NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Dangerously hot and humid conditions pose life-threatening and deadly risks in Florida, especially for people experiencing homelessness, one of our most vulnerable populations.
On average, August is historically the hottest month of the year in Florida, so to help its unhoused clients endure the extreme heat and humidity, The Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County just started assembling and distributing cooling kits.
Each drawstring bag includes a hat, sunglasses, cooling cloth, bug spray, reusable water bottle, lip balm and liquid IV packets, along with multiple sunscreen options
In addition to several agencies throughout Pasco County serving as points of distribution, street outreach teams deliver the cooling kits to homeless individuals directly
“Our mission is to serve our unhoused and those individuals at risk of homelessness in Pasco County,” said Jennifer Watts, the Chief Executive Officer of The Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County.
“So, we started this last summer when we were experiencing extremely deadly high temperatures here in Florida,” Watts continued. “In an effort to meet the needs of those clients, this was our way to offer them some supplies and some comfort. We know it doesn’t replace a house or roof over their head, but it’s something we can do to extend those services. These are items that many of us take for granted when going out of the house each day, but these are not items that our clients have on hand, so it’s important that we provide them to meet those basic needs.”
With the help of teenage volunteers, the nonprofit has assembled dozens of cooling kits for this first round of distribution. Watts added that the bug spray and liquid IV packets are the most requested items.
Each drawstring bag includes a hat, sunglasses, cooling cloth, bug spray, reusable water bottle, lip balm and liquid IV packets, along with multiple sunscreen options.
DeeDee Dodson, who has been homeless for six months, walked into the nonprofit’s office to pick up a cooling kit and seek help for housing services. “They help out everybody, everybody here,” Dodson said. “They help the families and the kids.”
In addition to several agencies throughout Pasco County serving as points of distribution, street outreach teams deliver the cooling kits to homeless individuals directly.
A more robust solution revolves around the implementation of cooling centers as another option. The Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County is working with area municipalities with the hope of having libraries and recreation centers serve as cooling centers in the near future.
A young mother sits on the floor in a motel room with her baby girl on her lap, her son milling around in the background. The mother taps the infant’s fist on a toy, as the baby dazes blankly, unengaged.
These moments were captured on video before the mother underwent a 10-session intervention for parents who have trouble bonding with their children because of challenges tied to poverty, homelessness and other issues. In a montage of clips filmed afterward, the woman can be seen snuggling the baby sleeping on her chest while she talks to and plays with her young son at her side. In another clip, the son dangles his arm around his mother’s shoulders as she jostles the baby in her lap.
There is life and love in the room.
“This mom continues to live in a motel room,” said Mary Dozier, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Delaware who developed the program. “We haven’t helped her with child care. We haven’t helped her with housing. We haven’t directly tried to change depression or anything else, and yet, these two children’s lives have fundamentally changed.”
Dozier has spent three decades studying the development of infants and young children. The home visiting program that she developed, dubbed ABC for Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up, uses coaches who provide in-the-moment positive reinforcement to help parents learn to nurture a child, follow a child’s lead and avoid frightening behaviors. These skills are useful for anybody, but they are “especially important when children have experienced adversity or trauma,” Dozier said.
Through a series of studies coordinated with the Philadelphia Department of Health and Human Services, Dozier and a team of researchers identified children who were at risk of neglect and have followed their development for 15 years, examining the short- and long-term effects of the ABC program. This research has shown that the ABC program – now used in 26 states and 10 countries – improves children’s brain and behavioral development and helps them gain trusting, secure relationships with their parents. Studies have indicated that the easily-implemented ABC program improves children’s executive-functioning and self-control and that it regulates cortisol production, the stress-hormone that partly affects sleep.
“We see this everywhere we go, whether it’s when we implement it nationally and internationally or in a randomized trial,” said Dozier, the UNIDEL Amy E. du Pont Chair of Child Development at the University of Delaware. “We see the parents change. They become more sensitive. They follow the lead more of their child. We see the children’s attachment is more likely to be secure and organized.”
Currently, Dozier and her team have been researching how the ABC program impacts parents with substance use disorder. The $3.1 million, National Institutes of Health-funded study began in 2020 and ends in 2026. It includes about 200 parents from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland who are receiving treatment, such as the medications methadone or buprenorphine that help stem the cravings for and effects of opioids. Since opioids and other drugs interfere with brain receptors involved with the reward system, the natural rewards that come from bonding with a child and parenting may be affected.
“We (humans) are designed so that parenting will be rewarding, but that system gets disrupted when we have enough challenges in our life, either because of drugs or mental health issues or living in a motel room with three kids,” Dozier said. “So what you’ve got to do is change the system, tweak it so that eventually children can be become more rewarding, so that the process of parenting is itself rewarding.”
With the parents with substance use disorder in the ABC program, Dozier’s team has been placing electrodes on their heads to study brain activity as they look at pictures of babies and pictures of drugs.
“What we anticipate is that the baby would become relatively more important to them than the drug, if they’re in the … ABC intervention than if they’re not,” Dozier said. “But I don’t know the answer to that at this point.”
Helping parents learn to become more engaged with their children is necessary even before resolving substance use, stabilizing housing or addressing other challenges because “babies can’t wait,” Dozier said.
No matter what situation the parents are in, coaches conducting the ABC intervention do not critique or correct parents’ actions. Instead, starting in the very first session, the coaches “are already trying to find something in what they’re (the parents) doing that is positive and pointing it out,” Dozier said.
The parent should feel supported by the ABC coach whose ongoing, positive reinforcement of what the parent is doing well elicits a “cascade of behaviors, and it makes parents really feel empowered. It makes them feel good about themselves,” Dozier said.
“I was 37, and I was a psychologist when I had my first child,” Dozier said. “If you had an expert come in to say they’re going to evaluate my parenting, I would have found that threatening. And so you can imagine what it would feel like for a 20-year-old who is using opioids.
“Everybody said, ‘How in the world could you possibly have a child? You have no business having a child.’ They’re (the parents) going to just feel so demeaned. So, the positive comments are just so critical in helping them feel rewarded by this process. And eventually, what we want is that they are rewarded by their baby and rewarded by parenting itself. We’re sort of scaffolding that process to get them to that point.”
Over the weekend, Contra Costa County officials unveiled a new residential complex for homeless residents.
It’s something that’s happening across the Bay Area, but in this case, it involved converting empty offices into places for people to live.
For years, homeless advocates have talked about turning unused office space in San Francisco into housing. In San Pablo, they’ve done it.
“I am so proud to be here as we celebrate the opening of what is a model project to really help solve homelessness in our community,” said Contra Costa Supervisor John Gioia.
On Saturday, officials celebrated the completion of El Portal Place, a 54-unit complex of permanent supportive housing for the homeless. It will be operated by the county’s Health Department and will feature on-site case managers, mental health services, and even includes a small dog park so clients can keep their pets with them.
The county initially planned to demolish an old building they own next door for the project.
“And we originally thought, OK, we will look at funding to build micro-housing on our vacant site,” said Gioia. “And then we started talking to Jerry Overaa and his team, because they owned a vacant office building on this site.”
Jerry Overaa founded Overaa Construction in the 1960s and he built a four-story call center for PacBell in 1971. When the need for long distance operators ended, the building became obsolete, as well.
But rather than knock it down, Overaa is offering it a new life.
“Well, this is a conversion from office to housing, right. And that’s pretty hard to do,” he said. “Usually, they don’t have the right configuration, not in the right location. But this one happened to be in a good place.”
So, he handed the project over to his grandson, project manager Jared Gragg.
“There are both challenges and opportunities,” said Gragg. “A few of the challenges are meeting modern code, structural code, seismic code. We are pretty close to the Hayward Fault. Getting all new MEP — mechanical, plumbing, electrical — dividing the building into units.”
And they handed that whole thing down to construction supervisor Tony Britton.
“When I walked into this place, I was like, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do here,’” said Britton. “It was just a massive building.”
Britton had to deal with problems that popped up on an everyday basis. The first had to do with opening up the center of a concrete building to allow light into the apartments.
“When I came up here, I was like, ‘Oh, wow. How we going to do this,’” Britton said. “Because now we’ve got to take this floor out, along with that concrete. And as we demo’d the concrete out, I ran into another situation of, how are we going to get these beams down and get ’em out that door?”
It was one headache after another, and Britton said he had to act as a counselor for his crew to keep the vibe positive. It wasn’t easy, but now that it’s finished, he said the project means a lot to him.
