Letter to Community Proposes ‘Trying Something Different’ to Address Homeless Issues
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Let’s Try Something Different
We, as a group of concerned community members, feel our camper situation is a moral, commerce, public health and fire safety concern. Over the past several years a community coalition has been building and meeting regularly to discuss and address local homeless and the resulting problems. Together, with input from local, long-term community campers, through mutual respect, we offer a possible solution – a safe camp. A safe camp establishes a place of respite for campers, an opportunity to determine needs and assist until client goal is reached. A safe camp provides business owners and peace officers somewhere to direct campers on the street. This is a starting point to help those who are disadvantaged in our community. The ultimate goal being permanent housing.
Since 2007 we have watched our homeless population grow, bringing to our community people with mental illness and drug addiction. It (is) estimated that there are 220 (folks) without shelter in our communities of Benbow, Garberville and Redway. DHHS reports that typically 40% have substance abuse or mental illness or both. Based on a recent population census of 2,282 people, homelessness contributes to 10% of our population from Redway to Benbow (does not include outlaying communities).
The definition of insanity is when you continue to do the same thing over and over expecting different results. Clearing the camps sends campers deeper into the woods, into smaller camps, which contribute to more trash and fire hazards. Eventually, they move back into the larger camps until the next evacuation occurs. This is not working to make our community safe, clean and prosperous.
A safe camp provides a different approach. By triaging needs, this camp will help people who want to help themselves. We will identify local working homeless unable to afford or find a rental or other shelter and provide an opportunity to transition from tent living to housing. There are services available that can help with a triage process.
Humboldt County has declared a Housing Crisis. Our state has declared a WildFire Crisis. Funds are available to help find solutions for those less advantaged. Arcata just received a $400,000. grant to create a tiny house village in a mobile home park. Those who are serious about wanting to improve their living situation will be given help. Studies on homelessness state the first thing you do is shelter people, so they can get rest and feel safe. Then you look at the mental illness and substance abuse, offering avenues to improve their wellbeing. Those sincere about wanting to help themselves will be supported to do so.
We believe a safe camp is a good starting point.
The moral test of any community is how it treats those that are in the dawn of life~the children, those that are in the twilight of life~the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life~the sick, the needy and the handicapped.
Contact for further information:
Patte Rae, Chair
So. Humboldt Emergency Preparedness Team707.223.1560
June 11, 2019
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🕯🌳Good morning Kelley, it’s a great idea they actually have something similar in San Francisco. It’s the money it takes to operate a place like that and care and insurance. And Kelley that 220 number is way off,this time of year you can almost triple that. But there is support for your issue. It would take the pressure off the court system during the winter because a lot of those people commit crimes just to get housing.
Good morning Willie. Please note that i posted Patte’s letter to the editor.
🕯🌳Ok. Thank you Patte.
In Santa Barbara the City raised a full block apt housing complex. 62 units were provided. The zoning regulation of 326 square foot of living space was reduced to 250 square feet. Sixty one chronically homeless residences of Santa Barbara were housed in small studios. Full bathrooms, a microwave kitchen and living space with a bed. Drinking and mentally ill people were housed in a supportive housing situation. One of our local banks donated computers to these folks. It has worked very well for many years. The Sixty Second apartment was built for the house manager. Now we build mixed use housing for the downtown workers, homeless and the mentally ill. All supportive of course. The city wishes it could do more. We have not solved the homeless crisis. As we all know rents are reaching far higher than many of our working class people can afford. We must research the basic reasons why people find themselves out of shelter. Some move into their vehicles for safety reasons and dodge the laws that are written against such a move. Some people build small huts for shelter and others buy tents. I personally have had to live in cars, vans, RVs and for a temporary time a tent. It was very hard to reach out for help to try to help my family when disaster struck. We had our pride you know. But we had our children to keep our heads up and to progress into a better and better situation. Yet the rents kept going up and up and up. We lived in RVs until our children were grown. They now have housing. My son in a hotel room and my daughter owns 4 houses. Homelessness is and can be a temporary situation for most folks. For those who are weakened by this crisis, they become prey to drug dealers and self medicate their depression symptoms. We are a cruel nation when we let this fester. Come on now. No more poverty pimps who receive 6 figure salaries to run shelters and day centers. Let us bring the homeless themselves to the table. They are the ones to tell you what their needs are. Self empowerment goes such a long way. It provides the step ladder to housing one’s self. Yes a safe camp can and will help.
