Greetings!
I very excited about next Monday and Tuesday's Homeless/Housing Teach-in and Solidarity Campout up on County Farm Road. Homeless Action! members are working very hard to provide a productive and useful event which should result in dialogue and progress in the difficult work of advancing solutions to our community's homeless/affordable housing problems. I strongly encourage all of my friends to join us, either on Monday night for our MLK Solidarity Sleep-out, or Tuesday's Daylong Teach-In.
Here's the press release.
Here's the press release.
Homeless Action! Presents ”Housing is a Human Right”
MLK Solidarity Sleep-Out & Teach In
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Housing Is A Human Right: An MLK Solidarity Sleep-Out and Teach-In,” will be held indoors in the Rotunda building off Chanate Road in Santa Rosa, on Monday, January 18th starting at 4 p.m. and on Tuesday, January 19th from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The sleep in will provide a taste of what it means to be homeless while the Teach In will address Sonoma County’s homeless emergency and the housing crisis.
With over 3,000 homeless people in Sonoma County, with Santa Rosa showing the strongest year-to-year growth in rents in California and with current plans to demolish large and habitable county buildings, it is time for the community to consult with each other and find solutions.
The Teach-In will address the homeless emergency, the housing crisis, and the future of the county-owned buildings and land along Chanate Rd. Speakers include low income housing expert John Lowery, River King, a currently homeless mom working on building a tiny house community in Santa Rosa, Caitlin Childs, from Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) and many, many more.
The event begins on Monday, January 18th (MLK Day), with a table at the Community Baptist Church, Martin Luther King “Day On NOT a Day Off” event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.. The church is located at 1620 Sonoma Ave, Santa Rosa.
The Teach-In will provide an opportunity to learn about current programs, services and ideas for solutions. In half-hour sessions in three locations, speakers from the homeless and faith communities, service providers and caring individuals will join participants to talk about homeless children, teens, families, veterans, tenants and seniors. Topics include the decriminalization of homelessness, the homeless bill of rights, rent stabilization, eviction regulations, tools for preserving and expanding low income housing, and the future of the county property along Chanate Road.
“Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t just work one day of the year; he worked every day. We’re happy to extend his holiday to explore what Sonoma County is doing, and can do, to solve its problem of providing housing to all its residents,” Jackie Brittain, a founding member of Homeless Action! said.
“I support this effort because homelessness is not a crime, it’s a condition,” Mike Mugridge, a broker for Burbank Rentals explained. “It’s a condition that we have allowed to perpetuate. And, we’ve allowed our politicians to ignore it because they don’t think we care.”
According to Sheila Baker, a formerly homeless person and organizer of the event, “This will be a great opportunity for everyone to spend the day in some quality time together, in a place where many in our county were born and were cared for, to talk and share and plan for our future.”
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