‘Where do you want me to go?’ Tents, Trash, and Trauma in Eureka

Crystal and Lori Ann, during an interview in November, reflecting on the difficulties of homelessness, with Lori saying she would not wish it on her worst enemy.

Crystal Stewart and her friend, Lori Ann, during an interview in November, reflected on the difficulties of being homeless. Lori Ann said she would not wish it on her worst enemy. [All photos by Ryan Hutson]

In late September of 2022, a coalition of law enforcement, community groups, and agencies partially cleared Eureka’s 6th Street homeless encampment – the Jungle – located in a greenbelt behind the Humboldt County Office of Education. In the months following the homeless encampment sweep at the north end of the city, there have been ongoing efforts to address the buildup of garbage and debris left over in the sensitive wetland areas, mostly located on privately owned properties.

But the efforts to clean up are met with the relentless needs of the unsheltered. Eureka’s main overnight shelter, the Rescue Mission, has space for about 150 individuals, serving men, women and children, but there are still not enough to go around. In contrast, Eureka’s unhoused population is estimated to be well over 500 individuals on any given night, while 80% are considered chronically homeless based on Humboldt County’s most recent data. 

Rico Suave, Crystal’s playful pitbull pup, was dressed in his best suit as he excitedly waited for kisses and dinner one evening, at their marshy coastal zone encampment. [Screenshot from video by Ryan Hutson]

Rico Suave, Crystal’s playful pit bull, was dressed in his best suit as he excitedly waited for kisses and dinner one recent evening, at their marshy coastal zone encampment. [Screenshot from video by Ryan Hutson]

Crystal Stewart, a previous resident of the Jungle–a patchwork of greenbelt and undeveloped parcels under the stewardship of a handful of different private owners and companies, along with her dog Rico, was ousted that day in September. Since then she and other former residents have been surviving as best they can in another location, while the Jungle continues to have problems with garbage and homelessness.

While traversing pathways through various greenbelt areas around the northern edge of Eureka, where slough waters meet Humboldt Bay often during normal high tide events, it becomes apparent that unhoused people and their circumstances are largely “out of sight, out of mind” for many county residents who pass by these areas regularly, mostly unaware of the depths of despair or the difficulty faced by those people living unsheltered in the greater Eureka area. 

The Humboldt County Board of Education was contacted by the City of Eureka “in early August 2022 regarding the trash and human activity in the area,” explained County Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes, in response to an initial email inquiry. “We started working with the City immediately to take necessary steps to address the issue.” These efforts are paid for at least in part out of funds for County Board of Education “facility/grounds upkeep which are public school funds,” wrote Davies-Hughes. 

A funky mattress cover drapes over one side of a sign marking State Property and defaced by graffiti, along West Avenue in Eureka, within walking distance into the property of makeshift shelters and tents. [All photos by Ryan Hutson.]

A funky mattress cover drapes over one side of a sign marking State Property and defaced by graffiti, along West Avenue in Eureka, within walking distance into the property of makeshift shelters and tents. [All photos by Ryan Hutson.]

After the September sweep, clearing the property of the unsheltered folks who called “the Jungle” a temporary home, clean-up crews were met with a formidable challenge in trying to return the area, including wetlands, to a healthier disposition. 

A review of parcel maps of the area show multiple entities own parts of that section of Eureka. The wetlands, as well as where the greenbelt areas are divided into separate lots owned by various private owners. According to Davies-Hughes, “This makes it difficult to secure.” He explained that there are “several other property owners, especially along 6th street.”

Trash, including hypodermic needles and human waste, is currently strewn over the better part of a privately owned parcel that is not only a place that homeless go for shelter, but is also connected to Humboldt Bay, and regularly sees water rise with the high tide, as seen *below.

Trash, including hypodermic needles and human waste, is currently strewn over the better part of a privately owned parcel that is not only a place that homeless go for shelter, but is also connected to Humboldt Bay, and regularly sees water rise with the high tide.

City manager Miles Slattery agreed, “In the privately owned (non- city owned) greenbelt area (southwest corner of 6th and V Streets extending to Myrtle) where the trash removal occurred in September, there are five separate parcels. Those parcels are owned by four separate property owners.  Each of the property owners were noticed about the need to abate the accumulated rubbish and debris.” 

Back in September, ownership and management of the property being cleared was attributed to the Humboldt County Office of Education. The Jungle was, according to law enforcement officers on the scene, as well as then candidate, now Mayor of Eureka, Kim Bergel, private property owned by the County Office of Education. This is true, but it’s not the whole truth. HCOE does own a large portion of “The Jungle”, but there are other property owners.

The community clean-up day in September was initiated as a result of Code Enforcement being notified of the growing mess. According to Slattery, “[T]he property owners, together, coordinated the clean-up efforts.” Slattery added that abatement processes are handled by Code enforcement, and is not due to “unauthorized camping” but rather due to the Eureka Municipal Code section 94.16-17, which states “private property owners are responsible for maintaining their property and preventing the accumulation of rubbish.” 

Slattery explained that private property owners are responsible for stewardship of their parcels, within or outside of sensitive wetland areas, but noted that state agencies such as the Department of Fish and Wildlife have historically been hands off with homeless encroachment into these wetlands. “They have a long history of not addressing wetland impacts due to encampments, whether on public or private property,” he said.

A parcel map focused on the Jungle greenbelt area shows a number of parcels making up the marshy, overgrown area behind the Humboldt County Office of Education property, between West Avenue and Myrtle Avenue in Eureka. 

A parcel map focused on the Jungle greenbelt area shows a number of parcels making up the marshy, overgrown area behind the Humboldt County Office of Education property, between West Avenue and Myrtle Avenue in Eureka.

According to Slattery, abatement notices were sent repeatedly to private property owners in the area for months in advance of the property sweep and clean-up. “From the City’s standpoint, property owners are responsible for maintaining their property free of rubbish,” said Slattery, adding that some of the agencies which would oversee wetlands would be the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Coastal Commission, and the Water Quality Control Board.

In regard to the September Jungle sweep and trash removal efforts, Eureka’s City Manager explained, “The City does not contract for trash removal on City owned property. Staff is responsible for trash removal, as well as many volunteer efforts coordinated by staff.” Slattery also clarified, “It is the property owners responsibility to remove trash on private property, and some do contract for those services.”   

These private property owners are a mix of absentee owners (not residing in Humboldt County), companies and Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs), as well as local individuals and non-profits. Some of these include the City of Eureka, the State of California which owns areas adjacent to the Highway 101, the County of Humboldt, the Board of Education, the Humboldt County Office of Education, the Open Door Clinic, Eureka Community Health Centers, the Salvation Army, and a ALLPOINTS OUTDOOR INC which holds title to several acres of wetland and greenbelt areas in the Coastal Zone and near the HCOE site on Myrtle Avenue, where passersby may see large billboards. 

Another parcel map screenshot shows a wider view of the properties that are being used for shelter by homeless community members out of sight out of mind, near Myrtle Avenue and 6th in Eureka. 

Another parcel map screenshot shows a wider view of the properties that are being used for shelter by homeless community members out of sight out of mind, near Myrtle Avenue and 6th in Eureka.

HCOE Superintendent Davies-Hughes says that “for several years” the greenbelt area has been a draw for homeless individuals looking for some kind of shelter. This was echoed by temporary residents of the marshy greenbelt. Many said that the homeless community had been staying there off and on since the 1990’s or so, but that popularity of the space had grown since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. 

TROUBLE WITH TRASH:

Months after the cleanup last fall, the mess left behind by some destitute and unsheltered homeless community members is still visible in the area, tucked just off the roadside shoulder, in the bushes, in the wetlands, and in the areas frequently inundated by tidal surges. Having been concentrated away from the sidewalks that border the greenbelt, raked together or stashed in trash bags mostly hidden from public view, the piles of refuse left for a future pick-up are often strewn about by rodents, raccoons, and other wildlife in the area. This, combined with the nature of the marsh and the elements, makes a comprehensive clean-up extraordinarily difficult, and makes it nearly impossible to keep the waste out of the waterways winding through the greenbelt area and marshland adjacent to Humboldt Bay – despite several waves of clean-up crews having poured over the area since September. 

Despite the ongoing and unresolved cleanup of the property, Superintendent of Schools, Michael Davies-Hughes indicated that “team work with our community and agency partners” was effective in addressing the property damage and environmental concerns. “Now we are planning the post clean-up plan to have the gulch kept clean as well as replacing/ repairing the fence lines as needed,” explained Davies-Hughes in an email exchange regarding the September sweep. 

Some areas - like this location between 5th Street near the FedEx location and 6th Street at the north end of Eureka, where high tides creep in twice daily and often flood the low lying area of the property - are plagued with trash being left in the mud months after a clean-up effort was initiated.  

Some areas – like this location between 5th Street near the FedEx location and 6th Street at the north end of Eureka, where high tides creep in twice daily and often flood the low lying area of the property – are plagued with trash being left in the mud months after a clean-up effort was initiated. [Photo taken January 7, 2023]

Among those agencies credited with assisting the property owners are the County of Humboldt’s Code Enforcement Dept., the City of Eureka, Recology Humboldt County, Pacific Outfitters’ trash-picking diehards with the PacOut Green Team, and John Shelter with New Directions.

Looking back on the situation, Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel who helped removed trash in September said, “We did a lot – we moved a lot of trash out of there. That’s the tricky part…When that kind of rubbish is in our waterways, it’s very complex.”  

According to Eureka Police Sergeant Leonard LaFrance, who assisted with the sweep in September, four 40 yard dumpsters were parked on the block for a couple weeks before the encampment eviction, but were removed shortly afterward. This left no immediate place to contain the remaining trash, bagged or loose. Homeless campers in the immediate area have lamented the lack of receptacles to help contain the accruing garbage since the dumpsters were removed.

