Two Meals a Week Cut for Santa Cruz Homeless

May 3 2007

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- In the latest rounds of budget woes, the Santa Cruz Homeless Services Center, in order to balance out the loss of some hoped for grant money, and a food service budget which has caused a deficit for 2 years in a row, the Saturday and Sunday afternoon dinners will be cut along with staffing cuts, and fewer hours of service.

"They are taking the cuts right out of the homeless," said James Sherman, who is homeless himself, but volunteers at the center. "They used to have three mental health counselors. But now they only have one, and she works exclusively at the family shelter." The Rowland Rebele Family Homeless Shelter which opened 2 years ago, and currently houses only 20 people, has been the centerpiece of tangible proof that Mayor Emily Reilly's cares about the needs of homeless people to sleep, eat, or live. The Family shelter cost $5 million to build, and due to strict federal requirements, has failed to fill completely, despite record need.

Meanwhile the heavily used HSC's hygiene bay includes 2 washing machines, 4 dryers, 3 showers, and toilets for 2500 homeless clients. Hours will be cut to 5 days a week instead of seven. But the biggest loss are those two, weekend meals which feed between 65 and 160 each afternoon. Without these meals, people will go hungry.

Sherman is skeptical that anyone really cares about the survival of homeless people. Shelter which is chronically inadequate, is especially so since the National Guard Armory closed its doors on April 15th. The same people which the City and County sheltered on April 15th, are now being cited with $90 sleeping ban tickets as of April 16th by Santa Cruz Park Ranger Rick Wallace. As soon as the Armory closed, he began issuing a rash of citations to homeless campers in the Pogonip and other greenbelt areas in the area. The City of Santa Cruz (population 54,000) has over 2000 acres of parkland, greenbelt or watershed within the City limits alone, but not even one acre is set aside for legal camping.

Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom (HUFF) has long held that the City needs to open a homeless campground for legal camping options, or stop writing citations under MC 6.35.010 which outlaws the act of sleeping out of doors between 11PM and 8:30 AM.

Human Rights Organization member, Bob Patton has called for the public to contact 17th district Rep.Sam Farr to facilitate budget help that the HSC needs to restore vital, life-saving services, and prevent starvation.

Sherman is also concerned with winning back the right to camp somewhere legally. "I am putting out the call to the general public to take the kids and come down to the river and go camping overnight or over the weekend. Camp out to help the homeless." HUFF member, Robert Norse, who supports a public campout to protest the double-bind homeless people are in, with no place to go and a sleeping ban crackdown in force, also supports using the courts to fight the Sleeping Ban. "Since April of 2006 and the Jones decision in Los Angeles, issuing tickets to homeless people for sleeping at night in a situation in which inadequate shelter exists constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

City Council point man, Vice-Mayor Ryan Coonerty disagrees. He steadfastly supports enforcing the Sleeping Ban despite the 9th circuit court ruling. Mayor Reilly and the council have been briefed by City Attorney John Barisone regarding city liability for continued enforcement of the ban in a post the Jones decision world. But Reilly refuses to divulge the contents of the Barisone's memo citing "confidentiality of a client with legal counsel."

Photo by HUFF


Mayor Emily Reilly can be contacted at: (831) 420-5020 and press 2

Or write the entire council at: citycouncil [at] ci.santa-cruzca.us

See also: http://www.huffsantacruz.org (831)423-HUFF

Congressman Sam Farr can be reached at (831)429-1976 and at: samfarr [at] mail.house.gov