He had created a new purpose for an old building and new hope for people living on the streets. He had advice for others who may want to do the same thing.
“You’re going to find things that you didn’t know was here,” said Britton said. “And you’re going to have to continue to move forward and be very creative. And think out of the box.”
That may also be what’s needed to solve homelessness. El Portal Place took only 2 ½ years to complete, an unheard-of timeline to create 54 new homes. Converting existing buildings is not the way construction is usually done and isn’t even the most efficient.
But it may be the quickest and that should matter to anyone who considers the housing shortage to be an emergency situation.
John Ramos accidentally launched a lifelong career in journalism when he began drawing editorial cartoons and writing smart-alecky satire pieces for the Bakersfield High School newspaper.
Viviendas multifamiliares con un pasillo que divide una sección de la otra, o slot homes (por su nombre en inglés), en el vecindario de Jefferson Park. 5 de junio de 2022. Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
More Denverites say their city is doing better now than they did in August 2023.
Nearly three-quarters of Denverites say they feel safe in the city — and that number has risen over the past year.
A majority of residents are not particularly concerned about the revitalization of Downtown Denver, with 55 percent not viewing it as a top priority.
Residents continue to be concerned with homelessness, a lack of housing affordability and crime.
All that’s according to the nonprofit Colorado Polling Institute’s bipartisan survey of 409 registered voters in Denver.
The institute now regularly surveys residents to track how voters’ perceptions of their city, leaders and pressing issues are changing.
The Democratic firm Aspect Strategic and the Republican firm New Bridge Strategy conducted the survey. The firms surveyed participants by phone and online from June 13 to 18. The poll’s margin of error is just under 5 percent.
Most residents love city services, and most are okay with paying for them.
Still, for 35 percent, Denver taxes are “way too high.”
Another 29 percent said they’re “high but acceptable.” And 35 percent said they were “about right” or “lower than one would expect.”
This is the first time the Colorado Polling Institute has asked about attitudes toward taxation. The questions come months ahead of the November election when Denver voters will likely be weighing two sales-tax increases.
Still, 65 percent of those surveyed are pleased with the services the local government offers and are totally satisfied with Denver as a place to live.
How do the people feel about their leaders?
Mayor Mike Johnston’s approval rating rose to 48 percent.
The number of people who were uncertain about his performance fell, and the number of those who disapproved of his leadership grew to 11 percent
Of those who think Johnston’s doing a good job, 42 percent say he’s handling homelessness well, and 18 percent say he’s getting things done, trying and keeping his promises.
“Mayor Johnston took office amid high voter concern on homelessness, crime, and the cost of living in the city, and his first year was further complicated by the influx of migrants from Central and South America,” Weigel said. “Against that backdrop, his favorability has improved slightly and voters do sense — albeit slightly — that progress is being made.”
The Denver School Board’s reputation is overwhelmingly negative, but improving over the past year. .
Meanwhile, while the Denver Police Department’s approval has fallen a bit, it’s largely remained steady.
What do people like — and hate — about Denver.
For those who love Denver, here are the top reasons they enjoy the city ranked: weather, cultural amenities and activities, friendly/nice people, proximity to the mountains, beauty, city parks and outdoor activities.
The top problems of people who have an unfavorable view of the city: drugs, crime and a lack of safety; the cost of living; homelessness and encampments; housing costs; illegal immigration; roads and infrastructure; environmental, trash and pollution problems; overcrowding; high taxes; and a lack of police funding and training.
People across the city are facing financial struggles, renters more than owners.
In total, 89 percent of renters say they feel financial strain, whereas just 45 percent of homeowners do.
Though housing affordability is cited as a significant problem for many, the economy as a whole is viewed as much better than it was 20 years ago.
New Denverites have a more favorable perspective of the city than those who have been here for more than 10 years.
“On the one hand, most voters believe Denver is a good, safe place to live with an acceptable level of taxation and decent city services,” said Kevin Ingham of Aspect Strategic. “Yet, despite largely positive personal experiences, many also see ongoing challenges, which aren’t seen as unique to Denver but nonetheless drive some worries about the direction of the city.”
The Bay Area is receiving $14.3 million from the state to help homeless families with children and unhoused young adults find lasting homes.
The awards are part of the latest rounds of two statewide grant programs, which Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week.
“These grants are critical for helping to connect some of the most vulnerable Californians with access to housing,” Newsom said in a statement. “Many of these young adults don’t have the support of friends or family that most of us take for granted.”
The money will help local agencies provide housing and services for young adults under 25, prioritizing those currently or formerly in the foster care or probation systems. It will also help add transitional housing beds, bolster job training programs and offer financial assistance for homeless families with children.
The awards include $5.6 million (two grants) for Santa Clara County, $2.1 million for San Francisco, $1.9 million for Alameda County, $1.8 million for Oakland, $1 million for Sonoma County, $626,040 for Contra Costa County, $280,768 for Livermore, $283,050 for Solano County and $173,160 for San Mateo County.
In applying for the grants, local governments had to demonstrate a need to help homeless families and young adults into housing. It was not immediately clear why some jurisdictions received more money than others.
Across the Bay Area, an estimated 37,000 people experience homelessness on a given night.
In Santa Clara County, the local county with the largest homeless population, there are roughly 360 homeless families with children and about 760 homeless youth under 25, according to the most recent count last year. More than 80% stay in homeless shelters.
In Oakland, officials plan to use the grant money in part to add 8 beds at the Courage Housing Transitional Home. The home shelters women and children who’ve survived domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
“The program provides residents with a safe space to heal, grow, and engage in comprehensive services related to professional development and career placement, economic resources, and preparation for permanent housing placement,” Raven Nash in Oakland’s Community Homelessness Services Division wrote in an email.
Livermore aims to use its grant to add three 4-bedroom transitional housing units for homeless families at the Leahy Square affordable complex east of downtown. Families will receive job training support in finding permanent housing.
“By leveraging this grant, we can provide stable housing and vital support services to some of Livermore’s most vulnerable families,” Paul Spence, Livermore’s assistant city manager, said in a statement.
The awards follow a scathing April audit that found officials had failed to track the effectiveness of the $24 billion the state spent over the past five years to combat homelessness.
Still, state officials said the latest grants will have an impact.
“We know childhood experiences of homelessness can have a devastating impact on educational attainment, economic opportunity, and health throughout adulthood,” Tomiquia Moss, the state’s top homelessness official, said in a statement. “California’s youth deserve every opportunity to succeed.
Authorities force a cleanup of an encampment at 4th Avenue and Kalamath Street. April 25, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that cities can arrest and ticket people sleeping outdoors, even without an offer of shelter.
Some advocates fear the decision, Grants Pass vs. Johnson, will give cities an unfettered ability to use law enforcement to push people experiencing homelessness around while further destabilizing their lives and failing to help them find homes.
“People’s rights, including houseless people’s right to exist in public, are being continuously stripped away by a right wing, and outright fascist, Supreme Court, and Grants Pass is just the latest example in this disturbing trend,” said civil rights attorney Andy McNulty in an email.
“State and local officials must stand up against this ongoing erosion of our fundamental liberties,” he added. “But, even if they don’t, we will keep fighting to protect everyone’s basic rights no matter their race, sex, gender identity, or housing status.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s office said the court’s decision will not affect Denver’s implementation of its homeless policy.
“We do not need the U.S. Supreme Court’s guidance to know the right way to address homelessness is through compassion and humanity,” said spokesperson Jon Ewing in an email.
Johnston spent the first six months of his first term working to end visible homelessness in the city center and moving people to city-owned, nonprofit-run motels and tiny-home communities.
His administration’s goal is to bring a total of 2,000 people inside by the end of 2024.
“In Denver, we believe people should sleep in their own beds, not street corners,” Ewing said. “That’s why we have spent the last 12 months moving more than 1,600 people indoors, including 536 individuals who are now permanently housed.”
Mayor Mike Johnston speaks with residents of an encampment at 22nd and Stout Streets, one day before it’s swept. Aug. 3, 2023.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Ewing said the mayor’s strategy aligns with the national best practices established by the U.S. Interagency on Homelessness.
“While we feel cities do need the ability to address encampments when there are concerns of health or public safety, we continue to believe the correct approach is through providing housing, case management and other assistance,” Ewing said.
In some instances, Denver has shuttered homeless encampments and ticketed and arrested people in the process.