When asked if and when any dumpsters were made available for unsheltered people to use to remove the increasing amount of trash in the area being overseen by HCOE, Superintendent Davies-Hughes replied that “[R]ecology worked to provide the necessary dumpsters at the appropriate time.” In regard to the ongoing problem with trash and loose waste on their property, he replied, “The City had recommended outside services for upkeeping the brush clearing and trash pick-up. We are using New Directions for the trash & signing a contract with a yard service to keep the gulch free of debris.” 

When asked that day in September about providing additional elements of support and environmental protection in the area, Kim Bergel, who is now Mayor, explained that it is up to the various property owners to make that call, and, as of yet, none have opted to place dumpsters or trash bins of any kind on any of the undeveloped parcels.

The situation has not changed.

An area in a greenbelt area close to Myrtle Avenue is host to several makeshift campsites, and multiple trash bags filled by the residents of this camp are seen at the edge of the temporary encampment, where an estimated 15-20 of people live, off the beaten path.

An area in a greenbelt area close to Myrtle Avenue is host again to several makeshift campsites, and multiple trash bags filled by the residents of this camp are seen at the edge of the temporary encampment, where an estimated 15-20 of people live, off the beaten path.

In addition, City Manager Miles Slattery confirmed that to his knowledge, none of the private property owners in the area are considering requesting a permit to have an authorized camping area, stating, “If a private property owner would like to create an authorized camping area, we have processes in place to assist and services the City would be willing to provide. I don’t believe the property owners in this area have intentions of making these properties an authorized camping area.” 

Taking a look first hand, there is no obvious infrastructure, temporary or otherwise, available to provide support to the unhoused trying to live there. A pair sidewalk garbage and recycling cans outside of the Salvation Army location on Myrtle Avenue, positioned at the entryway to the Waterfront Trail footpath are the closest receptacles found, and they are frequently full.  

CRYSTAL & HER COMMUNITY: TRAUMA IN EUREKA

Crystal Stewart and her campmate, along with others who have found some reprieve in the marsh or in the greenbelt areas are camping (if one could call it that) in the least hospitable conditions. For similar areas within city limits, Eureka’s Municipal code section 93.2, which is titled, “Camping Permitted Only In Specifically Designated Areas” regulates camping within the City boundaries. 

Crystal Stewart with her friend and neighbor, Lori Ann, sit on a bench and discuss their individual struggles before getting on with survival for the day. 

Crystal Stewart with her friend and neighbor, Lori Ann, sit on a bench and discuss their individual struggles before getting on with survival for the day.

Crystal Stewart, who grew up locally and has been coping with the ups and downs of housing insecurity since she was a teenager, confirmed that the area has been a part of the homeless community for decades. “This is right behind the Eureka Community Health Center,” she said as we made our way carefully up a muddy embankment leading up to Tydd Street. “I used to live here 10, 15 years ago, too,” Crystal noted, as she led the way back to the Dollar Store on Myrtle Avenue. As she walked through the nearby encampment area that she had relocated to with her dog, Rico (a spot in a designated environmentally sensitive Coastal Zone), Crystal explained that the area is shared with local wildlife, including the deer population which is visible at times.  

On a sunny but brisk day in November, Crystal Stewart and her campmate Cookie, with the stout, brindle pit bull dog, walked from the dollar store, behind the Myrtle Avenue traffic towards their camping place located deep in a marsh. Previously ousted from their camping location in the Jungle as the City of Eureka made efforts to remove debris and waste from the marshy greenbelt area (between 6th street and West, near Myrtle Avenue in Eureka as highway 101 extends north), Crystal described her struggles since their eviction from “the Jungle” where upwards of 60 people were said to camp each night. 

As Crystal offered a tour into the space they relocated to behind the Open Door Clinic in Eureka, she explained that the nearby Salvation Army was where she had been seeking support. She explained how in order to qualify for housing, she was told she needed to demonstrate that she was truly looking, that she was serious. Salvation Army, on the corner of West and Tydd Streets, offers showers and fresh clothing, as well as a meal for those in need. Crystal has been volunteering at the site to provide an extra pair of hands, as well as to make herself available for opportunities for housing or other resources. So, for the last several weeks she has been spending time volunteering there, serving food and assisting others in need, in hopes of catching a break.

Saying that she had been on a waiting list for weeks hoping to be placed into supportive housing, she and Cookie, along with about 20 unsheltered neighbors were making do in the slough, tucked away, out of sight from the main roads. Crystal considered taking a two week voucher for a hotel room, but when informed that it was supposed to be sunny for the next two weeks or so, at that time, she decided to hold off until the rain came back, when she will really need it, she said. 

TOUR with CRYSTAL – Late November

Crystal is one of many overlooked, “out-of-sight-out-of-mind” community members that occupy the unseen spaces of the county’s largest city, as a fraction of the greater Humboldt County homeless population. The most recent PIT count found that in the City of Eureka, within its boundaries, there were 498 individuals who identified as homeless, and that roughly 80% of them were considered chronically unsheltered, according to local data. While there are efforts to meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness, either chronically or temporarily, there is an obvious gap in linking the services to the people who need them. 

Crystal admitted that there are days that go by smoothly, but don’t amount to much more than basic continued survival, in contrast to days that bring serious challenges for simple daily tasks such as handling personal hygiene or feeding oneself. “Gas station food gets expensive,” she said, as she sorted items from the dollar store, including a few packages of Muddie Buddies for snacks. A nearby gas station allows them to access a water spout on the outside of the building to fill a water jug, which is used for everything from drinking to washing. 

A tent within a tent stacked on pallets provides the only shelter that many rely on to stay dry and warm, even in a marsh. 

A tent within a tent that is stacked on pallets to keep the bottom out of the water provides the only shelter that many, including Crystal, rely on to stay dry and warm, even in a marsh.

Lori Ann, sitting on the bench with Crystal as they talked about life unhoused, mused for a moment about what it feels like to be looked down on in spite of circumstance and hardship. A neighbor in a marshy area, she explained that before COVID-19 hit, she was employed, and had a place to live, but loss of income coupled with mounting health problems put her in dire straits. The local woman who indicated she had family in Hoopa said, “Most of the time they snub their nose up at us, like we’re not even human… .” Sounding discouraged, Lori added, “We beat ourselves up enough that we’re in the predicament we’re in.”  

Lori reflected, “We’re not animals. I don’t know why we get treated this way – why they have to be so uncaring.  So rude, I just don’t understand it.” 

Crystal pointed out that not having access to a kitchen, or even any cooking supplies, makes having a warm meal impossible, short of charity.  

And, sometimes living this way can be dangerous, Crystal said. But, she explained, there are friends and family nearby, so they don’t really feel unsafe. The “monotony” as Crystal said, was a single word that summarized her frustrations, as she and Lori talked about their various struggles of late. Lori said, “We do pretty good, I guess, for the most part.”

 Crystal & Lori interview 

HEALTH ISSUES AND HOMELESSNESS: HAND IN HAND

Things like income loss, a death or serious illness in the family, inaccessible healthcare resources, substance abuse, mental illness, and mobility challenges are common hurdles that are often associated with the struggles compounding the complications of daily life.  These are some of the factors identified as contributing to the growing number of unsheltered, homeless, or housing insecure community members struggling to regain a footing, or simply survive in the area.  

The Community Health Assessment (CHA) report identified four “priority” areas of concern which needed attention in order to address the bigger picture of overall community health, and ideally, improve quality of life for people living in Humboldt County. Those areas of general concern were identified as mental health and substance use services, homelessness and “lack of safe, affordable housing,” as well as access to health care, and racism. Each social issue being identified in the report as integral pieces of the social puzzle. 

The most obviously homeless-related problem identified in the community study produced by Providence was a lack of “affordable, safe housing stock in Humboldt County” which the report explains “contributes to individuals with low incomes living unhoused or in overcrowded and unhealthy living conditions.” The CHA report expands on this roof-to-person ratio, writing, “In Humboldt County, there is a lack of available housing along the entire spectrum, particularly permanent-supportive housing.” Putting the problem in perspective for local government and county leaders beyond the hospital administrators, the report makes clear that housing is not a fix in and of itself, saying, “Housing discrimination, a lack of services for people experiencing homelessness, and a lack of support services for people once they are housed also contribute to the housing challenges.” 

Addressing a specific ailment that burdens nearly 50% of the chronically unhoused population, according to the Point In Time Count (generally called a PIT count), the study addresses not only a lack of housing in the community as a major problem, but names one of the biggest complicating factors – mental health and addiction. The report explains that the first priority, mental health and substance use issues are “interconnected” with many community needs, and explains that “Residents of Humboldt County experience barriers to accessing needed behavioral health services due to a lack of inpatient care, insufficient psychiatrists and counselors, cost of care, stigma, and transportation.”  

A graphic provided by the summary of 2022 Point In Time Count information reflects nearly half of surveyed people reported a substance abuse or mental health disorder. It is important to know that the PIT count is strictly voluntary, and is therefore recognized as an undercount, but a good source of data nonetheless. 

A graphic provided by the summary of 2022 Point In Time Count information reflects nearly half of surveyed people reported a substance abuse or mental health disorder. It is important to know that the PIT count is strictly voluntary, and is therefore recognized as an undercount, but a good source of data nonetheless.

While there is a lack of services on the street level, where most chronically homeless people find themselves, some services are meeting folks where they are. Outreach groups such as Affordable Humboldt Housing Alternatives (AHHA) do provide some material assistance to those in the area, showing up to deliver clean sleeping bags, sometimes tents, and food, for example. Similarly, a recently formed group called HHEAL, for Humboldt Homeless Expertise And Leadership has begun weighing in locally on policy matters, and aims to give the these community members who may otherwise not have had a seat at the table, a voice when it comes to housing and homeless-related policy in Eureka, and in Humboldt County.  