https://www.independent.com/2019/05/01/good-news-and-bad-for-santa-barbara-citys-homeless-people/
https://www.independent.com/2019/05/29/homeless-program-finds-shelter-for-citys-most-needy/
“To date, 12 of the top 50 homeless individuals targeted by Santa Barbara City Hall for focused assistance — by virtue of the high service volume they generate — have managed to find shelter with assistance from a $2.2 million, multi-agency homeless program funded by state homeless grants. ” or about$180,000 per person.
Sweet so if you give a homeless person a fish instead of teaching them to fish, they will ask for fish the next day. And the next. The fisherman who knows how to fish will soon have no fish. Want to keep providing fish for those who refuse to learn how to catch fish themselves than vote for Bernie in 2020. He can provide free fish and government cheese for everyone! Just trade in your freedoms and constitutional rights for government control and what do you get? Socialism. PS. Hope you like fish and American cheese, because the government won’t give you options of what you want to eat, or where you live.
Some people cannot provide for themselves and need a helping hand. The disabled as well as the drug addicted (which is an illness). These people are already living off charity from our business owners here. Why not take the stress off the community?
Some of the people that are having a hard time finding a place to live in are some of the US veterans, disabled. And one thing most people should remember we are all equals, you are not better than anybody, just because you have more things, are made better choices. The best way to get through this economic catastrophe, that were headed into is to share.
If making better choices does not make a better person than a drug addict, a murderer, child molester, thief or bigot, then there are no values at all. Of course a person should be entitled to more if they have worked and earned it. Making better choices makes that happen.
And being a veteran, disabled or not is not a perpetual get-out-of-jail-card for life. And this is not an economic catastrophe. Not even close. Not nationally nor even locally where much more economic misery was created by the Redwood Park Expansion in the 1980s and the population dropped by about10% due to people leaving the area to find work.
hrmm drug addict… such a bad sounding term. yet because a group of people labled one chemicial as a drug other substances which can be or even are just as harmful arent and those that use in excess are not judged or looked down upon . take caffine mostly unregulated however has many negitive effects on the body including addiction. people addicted to caffine cant think clearly get sick untill they get some. sugars also harmful and addicting so much so that it is included in products most dont even realise and since it is addicting those products tend to have their share of addicts . then there is on line addictions also having negitive effects on peoples lives. however of all these items mentioned the dfug addiction is the worst supposedly yet over half of drug addicts are self mediacting for problems they are dealing with. be it from chronic pain to mental issuses caused from poor family life or abuse as children. so no just because someone uses street drugs verses going to a doctor and using big pharm drugs i do not think one is any differant than the other
well if you teach everyone to fish there will be no fish for anyone to catch either. and if you say ok we will only teach x number of people to fish the fisherman who was alone fishing now has to fight the new folks fishing not only for fish but for share in the market.
i understand what you are sayin just always saw these problems with this story
Thank you Nancy. Personally, I agree with your sentiments. Personally, I also think there is not nearly enough support to help people transition when life’s circumstances change. And I think this can be a very difficult trap to navigate. It’s like if your super poor there is assistance, if your rich.. well, your rich.. Work hard all your life.. pay taxes.. Screwed…
I think part of the solution to homelessness is to help people prevent it in the first place.. I suppose that won’t fix the current problem we have, and I do agree that drugs have a part to play. Along with people making some poor choices. It’s easy for others to toss around blame…. and I think good people deserve chances to make better choices…I think a camp is a decent solution.. it will have its problems for sure.. but I think it’s better than the current direction it’s at. I think part of the problem in America, while a lot of the laws are good, as bright as we all are… we have also made it sooo complicated for ourselves. In other some other 3rd world countries, they may have problems with poverty, but many actually do not have such a problem with “homelessness” per say. That is a very European and very American concept if you ask me. But there are also shanty towns, and also, a big part, is a pretty open street markets. People can easily make a little job for themselves selling Vegitables, Crafts, or Other items. Are there problems.. sure.. but honestly I love street markets, with little food booths, it’s not so locked down and people can make a path for themselves. Fresh squeezed orange juice, cut fruit stands, burrito booths…I mean you can’t have an open Drug fair.. for sure, but people are fairly ingenious if you let them be…
I agree, bring the Homeless into the picture and let them make some of thier own decisions. Blocking flows of energy is sometimes not the best path to take, but channeling it into something more productive is often a better path forward. I hope that Gville can obtain some sensible solutions…
Holy Cow! Someone with a plan for the Homeless Population!