Ewing characterized encampment closures that don’t result in shelter as “rare.”
Camping ban enforcement at sites where the city has shuttered encampments has always been part of Johnston’s plan.
“From the beginning of this effort, we were clear that we would enforce the permanent closure of former encampments and that camping would no longer be allowed in the locations that have permanently closed,” wrote Johnston’s spokesperson, Jordan Fuja, in a message to Denverite, earlier this year. “Our teams, along with city partners, are enforcing those closures while working to connect even more Denverites to safe, stable housing options and support services.”
Denver’s approach to clearing homeless encampments is dictated, in part, by the Lyall settlement.
“Because of the homelessness rights enshrined in the Lyall settlement, houseless folks in Denver now have more legal rights than nearly anywhere else in the country and we will continue to enforce those rights should Denver be emboldened by the Grants Pass decision to violate houseless folks’ rights,” explained civil rights attorney Andy McNulty.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, whose city already has an urban camping ban, appreciates much of the ruling.
“It clears the way for our new camping ban,” Coffman said, “although it’s always been our policy to have a shelter option available for those camping illegally when we abate an encampment.”
However, when an individual who has been sleeping outside is moved or arrested but not part of an “encampment abatement,” shelter is not necessarily offered.
Aurora is also setting up a navigation resource center for unhoused people at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
The current policy in Aurora is that people generally have 72 hours to move. If they do, they will receive no penalties.
Then-Congressman Mike Coffman speaks to reporters in his Aurora office, May 31, 2018.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
But the city has also established a no-camping zone in the I-225 corridor, meaning people can be ticketed on the spot if they’re found sleeping there outside. This could be expanded to other parts of the city, depending on funding, Coffman said.
Aurora is setting up what Coffman calls “a problem-solving court for homeless people,” where if people comply with certain requirements like addiction recovery and mental health treatment, charges will be dropped.
While the court’s ruling “provides clarification that we can ticket individuals, to charge them with trespass, who are illegally camping,” Coffman said he believes cities have an obligation to do more.
“I certainly agree with part of the case, in terms of our ability to have a camping ban,” Coffman said. “Personally, I feel that for a local government to have a camping ban, they ought to have a shelter option.”
On The House furniture bank founder EmilyJane Zahreddine sits among the many chairs and couches available in her her new Sunnyside warehouse. June 26, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Rows and rows of couches, chairs and dressers, plus a big box of trophies and a life-size kangaroo statue, all sit in a Sunnyside warehouse.
The furniture, which otherwise would have wound up in a landfill, is patiently awaiting dropoff to new owners — people experiencing homelessness who are moving off the streets into their own housing.
The furniture belongs to On the House Furniture Bank and its associated junk-hauling company, Furnishing Hope, which opened for business Wednesday.
Inside the new On The House furniture bank in Sunnyside. June 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The initiative aims to fill a gap in homelessness resolution, helping people coming off the streets furnish apartments for free.
Furnishing Hope Junk Removal charges people getting rid of furniture for pickup services. Then, On the House partners with local homelessness groups to give away and deliver the pieces for free to people moving indoors.
Emily Jane Zahreddine started the initiative after 15 years in Washington, D.C., working in emergency management for the government.
“I wanted to have a bigger impact on my community,” she said.
On The House furniture bank founder EmilyJane Zahreddine speaks as she opens her new space in Sunnyside. June 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Once people connect with On the House they come to the warehouse to pick out furniture.
Furniture recipients choose between over a dozen pieces based on their number of family members, plus extra furniture for hosting.
“Everybody deserves community and the opportunity to have a guest over,” Zahreddine said.
So far, On the House has not had issues stocking up the warehouse with furniture, including some unusual items.
Gretchen Kruger, who picks up the phone and does dispatch for Furnishing Hope, once helped arrange a pickup for an accordion player with more than 100 trophies. A local photographer provided the kangaroo sculpture, and another customer needed help picking up a hoard of furniture brought over from China.
Kruger came to the job after working in food service. The work is meaningful because she can relate to struggling to make ends meet, she said.
“I grew up in the generation where you have to work six jobs just to pay your monthly rent, and to know what it’s like working as hard as I do and not being able to afford a bed or a couch or any of that stuff, and just constantly trying to figure out how I was going to furnish my belongings, I think that this is great,” Kruger said.
Gretchen Kruger stands with someo of the more random donations received by On The House furniture bank: trophies, a trampoline and more . June 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Nonprofit staff in Denver say the free furniture will be a big help.
Tressa Nawyn and Kristin Slaybaugh work at senior support services, which helps seniors experiencing homelessness.
“Even that first month’s rent and deposit can be a barrier once you get a place, and so then furniture is not even on the table,” Slaybaugh said. “This has been filling a need that we’ve been looking for in Denver for a long time.”
Nawyn said the ability to pick out furniture, rather than just taking a single donation, can go a long way for people without many options in their day-to-day life.
Senior Support Services’ Tressa Nawyn (left) and Kristin Slaybaugh stand inside the new On The House furniture bank in Sunnyside. June 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“A lot of times when folks are in the systems that they’re in, they don’t have a lot of options and agency and choice,” Nawyn said. “There’s not a lot of choice in even locations where they can live because subsidized housing tends to only be in certain locations, and so I think as much as we can give folks autonomy and the ability to choose things, we should be doing that.”
Zahreddine, On the House’s founder, said she sees all this as the next step in the city’s homelessness work, which has focused largely on getting people off the streets and indoors.
“We can give people roofs, we can put people in apartments,” she said. “It’s shelter, but that’s not acceptable. Furniture is dignity.”
On The House furniture bank founder EmilyJane Zahreddine speaks as she opens her new space in Sunnyside. June 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
NEWBURYPORT — Anna Jaques Hospital will award $100,000 in grant money over the next two years to 10 community-based organizations serving the health needs of area residents.
The grants are part of the hospital’s Community Benefits Program to support programs that address community health priorities and help those facing the greatest health inequities within the hospital’s service area, according to a release from Anna Jaques.
Residents of Newburyport, Amesbury, Haverhill, Salisbury and Merrimac will benefit from the funding. Anna Jaques is part of Beth Israel Lahey Health.
The selection criteria for the grants included four major health priorities affecting the community that were identified during the hospital’s most recent Community Health Needs Assessment, completed in 2022: equitable access to care, social determinants of health, mental health and substance use, and chronic/complex conditions.
“By supporting and investing in local organizations that share our goal in addressing the health needs of our region, we improve the quality of life for local residents while strengthening the communities that we serve,” Glenn Focht, M.D., the hospital’s president, said in the release.
“We are proud to support these local organizations and the important work they do to reduce health disparities and inequities throughout our region,” he added.
The following 10 nonprofit organizations will receive two-year grants of $5,000 per year, for a total of $10,000:
Common Ground Ministries: This program provides basic services aimed at alleviating hunger and homelessness while being an advocate for those in need. The grant will help 90 to 100 people who the program serves each day.
Mitch’s Place, Emmaus, Inc.: This temporary overnight emergency shelter provides adults with a bed, meals, and housing search and employment assistance along with help securing permanent housing and health and social services. The money will help the shelter serve the 400 people it assists annually.
McKinney-Vento Program, Haverhill Public Schools: The grant will fund food programs, including food closets and a food pantry program, for families whose children attend Haverhill Public Schools and are experiencing homelessness. The program seeks to help an additional 40 students and up to 15% more families.
Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center, Youth Empowerment Series: This series provides violence prevention programs that teach students of all ages to lead conversations on healthy relationships and to make positive decisions. The money will fund expansion of the series into Newburyport, allowing the program to serve an additional 100 to 150 participants.
Link House: Children and Teen Center for Help (CATCH): CATCH seeks to empower and support those ages 5 to 18 and their families across the region to understand and nurture their mental well-being. The funding will help to increase the number of young people served by 10%.
Northern Essex Elder Transport (NEET): This volunteer driver program provides adults age 60 and older across the region with no-cost transportation to medical appointments. The funding will support the 4,000 rides provided to 500 people annually.
Nourishing the Northshore: VEGOUT program: This program provides free fresh, locally grown produce to food pantries and senior centers across the region from June to October. The money will help provide 280,000 servings of food — a 55% increase from 2023.
Our Neighbors’ Table: Wednesday Meal Program: The grant will assist this weekly community program based in Amesbury, which provides a hot, three-course meal served by volunteers or as carry-out orders to 300 people each Wednesday.
