Sunday, May 11, 2014

Tracy

Tracy was homeless for nearly 12 years until, as she puts it, "Was helped out of homelessness by the kindness of the people at Loaves."  She was lucky enough to get one of the 26 beds designated for single homeless women in Sacramento and get the help she needed to get out of the cycle that surrounds homeless individuals.

In her 12 years of being homeless she only ever slept outside two or three times.  For the most part she slept in abandoned buildings and various shelters.

"I didn't like to sleep outside," Tracy said.  "It could be dangerous and I always liked having a roof over my head, it felt safer."

Now that she's no longer homeless Tracy has devoted her free time to advocacy for the homeless.  When asked what the biggest problem surrounding homelessness is her response is strong and unwavering.

Tracy, pictured on the right in the rainbow dress, participates in the Homeward Stakedown event.


"We need affordable housing."

Although there are enough houses in Sacramento city and county to house every person comfortably one of the biggest issues surrounding homelessness is the fact that people have to spend all the money they receive in order to have a roof over their head.

According to Tracy if there was more affordable housing the issue of homelessness would be drastically reduced.


Sunday, May 4, 2014

SHOC/Sacramento Safeground Homeward Stakedown




This weekend Sacramento saw the annual Homeward Stakedown event put on by the Sacramento Housing Organizing Committee (SHOC).  This is the second year that SHOC has put on an event, this year the focus is to try and help SafeGround Sacramento.

Present on Friday were a number of the organizers for Safeground Sacramento, members of Loaves and Fishes, as well as various homeless advocates from the area.  The site hosted several campsites and the largest estimated crowd expected was roughly 40 people according to Paula, a SHOC organizer.


Although the turn out wasn't staggering the event's organizers stated that they acheived what they wanted to achieve with the event.  Their main goal was to raise awareness and activate as many people as they could on the issue of homelessness and the "anti-homeless" camping ordinances that Sacramento has in place.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Dave


Dave is 46 and spends most nights behind a CVS Pharmacy.  When I met him he was hanging out on the asphalt in a parking lot behind Chipotle on Alta Arden.

He wears an old, well-worn, blue Adidas sweatshirt that is inside out.  Dave sports a full and wild beard.

“The hardest thing about this, this living out here is private property,” Dave says while smoking a menthol cigarette  “You have to leave if they ask you and everyone owns everything.  It can be hard.”
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Dave suffers from schizophrenia and leg pains.  While we’re talking he gets up and stretches occasionally, but for the most part he says that not using them is what helps the discomfort the most.

“I have schizophrenia or at least that’s what they call it, I’m not sure what I would call it,” Dave says.  “I guess I would call it hearing voices.  It’s caused some issues, but I think that there could be some worse things.”

Dave isn’t the type to complain about his situation and when I ask him about what most people complain about (cops, food, shelter and so on) he shrugs each off.

“The cops don’t care about us unless we bother businesses, so I don’t bother businesses,” Dave says. “When it rains I sleep underneath one of the overhangs and I get meals from the Catholic Church on El Camino or, sometimes, Loaves and Fishes downtown.”

It’s hard for Dave to make it downtown and he prefers to stay in the area northeast of the Arden Fair Mall.

“I guess I came to this place naturally,” he says.  “I used to work with my friend about a mile away from here and I must have bought thousands of cups of coffee at the 76 station there.”

It’s hard to get Dave to talk about himself and when I ask questions about where he’s from or what his life has been like I receive fairly vague answers.  What I learn is that Dave lived in Michigan at some point in his life and he has been in Sacramento for at least 26 years.  He worked for 25 years before he found himself homeless.

I am not clear why Dave is homeless.  During the time we talk he touches on his schizophrenia and mentions that he drank heavily for quite a while.

“I find myself with the narcotics sometimes, I’m not loaded right now,” He states clearly and in a very matter of fact tone.  “I quit drinking about a year and half ago, I used to be into that quite a lot… It wasn’t good for me, it just helped to make everything more quiet.”

When I finish talking to Dave the impression that I’m left with is that he might feel some regrets about where he is, but overall he seems happy and functional.  He says that there aren’t a lot of things that he finds himself in need of.

The biggest question that he avoids outright is when I ask him about where he sees himself in the future.  When I pose the question he gets quiet and starts to talk about the large Bank of America building that is across the street from us.

Regardless of Dave’s future plans his situation and brief story are interesting and helpful to illuminate the issue that is homelessness and the people who inhabit that label.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sacramento Housing Alliance


The Sacramento Housing Alliance gave a presentation at last Wednesday’s West Sacramento City Council meeting.  At the meeting the organization asked that the West Sac City Council approve the building of low income housing in the city to accommodate those families who are designated as very low or low income.

The SHA states that they “engage in advocacy and education in the Greater Sacramento region with the goal of ending homelessness and ensuring that all members of our community have safe, accessible, and affordable housing.”

While their stated goal is an admirable one I have to wonder how effective any organization is at reducing the area’s homeless and disenfranchised population by addressing just one facet of a multi-faceted problem.  There isn’t a singular answer to the issue of homelessness or poverty and I think that assembling an organization that uses public funding to address just one of the issues is a bad idea and poorly managed.

What I have been able to find out about the SHA is that their organization is filled with people who mean well, but the overall efficacy of the group can be called into question when one looks at the statistics that surround the homeless in Sacramento.

Last week I posted an infographic that showed the growth of the homeless and chronically homeless in Sacramento.  There is no denying that the SHA is a large and effective housing organization in Sacramento.  However, by just addressing the issue of shelter for a population with multiple issues I think that they are doing the residents and people of the area a disservice. 

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Homeless Population Increases

While this is not what I had planned on posting this week; I produced this graphic for my class beat and I think that it shows an important set of facts.  The homeless population has increased in Sacramento from 2011 to 2013.  The amount of money being spent doesn't always effect a population in the way it was planned to.  The statistics are from annual homeless surveys.