A representative from HHEAL offered some insight from the perspective of outreach workers who also have either “former or current lived experience” with homelessness. Tiffany Laffoon, who works in outreach as well as with county DHHS partners involved in addressing homeless-related issues in the county said that while the PIT count is a good indicator of the population, it is not the full picture.

Laffoon explained generally how the headcount works. “The PIT count is taken during 1 single day every 2 years by counting the number of homeless people visible from roads or open public spaces. Many of our unhoused folks stay out of sight, off the beaten path much of the time. Furthermore, it is done in January when it is often cold and rainy and folks are even more likely to retreat out of sight.” She added, “People living in their cars are also missing from the PIT count, but they are lining practically every street in Eureka.”   

A graphic from the 2022 PIT Count summary shows that only 80% of the homeless population in Humboldt County are chronically unsheltered, according to the HUD definition. 

A graphic from the 2022 PIT Count summary shows that only 80% of the homeless population in Humboldt County are chronically unsheltered, according to the HUD definition.

“Based on estimates from a number of direct service providers, the actual homeless population numbers are thought to be about twice as many as the most recent PIT count – over 3,000 people,” wrote Laffoon. She added, “And in direct service, we are seeing the numbers of folks seeking services grow every day. With all the millions of dollars being funneled into Humboldt County, the housing crisis is getting worse, not better. The actions we have been taking to address are clearly not solutions.” 

Local nonprofits specifically tasked with assessing the needs and circumstances of the unhoused – such as going into the spaces occupied by homeless camps to offer services or deliver shelter supplies or food –are often addressing the problem from different angles.  While they are attempting to find solutions to address the behemoth issue, frequently relying on volunteers and grant funding, these programs are achieving limited long term success in getting people off the streets and into stable living situations, judging by the numbers. 

When asked for comment on these efforts, Laffoon stated, “[T]hese attempts to address homelessness are tried and true failures.” 

In most areas of Eureka where the unhoused find what shelter they can, there are no dedicated waste bins or dumpsters, no temporary toilets set up, no handwashing stations or foot-pump water fountains available like one might find set up in a city-sanctioned triage encampment like was attempted in Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, or in Sacramento – where some emergency shelter encampments have been controlled by the city, and provided support in the form of non-profit assistance and wrap-around services for those needing mental health or substance use while coping with homelessness. These triage-style, temporary city-sanctioned encampments have had limited success as they have been operating, with different cities attempting variations on the theme and ultimately closing many of them citing public safety and health hazards in many cases.

John Shelter, with the New Directions crew, in December, making progress clearing debris and trash still remaining from the September sweep.

John Shelter, with the New Directions crew, in December, making progress clearing debris and trash still remaining from the September sweep.

Often, explained the owner of New Directions, John Shelter, when people are made to ‘move on’ from their place of shelter, they simply end up in a nearby property that is similarly dispossessed or unoccupied, and relatively available for ‘camping’. This pattern of homeless encampment upheaval and unauthorized relocation, coupled with the City’s struggle with proactive problem-solving has become a deja vu of displacement and dissolution in Humboldt County, recalling the Palco Marsh encampment and the infamous Devil’s Playground – both examples of sprawling, unsupervised homeless encampments that caused the City of Eureka to re-examine related policies, and options for dealing with chronic homelessness in their wake. 

THE CODE

Many people finding themselves unable to get into a shelter, and with nowhere else to go within city limits could fit the description of “involuntary camping,” according to the Eureka Municipal Code. Homeless people who are in this circumstance, similarly to Crystal, are left with no alternative location in absence of a shelter bed, for any number of reasons but most commonly because there is no space available at the Rescue Mission or otherwise. “Involuntary camping” is a possible exception to otherwise illegal camping in Eureka. “Involuntary Camping” as written in the Eureka Municipal Code (EMC 93.02) is legal when it is, well, legal, stating dubiously, “Involuntary camping on public property is lawful when and where it is not otherwise unlawful….’” 

The code section on camping within the city limits is clear on discouraging the development of unsanctioned campsites.  Without ever naming the homeless as the intended community segment for which the code section is written to address, it reads in part, “There is no specific site or sites that should be designated for camping because it is the experience of the city and other municipalities that sites where camping is continuous or camping populations are numerous become public health, environmental degradation, and policing problems.” The Eureka Municipal Code offers further justification for the limiting sanctioned camping areas, reading, “Camping activities may constitute a public health and safety hazard when conducted without the proper security and sanitary facilities and precautions. The necessity to clean up, repair or remediate public property that has been used for unlawful camping may result in substantial costs to the public.” 

SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS

Since September, various county government agencies and non-profit groups have been tasked with clearing the area of homeless people and their possessions in the weeks and months following the September 2022 sweep of Eureka’s greenbelt wetland on north 6th Street, along Highway 101. In addition to having law enforcement respond to calls for service at times, the Humboldt County Office of Education has also contracted with The Local Mow Man for yard care services to reduce the amount of vegetation and overgrowth within their property boundaries. In addition, HCOE has contracted with John Shelter and New Directions for ongoing clean-up of encampment debris and assisting in moving the unsheltered folks along. 

New Directions at work in December, inside the Jungle, removing trash left behind from the September sweep. 

New Directions at work in December, inside the Jungle, removing trash left behind from the September sweep.

Upon clearing the lot last fall, law enforcement had purposely torn down chain link fencing around the focus area of the initial sweep, in order to get their utility vehicles in and out of the property while clearing shelter materials, trash, and large items like dilapidated furniture and molded mattresses. About one month passed before that section of fence was replaced. At the time of publishing, several wire-cut holes in the fencing allow for passage of people and animals, in and out of the Jungle. 

Another attempt at finally clearing the property of trash and debris teamed John Shelter and New Directions with the Local Mow Man in December to address the remaining waste behind the Humboldt County Office of Education property. The team of contracted yard care workers was enlisted by HCOE to give the underbrush an overhaul, making the ground more accessible for New Directions staff to get down to the mud and scrape up the mess, in order to remove it bag by bag. 

Not long after the September sweep, John Shelter, standing near his truck and trailer used for clearing debris from encampment areas explained that when he arrived at the area that Saturday, he was caught off guard by the magnitude of the mess, and the fact that there were still individuals occupying shelters inside the overgrown property.  

Shelter said, “We were really working with these individuals back there for two weeks,” adding that “because Saturday was supposed to be ‘trash pick-up. It wasn’t supposed to be about dismantling tents and stuff like that.” He paused, and added in retrospect, “if they were going to dismantle the tents, it should’ve been done way before ‘community clean-up day’, not on community clean-up day.”

When asked for clarification on this point, City Mayor Kim Bergel explained that a community clean-up is a group effort, usually involving the Pac-Out Green Team which advertises its efforts on social media, and is a public event where volunteers from the community are welcomed to assist with a clean-up. And according to Mayor Bergel, these efforts sometimes involve areas that are occupied by homeless community members, which makes the task a more sensitive endeavor. Eureka’s new mayor emphasized that she shows up to these clean-ups and encampment clearings, no matter the circumstances, in order to participate and to be available for community members who are being impacted. “I wanted to make sure that people are being treated fairly, and that there were opportunities to have services available,” she said. Adding, “Unfortunately, you can’t manufacture willingness.”

“We had almost a 40 yard dumpster… and the homeless actually helped us do that. And you know what, I was very proud of the fact that they were willing to actually… because they were scared,” recalled Shelter as his team continued to rake together the mess months later. “They didn’t know where to go. ‘Where can we go, John?’ is the biggest question I get asked on a daily basis from the individuals I engage with – ‘where do you want me to go?’”

He continued, “I don’t have an answer to that because nobody will allow me to establish something up that could possibly work, they just keep on saying ‘oh that won’t work, look we tried it with the Palco Marsh… .’” Shelter said he had proposed setting up what he describes as a “temporary triage camp” in Eureka, for transitional services and a temporary place for sheltering, out of environmentally sensitive areas of the city, into a space made hospitable. For people “as they are.”

Two follow-up interviews over a period of two months with John Shelter as he and his team work to clean up the Jungle.

Shelter then remarked on the City’s efforts related to the former encampment known as the Palco Marsh, saying, “No, you guys tried something way different at the Palco Marsh. It was sugar-coating on something that’s crap.” Not mincing words, Shelter continued, offering a bit of constructive criticism to city officials. “You pushed all the homeless out of the city into one area,” he argured. “You pushed everybody into one area. You had 300-some people right there. You left them alone for about a month. It blew up, and then you went in and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to take this down for your own good.’” 

Shelter estimated by the time December arrived with the heavy rains, there had been “over eight thousand pounds of trash removed” from the area since the Jungle encampment sweep in September.

A closer look at one pile of trash, having been bagged up previously, is seen here redistributed along the shoulder of 6th Street.

One pile of trash, having been bagged up previously, is seen here redistributed along the shoulder of 6th Street.

That sentiment is echoed in the 2021-23 Community Health Assessment put together by Providence Redwood Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital.  The report was drafted for the purpose of identifying where services are lacking, where health-related needs are or are not being met in the county, and what measures can and should be taken to remedy community issues that contribute to poor health outcomes. Frequently, challenges faced by community members living on the streets or experiencing a housing crisis that lead to being unsheltered also contribute to the issues that exacerbate those circumstances, then leading to chronic homelessness. 

THE FUTURE

There are “improvements to the area” in the works, according to Superintendent Davies-Hughes. The City of Eureka is in discussions with stakeholders and property owners regarding restoration of the slough, and with that, is an opportunity for Eureka to potentially feed two birds with one scone… as they say. A two-part goal of facilitating a temporary camp for the homeless who would be displaced as a result of city maintenance and restoration work on the slough, and initiating the environmental stewardship project of restoring fish passage through the First Slough’s wetland area, is on the table at Eureka City Council, but just what that looks like remains to be seen.  

As Superintendent Davies-Hughes said, “Homelessness in Humboldt County is a community issue, and it will take the collective commitment of individuals and organizations to address.”

