The Human Rights Commission Calls for Immediate Action on the Shelter Crisis From the County
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Homeless man [Photo by Bobby Kroeker]
Dear Chair Bass and Supervisors:
We make these comments to urge the County of Humboldt to comply with recent state mandates regarding its shelter crisis declaration. The Shelter Crisis Declaration facilitates homeless shelters on city or county lands or leases by suspending some building codes and other regulations. Compliance with the new law is important because shelters on county owned or leased property, including potential Safe Parking projects, cannot take advantage of the relaxed building codes unless the county is compliant.
The County of Humboldt missed its deadline to develop its Shelter Crisis Plan. As a result, it also likely will not comply with its annual report to the Legislature due January 1, 2022. To achieve compliance, we also request that the Board encourage its Department of Health and Human Services and its Planning Department to work with the Housing Trust Fund and Homelessness Solutions Committee to fulfill the County’s responsibilities to mitigate our County’s shelter crisis.
On February 27, 2018, by Resolution No. 18-15, the County of Humboldt declared the existence of a shelter crisis in accordance with Government Code sections 8698, et seq. Among other things, the Board of Supervisors (1) resolved to encourage private groups and organizations within the community to provide shelter for those in need; (2) found that current activities of private groups and organizations may not be adequate to meet the need for shelter; and (3) further found that “strict compliance with otherwise
applicable state or local statutes, regulations, and ordinances would prevent, hinder, or delay the County mitigation of the effects of the shelter crisis.
On September 25, 2020, Governor Newsom approved AB 2553 (Chapter 147, Statutes of 2020) as an urgency statute. The provisions of AB 2553, which amended Government Code Section 8698.4, became effective immediately. The amendments provide that any city or county with a declared shelter crisis is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act and other specified laws, such as the Special Occupancy Parks Act, when it leases, conveys, or encumbers its own land (or facilitates such use of its land), or provides financial assistance to a homeless shelter constructed or allowed by the shelter crisis statute. See Gov’t Code § 8698.4(a).
Notably, “homeless shelter” is defined in the statute as “a facility with overnight sleeping accommodations, the primary purpose of which is to provide temporary shelter for the homeless that is not in existence after the declared shelter crisis.” Id., § 8698.4(c)(1).
This includes, but is not limited to, a “temporary homeless shelter community [that] may include supportive and self-sufficiency development services [and] shall include a parking lot owned or leased by the [county] specifically identified as one allowed for safe parking by homeless and unstably housed individuals.” Id.
The amended law requires the County to take several actions. One action involves adopting an emergency housing ordinance that applies minimum building standards to shelter projects. The County must either adopt the “emergency building codes” adopted by the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), or explain why its ordinance does not meet HCD’s minimum standards, but otherwise still protects health and safety.
Additionally, the County was required to develop a plan to address the shelter crisis by July 1, 2021. The Plan must be publicly available. Humboldt County failed to develop its required plan. Moreover, without a Plan, it will fail to make its next annual report, due by January 1, 2022, regarding the data supporting its plan and what actions it has taken to implement the plan.
As you are aware, the lack of shelter for unhoused persons continues to grow, expanding the need beyond that which existed in 2018 when the shelter crisis was declared. We urge the County to recognize that it declared a shelter crisis more than three years ago and to begin utilizing the state tools made available to mitigate the crisis.
The Housing Trust Fund and Homelessness Solutions Committee remains committed to mitigating the needs of the unhoused. To this end, we are committed to working with the County to develop, implement, and support its Plan.
Very truly yours,
S. Lynn Martinez Chair
Declaration below:
To Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and all concerned parties:
The following statement was approved by the Human Rights Commission on 9 November 2021:
A CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION FROM THE COMMUNITY
Humboldt County has been declared a shelter crisis County in the State of California. Humboldt County needs to comply with its own Resolution No. 18-15 (Feb 2018) and all requirements of AB2553 (Chapter 147) or risk the loss of funding and other consequences. Details can be found in the August 12, 2021 letter from The Housing Trust Fund and Homelessness Solutions of Humboldt County Committee Chair S. Lynn Martinez…
The members of the Humboldt County Human Rights Commission recognize the efforts of the Board of Supervisors to alleviate the aggravated conditions of homelessness over the past decade and a half. We applaud the numerous county agencies and local providers who have led the way. But after nearly fourteen years, the problems related to homelessness have gotten worse and the COVID-19 epidemic has exacerbated the issue.
