News
Advocates push for assistance
by Ryan Sabalow
Redding.com
Published 3/13/2008
After spending more than a week living out of her car with her three children earlier this month, DeAnna Ward knows the biggest challenge a person faces when they find themselves suddenly without a home.
"The hardest thing out there when you're homeless and you have children is trying to find out where to go, who to turn to," Ward, 36, told a group of more than 60 homeless people, their advocates, police, religious organizations and community leaders at a meeting Wednesday.
That could soon change, if the homeless advocates have their way.
Expanding the Living Hope Ministries' drop-in center on State Street in Redding topped suggestions that advocates offered Wednesday as they hashed out ways to better serve homeless people at the Redding and Shasta County Homeless Continuum of Care Council's meeting at Redding City Hall.
A number of advocates and homeless people at the meeting said those who end up on the streets for the first time often don’t know what agency to turn to or don't understand the complicated process necessary to apply for funding, housing assistance or job training. They said there’s also a need for more case managers to help walk them through the process.
Advocates contend those people need a day center to obtain services, take a shower, get a bite to eat or wash their clothes before going out for a job interview.
"I hear you loud and clear that you need a point of contact," Don Meek, the care council's coordinator, told those at the meeting.
Other suggestions raised at the meeting included:
- More free bus passes for homeless people to get to and from service organizations and jobs.
- More rental deposit assistance so poor families with bad credit can get help getting into apartments.
- A place where people living out of their cars can park or camp overnight or reductions in fines for those caught camping.
- A program to help parolees transition into the community.
- More transitional housing programs and affordable housing opportunities.
- Another shelter separate from the Good News Rescue Mission that doesn’t have religious affiliations.
Meek also addressed some of the root causes of Shasta County's growing homeless problem. Some 3,316 people said they were homeless at some time in 2007 — up from 2,584 the year before, the care council reported.
Almost a third of those counted were homeless children. Nationally, only a quarter of homeless people are children, Meek said.
Some 50 percent of those surveyed in 2007 said loss of a job or a source of income was the reason they lost a place to live. Many also listed reasons that included domestic violence, being evicted, being released from jail or prison or health issues.
Locally, the care council has reported that most of those who become homeless are, like Ward, without a place to live only for a brief time.
Ward said that she just received enough housing assistance to get her and her children into an apartment. She’ll pick up the keys today.
She said she came to the care council's meeting and agreed to be interviewed because she wanted others to see what it was like to become homeless for the first time.
"We were fortunate that we only had to be homeless for a week," she said. "This experience taught me that there are a lot of people who are homeless much longer. ... I hope my story can help somebody out there not give up or lose faith."
