Homeless Talk Report

Greetings!

The Final Report of Homeless Talk

Citywide Conversations: “Visions for Change”

Throughout the fall and winter of 2016/2017, over 500 Santa Rosa residents met in their neighborhoods and congregations to engage in conversations about homelessness.  They shared their best thinking and offered suggestions toward an end to homelessness in Santa Rosa.  These conversations were sponsored by “Homeless Talk”, which was a project of “Santa Rosa Together” and “Homeless Action!”

“Homeless Talk” existed to engage our community in conversation regarding homelessness in our city with no 'Homeless Talk' bias, judgment, opinions or specific agendas by the organizers.  Our aim and commitment was to take your community voices and present them to the public, in the hope that they will influence positive and concrete solutions.

We invite you to review this report and, if interested, delve into the actual data collected and presented in Appendix 2.  Make your own analyses from the many comments we collected.  If you would like the raw data in a manipulate-able spreadsheet, contact us.

This report is our gift to our community, in honor of the many people who are living without a home and, like many others, working to end homelessness in Santa Rosa.

To stay in touch and follow the developments regarding homelessness in our community, as well as to request the raw data sheets, please send your email address to homelesstalk@gmail.com

We are grateful to http://sonomacountyhomeless.org/ for hosting our report on their website.

Here is another link to the Homeless Talk Summary Report.

Here is the link to the whole Homeless Talk Report.

Homeless Talk - Citywide Conversations

Visions for Change

RECOMMENDATIONS

(for the full report, go to: http://bit.ly/SRHomelessReport)

Our project produced many recommendations from participants. We’ve categorized some of the highlights below and invite stakeholders to choose any of them to pursue. Based on our analysis of the conversations, the steering committee has created some action steps. The Participant Conclusions below are ideas that came from one or more Homeless Talk conversations. The Steering Committee Action Steps sections are the product of over a year of work attending, analyzing and thinking of practical implementations for the participants’ ideas.

1.  COMMUNITY AND TRANSPARENCY

Participant Conclusions

• There is an untapped reservoir of goodwill and a desire to help homeless people and/or end homelessness in Santa Rosa. Although some people see simple ways to solve homelessness, most see it as a complex issue similar to poverty, healthcare and housing.

• Even prior to the October fires, a significant number of Santa Rosa residents, possibly for different reasons, believed that the situation around homelessness in Santa Rosa is unacceptable. There is strong public support to change the status quo and adopt new housing strategies.

*  People suggested a monthly dashboard on the city website and in local media showing the number of people who are unhoused, newly-housed and other crucial facts about the progress of ending homelessness.

• People see a role for churches, community groups and collaborative efforts. They reported a significant amount of effort and encouraged others to help individual homeless people, as well as to join organizations: to work in food pantries, the nomadic shelter and regular meals.

Steering Committee Action Steps

• Because transparency is a critical aspect in finding solutions that will achieve community support, we encourage the city to implement the Open Government Task Force Report of 2015. We applaud the city’s improved website and encourage them to continue this expansion.

• We encourage the City to budget for the creation and support of neighborhood organizations which could provide regularly held “city-wide conversations” on homelessness, post-fire planning and other issues. This network would allow grassroots and volunteer groups to routinely achieve a broader city-wide dialogue when important issues arise.

• Some organizations bring particular expertise with under-served populations of unique needs and challenges. “VOICES”, a center for marginalized transition-age youth, builds strong support for youth and builds leadership capacity. The “Interlink Self-Help Center” works peer-to-peer with people facing mental health challenges. “Crossing the Jordan” provides housing and support to recovering addicts. In the course of the conversations, we met these groups and believe they could and should play a stronger leadership role. We encourage other groups and leaders to include these organizations, and others like them, in integrated planning and solutions.

• We recommend and encourage residents to engage and participate in the development of the city’s budget and support housing finance initiatives.

2.  HOUSING AND SHELTER

Participant Conclusions

• Many people look to both city and county government for leadership and funding for homeless initiatives, including the production of alternative and standard housing.

•People want “outside the box” thinking and solutions in the use of government land, models from other areas, and the placement of affordable housing across all neighborhoods.

•Some people are looking for rent subsidies and changes to regulations to support renters. Some believe government support detracts from individual success; others are looking at lobbying and advocacy to implement improved protections.

•Informal, unregulated camps of homeless people are a risk both to the environment and the health of those who live in them. People encouraged the police, public works, health department and other government leaders to take both these risks seriously.

Steering Committee Action Steps

• It’s obvious that the fires have redefined the number of homeless and at-risk people within the city. It is important to the community that government and agencies update the homeless census as soon as possible.

• We recommend the City update the Housing Action Plan to reflect the reality of the impact of the fires.

• We find the City’s Housing Action Plan, with a “Housing for All” strategy as a significant step in the right direction. We encourage the city, developers and consultants to hold planning meetings targeted to specific socio-economic groups, before designing and building housing.

• The Housing First philosophy assumes an ample supply of various low-income housing options. Given the additional burden of housing our residents with a decreased housing stock, we support a strategy “on all fronts” with both temporary and permanent housing.

• The fire destroyed approximately 5% of our housing stock. With a lot more people seeking housing and shelter, we all know a dire housing situation has been made worse. We recommend a reevaluation of the Housing First strategy.

• We recommend developing designated temporary safe havens for auto and R.V. parking and safe camping dispersed throughout the city.

• Over time, we encourage the development of high-density, infill development including alternative housing models.

• There is a unique opportunity for the “pre-fire” homeless community to benefit from the resources, and public goodwill marshaled to respond to the fire. As Sonoma County

continues with its rebuilding effort, we believe it is crucial to include representation of

marginalized voices in any setting of priorities.

• There may be a tendency to expedite recovery strategies without much public input. We encourage city and county leaders to beware of sacrificing inclusion for efficiency.

3.  SERVICES AND SUPPORT

Participant Conclusions

• Services are important to people. Many people believe that homeless people don’t know what services are available. Some wished for more and/or different services, including a one-stop service center similar to the post-fire Local Assistance Center.

• Some people called on our community to tackle the complex causes of homelessness,

among them were mental illnesses, lack of housing, lack of a living wage and jobs,

and the frayed safety net.

• There is a desire for more trained mental health workers to help people who are homeless, as well as for emotional help for individuals who support homeless people.

• Many people know there are ways individuals can help, although some experience strong emotions when engaged in direct services. Support and teamwork during initial encounters and early relationship building is helpful.

• Participants encouraged individuals, congregations, and neighborhood groups to interact in small teams in order to get to know and advocate for the unhoused people in their neighborhoods.

Steering Committee Action Steps

• We support and encourage the city, county and service providers coming together in partnership to reach a common vision of the root causes of homelessness and to initiate a cross-sector effort to address them.

• We call on the academic community to utilize their resources to identify effective strategies and evaluate the effectiveness of current practices.

• We recognize that the impact of the “quality of life” policies and ordinances may perpetuate a cycle of homelessness. We believe that behaviors that constitute these offenses are mostly due to a lack of options. Until there are places where all people can sleep safely, use the bathroom, dispose of trash and lock up their belongings, laws criminalizing these behaviors are counterproductive and ineffective.