Meetings with all the local entities have highlighted these seven concerns:
- A lack of a steady stream of funding
- Substantial barriers to receive federal and state funds (regulations)
- The need for education and legal services
- Partnerships with local clinics and mental health practitioners
- Land and infrastructure for affordable housing (access to restrooms and clean, hot water)
- Relaxing zoning and regulations that restrict alternative living arrangements as authorized by the state’s Declaration of Shelter Crisis
Safe access to shelter and basic amenities including Wi-Fi
The lack of housing and mental health care services is especially acute and considering the new polytechnic designation of Humboldt State University and its projected attraction of some 7-12,000 new students will become even more oppressive.
Recommendations:
The State of California and Board of Supervisors in recent years have established programs to convert old motels into housing and fund hotel stays. Local providers have coordinated efforts to safely house many. The Board of Supervisors must encumber more funds for the hotel and motel conversions that have successfully provided temporary and emergency housing for those in need and provide immediate assistance to those in need as we enter the winter months. We should develop a model that sees all homeowners as a shelter and safe parking for people.
Efforts must be redoubled to acquire regular funding, coordinate with federal, state, and local entities to keep funds allocated and not lose them to bureaucratic barriers. Enlist support from the California Center for Rural Policy to ensure Humboldt is set up to receive and facilitate all federal grants and monies awarded to the County for homelessness issues.
Initiate the largest building (and conversion) effort since the New Deal to ensure all have housing who need it. We have the local talent to do it! The state has authorized $12 billion to build 42,000 housing units over the next 24-36 months. We should immediately fight to secure our share of these funds.
Provide alternative living areas locally, specifically: legal campgrounds with adequate safety and sanitation including showers and sanitary supplies; safe parking areas, so we can avoid time consuming, costly and unnecessary citations and further displacement of homeless people; and restroom facilities. This would provide needed legal and safe County designated areas to support the human rights to housing and basic necessities for multiple homeless demographics in the County, including for students. Immediately approve the trio of a legal campground, safe parking, and restroom facilities on County property in each of the following communities: Garberville, Fortuna, Eureka, Arcata, Trinidad, and McKinleyville.
Encumber additional funds to extend and broaden a successful mobile showers program that has served many and continues to support multiple demographics in Humboldt County, as well as their implementation of a model alternative transitional living pilot project for sleeping cabins with a central facility capable of meeting the needs of the residents for food preparation, restrooms, lighting, and waste disposal.
Enlarge our mental health footprint taking the strain off local law enforcement, freeing them to increase their presence in areas of need. Sempervirens, a sixteen-bed facility, is an inadequate a facility to serve an area encompassing over 300 miles radius. Eighty or more beds in the Humboldt County Correctional Facility are devoted to mental health care for the incarcerated; we definitely need to focus on delinking the criminal justice and mental health systems. We need better and more facilities for mental health treatment and trauma recovery. A mental health philosophy built around rehabilitation versus incarceration should be encouraged wherever possible.
Increase the job training opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and affordable childcare for those able to work.
Add and coordinate safe locations to power and access Wi-Fi so people can stay in communication with loved ones, agency support, job search, health care, emergency needs etc.
Humboldt County has missed critical deadlines required in the State’s AB 2553 law and we fear losing much needed funding opportunities. Our suggestion is to appoint a well-connected and skilled Housing Facilitator empowered to coordinate all relevant activities to get us in compliance and prepare Humboldt County to receive the housing funds provided by the state. And empower this position to access data from all relevant state and federal agencies (Including the California State Homeless Coordinating and Financial Council and California Center for Rural Policy), and coordinate the work needed from various county silos and program coordinators that serve these people. Also expand the scope and amend the governing documents of the Humboldt Housing and Homeless Coalition to include the local tribes, all clinics for mental health services and make it accessible for public participation. Provide the adequate funding and staff to ensure successful impact in city and rural areas in both Northern and Southern Humboldt. We also recommend performance requirements and transparency to ensure we get this job done for our community.
We suggest a third-party agency expand the search for more funding opportunities and manage the funding, so we have more helping hands to support this effort.