As for Crystal Stewart and those like her who had to move after the September sweep through the Jungle, they are still trying to find solid ground and just stay dry.

A journal reflecting personal goals, once lost to a high tide is left to dry in the sunlight after a storm.

A journal reflecting personal goals, once lost to a high tide is left to dry in the sunlight after a storm.

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Vermin SupremeD
Member
Vermin Supreme
1 year ago

I’ve heard they are doing some good things at the old motels off of Guintolli Ln. Potential long term housing for quite a few people. Obviously it’s not nearly enough, but it’s a start, and it’s available. The only downside is how far removed that location is from services… Bus rides into town every single day can get expensive.

Ugh. The whole situation is awful. There is a whole demographic of people that have just been written off. And if you think it’s bleak in Eureka, check out the camps in Southern Humboldt. Outside Redway and Garberville. Those folks are REALLY roughing it. There are essentially NO services down there for the homeless.

suspence
Guest
suspence
1 year ago
Reply to  Vermin Supreme

Actually, I heard there are services in Garberville. Hence the large encampments.

Anon
Guest
Anon
1 year ago
Reply to  suspence

The majority of work we do in Garberville is referring homeless people to services that we don’t have here.
There is a misconception that Garberville services attract homeless people to the area, when in fact we will never have services like there are in Eureka, and most of the time our help is setting people appointments in Eureka and helping them keep those appointments.

Permanently on Monitoring
Guest
Permanently on Monitoring
1 year ago
Reply to  suspence

I wonder how many of these owned parcels have back-taxes owed…

Lake County annexed and sold a bunch of properties which had taxes owed, and pushed this kind of problem into a smaller area…

Thanks for the detailed item!

Last edited 1 year ago
Tracy in Briceland
Guest
Tracy in Briceland
1 year ago
Reply to  suspence

The myth that there are services in Southern Humboldt is just that “a myth”. And like so many myths it’s causing a lot of problems. I’ve been very blessed in that I’ve never had to experience homelessness but I recognize that most of us are just one disaster away from it. I also know, from experience, that uprooting yourself and moving is expensive, whether you’re belongings fit in a moving van or a shopping cart. I think it’s cruel to perpetuate the myth that there are services in Southern Humboldt and have people already living on the edge incur the expense of moving only to have them get to Garberville only to discover that they’re worse off than before. Please stop telling people there are services in Southern Humboldt—there aren’t any!

Just Sayin
Guest
Just Sayin
1 year ago
Reply to  Vermin Supreme

Wild almost like if you allow people to maintain a state of just below bottom they will stay there. It takes a fairly narrow minded individual that thinks their want to make someone sober supercedes the person who is actually struggling. We get it, it’s not good to see. However throwing money at a problem isn’t going to stop the bleeding, however it will make the wound a little worse. You folks need to get over yourselves and your narcissistic need to enable these people and call in compassion.

Clean Your Room
Guest
Clean Your Room
1 year ago

Homeless people need to have a better marketing campaign,

“Clean your room”

There’s no excuse,

These people need to go to work camps.

First job, clean up homeless camps

Zipline
Guest
Zipline
1 year ago

Well there you. Great idea.

R. Hutson
Guest
R. Hutson
1 year ago

Clean Your Room – Indentured servitude is technically explicitly unconstitutional, and has been since 1917 per the 13th Amendment. Suggesting what is essentially an internment camp for the unhoused, is dare I say, well, not a solution. Also, many of the unhoused in encampments do actually assist in clean-up efforts regularly. As you can see, the issue is nuanced, and trash collection efforts are a team/community effort.

Alf
Guest
Alf
1 year ago
Reply to  R. Hutson

After over 15 years of working at social services, mostly in General Relief, in a caseload of 500 to 600, only about a dozen were interested in finding work. The rest were being enabled to not work by the community, including doctors, mental health clinicians, social workers, etc. All they wanted is SSI so they could avoid work. Almost all of them were capable of some kind of work. To further enable them to not work, the state keeps waiving the work requirements to get Calfresh (food stamps).

The friend in the article apparently has a work history and seems to have blamed COVID for currently being homeless. I see so many help wanted signs. Restaurants are shortening hours of operation because they can’t find help. As for as Crystal is concerned, if she’s able to volunteer and serve meals, she is able to work. The problem is bad choices. If services were restricted by the welfare and institution codes to passing drug tests and fulfilling work requirements to receive benefits that would help with reducing enabling. If people were held responsible for trespassing, littering and the many environmental crimes they’re committing, that part of enabling would be fixed. The sad part is that people want solutions, yet every handout is compounded into more enabling. Your report says it takes the whole community to solve the problem. This is correct. The whole community is required to stop the enabling. It is only when the whole community refuses services of any kind to those unwilling to step up and try that forward progress can be made. Otherwise this whole subject is a waste of everyone’s time.

Top Guy
Member
Top Guy
1 year ago
Reply to  Alf

Working in social services often feels like a lesson in futility and I would encourage more people to do it so they can get a better understanding of what we’re up against before suggesting easy 1 step solutions like: “just give then services”

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
1 year ago
Reply to  Alf

Well stated

R. Hutson
Guest
R. Hutson
1 year ago
Reply to  Alf

Alf – Thank you for your input. Asserting that unless these thousands of homeless people simply find bootstraps, “otherwise this whole subject is a waste of time” seems like a rather cynical perspective. In any case, I understand that social work can often feel futile, and that is part of the big picture. Services, accessibility, and funding are next topics I hope to dig into for the series.

trap
Guest
trap
1 year ago
Reply to  R. Hutson

Ryan, before all the manufacturing jobs went overseas in the late 70’s and early 80’s, many of these people in these encampments would have no problem finding work in factories. It was mundane and boring but at that time it put a roof over one’s head. Rent was very cheap compared to wages. Someone could be a bit socially inappropriate, addicted, mentally ill or whatever as long as they could show up on time, hand something down the line, not be violent and have some minimal manners. Service jobs like gas station attendents and clerks require more social skills.

This is only half of the homeless too. Like they say, people living in their cars are not counted. People couch surfing aren’t counted either. Being homeless in these times also just ruins people, it makes people even more unlikely to be able to find work. Desperation does not inspire trust.

Although, got to say, there are quite a few students, clerks etc who live in their cars and don’t let anyone know they are homeless. Because if people did know, they might not get hired anywhere. If you could find some of these people out and let them tell their stories anonymously, it would really round out impressions people have of the homeless and various reasons for homelessness.

Last edited 1 year ago
tom arnall
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  trap

This is the core of it — the destruction of American industry. The Donald made this problem the center of his campaign platform and while president made enormous progress in dealing with it. The half plus a few thousand of the electorate which chose to side with the destroyers are responsible for Crytals’s plight. I hope that in 2024 enough of us will vote with compassion and reason and allow Trump to continue his work,

Last edited 1 year ago
trap
Guest
trap
1 year ago
Reply to  Alf

The poverty programs also trap people. SSI and Medicare for instance have mini programs within them and regulations which in theory allow part time work with reduced benefits, however, when people attempt to work part time they will get audited and case workers will then be pressured to attempt to throw them off the programs entirely. This means the people on SSI working part time are in danger of losing all their benefits, including health insurance. Once on SSI/Medicare and then into the public workforce- it is unlikely they would ever be able to obtain their own health care insurance again. It’s too expensive for lower wage earners with pre-existing conditions.

There are also people who could work for some periods of time but not consistently for various mental and physical health reasons. Getting onto these programs in the first place can sometimes take years. Getting back onto them once someone is again unable to work can also take years.

The programs are not flexible enough to allow people on them to easily work part time when they are able to.

trap
Guest
trap
1 year ago
Reply to  Alf

& yeah; “As for as Crystal is concerned, if she’s able to volunteer and serve meals, she is able to work.” that is where she is trying to get to..

Ben Round
Guest
Ben Round
1 year ago

Figure out a way to get them toilet and trash facilities. Make an agreement to police them, themselves. That is a beginning.
Mental health and other issues that debilitate these folks are more complex. This issue is rooted in Ronald Reagan dismantling the (very likely imperfect) system of facilities we had before to house and help people. Been a downhill slide since then. 🙁

Permanently on Monitoring
Guest
Permanently on Monitoring
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Round

When Reagan was elected:

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 and its impact on the alternative minimum tax (AMT) reduced nominal rates on the wealthy and eliminated tax deductions, while raising tax rates on lower-income individuals. The across the board tax system reduced marginal rates and further reduced bracket creep from inflation.

Cutbacks in income transfers during the Reagan years helped increase both poverty and inequality. Changes in tax policy helped increase inequality but reduced poverty. These policy shifts are not the only reasons for the lack of progress against poverty and the rise in inequality.

Reagan and Biden teamed up to tax Social Security Beneficiaries!

Ronald Reagan was a disaster for California and the USA and poor people in general.

Reagan, however, did not close the mental hospitals, he merely signed
the:
signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, a landmark piece of legislation that sought to end the involuntary commitment of people …

creating the 5150 laws etc…

For the homeless, we have to remember that during Reagan’s terms, there were 20 million people in California.

Now, there are 40,000,000 Californians…

Twice as many to fall through the cracks of society! And no increase in services with a huge increase in costs of what services exist!

Clearly, for the homeless, lack of planning created conditions of apathy, rather than conditions of us looking at homelessness as an emergency…

Not having a plan is the same as planning to fail.

deadmanwalkingwmd
Member
deadmanwalkingwmd
1 year ago

The country has a plan! Do whatever it takes for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. Homelessness is part of the plan cause it costs money to take care of those folks and nobody wants to pay.

Permanently on Monitoring
Guest
Permanently on Monitoring
1 year ago

It’s America!

If you don’t make enough money,

make more money!