The Pettengill House: Behavioral Event and Substance Support Team (BESST): The money will provide a social worker and support for people and families with mental health and substance abuse needs in Merrimac, Salisbury, Amesbury and Newburyport. The program assisted 462 people in 321 households in 2023.
Sarah’s Place Adult Health Center: This senior adult day health program offers outreach and education to assist people in remaining healthy and independent in their own homes. The funding will help enroll an additional 25 to 50 participants in the program.
This November, Bay Area voters could decide on an unprecedented bond measure to raise up to $20 billion for as many as 90,000 desperately needed affordable homes across the nine-county region.
Ahead of a crucial vote by a regional agency next week to put the measure on the ballot, the mayors of three of the Bay Area’s largest cities gathered in San Francisco on Thursday to rally support for the proposal.
“If you’re concerned about homelessness, this is the measure to support,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said. “If you’re concerned about the high cost of housing and the high cost of living, this is the measure to support.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín were also at the event, held at an affordable housing complex near the Chase Center arena in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood.
Absent was Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who was a no-show after the FBI raided her home early Thursday morning.
Across the Bay Area, some 1.4 million residents — 23% of all renters — spend more than half their income on rent, according to regional officials. Meanwhile, an estimated 37,000 people in the region are homeless on any given night — more than the entire population of Menlo Park.
To alleviate the region’s chronic affordable housing shortage, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, established by the state legislature in 2019, has worked for years to put the bond measure on the ballot. The measure now needs approval from the finance authority’s board — made up of local elected and appointed officials — on June 26 before going to voters.
While the board is expected to approve the measure, there remains some uncertainty about the final bond amount. The financing authority has proposed either $10 billion or $20 billion.
The bond would be funded by a new tax on businesses and homes. For a $20 billion bond, the tax would come to $19 per $100,000, or about $190 a year for a home with an assessed value of $1 million.
The vote comes as the state is pushing Bay Area cities and counties to approve more than 441,000 new homes by 2031, a roughly 15% increase in the region’s total housing stock. More than half of the new homes must be affordable to low- and middle-income residents.
On Thursday, Breed said that soaring interest rates and other economic headwinds currently holding back construction underscore the need for more affordable-housing funding.
“How are we going to get the much-needed affordable housing units done without the financial support?” she asked.
Some mayors also pointed to the shrinking role the federal government has played in subsidizing affordable housing in recent decades as a reason the measure is needed.
“Local mayors are right to complain,” U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat representing the South Bay, said in an interview.
Khanna said he supports the bond measure, adding that if President Joe Biden is reelected, he plans to push the administration to make housing a high priority.
If approved, a $20 billion bond measure would allocate $4 billion to creating a regional fund to finance affordable projects. The rest would be split among the Bay Area’s nine counties and five of its largest cities to determine how to boost affordable housing.
Santa Clara County would receive $2.4 billion, San Mateo County $2.1 billion, Alameda County $2 billion and Contra Costa County $1.9 billion. San Francisco would see $2.4 billion, San Jose $2.1 billion and Oakland $765 million.
A recent report by researchers with the housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners found the bond could help build 433 already-approved affordable projects totaling more than 40,000 units, many of which lack enough funding to complete. That includes more than 10,000 units in both Santa Clara and Alameda counties. Officials estimate the bond would also help build tens of thousands more new units.
Affordable housing is reserved for those earning less than a specified amount, generally a percentage of an area’s median income. That can be as much as 120% of the median income or as low as 15% or 30%. In Santa Clara County, 30% of the median income is $38,750 for a single person, according to the state housing department. Residents typically spend about 30% of their income on housing costs, though the amount can vary.
Local officials could also use the bond money to help build homeless shelters, including tiny homes, motel conversions, group shelters and managed-encampment sites.
Earlier this year, San Jose, which under Mahan has made building new shelters the centerpiece of its homelessness response, agreed to spend about 28% of its potential bond money on shelter options. In an interview, Mahan said affordable housing is too expensive and takes too long to build to be the primary strategy to fight homelessness.
“I’m not going to support an approach that’s only going to support one strategy, especially one that’s the slowest to get people off the streets,” Mahan, a voting member of the finance authority board, said in an interview.
As it stands now, the bond measure would need a two-thirds majority of all Bay Area voters to pass. However, if a measure on the same November ballot to make it easier to pass tax measures is approved, the bond measure would need only 55% approval.
Still, despite widespread agreement among voters that the region needs to build more affordable housing, the bond measure’s passage is no guarantee. According to a survey last week by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank, 64% of voters statewide said it’s a bad time to issue bonds for state programs and infrastructure projects as the state and local governments work to close budget shortfalls.
“I call on my fellow mayors in the Bay Area and all of the voters of the Bay Area to get behind this housing bond and to work hard to pass it in November,” he said, “because the impact this will have on the region will be transformative for years to come.”
Authorities force a cleanup of an encampment at 4th Avenue and Kalamath Street. April 25, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Does giving direct cash payments to people experiencing homelessness help alleviate poverty?
A one-year study following around 800 participants in Denver, one of the largest studies of its kind, says yes.
The Denver Basic Income Project is reporting “significant improvements in housing outcomes” among its participants, according to results released by researchers from University of Denver on Tuesday.
The study found that about 45 percent of original participants, all of whom were unhoused at the start, were living in their own house or apartment one year into the program.
Researchers also found that direct cash payments can lead to cost savings for public dollars, with participants reducing their use of public services and visits to places like emergency rooms and shelters.
What is basic income?
Universal basic income — cash payments to people living in poverty, no strings attached — has taken off as an idea among some philanthropists and politicians in recent years.
Denver’s nearly $10 million pilot project began in 2021, funded with a mix of private donations and $4 million from the city. DU’s study is one of the largest looking into the efficacy of the idea.
“Our current social safety net is really built on a more paternalistic type of set of rules and expectations for people,” said Mark Donovan, founder and executive director of Denver Basic Income Project. “When we approach people and say to them, ‘We believe in you. We trust you,’ at first they don’t believe us because they’re so used to being let down. But when we actually start delivering the unconditional cash, even in small amounts … we see this wall of distrust lowered quickly, and we create a platform for change.”
How the Denver Basic Income Project worked
Program leaders worked with local nonprofits to connect with eligible participants, who must have been unhoused and without severe, unaddressed substance abuse or mental health issues.
Participants were also chosen to reflect the racial and gender demographics of people experiencing homelessness, where a number of minority groups are overrepresented.
They were then randomly split into three groups.
Group A received $1,000 per month. Group B received $6,500 upfront and $500 per monthly moving forward. Group C, the control group, received $50 monthly.
Researchers reported that participants largely spent money on things like transportation, hygiene, groceries, housing, health care and debt.
“We know that unhoused people use resources in the same way housed people do – to cover basic needs — and we’ve seen this program bring relief, peace of mind, and stronger paths to stability to the participants we’ve enrolled,” said Cathy Alderman, chief communications and public policy officer with Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, in a statement Tuesday.
So, what did we learn?
The study found that the percentage of participants in stable housing approximately doubled within 10 months in all three groups, a statistically significant result according to researchers.
Data Source: Denver Basic Income Project
All three groups also saw reductions in accessing public services, another statistically significant result.
Data Source: Denver Basic Income Project
Participants also reported an increase in overall financial well-being and an increase in full-time employment.
Researchers also looked at a number of other factors including sleep quality, food insecurity, anxiety, parenting stress, transportation resources and more, with full qualitative and quantitative results released online.
Overall, the study found that the probability of experiencing homelessness decreased for all through groups while receiving cash payments for 12 months.
Chart courtesy: Denver Basic Income Project
“The most impact it had on me was a promising future, versus before, it wasn’t looking so good,” said one anonymous participant quoted in the report. “It’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and before, I was kinda lost. It just really gave me some hope.”
What’s next for Denver’s universal basic income experiment?
The program was extended for a second year, thanks in part to a $2 million infusion from the city.
Donovan said he hopes to see the program sustain funding in Denver for a third year, while also replicating the study in other cities to test the ability to scale universal basic income.
Sustained funding remains a challenge. The program needs another $2 million to fill out its second year, while also fundraising $8 million with the hope of running for a third year.
Ultimately, Donovan wants to see universal basic income incorporated into public policy.