We expect the Board of Supervisors to respond to the seven concerns listed above and specify which actions they will take by 12/15/21. We sincerely believe it is in the best interests of our community that we accomplish this without further delay.
Sincerely,
Mary Ann Lyons
Chair, Humboldt County Human Rights Commission
CC:
Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives
Arcata House
Assemblyman Wood
Chief Ahearn, Arcata Police Department
Betty Chinn
College of the Redwoods
Cooperation Humboldt
Chief Watson, Eureka Police Department
HACHR
Humboldt Area Foundation
Humboldt County Housing Authority
Humboldt County Planning Department
Sheriff Honsal, Humboldt County Sheriff
Humboldt and Del Norte Central Labor Council
Humboldt State University
Jefferson Community Center
Local Church Organizations
Local News Outlets
Lost Coast Outpost
Mad River Hospital
Representative Jared Huffman
Senator McGuire
St. Joseph’s Hospital
Times-Standard
The Tribes of Humboldt County
United Indian Health Services
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Don’t do drugs. Don’t burn bridges.
Homelessness isn’t a huge problem in every state. Tired of people pretending ol Dave lost his job at the plant and that’s why he’s homeless . It’s a lifestyle 90 percent of the time.
Its not a “lifestyle”. That’s a stupid thing to say. The fact that jobs don’t pay living wages and there are no effective mental health services provided to the public have everything to do with this problem.
It is a lifestyle for most drug addicts and drunks… Don’t enable them because there are plenty of jobs…
Sounds like you own your own property
I am a true believer that homelessness is a CHOICE. However, there are exceptions. For those people:
I have a few suggestions for this program:
1)Make them sign a liability waiver- if someone gets injured in a facility that has bent the building code rules to provide housing, they cannot sue
2) mandatory drug tests daily
3) must turn in 5 job applications per week
4) mandatory clean up of the facilities by the residents twice daily (like they do in jail)
5) curfews 10pm daily
6) must maintain good hygiene
I’m tired of spoiling the homeless. If you want FREE food, shelter, and a hot shower, you must play by the rules. (I’m sure I forgot a few things, but this is a good start.
“Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime “
Ignorance and political agenda talking points.
2018-2020 there was a rough 200,000 Californians displaced by fires.
There is no fixing homelessness.
Even before Reagan tore up the mental health system we had homelessness.
There will always be homelessness.
Here is how one city in Marin is tackling it;
https://www.marinij.com/2021/10/19/novato-to-create-authorized-camp-for-homeless-at-park/amp/
The optimism that massive amounts of care can be supplied to people who have both the right and the desire to say “go to hell” is unrealistic. Some people do cycle through being without a home but, if they have the desire, they fix their problems for themselves with very little help.
For the chronic habitual homeless, it is what they choose. Not so much what they pick as a result but as a result of what they pick to do. Whether they are homeless because of mental illness, drug addiction or that most rare of reasons- chance- they are not going to going to do what other people think is good for them. They are going to do what they want. And what they want has a very short horizon. It doesn’t involve self sacrifice in order to achieve a goal. The drug addict does not refuse drugs, the mentally ill do not want to adapt or cooperate. Chemical interventions do exist but are unpleasant and interfere with wants. If they can’t be forced by physical putting them under control, and they can’t legally in the US, then all that can be done is offering free stuff without any strings in ways that minimize the damage they do.
Good luck with that. Once a government offers that as a solution, the government then has accepted the obligation to ensure safety and services no matter what destruction is created by the very nature of the residents. Who are noted for unsafe behavior such as accumulating masses of trash, setting fires, damaging facilities, stealing, assaulting each other, etc. Pretty ugly because pretty ugly is the nature of the thing you seem to expect government to fix. No body wants to live peaceably with so many disruptive people. Not even themselves.
By that thinking then “teach a man to grow hemp and he can make his own socks.” No sense just donating socks. And salmon, steelhead runs are way down., so just catching fish is iffy. And most ocean fish have high levels of Mercury in them. What are you trying to do poison him? Now if you taught him to farm he might have a chance
You can’t teach someone to farm unless they want it. It’s hard work.
That makes too much sense for the pandering left to deal with…
Yes, if the fish don’t die out, and the water is not polluted.