And believe me, everyone is already paying for what Mitt Romney’s favorite 45%…

treeman53
Member
treeman53
1 year ago

Maybe we should spend some of are taxpayers money helping those on the street that obviously are dealing with addictions and mental health instead of the billions they spend on a war in Ukraine that’s pushing us into WW3.Maybe the money they are spending on the millions that are entering into the country illegally should be spent on their own citizens who worked and have paid years into the system. Maybe we should try to stop the Fentanyl coming into the country from below and the 100,000 deaths from overdoses the previous year .Not that I don’t have a heart for Ukraine, and for migrant ,I just believe the taxes you pay should go first and for most to the American people,and America right now can sure use it.

suspence
Guest
suspence
1 year ago

Regan gets the blame for signing the bill and to balance his tax cuts the institutions designed to get ppl off the streets were defunded. Sure, congress made the law/policy, but the executive often gets blame or credit.

Truth Be Told
Member
Truth Be Told
1 year ago

Great narrative. Too bad it’s mostly off the mark if not completely false.

No one is homeless because of Federal tax policy. No one is homeless because a portion of Social Security is taxable. The great majority of homeless individuals suffer from untreated mental illness and/or drug addiction.

The part of your narrative that’s true relates to the LPS act which makes it very difficult to require treatment for mentally ill people. For different reasons there’s a limited ability to get drug addicts into treatment.

But your biggest whopper is that there’s been no increase in services! In fact, more money is being spent specifically on homelessness than ever before, especially in California. Billions have been spent on Project Roomkey and Homekey alone with billions more on other programs.

But until mentally ill and drug addicted people are required to get treatment (yes, with confinement if necessary) they will continue to wander our streets in semi-psychotic or drugged out states.

Permanently on Monitoring
Guest
Permanently on Monitoring
1 year ago
Reply to  Truth Be Told

I actually agree with you, and San Francisco taxed Tech Companies to get the $100,000 per year per homeless person that are consumed by services provided…

It’s ridiculous to talk about project roomkey, as nobody wants these folks in their community, and often, the homeless person does not want the room…

I also agree that wasting resources fighting an illegal and undeclared war against Russia is outrageous and dangerous, and that those funds would be best used for domestic programs.
Our government only does two things well:

Print money
Waste money

Hopefully the solution to homelessness is not nuclear annihilation and remember, war is good for the economy while homelessness is a Social Disease that simply drains resources…

Between Medi-Cal/Medicare, our entire healthcare system is funded, and only about 35% of patients have regular insurance, 15% pay cash, and the rest is paid by a government program, which should adequately explain why healthcare is totally AFU…

I got it! Train the Homeless to take care of each other, cook and clean and build and grow food, and then require them all to build their own cities, out in the BLM land in Nevada!

Here’s some beans and rice and commodity cheese and some 2×4’s and some roofing and plywood and hammers and nails!

Fence them in and post guards, buses arrive daily but nobody can leave until they are clean, sober, on their meds and trained to do work…

Come back in 6 months and you will find a city, a government, and social programs…

Wintercook 2
Member
Wintercook 2
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Round

What if the toilet and trash facilities attract hundreds more people than they were designed to support?

Ben Round
Guest
Ben Round
1 year ago
Reply to  Wintercook 2

Simple. Then they add more capacity to the system!
If there are “hundreds” of people who come to a homeless encampment to drop their trash or ‘do their business’, one would conclude that they would be also without easy access to those services, hence, probably unhoused. So, that means that our community would benefit from their trash and bodily deposits not be left in other places where they can become environmental hazards.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Round

There are pikes of needles that are strewn around. Peopledoing that are not going to walk 20 feet to a trash recptical.

Aaaa1
Guest
Aaaa1
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Round

Right. If they don’t at least have bathroom facilities, there could be a health problem.

trap
Guest
trap
1 year ago
Reply to  Aaaa1

There already is a health problem. They found Dientameoba fragalis in the eel river several years ago – an ameoba-like parasite known for being common in third world countries. Commonly dispersed by fecal particles.

Considering how seldom they ever look for anything like that, how common do you think diseases like that are in waterways around the US?

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  Ben Round

Not the old stupid Ronald Reagan did it trope. It never dies. Lol up Lanterman Petris Short Act. It was passed before Reagan took office and just because it’s effects did start until a year later doesn’t mean he did it.

Mike Morgan
Member
1 year ago

“We’re not animals. I don’t know why we get treated this way – why they have to be so uncaring. So rude, I just don’t understand it.”

This one is easy. Personal responsibility is not a popular concept anymore. So the homeless are assumed to be “the government’s problem.” But government is not compassion, just compulsion. Witness how compassionate the government was to the folks in Mendicino after the culvert collapsed.

We all have reponsibility for ourselves, our families, and those we meet every day. Let us not try to hand off our job to nameless, faceless bureaucrats.

And whatever behavior society rewards will multiply. So think carefully about how you “help” people. “Free needles” end up on the ground, a terrible hazard. Too many unintended consequences to knee-jerk reactions.

Permanently on Monitoring
Guest
Permanently on Monitoring
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Morgan

The property owners should be assessed cleanup costs.

“Homeless” should not be a choice, as many people work their entire lives, save and invest, and can afford a home, until their lives expire.

So, where do we want you to go?

A huge amount of “Disabled”, Senior” and “Low Income” housing has been built, and just down in Ukiah, there is a large new project, and a vacant looking Small-Apartment building…

There are options like Rehab, Shelters and Rescue Missions, but if you live on Private Property and ask “what’s the problem?”, you are truly the issue…

Of course, nobody wants indigent-drug-addicted irresponsible persons living in camps, old motels, or any kind of housing at all, which is nearby!
I certainly don’t…

Eureka may be easy pickings for bums, and Garberville is a fine example of what can happen to your town if the bums take over!

Women and Children should be housed by the State, and each homeless person gets SSI, AFDC, UI, SDI, GA and Medi-Cal/Medicare. You are not without resources.

It’s your choices which caused your situation, no matter what path you walk, and all the way back in history, it was “if you don’t work, you don’t eat”…

Clean up your act, get right with some god, use your brains and escape the trap of homeless in Eureka…

I know 2 sisters who lived on Disability in rent-controlled housing in Berkeley for over 40 years. The other Sister still lives in a little rent-controlled house on Disability, in Berkeley…

There’s a place for you folks, but you will have to find it!

There’s no life like low life, and anybody who has anything, probably had to go out and get it…

Last edited 1 year ago
thbc
Guest
thbc
1 year ago

When the choices are to either be a wage slave working away our lives so you can share an apartment with other adult strangers, until you die OR to be a homeless drug addict . . .

I kind of understand why we have so many homeless drug addicts.

The root of the homelessness problem is not a lack of personal responsibility, it is a symptom of economic inequality.

c u 2morrowD
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

you could pay fifty dollars an hour and they would still squander it on drugs

North westCertain license plate out of thousands c
Guest
North westCertain license plate out of thousands c
1 year ago
Reply to  c u 2morrow

I would really like to know what’s the percentage of intravenous drug users in the homeless community?

D'Tucker Jebs
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  c u 2morrow

It’s hard to get people off drugs without offering rehab, mental health care, and supportive services. It really is a systemic problem and addressing one area of concern without addressing the others is a strategy that is doomed to fail.

Ben Round
Guest
Ben Round
1 year ago
Reply to  D'Tucker Jebs

Well said. Thanks.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  D'Tucker Jebs

Unlike those who make pronouncements from political ideology, reality is harsher. The homeless person who the most trips to rehab told me he had 31 of them. Most not making it a week. The average seems to be about 3 to 5.

Permanently on Monitoring
Guest
Permanently on Monitoring
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

What an incredibly BS statement!

There is no shame in working, but standing around asking for the world on a plate is purely shameless…

Good luck with that “inequality” garbage, because you have to achieve “equality”, in my world, through a sustained act of will…

SamD
Member
Sam
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

Those are not the choices and the vast majority of people do not live in shared apartments. The root of the homeless problem is easy access to extreme substances. We will never solve this issue if we can’t acknowledge it.

Alf
Guest
Alf
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

And how many years of your life have you worked for the homeless specifically? How many hours have you volunteered to assist the homeless specifically? How much of your own money have you spent to assist the homeless specifically? I spent over 15 years professionally with thousands of people, thousands of volunteer hours personally and thousands of dollars personally. In all of that I had 2 success stories where there was an actual choice to work and be self reliant. I came to the conclusion that every part of society made the problems worse by enabling instead of requiring personal effort and responsibility. I do believe change can be made. That change, however, cannot begin until the asinine belief the homeless can’t do anything for themselves is abolished and doing for themselves becomes the biggest part of the solution.

Last edited 1 year ago
THC
Guest
THC
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

A wage slave, LMFAO. Your right, human society was much better off when we had to spend 12-16 hours a day just tring to grow and forage enough food to survive and lived to the ripe old age of 40… You should have a long talk with someone over 80 about what work used to be like. Besides that these people are not “waged slaves” most of them don’t do much more than lay around shooting drugs and drinking all day. So why aren’t they cultivating the fields and building houses? They certainly accumulate enough stuff..

Last edited 1 year ago
NoEmpathy
Guest
NoEmpathy
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

Up your game, learn marketable skills, and increase your wages. Being a barista or working at McDonald’s are entry level jobs for a reason. They’re not meant to be a career.
Or better yet, work your ass off and open your own business.

Guest of no one
Guest
Guest of no one
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

You are so wrong. Personal responsibility & mental abilities play a big part on one’s ability to progress financially.

I came to this country at 20, almost no English & $400 in my pocket in 1987. I worked hard & put myself through College & Graduate school. The only help I had was from my two feet, my own hands & mouth.

I lived in people’s house & worked as their domestic helper for pennies, food & shelter, so I could learn English & eventually go finish the college I had started in my own country.

I was & still am, 100% responsible for myself. I am proud of my accomplishments.