“The first year we see is creating a sense of stability, but we’re already seeing the housing incomes continue to improve month to month, and we believe that the second year, and even beyond, can be even more profoundly transformational,” Donovan said. “We know what happens when benefits are eliminated, and we know about the benefits cliff, but we don’t know what it looks like when you sustain an income floor.”
MINNEAPOLIS — This Father’s Day, a Minnesota woman is giving hope to dads experiencing homelessness in the Twin Cities.
Tynika Smith, or Ms. T as she’s affectionately known in the community, put on a barbecue at Peavy Field Park in Minneapolis for those without a place to go.
She also gave out clothing and hygiene products.
Smith provides other holiday meals throughout the year but says Sunday was extra special.
“But on a Father’s Day, they’re well, they’re excited. They’re like, ‘We don’t get thought about.’ And having them come to the park and eat sealed it,” Smith said.
Smith also thanked the Bloomington and Richfield communities for helping with donations.
A U.S. bankruptcy judge has rejected a request from embattled Los Angeles developer Shangri-La Industries for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for three motel properties in Redlands, Thousand Oaks and Salinas intended for homeless housing.
Shangri-La filed a petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose on April 29 in a move to block foreclosure of and/or financial restructuring on the former Good Nite Inn in Redlands, the former Quality Inn & Suites in Thousand Oaks and the former Sanborn Inn in Salinas.
The three projects, funded under California’s Homekey program launched in June 2020 to protect unhoused individuals from the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, entailed redeveloping the motels for homeless housing.
Shangri-La’s petition also sought bankruptcy protection for a fourth motel conversion project at a former Travelodge in San Ysidro funded under the state Community Care Expansion program.
Cody Holmes, former chief financial officer for Los Angeles developer Shangri-La Industries, and his alleged ex-girlfriend, Madeline Witt, have been sued by Shangri-La, which alleges Holmes embezzled millions of dollars from the company, some of which was earmarked for state-funded motel conversion projects to house the homeless, and used the money to finance a luxurious lifestyle for himself and Witt. (Courtesy photo)
Adolfo Gomringer, proprietor of Monrovia-based AG Flooring, Inc., poses in front of the Step Up San Bernardino building on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. Gomringer and his team dedicated their efforts to the homeless housing project from March 2021 to Dec. 2022, yet they remain uncompensated, with Shangri-La Industries owing him $93,000. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Tod Lipka, president and CEO of Step Up, delivers a speech during the unveiling of Step Up San Bernardino at the former All Star Lodge in San Bernardino on Thursday, March 16, 2023. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
The Good Nite Inn in Redlands, seen here in 2021, was converted in 2022 to a 98-room homeless shelter with the help of $30 million in state Homekey funds. The location is now called Step Up in Redlands. (File photo by Jennifer Iyer, Redlands Daily Facts/SCNG)
The front exterior view of Step Up San Bernardino, a new permanent supportive housing for chronically unhoused seniors at the repurposed former All Star Lodge in San Bernardino on Thursday, March 16, 2023. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Bad faith
In orders handed down on May 15 and June 5, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge M. Elaine Hammond concluded that Shangri-La acted in bad faith when it failed to get written authorization from its partner on the projects, Step Up on Second, to seek bankruptcy protection.
“I find that the totality of circumstances support a finding of bad faith that warrants dismissal of the bankruptcy case,” Hammond said in her May 15 orders regarding the Redlands and Salinas properties. Similar findings were determined in orders handed down on the Thousand Oaks and San Ysidro properties on June 5, court records show.
Step Up on Second is a Santa Monica-based nonprofit that provides support services for the homeless, and is also serving as the property manager at the former Good Nite Inn, now called Step Up in Redlands. Step Up also partnered with Shangri-La on six other Homekey-funded projects, including Step Up in San Bernardino, a former All Star Lodge that opened in March 2023 to provide housing for chronically homeless senior citizens.
Step Up in Redlands and Step Up in San Bernardino are the only two of the seven Homekey-funded projects now housing homeless residents that are fully operating. The fate of the project in Thousand Oaks, three projects in Salinas and one in King City remains uncertain.
Developer blames Step Up
Los Angeles attorney Brian A. Sun, who represents Shangri-La, blamed Step Up for blocking its efforts to restructure the financing of the three projects on which the developer was seeking bankruptcy protection.
“Step Up inexplicably withheld its consent, thereby thwarting our efforts to refinance and restructure the financing of the projects and their completion,” Sun said in a telephone interview on Friday, June 14. He said Shangri-La is still pushing to refinance or restructure the financing on all three projects so they can be completed as envisioned.
Profit interest sold
Shangri-La representatives argued in motions filed in bankruptcy court that the developer was authorized to file for bankruptcy because Step Up was no longer its partner in the Homekey projects.
Shangri-La maintains it executed a profit interest purchase agreement with Step Up in November 2022, and that Step Up subsequently sold its interest in the Homekey projects to Shangri-La for more than $2.7 million.
From November 2022 to January 2023, Shangri-La Industries and Step Up used loan proceeds intended for one of the Homekey-funded motel projects in Salinas, at the former Salinas Inn on Fairview Avenue, to fund two of three scheduled buyout payments to Step Up totaling $2,742,346, according to a motion filed by Jonathan Shenson, an attorney for Shangri-La.
Given that Step Up sold its future profit interests on the seven Homekey projects, the nonprofit was no longer a partner of Shangri-La, and therefore the developer was authorized to file its bankruptcy petition, Shenson said in his motion.
In her order granting dismissal, Hammond determined that Shangri-La’s argument was incomplete.
“Based on the limited information provided, the indications are that debtor’s filings are an unfair manipulation of the bankruptcy code,” Hammond said in her order.
Step Up responds
Tod Lipka, Step Up’s president and chief executive officer, said its reasons for selling its interests in future profits from the Homekey projects were essentially two-fold: it needed to cover operating expenses and provide services to the Redlands and San Bernardino Homekey-funded properties, and also needed money to fund numerous other projects in 2023.
“In 2022 we realized we were going to be doing significant things in 2023. We had numerous housing projects opening and were going to be housing numerous people like we never had before,” Lipka said.
Those projects, Lipka said, not only included ones across California, but at least one state-funded project in Fulton County, Georgia, to house homeless individuals in apartments.
Step Up continues to provide homeless services to residents at the Homekey-funded motels in Redlands and San Bernardino, and maintains an ownership stake in those projects, Lipka said.
“Just because we sold our (profit) interest doesn’t mean we sold out ownership in the project,” Lipka said. “We were essentially giving up that future revenue.”
He said the $2.7 million valuation was based on an “aggregate present value” of all seven Homekey projects.
Shangri-La, Lipka said, has not paid Step Up for providing its services in Redlands and San Bernardino since operations began at the motels in January and March 2023, respectively. The nonprofit provides and pays for case managers for tenants, security and staffing, he said.
“We had to cover the services of those projects that we are not getting reimbursed for by Shangri-La,” Lipka said. He said Shangri-La owes Step Up $1.5 million for services rendered to date, and he questions where all that money went.
“We’re only beginning to discover the extent of the alleged fraud and deception committed by Shangri-La,” Lipka said.
Unpaid contractors
Problems began surfacing for Shangri-La last year, when a Southern California News Group investigation revealed that contractors on the Redlands and San Bernardino Homekey projects filed more than $2 million in mechanics liens over unpaid work on those projects.
It was later revealed that dozens of liens totaling millions of dollars had also been filed at recorders’ offices in Ventura and Monterey counties by contractors and lenders that were not paid for Homekey-funded projects in those areas.
On April 16, the Redlands City Council terminated its Homekey agreement with Shangri-La amid allegations by the state Department of Housing and Community Development that the developer misappropriated $114 million in Homekey funds.
In February, Shangri-La sued its former chief financial officer, Cody Holmes, seeking $40 million in damages. The lawsuit alleges Holmes embezzled millions from the company, including funds intended for its Homekey projects, and engaged in bank fraud and check kiting in 2022 and 2023 with Shangri-La’s lenders, banks and brokers.
Holmes, according to the lawsuit, allegedly transferred vast sums of company cash and property to bank accounts and shell companies he controlled and to his former girlfriend, Madeline Witt, a defendant in the lawsuit.
Holmes, according to the lawsuit, used the money to host extravagant parties, travel on private jets, and lease exotic cars — including a 2021 Bentley Bentayga and a Ferrari Portofino. He also purchased high-dollar luxury items for himself and Witt, including two Birken handbags valued at nearly $128,000, Chanel and Louis Vuitton handbags valued at more than $14,000, a $127,000 Riviera diamond necklace, a $35,000 Audemars Piguet diamond watch, and 20 VIP passes for the 2023 Coachella Music and Arts Festival valued at more than $53,000.