Adapt and overcome, feel the gratitude of opposable thumbs.
most are mentally ill and have been given legal meth their entire childhood before their family releases them onto the street after years of trying to make it work. once on the street illegal meth is their drug. same drug but different. there are exceptions, like the drug camp along the Mad River. The homeless in SF and LA have been documented to hail from every State in the US and mostly not from CA. Red States really do bus them in, just like the conservatives of Eureka wanted to do. their plan now is to move their facilities to McKinleyville. It will be interesting to see if it works. most of Mck is on SSI anyway.
Not true. While many did have pre existing mental health problems a large portion are self induced due to drug use. Another large portion just refuse to work and live off the system. That is the case with a relative of mine to this day. No all the good intentioned people are making the problem worse. It is a complex problem but enabling bad behavior is NOT the answer.
You nailed it…
I know someone who has been unable to work their entire adult life. I used to think they were lazy and didn’t want to. After having my own child with special needs, I now understand this person has an intellectual disability and doesn’t have the capacity to work. Now that this person has had their special needs go underserved through a lack of services, they have all types of problems exasperated by the intellectual disability: anxiety, ptsd, stress, depression. Providing services to someone with special needs is not “enabling bad behavior” if you know this person has special needs, however if you don’t understand this person, they certainly may come across as “ milking the system” or “lazy”. We need to understand each other better and not attack those who may be disabled but not show it in a way we find acceptable to accept thei disibility. I think many homeless people may be in a similar situation: I work so they should also doesn’t fit the criteria for someone having an intellectual disability, who has a very hard time working, holding down a job, and daily functions are much harder. But Bc we can do it in stride we expect that to be the status quo when it never will be. Try to find compassion and empathy for those who may be suffering a silent battle. Thanks
Few people “do it in stride.” Work for most is hard. Showing up, paying bills, providing for dependents, following laws and regulations, planning for the future, etc take up huge amounts of wherewithal and effort for 90% of the population. Only if there are very few who don’t do those things can the ones who do spare enough attention to take care of the problems.
Did one ever conceive that many problems, such as that in discussion, are not approached as problems to be resolved. What was an oppression of the working class lead to Karl Marx messianically writing that wealth should be distributed. From distribution to usurping the wealth via a revolution in Russia. Money destined for community development, drug rehab, mental illness ect funnels millions into poor areas such as Humboldt. The money, in theory, supports the economy, an economy of ? Nothing! The welfare economic concept is a community life support. Northern California stopped when logging or salmon fishing did. It’s not cannabis. Now huge sums are to be spent in failing programs or the anticipation of greater mental illness ( Covid-19 is cited) to train HSU students to cope with it ( a reason to spend more without results ). Ask oneself how much does it cost to house? One person per 500K. Most fail, but the wealth is redistributed. The social worker (< 60k per annum) is supported by their system. People who will succeed are not housed. The statistics speak for themselves.
One homeless person commented to me that it was "a huge money laundering scheme." The voters set this up and party affiliation is trumped by money. Communities in economic strife get grant money. Northern California is not booming. The West Virginia of the West?
People get paid “to solve social problems ” and the many ? This is no distribution of labour. The many should have a skill. The masses, I’d gather. One pays PG&E for electricity. No further thought. We pay government officials who spend insanely and with zero transparency. The original comment is only an assumption based on personal experience. I can assure that not everyone is struggling. The farmer allegory does jibe in 2022.
From the gist of the replies, I conclude that fear drives the responses. Ignorance of basic concepts ( neurobiology ) eludes podunk Humboldt residents who show nothing but disgust for those who are not like themselves. You are better? Your respective amydalas by the same token have no empathy. In the same way by intial dopaminergic mechanisms in the prefrontal cortex drug users use drugs lol. The commonality is a matter of science fact. How could anyone expect understanding vs disgust if the conditioning received might result in prejudice. It’s reinforcing as with drug seeking. In essence both parties , drug abusing homeless have defective amydalas, but with a little assistance from the prefrontal cortex can unlearn these behaviors. I can’t expect that from uneducated, and reluctant hicks. The fish refrain is actually derived from what is the ultimate form of charity in Judaism. To give one a business . Not a job. To the hypocrite: when we injure a hand the other grabs it. Why can’t we be this way with other humans? -Nietzsche or John 13:34 for the Bible thumpers. Instead we attack any outsiders and seek them out. Heck, we are primates. Love is a human concept. I see no humanity here. Take the amydala into the shop. You gents might need to Google that if you went to school in Humboldt
That’s a ridiculous misconception…Red states do not bus vagrants.
