LUCERNE >> On Wednesday, the Innovation Summit was held to highlight collaborative work among communities and explore solutions to common issues. Although the summit intended to address many problems affecting the general public, homelessness quickly became a focal point.
Homelessness in Lake County has been a long-term concern for all members of the County’s community, but many are not aware of the numbers. Marylin Wakefield, Manager of Grants and Community Outreach of Adventist Health, shared collected data highlighting the realities of Lake’s homeless count. Wakefield’s team of over 100 volunteers interviewed and surveyed more than 400 individuals that qualified as homeless. The numbers showed that 70 percent were between the ages of 25 through 59, and 52 percent were first-time homeless.
Due to recent fires, 18.2 percent of people lost their homes. She concluded her data showing that the top three requests individuals wrote down when surveyed were housing, food, and jobs and training.
“There are a lot of areas that need to be addressed. We need to think strategically and ask ‘What are the things we can do for change for the homeless and vulnerable?’” Wakefield said.
To lead the County’s data into what that might look like monetarily, Scott Rich from Symmetric Solutions gave a presentation titled Cost of Homelessness. He shared a report by HomeBase, which studied Shasta County’s homeless, to give an idea on expenditures.
The report stated that Shasta County invests well over $34,761,020 annually to respond to local homelessness. He pointed out that the majority of expenditures went to managing the problem, rather than addressing the cause or to resolve the underlying issues. Rich encouraged those at the Summit that Lake County “needs to identify gaps, have a plan, and above all have a strong communication between resources.”
There to talk about communication efforts and how that helped the homeless in Yuba County was Yuba’s Homeless Project Manager Chaya Galicia, Public Information Officer Russ Brown, and Habitat for Humanity representative John Nicolette. After a repetitive process of taking down three major encampments around the County — some as elaborate as having gymnasiums — Yuba decided to gather all resources available, including law enforcement, medical, and city officials, to come up with a plan more effective than just have the homeless temporarily clear a location.
“This is where 14Forward came in. It is a temporary housing program for the homeless,” Nicolette said. “The program provides 20-two person shelter units with services like substance use treatment, medical care, and meals on site.”
The program started in December of 2015, which was made possible in part by a grant given by the Salvation Army. Tenants have housing for a total of four-period assessments, each consisting of 21 days. Chaya said that their short housing periods are to encourage individuals to think forward and find long-term solutions. Though 14Forward does not house single mothers and families, the County is happy to offer their permanent housing options, to which they have already supported 110 families.
“We developed a plan that had visible change. At first, we thought the community would be mad about having these units, but they were anxious to help out. This brought all of our resources forward. [14Forward] has inspired each of our partners and now we work so much better together,” Nicolette added.
Besides emphasizing on communication, Yuba County said that 14Forward’s success is also due to the community’s support in that they were informed all throughout the process. The program’s leaders received much support from individual and corporate unit sponsors, media donations, and online fundraising.
In addition to the efforts Lake County is already taking, including the recent No Trespassing and No Encampment ordinances and hiring community outreach and project restoration managers, the County is dissecting the way other communities not only mitigate homelessness but help link individuals to the resources they need.
Clearlake City Manager Greg Folsom said city and county officials will be setting up a date to closely learn about 14Forward and what the concept can bring to Lake County.
“I think something like this would be a good thing for the county. But it’s a county effort, not just a city effort,” Folsom said.
The all-day event at Marymount California University hosted internationally recognized guest speakers, Lake County leaders and representatives from surrounding county organizations.