Boogie Brew
Guest
1 year ago

The world needs way more “Make-It-Happen-Captains” like yourself. Awesome perseverance & self-discipline brought you to where you are 👍.

trap
Guest
trap
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

In the 70’s people could do both. Support their havbit AND pay rent on close to a minimum wage job.
Nothing wrong with having room mates though. Lots of people do.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

No. You simply assign it to a cause you want to blame. Places with wealth inequality far worse than the US may not have a homeless issue at all.

Maybe what you call wealth inequality is just the result of a crappy level of respect for labor. The Swiss are a ruthlessly capitalist society based mostly on banking services. Yet they rate high on wealth equality because they export inequality by being a tax haven for the rest of the world but not for themselves. And their own tax system does not take aim at just the rich. Everyone is taxed and even wealth taxes apply at low levels the US could never get away with.
https://www.expatica.com/ch/finance/investment/why-is-switzerland-so-rich-1068261/

Zipline
Guest
Zipline
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Morgan

Personal responsibility…
What is that???

MendoSquatch
Guest
MendoSquatch
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Morgan

Look, you can have compassion for these people, but framing this as a homeless problem is dishonest and futile. Homes won’t solve anything. Give a tweaker a home and it will soon be destroyed and stripped of copper. This is a large scale societal problem caused primarily by Meth and Opioids. The homeless advocacy cartel is enabling people and exacerbating the problem, and perhaps is motivated by the lining of their own pockets.

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
1 year ago

San Diego… S/F… Santa Barbara, Austin TX… maybe Sacramento would be nice.
Best yet… find out where the politicians are living ! (Yeah good luck with that one.)
Local move… take them to Arcata. They LOVE ’em.

Eureka and Humboldt County should provide bus tickets out of the area.
That would be a big win for both sides !

suspence
Guest
suspence
1 year ago
Reply to  Bozo

That doesn’t work. They just keep coming. If a municipality is isolated, like Ferndale…

D'Tucker Jebs
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  Bozo

When I was a kid my mom used to make me clean up the floor in my room, so I’d just pile everything onto the bed. I guess the difference between you and me is that I grew up and realized that that wasn’t actually solving the problem.

deadmanwalkingwmd
Member
deadmanwalkingwmd
1 year ago
Reply to  Bozo

What most people don’t know is that they have been doing that for years. It’s called Greyhound therapy. Trouble is, the buses run both ways.

donna
Guest
donna
1 year ago

why can’t the city just put dumpsters and porta potties where the camps are? that would have to help.

suspence
Guest
suspence
1 year ago
Reply to  donna

Because the city would be giving themselves a constant maintenance issue of emptying porta potties and dumpsters and the camp would grow and grow.

Korina42D
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  suspence

So the city would have to hire more people to do the maintenance. Darn, more jobs.

Joe
Member
Joe
1 year ago
Reply to  donna

Because the homeless enjoy setting them on fire!

Zipline
Guest
Zipline
1 year ago

“Substance abuse disorder” this is what you get when you turn morons with a so-called education loose on society. What is the treatment for “substance abuse disorder” stop abusing substances and stop using euphemisms for “junkie”.

Jim Dogger
Guest
Jim Dogger
1 year ago
Reply to  Zipline

Count your blessings that you aren’t afflicted or affected by it.

Alf
Guest
Alf
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Dogger

Everyone is affected by it. Get out much? It’s impossible to walk, drive, bike through Eureka and actually most of California without it being an in your face problem.

deadmanwalkingwmd
Member
deadmanwalkingwmd
1 year ago
Reply to  Alf

Get a life, it’s the whole fucking country!

Sigh
Guest
Sigh
1 year ago
Reply to  Zipline

Whiff!
Origins of “junkie”: heroin addicts who worked (collected and sold scrap) in the 1920’s. So, in short, Capitalists, recycling. Hey hey hey, let’s drink to THAT, or… choke a bong hit, lol!

Korina42D
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  Zipline

You still believe it’s a moral failing, don’t you?

Dogbiter
Guest
Dogbiter
1 year ago

Things that you can not legislate: Morals, Mental Health, Addiction, Happiness, Responsibility.
Trying to force these folks into a different lifestyle is useless.

D'Tucker Jebs
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  Dogbiter

How about instead of forcing them into a different lifestyle, we could just offer them a better one?

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  D'Tucker Jebs

That is like saying correct information given to anti vaxxers and flat earthers would change their ideas. People are not so simple. Sometimes just getting older makes some people aware that unless they start making better choices, they are going to die. Then offering something might work. But not even that enough in many cases.

Drugs will be taken, theft will happen and violence will occur, parties will go on all night, toilets will be stopped up, dog crap will be on the floor, fires will be started, even weirder people will be invited to stay and never leave, money needed for food will be spent on enterainment and the utilities not paid, etc. Stop thinking in terms of homelessness being an accident and start thinking of it as a consequence and maybe you can do something.

D'Tucker Jebs
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  Guest

Offer housing and rehab and mental health care and supportive services.
We need to address the whole proble, not just parts of it.

thbc
Guest
thbc
1 year ago
Reply to  Dogbiter

You may not be able to legislate happiness or responsibility but you can certainly legislate against them, which is exactly what we’ve done.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

You want to be more specific? Because that is an interesting idea.

Sean Murphy discgolf
Guest
Sean Murphy discgolf
1 year ago

Well they just need mental health care, which is what has already been allocated for..even if it is drug use it turns into mental health almost immediately, and this chronic homelessness is from the drug use stay out to long never comes back home get kicked out.

thbc
Guest
thbc
1 year ago

There is a reason people use drugs in the first place. The lower class workers with our society are experiencing hopelessness.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

Some of the richest people in the world are drug addicts. And some of the poorest are not.

NoEmpathy
Guest
NoEmpathy
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

They should stop voting for jackasses. No better source of hopelessness than a city state or nation governed by jackasses.

nomanD
Member
noman
1 year ago

It’s not a housing issue, it’s a mental health issue.
And it’s directly traceable to decades old agitation by the ACLU and other “rights” groups that led to laws that allow persons with flagrant long term mental health issues to refuse medication short of drastic and expensive litigation.

Now haldol was and is a bad drug, and the intricacies of the human psyche are poorly understood, as is brain function, but the fact is some people who need help won’t take it. ‘
They won’t take meds, they won’t accept shelter, they won’t follow basic rules that allow society to function. It’s circular and endless. What to do? Got me. But maybe it would start with a care program that would facilitate what passes for rational thought.

thbc
Guest
thbc
1 year ago
Reply to  noman

It does make sense to build facilities aimed at addressing the mental health crisis, but that is a liberal pursuit.

Griffon
Guest
Griffon
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

Liberal talking point is what you mean. Liberals have had plenty of opportunities to do something, but it just doesn’t seem to be a really high priority.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  noman

Or at least can restrain acting on irrational thought as best as can. Then provide treatment that only helps somewhat because rarely are there cures. The idea of a magical drug fix existed lead to the Lanternman Petris Short Act that essentially made mental health hospitals voluntary except for criminals. Drugs powerful enough to change mental illness are often have unpleasant side effects. They take courage to use.

THC
Guest
THC
1 year ago

So the local bureaucracies have tied the hands of the police to the point they cannot do their job and have pretty much stopped responding to trespassing and vandalism calls. Yet they think that the property owner should be responsible for cleaning up the messes caused by these asinine policies? And what’s with the idiotic catchphrase “unsheltered person” Might want to look up the definition of “shelter” because I see plenty of shelters on the side of the road everywhere I go around here.. Do you think that catchphrase will take some of the stigma off the people around here that sit around drinking and doing drugs all day while they thrash the environment, cities and towns and leave their problems for everybody else to deal with?

R. Hutson
Guest
R. Hutson
1 year ago
Reply to  THC

THC – since you wanted the definition of “unsheltered person” HUD considers “individuals and families sleeping in a place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation (e.g., abandoned buildings, train stations, or camping grounds) as “unsheltered” homeless.”
It’s not a “catchphrase” but it is a phrase, and we didn’t make it up.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  R. Hutson

That definition varies from bureaucracy to bureaucracy. Some consider a motor home as unsheltered. Some consider living with relatives as homeless.

THC
Guest
THC
1 year ago
Reply to  R. Hutson

Sounds like you should become a social worker, you would be very good at the semantic game.

Truth Be Told
Member
Truth Be Told
1 year ago

Living unhoused and trashing the wetlands should be treated as separate problems with separate solutions.

Probably 90% or more of the homeless are not capable of being housed because of untreated mental illness, drug addiction or alcoholism. They are living in out of sight sensitive areas because they are relatively free to practice their dysfunction without interference from the authorities.

State agencies like the Department of Fish and Wildlife, as noted by Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery, have historically been hands off with homeless encroachment into these wetlands. “They have a long history of not addressing wetland impacts due to encampments, whether on public or private property,” he said. Instead, everyone wants to stick the public and private landowners for the costs of cleaning up the horrendous mess that results.

There you have it. State, Federal, City and County officials lack the political will to enforce laws designed to protect the environment as long as the ones doing the trashing are homeless.

While we struggle to figure out where the unhoused can be, can we agree homeless encampments (and the human waste, trash and needles that go with them) should not be allowed in the most sensitive areas of our environment?

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago

One big problem is encapsulated by this line- “Things like income loss, a death or serious illness in the family, inaccessible healthcare resources, substance abuse, mental illness, and mobility challenges are common hurdles.” Only two of those things are more than serious inconveniences. The real causes of chronic homelessness are only two things in that list- “substance abuse, mental illness.” This is a case of self delusion- the chronic homeless will always have a back story, several back stories actually, and people they tell it to believe them. There is always an answer to the “why” but don’t expect people whose very life is full of delusion to have insight about it.