While I applaud the idea, I have to wonder where the “safe camp” is proposed? Maybe Estelle Fennel will donate her place…
For the rest of the “non-Pollyanna set” how do you plan to provide services? Where did we get the idea that only 40% of these folks have mental health disorders/drug addiction? And, in the Summer, the folks in this population are much more than 10% of the total…
I do like the idea of gathering the target population into a safe space where services can be provided, but, you will pretty much have to provide the drugs they require, along with everything else, in order to keep these folks “rounded up”…
Also, in Garberville/Redway, there are no services, beyond the pathetic Humboldt County Mental Health office, and, the uninterested, broken-down crappy and filthy “hospital” in GBV that primarily exists to deliver SNF and busted ER services to the indigent and the “born here”…
Redwood Clinic offers some help, but, to gather these folks would take 4-6 full time LEO’s, a standby Ambulance, and a MASH-like unit on-site, to deal with overdoses, stab wounds and GSW’s, and interpersonal conflicts… Not to mention a Veterinarian to treat everyone’s dogs…
Keep thinking, keep it evolving, apply for those grants… Like Garberville, it may be better to just move the whole town, and leave Redway to the homeless…
For a while there you were so much less negative. I miss that version.
How about the version that made a whip of cords and turning over tables in anger, used a fucking whip to drive people from the temple? The take no shit jesus. Turn the other cheek and he’ll whip it.
Well… sometimes no shit should be taken. Whats your point? I think a lot of us could learn a lesson or two from that, Jesus was chock full of em. You think Jesus could get wild when He was pushed, watch out for the Father, He could flood the planet and start with a clean slate again. Ooooooooh I get it, you’re attempting to push your anti-Christian rhetoric again. Remember now, nihilism is a very dangerous path to travel.
Matthew 21:12
“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”…
I agree. Let’s all be more positive!
I am positive that this would be a good approach. I believe a safe camp is a good idea.
I would like to see services available, counseling, drug diversion, detox and rehab, safe injection sites, needle exchange, healthcare services, mental health services.
In many parts of California, we see communities overrun by homeless with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders. A new approach is absolutely necessary, and should be managed by a coalition of State, Local and Federal services, and applied by agencies focused on improving the lives of the affected, and not just the management of this population.
Many moving parts will be required to operate cooperatively, but, the ability to create a new category of services, and just to think in a new manner about the problems of this population, while overcoming attitudes of the general population, will be the greatest hurdle.
In our region, meaning North of San Francisco from the ocean to I-5, we find a population resistant to management, and which is currently receiving many services not available to the general public. We also find an insular community resistant to providing services for the homeless dual-diagnosis section…
Questions about setting up a program focused on helping these folks, will naturally start with:
1) Where will we locate this camp?
2) What services will be available?
3) Who will provide the supplies, manage the necessities?
4) How will we maintain order?
5) What will the general community expect, and what will be the reaction?
6) How will we provide our services long term, while co-existing with our community?
7) Where will our funding come from?
In my sketch, many challenges present. While remaining positive, I would like to see the fully developed plan.
The poor you will have with you, always. . . and there is a reason for some of that.