That’s not true about McKinleyville being on ssi sir. Name your source who can prove this. Sheesh. You better pray to God you never become homeless ever.
Spot on. Liberals are enabling drug addicts and drunks…
Suspending building codes is a horrible idea.
… but let me know when you start doing that so I can finish my attic and build that airbnb yurt out back.
Reports of cartels charging rent and supplying drugs in the camps……kfbk sacto.
There is no party with the political will to actually fix this problem. It would require limiting people to owning only 1 single family residence, and requiring that owners be permanent residents of the county their home is in. No more rental homes for profit, no more airbnb.
It would also require publicly funded long-term, in-patent mental health services (drug addiction is a mental health issue).
Also jobs must pay living wages.
And where shall our imported servant underclass live? Each in their 1 single-family residence?
OK. Let’s talk details. Just how are you going to enforce any of these things? Just look at just one aspect of “living wages” for example. If you want to have a level of wages that covers acceptable levels of housing and other necessities, then there can’t be thousands of peoples offering to work for less than that. Because, even if an employer wants to follow whatever magic laws you think will work, they can’t do that if others are paying cheaper wages to undercut his product costs. The person who successfully defeats these laws succeeds while the person who doesn’t goes out of business. So how do you enforce that? Cut off those who are willing to work for less and let them be unemployed? Or, by increasing the wages paid, make basically luxury service businesses like restaurants, landscaping, cleaning, recreation, teaching, etc unaffordable for most people and make service industries disappear? What do you think those people in service jobs are going to do instead?
People who say “make a law” to fulfill their vision then won’t tolerate the ugly things the law has to do to enforce them are dooming everyone. The vision of miles and miles of government housing occupied by millions of government regulated employees without the power of individual initiatives seems so Soviet- Grey continuously collapsing housing high rises filled with grey people with no enthusiasm. And that would be the upside.
Limited scope. The assumption is all working are equal. The most products wins over the cheapest because the most productive does more work. Where have you guys worked? Does your area employ the “best” or …. competion is left out of the reply. I want the pumber that is busy because of the quality work. HSU should have basic economics or what was high school home economics. Fact: tax money is spent not with the goal of solving problems.
House them at HSU.. WHY DOES THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ALONG WITH THE TRIBE’S HAVE TO FOOT THE BILL. THEY ARE GIVING THEM A FREE TICKET TO COME UP HEAR FROM THE BAY AREA.. SHIP THEM UP TO PORTLAND.. HUMBOLDT STATE THINK TANK HAS ALL THE ANSWERS WHEN ITS SOMEONE’S ELES MONEY THEY CAN SPEND.. EUREKA ALONG WITH ARCATA ARE ARM PITS . GLAD I LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS ⛰. DON’T HAVE TO WALK AROUND SHIT…LMFAO
The local government doesn’t pay. The federal gov gives $ to state which gives it to county which then gives it to a non profit that shouldn’t be allowed to have any $. Drugs and homelessness is big money. The homeless do not see the $…ok, maybe they get a sandwich. What is important is a lack of oversight. Drug education and testing do not improve outcomes. They are billable services.
You could start by cutting that poor slob in the picture a check for using his mug every time.
You could send me a large donation, too. I’ll be glad to earmark a portion of it to track down everyone who appears in photos taken in public places and offer them money.
Ah! The problems of capitalism in a Progressive heart.
Does that mean you think that reporters should pay every person they photograph?…Boy, that would mess with crowd scenes ever appearing again…
In a world where education is offered free but a number of students can not be bothered to use it, how can anyone think just offering free stuff fixes anything? All carrot and no stick doesn’t work any better than all stick and no carrot.
Free education K-12. Worthless without trade school and subsequent apprenticeship. Your college students receive the equivalent of a high school education in Europe. As stated, working is hard. Thinking can be work. No tools to implement during cognitive processes and one works a low wage job. I love to see all like minds gathered together. It is as it should be. Textbook