Just about everyone alive has had “income loss, a death or serious illness in the family, inaccessible healthcare resources, substance abuse, mental illness, and mobility challenges” yet do not end up on the streets endlessly. The difference is desire that works to combat those “inconveniences” – the desire that is killed with drug abuse and mental illness. And almost all people have made serious mistakes in dealing with them but recovered somewhat. It would be better to spend some time looking at the fact that keeping a roof over head is hard for all but the very wealthy and even they need a support system. Being a hard, life long struggle, it should be no surprise that a small percentage of people spectacularly fail in doing it. What is really surprising is that so many don’t end up the same way.

Until the world around such people is willing to admit to it, stop looking for excuses in irrelevant stories and deal with those two items, nothing will change except more people for whom the struggle is harder than normal to counteract the inertia of drug addiction and mental illness will join the ranks of the homeless. How do I know this? With decades of getting histories from relatives of, getting stories from and listening to both the homeless and those with similar problems who are not homeless. Less sympathy and more hard headed reality that knows it can not simply give a place to live to people and think it fixes their problems would do so much better. And that is a pretty thankless, disheartening chore. Don’t ask mentally ill and/or drug addicted people what they need to get out of their situation and expect useful insight. If they had such to offer, they wouldn’t be there. Anyone who can say “I don’t know why we get treated this way – why they have to be so uncaring. ” is a perfect example of looking in the wrong place for answers.

thbc
Guest
thbc
1 year ago
Reply to  Guest

Yeah that’s right, get those wage slaves back to slavin’.

How dare they lose hope in the face of insurmountable odds! They should be happy to work at Walmart 39 hours a week so that they can barely scrape by in a shitty cheap apartment with roommates, until they eventually die from substandard medical care and poison food.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  thbc

That is a vent on every stereotype you carry around in your own head. Nowhere did I make it all about work. Though I do value it for giving structure and motivation. I talked about drug addicts and mentally ill individuals (other people have the problem too) not having a realistic understanding of why they are in the situation they are. So shouldn’t be expected to have a solution.

There are lots of people with mental and other health issue who are not homeless. Some of them living on little income all of their lives and having to scramble frequently to keep a roof over their heads. That you use the words “wage slave” in the way you did seems to mean you think everyone owes you a life without stress. Hello. Every living being has stress. Always has, always will. Likely even amoebas do.

Thank you to all the “wage slaves” out there who both keep themselves from depending on others and even providing some extra to take care of those who don’t take care of themselves.

Vermin SupremeD
Member
Vermin Supreme
1 year ago

I think it’s hard for people to understand homelessness unless they have experienced it. The approach of “work harder, get stuff” does sometimes apply. But not always….

A lot of these people are experiencing generational homelessness and drug addiction. Many (most I would say) grew up in a foster system that didn’t care about them. Abandoned as children, or left to fend for themselves, so they never learned the life skills that most of us learned as children. Instead they learned how to distrust authority, survival at all costs, and places like school were only a place to get kicked out of.

By the time they were old enough to realize what they were doing would impact the rest of their lives, they were already in juvenile hall or Youth Authority prison. By then the cycle of criminality was already ingrained. Now I’m not saying they don’t have ANY responsibility for themselves. Everyone makes the choices that leads to their future, but most of the people on the streets now had their starting line set A LOT lower than the rest of us. So they would have to work 10x as hard to get places that were just handed to the rest of us.

This is the problem of the lower class across the country. When you write off an entire population as lazy and unmotivated. It all starts with the kids. I can’t stress that enough… The justice system locks you in young, teaches you that you have no worth, and perpetuates itself. If there was a study I could find that would show the average rate of college graduation among foster kids vs. children raised in a traditional family, you’d be appalled. Then compare that to number to rates of incarceration among the same demographics. It gets even worse.

Once again. I’m not saying they have no responsibility. Everyone should constantly be trying to better their situation. But most of these people were screwed from the start. There’s another study that would shock you. Ask how many of the homeless out there were raised in the foster system, raised by a random family member, or juvenile hall, or YA. Then find out how many of them had drug addicted parents. I’d bet the percentages are in the 90% range.

Don’t judge so harshly right out the gate. You never know what some of these people have been through.

(Oh, I also forgot to throw in the part about sexual abuse. A HUGE majority of drug addicts were abused as children. How well would you do if the only people you were supposed to trust as a child, raped you regularly? These aren’t the things anybody wants to know, but it’s the harsh reality, and it’s just more comfortable for us to assume they just don’t care. And just choose drugs over a regular lifestyle.)

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  Vermin Supreme

Mostly no one knows what anyone has been through.

Vermin SupremeD
Member
Vermin Supreme
1 year ago
Reply to  Guest

Agreed. Why does everyone default to such negativity nowadays?

Xebeche
Guest
Xebeche
1 year ago

None of the people interiewed seem to even try to offer an explanation for the garbage. If they did not trash the places they were living no one would know or care that they were there. I had several friends back in the 1960s who lived on federal parkland for years undetected because they left no mess, only made tiny fires for cooking at night and packed out all their trash.

HotCoffee
Guest
HotCoffee
1 year ago

This reminds me of scenes from Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”.
Much like the folks that were tossed out of the Creekside RV grounds, once you lose your place to live it’s almost impossible to accumulate the first, last and deposit for another place to live and even if you can, you need a clean rent history, a secure income, and references. Top that off with not enough housing to meet the needs of the population.
More will soon lose their homes to foreclosure as interest rates rise and jobs are lost.
As you saw with Creekside, the Government is here to tell you all the reasons why they won’t help you. Yet, they will explain why we are a wealthy nation that can borrow money from our grandchildren to financially take care of the rest of the world’s poor.
How long would you survive on the street before it affected your mental health?

Last edited 1 year ago
HotCoffee
Guest
HotCoffee
1 year ago
Reply to  HotCoffee

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to put out portable potties and hand out trash bags and do pick-ups than it is to do what they’re doing now?
Seems we have 10 agencies figuring out why we can’t help for every one agency trying to help.
Hell, we don’t even have housing for mental health workers if they were available and willing to live here.

Guest
Guest
Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  HotCoffee

They have been tried. Repeatedly. The portable toilets were set on fire, tipped over and trashed within a couple of days. Trash bins the same.

Aaaa1
Guest
Aaaa1
1 year ago
Reply to  HotCoffee

Well said. Right, the grapes of wrath and the creekside campgrounds. If there’s a recession it could get worse.

David Swanson
Guest
David Swanson
1 year ago

That is a sad article. I read an article, well most if it, a few weeks ago about an area in San Francisco where they are planning on building homeless housing but cannot begin for a few years. So they thought they that in the interim they could put some tiny trailer homes on the property. They thought that each home would cost $15,000 each. But, and I am just assuming this conclusion, as the bureaucrats began meeting with contractors who were likely drooling at government contracts and their new vacation home in Bora Bora they realized that each tiny home would cost at least $100,000. At a current new construction cost of $300 per square foot for conventional construction in California that would make a tiny trailer home that was 8’ wide by 41’ long. Pretty extravagant for a goal of getting as many people out of the weather as possible. As a retired building contractor and cheap bastard who has bought fixer upper houses and boats all his life I believe that less extravagant quarters could be built for less than the $15,000 originally considered. As a lifelong political fiscal conservative the whole thing makes me dizzy I need to admit. Good luck to the homeless and all the rest of us because it is getting worse. One last afterthought. I was at Harbor Freight recently and I noticed that the tall and fat menswear place next door was gone and replaced by a place helping homeless people in some manner. It appeared that they had racks of clothing to give out. I think that they ought to find a way to sew a couple strips of reflective tape across the shoulders of all dark colored, at least, jackets. It could save a few lives down on Broadway, and prevent some poor person who runs over a jay runner at 11 pm from being traumatized or having to decide whether they can hit and run and get away with it because they had a beer at dinner. Okay, I am done.

guest`
Guest
guest`
1 year ago
Reply to  David Swanson

I think suggesting they sew reflective tape on the free donated clothes is a very good idea. Compared to emergency services for accidents and the toll on lives it would be very cost effective to do.

Bigfoot
Guest
Bigfoot
1 year ago

Silly humans. Plenty coin to bomb brown people in faraway lands, but no help for fellow human with brain problem at home. Me tired of trash too. Me step on needle and big foot almost rot off! Vote for better human. Vote good mental health bills / legislation. More teaching little humans drugs bad!

Last edited 1 year ago
HotCoffee
Guest
HotCoffee
1 year ago

Ben Wilson
January 30, 2023
NBA superstar and Biden-supporter Stephen Curry is opposing the proposed construction of a low-income multifamily unit proposed for construction next to his $30 million mansion, saying he has “major concerns” for his “privacy” and “safety.”
Curry, who joined a nonprofit in 2021 focused on “bridging the racial wealth gap,” wrote a letter with his wife Ayesha to the city of Atherton, Calif., asking that it reconsider the construction of a 16-unit property near their estate.

guest`
Guest
guest`
1 year ago
Reply to  HotCoffee

Curry should just suck up and either welcome the project or donate his mansion. FFS. The rich are so tone deaf.

SamD
Member
Sam
1 year ago
Reply to  HotCoffee

“Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s foundation provided 16 million meals to children in Oakland over the past year” – Whata rich jerk, right?!
The Currys pay million in taxes and have been tremendously charitable. Building low-income housing in the most expensive towns makes 0 sense.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/stephen-and-ayesha-currys-foundation-provided-16-million-meals-to-children-in-oakland-over-the-past-year/

HotCoffee
Guest
HotCoffee
1 year ago
Reply to  Sam

Do you know what a low income house rents for in Atherton? I don’t see the people from Creekside moving in any time soon.

Atherton rent data for:

Low-Income Houses For RentAverage Rent
$19,121
Year Over Year Change
68%

$7,738

Houses For Rent
1

Rent ranges for Atherton houses
$25,000 – $24,999
$24,000 – $23,999
$7,005 – $21,499

https://www.zumper.com/houses-for-rent/atherton-ca/low-income

SamD
Member
Sam
1 year ago
Reply to  HotCoffee

Yes, it’s one of the wealthiest towns in America, high rents tend to happen. If your solution is to eliminate the reason these people chose to live there in the first place (privacy/high standard of living), it’s going to fail.

