Small California Group Tries Its Best To Fight Poverty
- From: chriseric777@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 27 Apr 2007 18:27:23 -0700
The Redding Homeless Alliance (hosted by Redding Loaves and Fishes)
held its fifth in a series of monthly "Community Forums on
Homelessness" on April 7, 2007. RHA is continuing to build a solid
base of support in the community, and committees are working to
address several aspects of the homeless crisis in our area. Of
particular concern to our group is the dramatic increase in the number
of children facing the traumas and dangers of living on the streets.
According to the City of Redding/Shasta County Homeless Continuum of
Care Council (or COC), the children comprised 37% of the 2,584
individuals who were homeless in Shasta County in 2006, an increase of
5% over the previous year, making them the fastest growing segment of
that group. Domestic violence is our third leading cause of
homelessness, and women are the sole support of most homeless
households
Research conducted by RHA members into the availability of permanent
housing, transitional housing programs, and emergency shelter space
revealed that there is an extreme shortage of housing affordable to
working families on the lower end of the pay scale, the elderly poor,
and the disabled due primarily to the massive destruction of low-
income housing by the City of Redding in connection with
"redevelopment". The very limited amount of subsidized housing
available in Shasta County has waiting periods that average three
years, and our dozen or so transitional housing projects cater almost
exclusively to people with substance abuse problems ( a group which
comprises less than one-tenth of our local homeless population).
Shasta County's only general-population homeless shelter, the Rescue
Mission, can accommodate fewer than 200 people even by putting down
mats on every available inch of floor space. The Mission plans to use
its new building (now under construction) to house an additional 25
men going through the Mission's drug treatment program.
During the "State of Emergency" declared in January when the
temperature here fell to an excruciating 19 degrees, local
administrators refused to open the armory or other warming centers for
the approximately twelve hundred men, women and children the COC
estimates were forced to sleep outdoors or in vehicles during their
latest survey period. A sheriff's department representative stated
that warming centers would only be opened in the event of "a
widespread power outage or snowstorm". RHA will continue its efforts
to bring this life-threatening situation to the attention of the
community, and will rally community support to pressure local
government to make humane accommodation for the homeless before the
cold weather sets in again this winter.
RHA is working with the national civil rights organizations to
challenge a city ordinance enacted by the Redding City Council on
November 7, 2006 which allows six-month jail terms and $1,000 fines to
be imposed upon anyone found camping within the city limits due to the
area's critical shortage of low-income housing and emergency shelter
space. RHA members are in the process of collecting information for
that purpose, since the apparent goal of this ordinance is to drive
the homeless to other parts of the state or country where they are
likely to encounter the same shortage of housing. We are also
gathering information in regard to the number of families and
individuals who have been denied emergency shelter due to the lacks of
space. The Mission's "overflow" has been a topic of discussion at more
than one COC meeting.
RHA provided requested information to the office of Senator Denise
Ducheny, who is sponsoring Senate Bill 303. Among other things, SB 303
will require California cities to designate land specifically for low-
income housing, including housing to accommodate "the elderly, persons
with disabilities, families with female heads of households, and
persons in need of emergency shelter." This bill would prohibit cities
from changing the designation and selling this land for other
purposes, as the City of Redding did with the land where the new
Lowe's Home Improvement Center is now located. It would also encourage
cities to apply for state funding available through an infrastructure
bond measure passed last year for the construction of low-income
housing. At Senator Ducheny's direction, RHA will continue its efforts
to help get this very worthwhile bill enacted.
The Redding Homeless Alliance has educational teams available to speak
to churches, civic groups, businesses and schools. Do you have ideas
to fight Poverty ?
http://reddingloavesandfishes.com/
.
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