ARTICLE
During the last several years, we have seen our public sector leaders scurry around trying to find ways to address the looming homeless problems that erupted in Santa Cruz County - it is a daunting issue that plagues beach towns up and down the West coast. The priorities for addressing homelessness came out of numerous public meetings in recent months, with influence from the countywide plan to address homelessness, “All In: Toward a Home for Every County Resident.” Application information is available on the County of Santa Cruz website. As reported last week in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (January 21 — Jessica York — State Funds for Homeless Services), Santa Cruz is about to see a one-time flow of state dollars into the County to address this public safety and homeless crisis. Every two years, we conduct plans to count our homeless population which involves a single-day effort powered largely by community volunteers crisscrossing the region before dawn. Though admittedly an imperfect system, that count and a subsequent census conducted by Watsonville-based contractor, Applied Survey Research, form the basis for distribution of state and federal homeless grant dollars. The Homeless Action Partnership (HAP) is the collaboration in Santa Cruz County that acts as the HUD mandated Continuum of Care. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires communities that seek funding under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to come together as a community and develop a strategy to prevent and end homelessness in their area. The funding, including Santa Cruz County’s $9.7 million Homeless Emergency Aid Program grant and $900,000 California Emergency Solutions and Housing grant, comes as California is recognized for hosting 25 percent of the nation’s homeless population. How and where these one-time dollars are spent can have an immediate impact on housing more of our homeless, providing medical & mental health services, access to food services, financial assistance for temporary shelter, capital expenses for short term housing, warming centers, navigation centers, and wrap around care so desperately needed. A concerned coalition of the businesses and hospitality sector sent a letter to the Homeless Action Partnership (HAP) in Santa Cruz County to consider the economic impact that the mounting homeless issues place on our region. The letter made the following recommendations: “We urge the HAP to focus a significant percentage of these dollars on immediate interventions to reduce homelessness in our community.” (The Santa Cruz Area Chamber joined nearly 40 business leaders in signing the letter.) “We are strongly advocating that Continuum of Care Executive Committee Members not only identify traditional “brick and mortar” shelter locations, but consider unconventional transitional housing options as well. These dollars can help transition homeless community members to secure productive living situations similar to efforts being carried out in San Jose, San Diego and Sacramento utilizing Sprung or customized Tiny Home sleeping units.” The coalition is advocating that at least 75% of the CESH and HEAP funding be spent on initiatives that have the potential to support permanent solutions and address the needs of over 2,000 homeless individuals in Santa Cruz County. Given that law enforcement efforts are severely compromised due to a lack of local shelter beds, we support and encourage prioritized use of the CESH and HEAP funding as follows: 1. Establish additional shelter beds in the next twelve months, including pop-up shelters with needed support services and for those with mental health and addiction problems 2. Specifically increase the number of treatment beds available for individuals with addiction problems seeking rehabilitation services 3. Increase the number of Mental Health liaisons to engage with those in need 4. Increase the capacity to identify and support individuals that can benefit from the Homeward Bound program with increased budget resources The homelessness situation in our community is alarming. Homelessness presents health risks to those who are homeless as well as to all residents and visitors. The conditions are clearly inhumane. The Hepatitis A scare last year is one example of the consequences of this growing problem. The environmental impacts in our public areas, parks, beaches and retail districts are highly visible and disparaging. From a humanitarian perspective, the quality of life for the homeless population is unimaginable, and the impact of the quality of life for residents is being compromised. The business, tourism and hospitality industries are seeing real and potentially lasting negative impacts to local business. Concerns are mounting regarding the tourism industry’s long-term health and ability to continue to contribute to the local economy and employment base. Visitors are telling business owners and managers on a daily basis that they will not be returning to our community because of their experience in dealing with our local homeless issues, including aggressive and hostile behavior from a segment of the homeless community. On Monday of this past week, Phil Kramer, the Executive Director for the Homeless Service Center, wrote an excellent guest column identifying the efforts to help house people. The Chamber echoes his comments: “Having more money to solve the problems of homelessness is only part of the answer. Every one of us has a part to play in the solution.” Santa Cruz County citizens are renowned when asked to address natural and man-made disasters - it is in our DNA. The homeless situation in our community must be an “all-in" project or our economic vitality will suffer significantly if we do not act now.