More than a dozen lawsuits
From June 2023 to January 2024, a total of 15 lawsuits and other legal actions were filed against Shangri-La by lenders and contractors in Northern and Southern California, including the state’s lawsuit pending in Los Angeles County.
It prompted attorneys for Shangri-La to file a petition in March with the Judicial Council of California to coordinate all the cases so they are heard in Los Angeles. The next hearing on the state’s case, as well as on Shangri’s petition to coordinate all the cases, will be held on Monday, June 17, in Los Angeles Superior Court before Judge David S. Cunningham III.
Defaults and setbacks
A motion filed in bankruptcy court by Arixa Institutional Lending Partners LLC noted that the lender extended a $12 million loan, with a secured note, to Shangri-La in June 2022 for the acquisition and upgrade of the former Good Nite Inn in Redlands.
The maturity date of the note was Jan. 1, 2024. But as of April 18, Shangri-La still had not made good on its loan, owing Arixa no less than $13.8 million, including $1.7 million in interest fees and nearly $44,000 in foreclosure fees, according to the motion.
Redlands spokesman Carl Baker said the city continues to work with Arixa, which has agreed to work with the city on finding a buyer willing to continue providing housing to the homeless at the motel.
“Arixa and the city are working collaboratively on finding a new buyer for the property,” Baker said. “Our intention is to continue the operation of the property as it has been operating.”
In April, Step Up in Redlands was housing 132 formerly homeless residents, Assistant City Manager Chris Boatman said at the time.
Court battle
Shangri-La’s failed attempts at bankruptcy changes how the investigation into alleged wrongdoing by the developer is handled, said Adam Stein-Sapir, a bankruptcy expert at the New York City-based Pioneer Funding Group.
“In bankruptcy, it would be done by a court-appointed trustee and their counsel. Out of bankruptcy, it will be in state court through the litigation already started by the state … plus any additional cases likely to pop up,” Stein-Sapir said. “In short, in bankruptcy it’s a bit more organized and streamlined; out of court it’s more like an octopus of litigation with each arm being steered by a different captain.”
He said the state attorneys will definitely use the fact that the bankruptcy cases were dismissed to show that another court has seen it their way.
“Admittedly it wasn’t after a trial on the merits, it was just a judge looking at a contract and some preliminary documents, but it’s good enough to include in argument,” Stein-Sapir said.
In a dreary part of downtown Atlanta, shipping containers have been transformed into an oasis for dozens of previously unsheltered people who now proudly call a former parking lot home.
The gated micro community known as “The Melody” doesn’t look like a parking lot anymore. Artificial turf is spread across the asphalt. Potted plants and red Adirondack chairs abound. There’s even a dog park.
The shipping containers have been divided into 40 insulated studio apartments that include a single bed, HVAC unit, desk, microwave, small refrigerator, TV, sink and bathroom. On a recent afternoon, a half-dozen residents were chatting around a table in The Melody’s smoking area.
The gated micro community known as “The Melody” is a housing complex made from shipping containers.
John Bazemore / AP
“I’m just so grateful,” said Cynthia Diamond, a 61-year-old former line cook who uses a wheelchair and used to be chronically homeless. “I have my own door key. I ain’t got to worry about nobody knocking on my door, telling me when to eat, sleep or do anything. I’m going to stay here as long as the Lord allows me to stay here.”
Faced with years of rising homelessness rates and failed solutions, city officials across the U.S. have been embracing rapid housing options emphasizing three factors: small, quick and cheap. Officials believe micro communities, unlike shelters, offer stability that, when combined with wraparound services, can more effectively put residents on the path to secure housing.
Sprouting across nation
Denver has opened three micro communities and converted another five hotels for people who used to be homeless. In Austin, Texas, there are three villages of “tiny homes.” In Los Angeles, a 232-unit complex features two three-floor buildings of stacked shipping containers.
“Housing is a ladder. You start with the very first rung. Folks that are literally sleeping on the ground aren’t even on the first rung,” said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, sitting in one of the city’s new micro communities that offer tiny, transitional homes for that first rung.
More than 1,500 people have been moved indoors through the program, with over 80% still in the housing as of last month, according to city data. The inexpensive units are particularly a boon for cities with high housing costs, where moving that many people directly into apartments wouldn’t be financially feasible.
Both Atlanta’s and Denver’s program act as a stepping stone as they work to get people jobs and more permanent housing, with Denver aiming to move people out within six months.
That includes Eric Martinez, 28, who has been in limbo between the street and the bottom rung for most of his life. At birth Martinez was flung into the revolving door of foster care, and he’s wrestled with substance use while surfing couches and pitching tents.
Eric Martinez, 28, who has wrestled with substance abuse most of his life, was directed into a micro community after his Denver tent encampment was swept by the city.
Thomas Peipert / AP
“It’s kind of demeaning, it makes me feel less of a person,” said Martinez, his eyes downcast. “I had to get out of it and look out for myself at that point: It’s fight or flight, and I flew.”
Martinez’s Denver tent encampment was swept and he along with the others were directed into the micro communities of small cabin-like structures with a twin bed, desk and closet. The city built three such communities with nearly 160 units total in about six months, at roughly $25,000 per unit, said Johnston. The 1,000 converted hotel units cost about $100,000 each.
On site at the micro community are bathrooms, showers, washing machines, small dog parks and kitchens, though the Salvation Army delivers meals.
The program represents an about-face from policies that for years focused on short-term group shelters and the ceaseless shuffle of encampments from one city block to the next. That system made it difficult to keep people who were scattered through the city connected to services and on the path to permanent housing.
Martinez sits outside his room, one of the micro community’s160 small, cabin-like structures equipped with a twin bed, desk and closet.
Thomas Peipert / AP
Those services in Denver’s and Atlanta’s micro communities are largely centralized. They offer residents case management, counseling, mental health and substance abuse therapy, housing guidance and assistance obtaining anything from vocational skills training to a new pair of dentures.
“We’re able to meet every level of the hierarchy of needs — from security and shelter, all the way up to self-actualization and the sense of community,” said Peter Cumiskey, the Atlanta site clinician.
The Melody, and projects like it, are a “very promising, feasible and cost-effective way” to tackle homelessness, said Michael Rich, an Emory University political science professor who studies housing policy. Rich noted that transitional housing is still just the first step toward permanent housing.
The programs in Denver and Atlanta, taking inspiration from similar ones in cities like Columbia, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, offer a degree of privacy and security not found in congregate shelters or encampments.
Giving each resident their own bathroom and kitchen is a crucial feature that helps set The Melody apart, said Cathryn Vassell, whose nonprofit, Partners For Home, oversees the micro community. Aside from a prohibition on overnight guests, staff emphasize the tenants are treated as independent residents.
Vassell acknowledged it’s unclear how long the containers will last — she’s hoping 20 years. But, she said, they were the right choice for The Melody because they were relatively inexpensive and already had handicap-accessible bathrooms since many were used by Georgia hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project, which took only about four months to complete, cost about $125,000 per unit — not “tremendously inexpensive,” Vassell said, but less than traditional construction, and much quicker. Staffing and security operations cost about $900,000 a year.
City officials look to expand rapid housing
The Melody is the first part of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ target of supplying 500 units of rapid housing on city-owned land by December 2025. A 2023 “point-in-time” count found there were 738 unsheltered people in Atlanta, far fewer than many cities, but still an increase over the previous year.
“We need more Melodies as fast as possible,” said Courtney English, the mayor’s chief policy officer.
Few objected when The Melody was announced last year, but as city officials seek to expand the rapid-housing footprint, they know local pushback is likely. That’s what Denver faced.
Mayor Johnston said he attended at least 60 town halls in six months as Denver tried to identify locations for the new communities and faced pushback from local residents worried about trash and safety.
“What they are worried about is their current experience of unsheltered homelessness,” Johnston said. “We had to get them to see not the world as it used to exist, but the world as it could exist, and now we have the proof points of what that could be.”
Prepped for a move at a moment’s notice
The scars of life on the street still stick with Martinez. All his belongings are prepped for a move at a moment’s notice, even though he feels secure in his tiny home alongside his cat, Appa.
The community has been “very uplifting and supporting,” he said, pausing. “You don’t get that a lot.”