HotCoffee
Guest
HotCoffee
1 year ago
Reply to  Sam

Where did I say it was my solution? I just posted an interesting article and did a little follow-up.
I’m familiar with the area and close by Woodside.
Don’t know about now, but Crystal Springs reservoir used to be a lovely place to spend the day.

Last edited 1 year ago
PenguinnD
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  HotCoffee

IIRC, the minimum lot size in Atherton is one acre. Many homes have more. What used to be a lovely enclave of gorgeous homes visible from the roads has now become a walled fortress of security gates and enormous hedges. I doubt most people even know their neighbors, let alone see them. Well, maybe at horse shows and polo matches at the Circus Club?
In any case, much like carbon credits, there will probably be some move to allow Athertonians to gather up the loose change from their furniture and but East Palo Alto. They can build multi-family homes there. Problem solved!

Joyce Radelich
Guest
Joyce Radelich
1 year ago

I have hired some of the homeless. There’s no need for people panhandling due to meals twice a day at the mission. St Vincent serves meals, Betty Chin. Citizens hand out sandwiches and some socks. Food bank if they’re hungry enough. The..panhandlers..will tell me some excuse, not valid as to why they dont use the services. The community spends a lot of donated monies for food, showers, clothes, etc. The vets.. anyone serving any stint in the military are vets. The VA is also working hard to serve them. I don’t understand tge trash, collection of junk then leave it, and the poor animals. That’s my experience and I still give and help. Most don’t want help but to complain. Personal responsibility. I am truly sorry for those are trying hard to change their situation.

HotCoffee
Guest
HotCoffee
1 year ago

Last Updated on 07/26/2018.

Open Until Further Notice: Humboldt County, California Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Waiting List
https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-authority/California/Housing-Authority-of-the-County-of-Humboldt/CA086#wl108090

……………………………………………………………………………….

Out of date and not much info.
Must not be anyone’s job to update it.

Last edited 1 year ago
Neverlayup
Guest
Neverlayup
1 year ago

Tell ukraine sleepy joe to help OUR own country! Most useless scumbag ever!

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
1 year ago
Reply to  Neverlayup

And Rump did what ?

Big Rick
Guest
Big Rick
1 year ago

Lawmakers allowing illegal immigration is what caused the homelessness problem in california.

Illegal immigrants get more benefits than homeless war veterans in this state.

I could literally defect to mexico, illegally migrate back into california, and get a voucher for an apartment.

HotCoffee
Guest
HotCoffee
1 year ago

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https://shedsunlimited.net/sheds/modern-sheds/

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Can’t be done?

Maureen Conwell
Guest
Maureen Conwell
1 year ago

It’s heartbreaking that these homeless people choose to trash their site. They add to the negative feelings of the homeless. If one decided to help a family how does one know what they would leave when they travel on. Makes it tough on those that want to help.

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
1 year ago

That survey seemed a bit off – I think it’s more like 90% of homeless are mentally Ill or drug addicts. They really shouldn’t have cleared out the encampment behind the mall – devils playground, years ago. It was discrete and tho not great, it was at least a place for people who wouldn’t be admitted in to the shelter. Now they’ve spread out all over and become a real blight on the city. Also, sure would be nice if corrupt cops in other states stopped sending homeless folks to California. That would help.

Aaaa1
Guest
Aaaa1
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeffersonian

I agree, the palco marsh was better. It was discrete, at the edge of town.

Bill
Guest
Bill
1 year ago

Complete joke of what we, yes we, have allowed to happen in our communities. Society has become numbed by the daily sights we see and now it is accepted. We blindly drive by without the motivation to do anything about the situation.

We have spent millions in taxpayer money on so many programs to help these people, yet they continue to destroy our green belts and public areas.

I have been saying this for years, but we are way beyond the time to do something strongly proactive. We need to give the tough love, we have to place the worst of these offenders in shelter, facilities that can keep them housed and off the streets.

Regardless of whether they want it or not, we can no longer live like this as a society. We are slowly destroying ourselves.

Steve Koch
Guest
Steve Koch
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill

👍💯

Monica
Guest
Monica
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill

I sort of agree with Bill’s position. California residents, should be given a choice of treatment or they should be required to move out of the State within a very short time frame. It should be a State Law & not a County by County Policy. However, for that to happen the Government needs to invest in creating the programs & housing for these individuals.

I believe the Government should act based on the fact that the homeless population is comprised of people with various issues: drugs, mental & drugs, mental, physical limitations, & able bodies that actually work but cant afford rent aka. the working homeless.

I suggest the Government prioritize housing for the working homeless, so they don’t further digress into mental health & drug use on the streets.

Unfortunately, the Government is setup to prioritize assistance to the helpless first & everyone else next. In my view, this is done because helping the helpless is what keeps the non-profits profiting.

I really believe that as is, the homeless assistance programs offered by the Government are setup to perpetuate the situation on our streets.

I speak from experience from trying to help 2 working homeless people in SF & 1 homeless man in Eureka. The 2 working people got bandaids of different levels. It has been over 6 years since I tried to help these people, they are still working homeless in SF as of today.

The 3rd got a cot & 3 meals for 20 years
or close to it in a State Penitentiary through the Eureka Courts.

Steve Koch
Guest
Steve Koch
1 year ago

2 minute youtube video by Dr. Mike Shellenberger about homelessness in SF. Really interesting (and horrifying to me).
He has several other longer videos about homeless in California. He says homeless are overwhelmingly drug addicted and that dealing with drug addiction must precede housing or at least be a minimum requirement to keep govt paid housing.

https://youtu.be/A-bRC79AAI0

Country Joe
Member
1 year ago

We want you to go and find a job to support yourself like everyone else and take responsibility for your life.

Truth Be Told
Member
Truth Be Told
1 year ago
Reply to  Country Joe

Or at least be willing to get treatment for your drug addiction and mental illness. Oh, and please quit trashing the environment.

Sigh
Guest
Sigh
1 year ago

Here’s an interesting and blindingly obvious thing that many Americans don’t get: current homelessness and related is, in great part, a direct outgrowth of American-brand Freedom. We are vested with individual rights, have laws and mores, processes and structures, all both in support and in conflict with each other. The same constitution and laws that allows folk to spit garbage online, pack yer gun around town, do most anything you want, etc, is the same constitution and laws allowing others to brush up against, and even some times piss on, the sensibilities of still others. If one doesn’t see and believe it, take a trip to Singapore … or somewhere actually very intolerant, like an actual Authoritarian governed country where they disappear you and similar. All of life is messy and imperfect, no matter the system. But one thing is for sure: too much wealth is concentrated in too few hands.

Sigh
Guest
Sigh
1 year ago
Reply to  Sigh

Now for the interesting part, as to example of Singapore: little wealthy city-state Singapore houses it’s populace to the tune of 80% or so government subsidized. While the hang folks for bigger drug offenses, they hands-on house and treat folks plucked off the streets. Think about it: tax revenue going to hands-on management of social ills. Think about it: you can pay now, or you can’t step in that needle later.

Ariolimax
Member
Ariolimax
1 year ago

My favorite word: anosognosia. Google it. I’ve been keeping a sibling off the streets for a long time with mixed success. The laws we have for the mentally ill are a half century old, long before even prozac. New treatments work, but there has to be compulsion and monitoring backing it up. Saying you’re going to kill someone, or kill yourself, can’t be the only criteria for mandated intervention. Unless, of course, you like all these homeless people squatting in your cities. I applaud Governor Newsom for the recent changes to expand the amount of mandated intervention.

Last edited 1 year ago
R. Hutson
Guest
R. Hutson
1 year ago
Reply to  Ariolimax

Thank you for this insight and feedback – I thought I’d paste the definition here for good measure. “Anosognosia, also called “lack of insight,” is a symptom of severe mental illness experienced by some that impairs a person’s ability to understand and perceive his or her illness. It is the single largest reason why people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder refuse medications or do not seek treatment.”

Aaaa1
Guest
Aaaa1
1 year ago

Either give them hotel vouchers, ask the Salvation Army to make room for them, ask Betty Chen to find them trailers near the hikshari trail, and keep them out of there or provide
bathroom facilities and trash pick up for the health of the community.

Dam
Guest
Dam
1 year ago

Bet those ladies didn’t tell you when they were younger they weren’t homeless. They relied on their parents or their drug dealer boyfriends. Unfortunately when you get older the drug dealers look for younger girlfriends, and you cannot live off your looks anymore. Both those women I know personally, and were beautiful once upon a time. Now your forced to look for help because you wasted your life doing drugs. You know clean and sober housing is available at half the price, but you have to be able to pass a drug test whenever they want, so these addicts don’t want to do that

Snax
Guest
Snax
1 year ago

It should be a law that all cities and towns have to supply homeless camps with basic sanitation, as in trash containers and portapotties.
It would be a great answer to many of the problems with the camps.

ThatGuy
Guest
ThatGuy
1 year ago
Reply to  Snax

More laws aren’t needed. Law enforcement needs to enforce the laws already in the books and run these vermin out of our towns and neighborhoods.

Tracine Dorner
Guest
Tracine Dorner
1 year ago

I have been homeless, in the middle of Portland, living with my 2 dogs in my broken down vehicle… But, everyday took time to clean both sides of the street for 2 blocks in either side of me to keep the area clean, and show the neighborhood that I had respect, and was grateful for their tolerance of my presence.
I have empathy for the homeless, jobless, people from all walks of life, who suffer from physical, and mental difficulties.
Yet, I have no desire to help those, who are able to, but refuse to, help themselves, or those around them, who insist on dumping their trash, waste, and hazardous material, wherever they go.
If you want respect… deserve respect.
I can’t think of one good excuse for dumping, and leaving trash, anywhere, by anyone.