Here’s an interesting take on the causes of our California housing shortages (it is regulation but not the way you would think): https://www.iheart.com/podcast/358-today-explained-28930079/episode/little-pink-houses-for-nobody-46116691/
Omg ….we do not want all the homeless in REDWAY …..not ok
just remember you will need a lot of big ass dumpsters to haul off all the trash the camp will produce. also many I have talked with say they like the freedom, they have with no rules to put up with
🕯🌳There’s a lot of little jobs that need to be taken care of in the county, there already using free labor from the jail why not make it a trade off,housing for work with the homeless?
Making labor mandatory foe housing might be real tricky. Many people are homeless because they lack the mental health services that they need. Have you ever tried to get someone with a serious mental health problem to work unsupervised? Companies like Gaining Grounds do it, but we’re talking about REAL menial labor like sealing envelopes and such.
🕯🌳Agreed, and again it could be a program that could be offered along with the housing?
Being homeless in California can be quite easy. Ever talk to any of them? I have. No responsibility’s, no bills , people pick up after you, government/state checks, free needles, unpunished thievery and cheap drugs make it desirable to many.
Getting rained on all winter which is probably the only shower you’ll get? The stories about freedom is just as much a self serving spin as stories that homelessness is just unfortunate circumstances that could happen to anyone. People rationalize to make themselves look good in preference to looking honestly at themselves. Especially people who haven’t coped well. Just because some hands out a line doesn’t mean it has to be grabbed.
I really doubt you talk to homeless people. You lied about being attacked by antifa in a Starbucks, [edit]
I have no idea whether LCE’s statement is true or not…However, I can’t see that you have any proof one way or another. It is one thing to express doubt but, another to aggressively assert something you have no proof of.
“insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.”
This quote was first found in a NA handbook. Im not sure why people love it so much but it is absently not the(or any vaild) definition of insanity.
Not true. Einstein is credited with that quote, although many dispute it originated from him. An old Chinese proverb and Benjamin Franklin are the other 2 possible orgins of this quote, not NA. That’s just when , you first heard it.
Here’s some wise from me. “ laws and rules without punishment are only guidelines for manipulation.” The manipulaters have the upper hand. California’s “system” is broken.
I enjoy Jordan Peterson’s literature myself.
I would be interested in helping…I will contact you.
“DHHS reports that typically 40% have substance abuse or mental illness or both.”
Well I no longer have any trust in the DHHS at all. The stat could be accurate but run strongly counter to intuition and personal experience. I suspect their methodology is flawed.
Pros:
1.You can’t kick people out of illegal camps full of squalor unless they have somewhere to go.
2. Money is already being spent on trash cleanups and law enforcement to no avail.
3. Providing individual support can get people out of homelessness and start to reverse the trend.
Cons:
1.Anywhere people are kicked to , they will bring their baggage with them.
2. If people are camping out for free now and it results in crime, why would trying to corral them in another local change it?
3. It can but it won’t until people want it more than they want their own ways which lead them to being homeless in the first place.
Until there is some level of authority that enforce a peaceful existence, no one can ensure that a person living in such a camp will be safe from each other and ensuring safety will mean most will not stay because it will be full of rules.
If a person is not mentally ill (which includes drug addiction) why would they be homeless for more than a month or so? Maybe child support forces some to be homeless? I’m sure there is an obvious answer here that is escaping me. I don’t accept that anyone would choose to be homeless of of pure laziness, imo that would constitute mental illness of some sort (depression?).
I lived out of a tent. I paid $7 per night to stay at a campground(s). I applied for work every day, and got a great job in less than two weeks. If I had been really desperate, and willing to take any job, I could have been employed in a couples of days.
There sits the bankrupt community park, waiting for “trumpville”
For those of you historically challenged, google “hooverville”
For anyone who thinks this solution would be “too expensive”… Think how expensive a fire would be.
If providing housing were a solution, it might be a reasonable choice. But, given the nature of the individuals involved, it would mean not only providing a place to live that needed no maintenance along with all necessities of life such as food, health care, clothing, etc, it means constant supervision to see that it is not burnt down itself nor turned into a war zone nor a drug house. Public housing fails because there is no limit to the costs of being a perpetual parent to a never grown, irresponsible juvenile delinquent surround by people who constantly criticize for not doing enough.