On his wall is a calendar with a job orientation penciled in. The next step is working with staff to get a housing voucher for an apartment.
“I’m always looking down on myself for some reason,” he said. But “I feel like I’ve been doing a pretty good job. Everyone is pretty proud of me.”
This new facility will help expand their residential programs to help families find affordable housing, establish a food pantry and a clinic. It will also house 82 people.
“We have a bulk of uncounted families sleeping in the cars or couch surfing with family members and friends,” said Talbot House Ministries executive director Maria Cruz. “So we want to tackle the need of this population.”
Twice a week you’ll find Cruz helping pack boxes of food at the ministry’s pantry.
“It’s a very significant service that we provide, we know that food insecurity is a big reason why people become homeless,” she said. “We have the working class people that are struggling to just be able to pay the rent.”
Right now, Polk County has over 600 people that are homeless, according to the homeless coalition of Polk County. So, Cruz says anything they can help with goes a long way.
“Our primary service that is used is the emergency shelter. We are serving over 120 and 130 individuals any given night of the year,” she said.
Bringing services to Winter Haven, Cruz says, will hopefully create a brighter future for more people.
Talbot House Ministries will begin renovation of the purchased property in the next few months with the goal of opening early next year.
“People who have served our country, have risked their lives and limbs often come back and have a hard time finding their way,” Johnston said. “And one of the most significant ways that they struggle is getting access to housing.”
How many unsheltered veterans are there?
There are currently 52 unsheltered veterans experiencing homelessness in Denver, according to the city’s data.
The city has been tracking the number of unhoused veterans with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Johnston said he sees 52 as a manageable number of people to bring inside and put on the pathway to housing.
Of those, 30 percent are already in the process of searching for housing.
Another 230 veterans are experiencing homelessness but living in shelter, according to Jamie Rife, the head of the Department of Housing Stability.
House1000 and All in Mile High, the efforts to bring 2,000 people indoors by the end of the year, laid the groundwork for the veteran-specific work, Johnston said.
“As the numbers on the streets have gotten smaller and smaller, it’s easier for us to focus more and more closely on those remaining who are still veterans,” he said.
How will it work?
The goal is to reach a state Johnston calls “functional zero.”
“Functional Zero means there are more exits for veterans who are unsheltered into housing each month than there are folks that are currently experiencing homelessness are entering it,” he said.
The first step will be to bring unsheltered veterans inside to stable shelter. After they are indoors, they will be given high-quality case management.
The Denver Housing Authority has found ways to expedite housing for veterans,
If all goes as planned, “We will be the largest American city to make sure that no veteran who served this country sleeps outside on the streets,” Johnston said.
Businesses and customers in Sacramento’s Downtown Commons area said they have major concerns about homelessness and crime – and their worries are only growing.The Starbucks near 7th and K streets at DOCO permanently closed on May 20, according to a spokesperson. While the company would not give a specific reason why the store shut down, it sent KCRA 3 the following statement:“As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate our store portfolio, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers. We do not take the decision to close stores lightly. Our relationship with our customers is deeply personal, and we are honored to have been their Third Place.”Frequent customers Daniele Barker and Richard Clutter, who both live in Sacramento, were shocked to see a sign on the Starbucks door Friday that said, “Sorry we missed you,” followed by, “This store is permanently closed. We look forward to welcoming you at another location.”“We were trying to come and get an iced coffee because this is a great location for us when we’re down here,” Barker said. “We come down here at least twice, maybe three times a week… I’m sad to see them close.While the specific cause of the closure is still a mystery, Clutter said he has an idea why it shut down. Clutter said he was unhoused at one point, but he added that what he has seen the unhoused do in the DOCO area likely affected Starbucks and still impacts other businesses in the area. DOCO businesses did not want to go on camera, but several of them told KCRA 3 that homelessness at DOCO is getting worse. The businesses said that the unhoused people coming onto their properties, asking for money and food, and leaving a mess are driving customers away.Residents, including Sacramento resident Kendall Banks, said security at DOCO is a concern too. While security guards and Sacramento Police Department officers are seen in the area, many say it is not enough.KCRA 3 Investigates looked at where violent crimes happened downtown in 2023. Most were reported near DOCO.In response to KCRA 3’s inquires about police enforcement of the unhoused in the DOCO area, a spokesperson for the Sacramento Police Department responded by saying that “DOCO has their own security team that handles the property and calls PD if needed.”Police also said the city’s Incident Management Team responds to calls regarding the unhoused.“It’s definitely sad to see in the city that businesses feel like they have to close down due to their surrounding circumstances, for sure. You hate to see it,” Banks said. “You can only do so much. I know that nobody wants to close doors.”A Starbucks spokesperson said the company is working with Worked United to “collaborate on next steps, including transfer options, for the 7 partners (employees)” who worked at the DOCO Starbucks.KCRA 3 reached out to DOCO staff, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Visit Sacramento, the City of Sacramento’s Nighttime Economy Manager, District 4 City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela and the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce to ask about the concerns brought up by DOCO businesses and customers. As of Friday evening, we have not received direct comment. While the City of Sacramento would not comment specifically about the Starbucks closure or the issues at DOCO, a spokesperson sent KCRA 3 the following statement:“The City of Sacramento encourages investments of all types and looks forward to the launch of any new business that provides community benefit and contributes to the overall vibrancy of the area.”
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Businesses and customers in Sacramento’s Downtown Commons area said they have major concerns about homelessness and crime – and their worries are only growing.
The Starbucks near 7th and K streets at DOCO permanently closed on May 20, according to a spokesperson. While the company would not give a specific reason why the store shut down, it sent KCRA 3 the following statement:
“As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate our store portfolio, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers. We do not take the decision to close stores lightly. Our relationship with our customers is deeply personal, and we are honored to have been their Third Place.”
Frequent customers Daniele Barker and Richard Clutter, who both live in Sacramento, were shocked to see a sign on the Starbucks door Friday that said, “Sorry we missed you,” followed by, “This store is permanently closed. We look forward to welcoming you at another location.”
“We were trying to come and get an iced coffee because this is a great location for us when we’re down here,” Barker said. “We come down here at least twice, maybe three times a week… I’m sad to see them close.
While the specific cause of the closure is still a mystery, Clutter said he has an idea why it shut down.
Clutter said he was unhoused at one point, but he added that what he has seen the unhoused do in the DOCO area likely affected Starbucks and still impacts other businesses in the area.
DOCO businesses did not want to go on camera, but several of them told KCRA 3 that homelessness at DOCO is getting worse.
The businesses said that the unhoused people coming onto their properties, asking for money and food, and leaving a mess are driving customers away.
Residents, including Sacramento resident Kendall Banks, said security at DOCO is a concern too. While security guards and Sacramento Police Department officers are seen in the area, many say it is not enough.
In response to KCRA 3’s inquires about police enforcement of the unhoused in the DOCO area, a spokesperson for the Sacramento Police Department responded by saying that “DOCO has their own security team that handles the property and calls PD if needed.”
Police also said the city’s Incident Management Team responds to calls regarding the unhoused.
“It’s definitely sad to see in the city that businesses feel like they have to close down due to their surrounding circumstances, for sure. You hate to see it,” Banks said. “You can only do so much. I know that nobody wants to close doors.”
A Starbucks spokesperson said the company is working with Worked United to “collaborate on next steps, including transfer options, for the 7 partners (employees)” who worked at the DOCO Starbucks.
KCRA 3 reached out to DOCO staff, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Visit Sacramento, the City of Sacramento’s Nighttime Economy Manager, District 4 City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela and the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce to ask about the concerns brought up by DOCO businesses and customers.
As of Friday evening, we have not received direct comment.
While the City of Sacramento would not comment specifically about the Starbucks closure or the issues at DOCO, a spokesperson sent KCRA 3 the following statement:
“The City of Sacramento encourages investments of all types and looks forward to the launch of any new business that provides community benefit and contributes to the overall vibrancy of the area.”
San Mateo County’s homeless population spiked 18% over the last two years, according to the latest official estimate, even as local officials added around 300 shelter beds to help people get off the street.
The tally released Wednesday identified 2,130 homeless people countywide. More than half lived outdoors, in vehicles or in other places not meant for habitation. The rest stayed in shelters.
Despite the increase, local officials credited the opening of two shelters in Redwood City and San Mateo with boosting the number of homeless people with a roof over their heads. The county found 985 people were staying in shelters, a 38% jump from 2022.
