Sacramento Homeless blog

The Bee gives us the bad news this morning that the county is set to throw in the towel and hand its homeless programs at Mather over to the Christian-faith-based organization  Volunteers of America for Greater Sacramento . Horrors. Homeless people who have nothing or next to nothing should be, at very least, under some protection from the government. Instead, the county intends to pass the buck and put homeless folk fully under the whip of VOA, the organization that ran the Concentration Camp at Cal Expo ― known as Overflow ― during winter seasons in years past. VOA (along with Loaves & Fishes) is a central Sacramento homeless-help organization that follows a philosophy of "warehousing the rabble" as opposed to helping homeless folk become more responsible and, then, opening up our world to opportunities and, possibly, eventually, real happiness. VOA pays its national CEO/President an obscene salary , in excess of $300,000, and, l...

Sister Libby Fernandez began the formal part of her press conference this morning saying, "Shame on us. Shame on our government." Whatever shame there was on "us" was unnamed and forgotten while the local government bore the whole of accusations that were deemed shameful. At issue are three shelter closures at the end of June, all run by the local chapter of the organization Volunteers of America . The three shelters that are scheduled to close, due to lack of funding, are Winter shelter [aka, Overflow] (204 beds, plus 18 couch sleeping spaces) and the Aid-in-Kind shelters on A Street and on Bannon Street (an aggregate of 142 beds). The pronouncement that 346 beds are being cut [204+142=346], [or 328 beds; though I don't know how that total was derived] as several speakers claimed today, is a dubious statistic. Winter shelter, as its name suggests, has not in the past been a shelter for all seasons. In years past, the shelter has closed at the end of March. It i...

Tomorrow at 10AM Sister Libby of Loaves & Fishes and officials from the local chapter of Volunteers of America will be holding a "press conference" at L&F's Delany Center parking lot to rev-up demand that the city and, particularly, the county provide funding for shelter space for our metropolis's homeless. Loaves & Fishes, today, ballyhooed the "press conference" for the benefit of denizens of its facility to stir up attendance tomorrow. [There's a substantial threat of loss of beds, as of July 1.] Since SacHo ardently wants what's best for us homeless – practical shelter and aid to uplift us all into position to again be thriving and productive citizens – we, mostly, want L&F and VOA to succeed with their effort tommorrow. But we mustn't be fooled: the county has a staggeringly large deficit and the homeless aren't a political force. [There is some hope, though, that via an end-around, stimulus money for mostly-new programs...

The clock is ticking. Unless something changes, 346 people will be dumped out onto the street on the morning of July 1. Things may, already, not be as bad as that sounds. Many are likely to get placement in temporary housing. That was the promise of the city for the Tent City evacuees which number, perhaps, fifty. Plus there is stimulus money out there. It's not targetted for the established-homeless, but some funds may come our way, if only as a result of other funds being "released" as a result of usages the stimulus money is directed toward. In more-normal times, Overflow [aka, Winter] shelter would already have closed. This year it's set to close after the last day in June. Since the weather is already warm and many have tents and sleeping bags, we can expect that closure of Overflow will result in what happens every year: people find a place for themselves on the streets or along the river. What's unusual this year is that people now in VOA's A Street and...

The county of Sacramento reports that there is a $187 million projected budget gap that needs to be closed for its upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1. To close the gap, the head of the county Department of Human Assistance has proposed closing three VOA-run shelters which provide beds for between 122 and 346 people , (dependent on when in the year you count the beds). This shelter-closing thing is a sudden, huge threat to the security, life-experience and opportunity to escape the homeless trap for hundreds. After the media buzz of Feb+Mar+Apr and the city's response, for there, now, to be threat of a massive backslide, by the county, in services made available to the homeless community is traumatising. Quickly, efforts must be made to forestall or reduce the county's cuts to fund shelters. And, ideas need to emerge of other means to keep homeless people from being pushed onto the street at night. Bruce Wagstaff, the DHA director who proposed the cutbacks, suggeste...