There has been a push for “housing first” as a miracle cure for homelessness. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/housing-first-solution-to-homelessness-utah/ Which is sort of true in that if a person is given a place to live, they are no longer homeless. Such advocates keep track the “expenses” of those they manage to keep on their programs to find, surprise surprise, that public expenditures go down for them. What such advocates turn their eyes away from is that the population of homeless keeps growing and out pacing the ever higher budgeting available. It’s like such solutions, while good for older, sicker homeless who have become willing to at least cooperate some as they are facing death otherwise, it has actually increased the new members entering the class.
I love this project, and the approach being used by agencies in Salt Lake and the surrounding communities. Just give housing, and offer services, if desired. Social costs plummet, and long run results improve.
Thanks, Mr Guest, for the link!
🕯🌳You are right it comes down to the pocket book. Who’s purse are they going to dip into to fund this?
The gubberment of Kalifornia is always gloating about the supposed 30 billion dollar surplus(hoarded tax dollars stolen from us) that it has. Why don’t they dip into that thing? Those taxes have already been paid and none of us are ever getting one red cent of that back. Seems like a great place to petition for the funding.
Ridiculous idea for Garberville and the surrounding areas. There are minimal support services available for drifters, mentally ill and drug addicted. These people need to be housed and treated in larger cities with available resources. If the area wants to start rebuilding economically, this type of blight has to go.
It’s amazing that anyone would suggest setting up safe campgrounds for this BS. ENOUGH ALREADY!! If you want to cater to chronically homeless and drug addicted, please move them into your house, your property and take full accountability. It’s not right to impose this responsibility on the community and a it’s a terrible plan for business and tourism.
Spot on. Glaringly absent from this “program” is the work for what you get component. Don’t want to work, get on the bus (I’ll buy the ticket) and get out before the suns sets on your sorry ass. The most successful program I’ve encountered was Lloyd Miller’s 12 step house in San Bernardino during the fifties. You could stay as long as you needed, but you worked for your meals and lodging. I don’t mean sweeping up around the facility. Lloyd worked with the community and the community hired Lloyd’s guys for wage earning endeavors, and the money, went to the house sans some pocket money for residents. No grants, no taxpayer funding, no wallowing in mismanaged empathy by the enablers. It worked, and that’s what scares the enablers to their core. No more tax dollars to people hired to fix a problem they have no intention of fixing.
All the people living down by the river and out in the forest and up on hippie hill or wherever, have income, whether SSI, GA, AFDC or checks from home, they all have cell phones, and dogs, and, they consume goods and services in Garberville. Many have Medi-Cal and Medicare, and, your hospital, Garberville, benefits from delivering services to this group!
Whining because you don’t like the “permanent-campers”, wishing they were “just gone” will not help.
Garberville/Redway needs a long-range plan, that is fully considered, implementable, and which has the support of the community.
The above may well be the best you will find, and I suggest you get behind it.
In my opinion it sounds like a nice idea, as long as it is away from residences or businesses it shouldn’t adversely effect the residents and business owners, but the local residents and businesses of that area should have the last say.
The agencies here keep trying to get people into shelters with the same rules over and over and it doesn’t work. If someone would look and listen to the people needing shelter and successful programs like the ones in SF they could learn. First is letting people bring certain things with them into shelter. A safe place to lock up ALL their belongings, the ability to stay WITH their significant other in the shelter and not separated, and the ability to keep their animals WITH them. Some people on tne streets are very close to their animals as they have been thru a lot with them and it may be the only love they recieve. The shelters here limit personal space to lock stuff up to one small shelf or small locker, separate couples and families, and do not allow animals at all. The ones in SF that have high success rates have a plan to allow all that. The few times this has been brought up here it gets shot down without consideration. And nothing changes…
Which lasts until the first lawsuit that whoever provides the shelter did not prevent injury to other inhabitants.
FIRE SAFETY-that is enough of a reason to designate a proper, supervised homeless campground. As stated, what is being done is NOT working! A simple bathhouse& kitchen would go a long way to help those who are helpable, and to keep the others from being a danger to the community. Homeless ppl aren’t going away- So help out or keep your ugly opinions to yourselves.
