LAKEPORT >> Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA, 5th District) visited Lake County Monday, August 27, speaking with constituents and representatives of local organizations like the Redwood Coast Regional Center, which operates in Lake County and neighboring counties. Thompson awarded the RCRC with a Congressional Certificate for its work with Lake County residents.
In the Board of Supervisors Chamber in Lakeport, the RCRC Community Resource Manager Heath Birilli asked Thompson what he could tell her regarding “housing for individuals in Lake County. I know that there is a big crisis affecting our area, given that over 60 percent of our county has burned and numerous homes have been lost.”
Thompson acknowledged the existence of a housing crisis, saying that “Lake County, like all the other counties in our region, is housing impacted,” and that the October 2017 wildfires have “had an impact on Lake because lots of people who lost their homes in the other Counties have moved to Lake, and that has taken stock out of the market.” Thompson stressed that “the biggest issue is that the cost of rebuilding or building new homes has gone literally through the sky, because there is such demand for everything,” from building materials to contractors and construction workers.”
Thompson later met with staff of RCRC’s Lakeport office to discuss services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Mr. Thompson presented a Congressional Certificate to RCRC staff at the Lakeport office, in recognition of their service to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The RCRC provides services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.
RCRC Director of Administration Patrick Okey said Tuesday that Thompson “was very, very personable” Monday during his visit to the Lakeport office. “He went around the table and asked everyone where they were from,” taking note of how they had been affected by the recent Mendocino Complex Fire.
Okey said that Thompson again brought up concerns about the housing crisis with RCRC staff. The organization, according to Okey, has a number of “housing initiatives” currently in progress, including a major, 40-unit facility waiting to be built in Mendocino County. Okey said that a similar facility was in the preliminary stage, explaining that “We are trying to get that same kind of initiative started in Lake County.”
The RCRC receives the majority of its funding from the State of California, according to Okey, who explained that this money passes through the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Developmental Services, by which it is distributed to 21 regional centers—like the RCRC—across the state.
Okey noted that “about 38 percent” of the RCRC’s funding comes from the federal government, and that Thompson has been supportive of keeping social service organizations like the RCRC funded. According to Okey, Thompson on Monday stressed the “importance of the role that [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi plays” in securing funding for social services.
Nevertheless, Okey is concerned about recent tax cuts at the federal level, which he said may result in funding losses for the RCRC. “We thanked Thompson for his support” of social services, said Okey, but “we also raised concerns that with the tax cuts recently, there will be talk about cutting social services like ours.” 85 percent of the RCRC’s clients are on Medicaid, said Okey, meaning that social services cuts would present a major problem not only to the RCRC in the work it can do for its clients, but also directly to those clients.