During the last several years, we have seen our public sector leaders scurry around trying to find ways to address the looming homeless problems that erupted in Santa Cruz County - it is a daunting issue that plagues beach towns up and down the West coast. The priorities for addressing homelessness came out of numerous public meetings in recent months, with influence from the countywide plan to address homelessness, “All In: Toward a Home for Every County Resident.” Application information is available on the County of Santa Cruz website.
As reported last week in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (January 21 — Jessica York — State Funds for Homeless Services), Santa Cruz is about to see a one-time flow of state dollars into the County to address this public safety and homeless crisis. Every two years, we conduct plans to count our homeless population which involves a single-day effort powered largely by community volunteers crisscrossing the region before dawn. Though admittedly an imperfect system, that count and a subsequent census conducted by Watsonville-based contractor, Applied Survey Research, form the basis for distribution of state and federal homeless grant dollars.
The Homeless Action Partnership (HAP) is the collaboration in Santa Cruz County that acts as the HUD mandated Continuum of Care. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires communities that seek funding under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to come together as a community and develop a strategy to prevent and end homelessness in their area. The funding, including Santa Cruz County’s $9.7 million Homeless Emergency Aid Program grant and $900,000 California Emergency Solutions and Housing grant, comes as California is recognized for hosting 25 percent of the nation’s homeless population.
How and where these one-time dollars are spent can have an immediate impact on housing more of our homeless, providing medical & mental health services, access to food services, financial assistance for temporary shelter, capital expenses for short term housing, warming centers, navigation centers, and wrap around care so desperately needed.
A concerned coalition of the businesses and hospitality sector sent a letter to the Homeless Action Partnership (HAP) in Santa Cruz County to consider the economic impact that the mounting homeless issues place on our region.
The letter made the following recommendations: “We urge the HAP to focus a significant percentage of these dollars on immediate interventions to reduce homelessness in our community.” (The Santa Cruz Area Chamber joined nearly 40 business leaders in signing the letter.)
“We are strongly advocating that Continuum of Care Executive Committee Members not only identify traditional “brick and mortar” shelter locations, but consider unconventional transitional housing options as well. These dollars can help transition homeless community members to secure productive living situations similar to efforts being carried out in San Jose, San Diego and Sacramento utilizing Sprung or customized Tiny Home sleeping units.”
The coalition is advocating that at least 75% of the CESH and HEAP funding be spent on initiatives that have the potential to support permanent solutions and address the needs of over 2,000 homeless individuals in Santa Cruz County. Given that law enforcement efforts are severely compromised due to a lack of local shelter beds, we support and encourage prioritized use of the CESH and HEAP funding as follows:
1. Establish additional shelter beds in the next twelve months, including pop-up shelters with needed support services and for those with mental health and addiction problems
2. Specifically increase the number of treatment beds available for individuals with addiction problems seeking rehabilitation services
3. Increase the number of Mental Health liaisons to engage with those in need
4. Increase the capacity to identify and support individuals that can benefit from the Homeward Bound program with increased budget resources
The homelessness situation in our community is alarming. Homelessness presents health risks to those who are homeless as well as to all residents and visitors. The conditions are clearly inhumane. The Hepatitis A scare last year is one example of the consequences of this growing problem. The environmental impacts in our public areas, parks, beaches and retail districts are highly visible and disparaging. From a humanitarian perspective, the quality of life for the homeless population is unimaginable, and the impact of the quality of life for residents is being compromised.
The business, tourism and hospitality industries are seeing real and potentially lasting negative impacts to local business. Concerns are mounting regarding the tourism industry’s long-term health and ability to continue to contribute to the local economy and employment base. Visitors are telling business owners and managers on a daily basis that they will not be returning to our community because of their experience in dealing with our local homeless issues, including aggressive and hostile behavior from a segment of the homeless community.
On Monday of this past week, Phil Kramer, the Executive Director for the Homeless Service Center, wrote an excellent guest column identifying the efforts to help house people.
The Chamber echoes his comments: “Having more money to solve the problems of homelessness is only part of the answer. Every one of us has a part to play in the solution.”
Santa Cruz County citizens are renowned when asked to address natural and man-made disasters - it is in our DNA. The homeless situation in our community must be an “all-in" project or our economic vitality will suffer significantly if we do not act now.