Exactly. Even if you lack basic compassion, fire safety should be reason enough. That involves ALL of us.
Until one burn the facility down or overdoses in the bathroom or kills another resident who irritated them. There are no simple solutions if society allows that people have the right to screw up their lives without interference.
I beilive this is a sensible solution. It’s worked in other communities.
These are really cool, inexpensive and easy to build.
The Conestoga Hut Micro-Shelter
https://communitysupportedshelters.org/conestoga-hutsConestoga Hut Micro-Shelter
They are also insulated..
Your missing the point,housing is not the problem, the people who u put in them is.
Ignoring the situation will also bring about s#&t. Probably on the sidewalks..Do more of nothing and expect everything to change. Excellent solution..
You forgot to add the word ‘some’, as in ‘some’ of the people.
Thank you Patte for addressing this issue!! WONDERFUL to see alot of POSITIVE feedback! To Guest: have you ever heard of a NIMBY?!! It stands for “Not In My Backyard” – Guess What folks – the problem is in EVERYONE’S backyard! A suitable area needs to be close to ALL services – you can’t just drop the most at- risk population on some hill top in bf nowhere! And we can go over this ad infinitum – it’s going to take doing something and changing it to make it work! We have been discussing this FOR YEARS!!!!!! LET’S JUST DO IT ALREADY!!!! PEOPLE’S LIVES DEPEND ON IT!!!!
First, I like Patte’s idea, and I hope it can happen
Second, the problem is — where will this be? It’s a great idea, but whose land will it be on? Who is willing to have this camp near them? Who will pay, not only for the camp, but for the security and services.
Third, for all those arguing about whether or not people “deserve” this service, and with what qualifications, rules, and terms — please consider the fact that having unhoused people wandering around the streets of town or camping unsafely in the woods, regardless of what brought them there, is a hazard for everyone, including all us hard-working, tax-paying,morally responsible, upright exemplary citizens who have earned the right to tell everyone else how to live. Giving people a safe place to live and the basic services they need will benefit our entire community. Just forget the whole idea of who “deserves” what, and think about the problem pragmatically.
Well said.
Not deserves but benefits from. If it does not produce a change that benefits society at large, it will not be funded by that society.
If people who work and are the ones who provide the wherewithal to pay for those who don’t, maybe they ARE the ones to ask how they managed to do it. Asking those who fail at basic self support maybe is not the best source because, if they knew how to fix themselves, they would have done it. Now there’s an idea: showing public respect for the average self supporting person might offer ideas of value for those who don’t. The point should not be to make failure feel good.
I heard Bob McKee and Dazey would be willing to establish a safe camp at the community park on on their personal 80 acre parcels.
But seriously the state of California should provide every homeless person with cot in a group tent and 3 hot meals a day. In the exchange the homeless could build trails, work on farms, do clean up, or create fuel breaks around communities for 40 hours a week.
The problem is they have no place to go, historically there were “Hoovervilles.”
Maybe the edge of each town around here should have a sanctioned camp on an acre that’s far enough from businesses and residences to not disturb businesses and residences.
It isn’t fair for Eureka to be “the” camp.
Each town should have their own.
Agreed.
Planning commissions are supposed to zone/plan for every constituent, not just for the upper crust and the middle and lower working class.
“Dignity Village,” a sanctioned homeless camps, on 2 acres housing 60 homeless, has had some success.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9czjYWe2YhQ
Anon, that was great! Thanks for posting. I hope it catches on, especially for our Vets.
I like this. I hope it can be worked out.
Thousand Trails https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTOJXiIeixE does the yearly fee thing. Maybe a sliding scale fee would work for this area? Even the yearly avgs out to about $50/00 per month for a 2 week stint. If enough towns spaced them along the coast, the campers would have less panic when the time is up. They would also collect less clutter, knowing they’ll be moving out (happily, due to another available camp site down the hiway), which is another win win for all.
adding:
Lucky ones own a prius. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjjDDz8mr5E