“This means fewer individuals in less safe situations such as on the street or in tents,” Claire Cunningham, director of the county’s Human Services Agency, said in a statement. “And shelters provide case management and supportive services to help residents move toward permanent housing.”
The new numbers stem from the county’s latest biennial “Point-In-Time” homelessness census, taken by a team of volunteers and service providers on a single night in January.
Across the Bay Area, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties also conducted counts early this year. Alameda County recently reported its homeless population had dipped by 3% to 9,450 people, though Oakland’s population swelled by 9%. San Francisco, meanwhile, saw its number of homeless residents rise 7% to more than 8,300.
Contra Costa County’s numbers are expected soon, while Santa Clara County, which took its tally last year, will not count again until 2025.
The estimates, despite widely seen as an undercount, are crucial to helping cities and counties plan their homelessness response and determine how much state and federal funding they can expect receive.
Despite unprecedented billions of public dollars spent in recent years to combat homelessness, getting people off the streets remains a grave challenge as rising housing costs, job losses, and mental health and addiction issues force others out.
Since 2017, San Mateo County’s homeless population has risen 70%, mirroring a broader statewide increase over the past decade. Still, county officials said they are determined to achieve their goal of “functional zero” homelessness, meaning ensuring that when people fall into homelessness, they are quickly helped into shelter or housing.
“This confirms our work is never done and we remain committed to helping as many of our unhoused residents who are willing to accept it,” County Executive Officer Mike Callagy said in a statement.
Earlier this year, the county adopted an ordinance to levy criminal penalties against homeless people who refuse shelter, though only for those in unincorporated areas, an estimated 114 residents. Homeless people sometimes turn down shelter for a range of personal reasons, from health and safety concerns to a reluctance to follow curfews. County officials say they hope the ordinance, which homeless advocates have condemned as cruel, can be a model for cities throughout the Peninsula.
Across San Mateo County, the count identified 1,145 homeless people without shelter, a 5% increase from 2022. Of that number, 70% lived in their cars, vans or RVs. The rest of those identified as homeless had some type of shelter.
Redwood City, where the county opened a 240-unit shelter and navigation center last year, had the most homeless residents with 189, down from 245 two years ago. Pacifica had the second most with 180, followed by San Mateo with 95.
LAKELAND, Fla. — According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, youth who age out of foster care often lose the support and stability provided by the system, leading to a high risk of homelessness.
What You Need To Know
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and urban development, youth who age out of foster care often lose the support and stability provided by the system, leading to a high risk of homelessness
HUD’s Foster Youth to Independence program made $13 million available for public housing agencies to address this problem
22-year-old Shiane Bunch says she struggled to find housing since aging out of the foster care system about a year ago, but found Swan Lake, an affordable housing community in Lakeland
“Looking for housing, especially without a reference, is a struggle,” said first-time renter Shiane Bunch.
The 22-year-old says she struggled to find housing since aging out of the foster care system about a year ago.
Then she learned about Swan Lake Village, a new affordable housing development by Blue Sky Communities in Lakeland.
“I learned they accept foster kids, and it was section 8, so I thought it was good to get in here and take the chance, and I finally got in,” said Bunch.
She says it’s the best decision she’s made yet as an adult.
“I love it here. It’s beautiful,” said Bunch.
According to the Community Assisted and Supported Living organization (CASL), some young adults who grew up in foster care may not have completed their education or have the necessary skills to secure stable employment.
CASL says this can also be a barrier to securing housing.
This year, HUD’s Foster Youth to Independence program made $13 million available for public housing agencies, like Swan Lake, to address this problem.
Vivianne Vanador, a case manager with CASL, says on-site services at Swan Lake offer extra support, like counseling, to help clients transition from foster care to independent living.
“It’s like they’re still in that frame of mind as a teenager even though they are in their 20s,” said Vanador. “That’s where I come in.”
She helps with things like housing vouchers, finding a job, rides to doctor’s appointments and weekly grocery deliveries.
“I love the support and guidance that I receive here at CASL,” said Bunch, “Living on my own, I do have type one diabetes, so I was a little scared, but they helped me open my mind.”
Bunch says the odds can be stacked against people who’ve been in foster care seeking independence.
“Especially with the rent. How hard it is now, it’s hard to find a place,” she said. “Foster care wasn’t that great of an experience, but it did help me stability-wise.”
Now with stable housing and a new job, Bunch says she can focus on building the future of her dreams.
She hopes to inspire other young people currently in foster care that they can do the same.
OAKLAND — Neighbors can no longer use a stretch of the sidewalk on E. 8th Street, near Fruitvale Avenue in Oakland.
A car was parked on the sidewalk. A tent was also set up, along with other items, that blocked pedestrians from passing through. Pedestrians who live nearby have to walk out into the street to get to and from their homes.
“The kids who are walking to school have to get off the sidewalk because they can’t go through. It’s the only sidewalk since there isn’t one on the other side of the street,” said Hector Hugo.
Hugo worried a car could hit his wife and their two little girls when they were walking in the street.
Neighbors and business owners said it started out with one RV a few months ago but the problem grew over time. A second RV and a couple of cars have since parked on East 8th street between Fruitvale Avenue and 34th Avenue. Residents fear it could soon look like neighboring E. 9th Street, which is filled with RVs and people living in cars.
“I think, on Thursday, we went past that tipping point. It was really bad,” said Everardo Rodriguez, owner of Bay Restorators.
Rodriguez said that, on Thursday, someone vandalized a stolen or abandoned car on the street by throwing a wooden pallet on its hood. Cellphone footage also showed a person using a rock to break the driver-side window.
A short time later, Rodriguez said, a homeless man walked out with what appeared to be an ax in his right hand to confront someone.
City Hall has been notified but no one has cleared the encampment.
“It goes beyond atrocious. It’s deliberate. How can the city not act to eliminate this?” Rodriguez asked.
One man whose uncle lives in a car on the street said he will tell them to clear out the sidewalk so families can use it.
“I’ll make sure that get cleared up. You’re right, kids need to walk by for their safety,” said the man who gave his name as King.
King said RV dwellers don’t want to cause problems but they have nowhere else to go.
“It’s not the homeless people bringing the trash, destroying these businesses and abandoning all these cars,” King said.
Councilman Noel Gallo met with Rodriguez over the safety concerns. Gallo says the city is working to clear the RVs on both E. 8th and E. 9th Streets.
“That’s on the ‘clear list.’ They’ve got to go. This guy that started (the encampment), he’s from Missouri. (That person came from) Canada. (People from) all over the country coming into Oakland because we’re allowing that behavior to happen,” Gallo said.
Neighbors hope the city will act fast.
“This cannot continue because it puts our life in jeopardy,” Rodriguez said.
Da Lin is an award-winning journalist at KPIX 5 News. He joined KPIX 5 in 2012, but has been reporting the news in the Bay Area since 2007. Da grew up in Oakland, and before his return to the Bay Area, he spent five years covering the news at three other television stations in Texas, Southern and Central California. He also spent five years reporting at KRON 4.
MINNEAPOLIS — Residents of the Park Square Condominiums tell WCCO they are convinced that Thursday’s deadly shooting in broad daylight near Lake Street and Blaisdell in Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood, is tied to a recent encampment that now touches the walls of their homes.
“Yes it is related to the encampment, it’s definitely related to the encampment,” said Lisa, who lives in the condominiums.
“This is one of those regrettable situations that should have never happened,” said Raymond Hoffman, Park Square Condominiums President.
The encampment, which residents said has butted against their homes along Blaisdell Avenue for a month now, was previously located across the street, at the old K-Mart site.
“People are scared. Here I’ve got 128 different families in this building,” said Hoffman.
One woman, who has tents right up to her first floor windows, said someone has to be home 24/7 to make sure no one breaks in.
Residents said they have witnessed drug sales, fires, even sexual assault.
“We are the victims, we live here and we’re watching our building get destroyed,” said Lisa.
Lisa and the more than hundred who live here said they want the city’s help with the encampment. It’s a problem acknowledged by Chief O’Hara.
“It’s a very serious problem that people who live in this area have been dealing with, both when the Kmart was here and still now,” said O’Hara.
Hoffman acknowledges the people in the encampments need help, but said they have no right to be in residents’ literal backyards.
“Hospitality for these people is essential, but not when they’re being criminals,” Hoffman.
