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Add an EventSanta Cruz Grand Jury Report Details Increasing Need for Emergency Homeless Shelters
Findings
F1 . Local jurisdictions have not provided adequate emergency shelter to accommodate the vast majority (80%) of the more than 3,500 total homeless persons in Santa Cruz County (using 2013 PIT data).
F2. Despite persistent unmet need, local jurisdictions have neither increased nor planned to increase the number of emergency shelter beds and services.
F3. The effectiveness of the North County Emergency Winter Shelter is limited by its reliance on the National Guard Armory facility.
F4. The absence of a backup plan to replace the National Guard Armory threatens the continuing existence of the North County Emergency Winter Shelter program.
F5. Insufficient capacity of emergency shelters limits their potential use as an entry point to the planned coordinated entry system.
F6. Insufficient numbers of personnel and case managers at the emergency shelters limit the services that can be provided to homeless individuals.
F7. Insufficient number of staff dedicated to grant writing results in missed grant funding opportunities.
Recommendations
R1. Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola and Scotts Valley should develop plans to provide increased emergency shelter on a priority basis to the most vulnerable populations first, including families, youth, women, and the elderly. (F1F6)
R2. Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola and Scotts Valley should seek a more permanent, accessible and expandable site for the North County Emergency Winter Shelter program. (F3, F4)
R3. Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola and Scotts Valley should allocate more funds for additional case managers for the local emergency shelters. (F6)
R4. Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola and Scotts Valley should allocate additional staff to seek more grant funding for emergency shelters. (F7)
Commendations
C1. The Grand Jury commends Santa Cruz County, the Homeless Action Partnership, local jurisdictions, and nonprofit organizations for their collaborative efforts to implement evidence based programs and solutions, including the coordinated entry system, to relieve homelessness.
C2. The Grand Jury commends local jurisdictions and nonprofit organizations for their ongoing collaborative efforts to fund and operate local emergency shelters.
More information:
http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/grandjury
Obviously the social/economic/legal system has failed the poor and homeless. What is disappointing about the report is that they didn't lead with an obvious solution to immediate dangers: decriminalize physiological needs.
The 'necessity defense' (common example: stealing food to feed a starving child; a lesser violation used to avoid a greater harm) is the typical 'remedy' offered, yet it's useless in practice. Because compassion is always a risk to state powers, there are often laws created to criminalize charity (Santa Cruz has a history of attacking the giving of food). Even worse; for decades, Santa Cruz has criminalized the act of sleeping. The result is the state wasting money persecuting those least able to defend themselves. It is literally cheaper to give away housing, unless you are among the select few making money via the prison industrial complex. Of course some find housing relief unacceptable, often the same people that lust after criminalizing physiological needs. Which is why it is considered a crime for certain people to take an unauthorized nap (with sentences longer that pedophiles and other violent criminals!).
Such abuses degrade the legal system, the constitutional system, even the economic system. History is laced with cautionary tales. It is past time to take heed.
Do people even read reports like this one or the "plan to end homelessness" that the United Way just released in April?
And more importantly, do we, the "so-so or not-so-good people" of this town respond in a way that seeks to relieve some of the stresses of living outside... or even help some folks find ways to live inside?
Is there new energy to be captured in the outrage and disappointment and pity engendered by far away budget cuts? Or is there still the same level inadequate community support?
I always answer my own questions in the negative. But YOU GO, fight the good fight!
The 'choice' of how decriminalization will occur is increasingly binary, and increasingly dangerous for all concerned.
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