Facing a $180 million general fund shortfall for the county, Department of Human Assistance Director Bruce Wagstaff has proposed cutting off funding for three Volunteers of America-run shelters. The three shelters are Winter shelter at Cal Expo, and the two Aid in Kind shelters on A Street and Bannon Street, which in aggregate provide 346 beds to the homeless. This news comes from a first-page article in today's Sacramento Bee, " Proposed Sacramento County cuts would close 3 homeless shelters ". Mayor Kevin Johnson Johnson said the decision "is penny-wise and pound-foolish" and "could set back the progress we are making" on the issue of homelessness. The mayor has made [quoting the article paraphrasing Johnson] "finding beds for the city's homeless one of his top priorities." Of course, the city 's mayor has no authority over nor direct influence with county officials. According to the article, The cuts in shelter programs would sav...

Yesterday afternoon at the pick-up area where persons seeking shelter in Overflow must be if they are to receive one of 204 shelter slots, a Christian church service was held with attendance to the service being mandatory. The service was held on the Delany Center parking lot, a part of the Loaves & Fishes facility that Overflow management, Volunteers of America of Greater Sacramento and Northern Nevada , leases from Loaves & Fishes as the pick-up/staging area for homeless residents who are then bused to the Overflow [aka, Winter shelter] facility at Cal Expo. Today, it is expected that the Sacramento city police will be giving eviction notices to those who remain in Tent City. Tent City residents will be expected to evacuate their location, on SMUD property, Wednesday and find other sleeping/living arrangements. The threat has been made that Tent City residents that remain on Thursday could be arrested. An important part of the city's effort to peacefully disestablish the ...

Picture at VOA homepage , showing Governor Schwarzenegger at podium with Mayor Johnson [center] at Mar. 25 joint press conference. Four days in advance of what was expected, VOA has put 3600-sq-ft of space that was added to the Overflow complex into operation today, rather than on the 13th. This news comes from a VOA [Volunteers of America of Greater Sacramento and Northern Nevada] media release. VOA operates Overflow, also known as Winter Shelter, under contract with the county of Sacramento. The new space exists in five proximate "modular stuctures," that are arranged in back of the main building. The modular structures will accomodate 50 additional people, comprised of 26 individuals and 24 sleeping as couples. The total sheltered at Overflow will now be 204 up from 154 (with 104 men and 50 women & children), previously. It is expected that the sheltered that will fill the new space will come to Overflow from Tent City, which is now shrinking in number of inhabitants a...

Photo from VOA webspace showing opening day of the Winter Shelter for 2008-09. The tentative opening date for the expanded area of Overflow [aka, Winter Shelter] is set for April 13, according to a Volunteers of America [VOA] media release. VOA operates the shelter at Cal Expo under contract with Sacramento County. We are told that five modular units have now been erected behind the main building of the shelter, to create needed additional space. This new space will provide an area to place "as many as 50 additional beds for men and women," increasing the shelter capacity which today stands at 104 bunk-bed spaces for men and 52 bunk-bed slots for women and children. The cost of extending the period in which Overflow is open, three months beyond its normal Mar. 31 close, is being borne by the City of Sacramento. As part of the city's effort to provide places to sleep to the growing number of homeless people in the city and county, and in light of the determination that the...

In his column two weeks ago Marcos Breton compared Loaves & Fishes' Executive Director, Sister Libby Fernandez, and Director of Advocacy, Joan Burke, with Mahatma Gandhi, writing, "These two ladies have triggered a standoff [re tent city] by evoking Mahatma Gandhi bringing the British Empire to its knees. They are righteous, humble servants living the word of God." Now, if we were to take Gandhi's message regarding Customer Service, above [ which he uttered in 1890 ], and merely substitute Libby and Joan as advocates of this service policy, and use "guest" in place of where Gandhi said "customer" -- since L&F insists on calling its denizens "guests" -- and, what the hell, let's Americanize the spelling of "favour," making it "favor," and not leave things male-specific, by using "they," instead of "he." And we should call L&F an organization, instead of a business. Can you imagine su...

An area in Tent City, as pictured by KCRA . The encampment east of Loaves & Fishes in Sacramento is getting enormous attention nationwide for being emblematic of the souring economy. It many ways, this is unfortunate since the encampment is real, not a symbol. The people living in tents there are actual, factual, and not iconic -- not empty husks for Media and others to use to frame other problems. Still, Media attention, for all its hype and falseness, brings welcome benefits (even if they come for wrong, misguided reasons). Right now, there are people and organizations with a fount of unalloyed compassion that are lovingly giving to homeless Sacramentans. There are others who may or may not be just as compassionate who have an angle -- an organization they belong to that needs a revenue source or a job they want funded down the road. Homeless citizens of Sacramento, particularly those in Tent City [aka, the Wasteland; the Snakepit; Smudville; Libbyville; Almond encampment; Sacra ...

