By Nicholas Iovino [7-12-19] // To temporarily resolve a federal lawsuit over homeless camp evictions, Santa Rosa and Sonoma County vowed not to remove people from encampments unless they are offered adequate shelter first. The agreement requires storing seized property up to 90 days, creating a process for filing complaints about shelter placements, and mandatory training for staff that interact with homeless people.
By Mario Ramirez [7-16-19] // (Text and video) The agreement will allow the county to enforce nuisance laws on county property by creating two zones -- one in which transients can be arrested immediately and another that requires that law enforcement first do outreach and try to move the transients into shelters, Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do said.
By Kurt Schauppner [7-17-19] // Kelly Schumacher from the Food for Life Ministry said many people just don't make enough money to rent homes in Twentynine Palms anymore. Potential tenants must show their income is three times a property's monthly rent before a landlord will consider them, she pointed out.
CBS Los Angeles: LA Now the 'City of Rats'? Report Warns of 'Alarming Increase' in Rodent Population
[7-16-19] // (Video and text) Pest control and public health experts are calling on Gov. Newsom to declare a public health emergency over what they say is a sharp rise in the state's rodent population. A new report says environmental factors are not to blame for the state's rat increase. Instead, the issue is "directly related" a spike in the homeless population and the elimination of effective rodent control methods under legislation such as AB 1788...
From HCD News, July 15th
HOMELESSNESS
By Stefanie Dazio [7-11-19] // Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said he is working to eliminate thousands of homeless people's old warrants for minor offenses in the coming weeks as part of a solution to help get people off the streets.
By James Brasuell [7-11-19] // An article and video by Lisa Halverstadt explain the differences in the kinds of homeless housing to counter the confusion that sometimes fuels community opposition to projects intended to assist homeless populations.
By Andrew O'Reilly [7-14-19] // "Most of Skid Row is already being carved up," Jerry Jones, the director of public policy at the Inner City Law Center in Los Angeles, told Fox News. "We need to help those who live on Skid Row right now."
From HCD News, July 12th
HOMELESSNESS
By Heather Knight [7-9-19] // People in other countries, and even other U.S. cities, have a lower tolerance for the chaos and disorder of homelessness. European countries also tend to provide much more robust health care and have a safety net that catches people before they're so far gone that they're walking into busy streets in hospital gowns.
By Abbie Bennett [7-10-19] // "They feel like 'I can't tell them I'm homeless because I'll lose my child.' So they're afraid to come forward and have their children stripped from their arms."
By Robin McMillan [7-10-19] // From 2017 to 2018, nationwide numbers remained nearly flat and even dropped slightly statewide, but it jumped more than 13% in San Bernardino County last year.
By Eduardo Cuevas [7-10-19] // The city warned homeless residents of impending enforcement of the no camping policy and provided outreach services in advance. An accompanying homeless service referral handout distributed at the park, and also available on the city's website, says it was last updated September 2012, as of Wednesday.
By Daniel Montes [7-101-9] // (Video) Safe Embarcadero For All alleges in the suit that the city hastily approved the 200-bed center without seeking approval from the California State Lands Commission, which they say is required since the center would create housing on property owned by the Port of San Francisco.
By Trisha Thadani [7-11-19] // The Embarcadero Navigation Center site is being prepped for construction.
From HCD News, July 10th
HOMELESSNESS
By Kevin Fagan [7-8-19] // San Francisco now has 9,784 unhoused residents compared with the last biennial count taken in 2017 of 7,499.
By Nuala Sawyer [7-8-19] // Frontline workers from organizations ranging from Homeless Prenatal to Hospitality House praised the plan for a commission to better manage the department.
By Mary Meehan [7-4-19] // Charles Bowers leads me on a tour of camps made by homeless people in wooded corners of Fayette County, Kentucky, and there, slightly up the hill, is a patch of blue. A tent. He keeps his voice low to avoid startling those inside.
By Danny Romero and Jessica Dominguez [7-8-19] // "My camera allows me to define homelessness; people's pain and emotion. We're all connected, we all cry, we all feel all these different things," Pablo Unzueta said.
By Sarah Ravani [7-9-19] // The East Bay city is mulling over two different locations to build a site that will open in 2020 and house up to 45 people for up to six months with the intent of transferring them into permanent housing. Residents say a navigation center near their neighborhoods and schools could raise the risk that they or their children will become victims of crime.