According to a Volunteers of America media release, Winter Shelter has secured funding to stay open beyond its tentative Mar 9 close date. The last date now that Winter Shelter will be open is March 31. The source of the funding is a Sierra Health Foundation Responsive Grant award, for safety-net services , in the amount of $25,000. Rumours that Oprah, or her Harpo Production Company, might come up with the funds for the extention were unfounded. Recently, part of an episode of the "Oprah Winfrey Show" was filmed at Winter Shelter. That episode will be broadcast on Feb 25. The VOA media release tells us, "The grant was one of 42 awarded by the Sacramento-based private philanthropy, which promotes improved health and quality of life for the people of Northern California."

Lisa Ling on the "Oprah Winfrey Show." Sac News Blogger provides some updated information about "The Oprah Winfrey Show" about homelessness that will include scenes filmed in Sacramento. The blogger of Sac News Blogger is a community college student who hopes to pursue a career in journalism. He tells us that Lisa Ling came with the Oprah film crew that was reported to have been in our town on Feb. 11 through Feb 13. The page that gives information about upcoming shows at oprah.com now tells us that the Wednesday show is entitled "Tent Cities in America: A Lisa Ling Special Report." A blurb at the Oprah website about the episode says this: The spiraling economy and the foreclosure crisis are causing an increasing number of middle-class Americans to suffer. On [the Feb. 25] show, Lisa Ling investigates the emergence of tent cities—makeshift temporary shelters set up by people who simply have nowhere else to go. Our cameras follow a family that went fro...

Photo from VOA webspace showing opening day of the Winter Shelter for 2008-09. On March 9, the Winter Shelter - also known as Overflow - with its 104 beds for men and 50 beds for women and children, is scheduled to close. The date of March 9 is much earlier than the closing date of the shelter in years past. In that past, the Winter Shelter was open for fully five months, from Nov. 1 to Mar. 31. Not so this year, with its opening on Nov. 24 and scheduled close of Mar. 9. With the increase in the number of homeless in Sacramento county [the extent of which will be shown when the result of the Jan. 27 StreetCount 2009 is disclosed on approximately Mar. 10], the early close is likely to leave many unprepared homeless people out in the street at night in late winter. As the days roll forward into March, likely a forecast of late-winter weather conditions will inform the city, the county and us all how vital it is that something happen on March 10 to prevent the suffering of many of the unh...

Volunteers of America is seeking "caring gift" donations for the 2008 Christmas season . One of their programs, Gifts of Warmth , seeks new hats, gloves, scarves and socks that will be given out to people staying at shelters it administers. Another, Adopt-a-family , hopes to fulfill the Christmas wishes of many poor Sacramento families in VOA's transitional-living programs and seniors in VOA's affordable-living apartment units. The organization is hoping to close its drives on Dec 12, but a collection site at Country Club Plaza will be open until the 20th for items, and cash donations will be accepted whenever received. The Country Club Plaza collection site, in collaboration with Entercom , is at the plaza's center court near Santa Claus (through Dec. 20). Country Club Plaza is located at the corner of Watt and El Camino avenues in Sacramento. VOA has shelters on Bannon Street, on A Street, and, for the winter, in Cal Expo. It also aids and provides housing for...

The Winter Shelter at Cal Expo in Sacramento. The closing date of the Winter Shelter, commonly known as Overflow, will be March 9. This information has now been confirmed at the Volunteers of America [VOA], Greater Sacramento and Northern Nevada, webspace . VOA administrates Overflow on contract with the county of Sacramento. The facility offers 104 beds for men and 52 beds for women or families during the period of cold in Sacramento. In a healthier economic climate, Overflow is open for fully five months, from the 1st of November to the end of March, to protect homeless Sacramentans from cold nights. This year, the duration of the availability of Sacramento's cold-weather shelter was reduced by over six weeks, to a window of Nov 24 - Mar 9. UPDATE 1/27/09 : The closing date of Winter Shelter remains set at Mar. 9. According to a VOA official who emailed me today, VOA is seeking a grant to extend the date. They have no way of guaging what chance they have of gaining approval of t...