On the heels of a critical
report from the Marin County civil grand jury accusing county officials of not
doing enough to fight homelessness, San Rafael officials are ensuring that
they’re doing their part to get involved.
While the report (“Homeless in
Marin — A Call For Leadership”) doesn’t hold city officials accountable for
most of the homelessness problems, it does point out that San Rafael carries
the burden of having a significant proportion of the county’s homeless on its
streets and in its parks.
“The City Council is very
concerned about the impact of the street population on residents, business
owners and visitors to our community,” said Economic Development Manager
Stephanie Lovette. “The City Council is very aware of the current situation in
our downtown, parks and library and has taken a series of actions to address
the issue. Staff estimates the cost of these actions is about $1 Million
annually.”
At the June 1 meeting Lovette
presented to the council the staff’s response to the grand jury report’s
findings, two of which noted that San Rafael businesses suffer from homelessness
and that the city has more homeless due to the fact that most of the homeless
services are nearby.
The grand jury’s most scathing
finding — “There is no coordinated, focused, systemic plan with a comprehensive
budget to eliminate homelessness in Marin County” — was only somewhat accepted
by Lovette and the staff. The city’s official response pointed to a 10-year
plan that is “focused on achieving three outcomes: (1) reducing chronic
homelessness, (2) reducing the total number of homeless individuals and families,
and (3) reducing the time that people spend in programs before achieving
self-sufficiency.”
The council agreed unanimously
to accept the staff’s response and to send it along to the civil grand jury.
Councilwoman Kate Colin said the staff “nailed it” and Mayor Gary Phillips said
the grand jury’s assessment was “pretty frank” and that homelessness “still
troubles our community.”
“The City adopted a Homeless
Action Plan in June 2013,” Lovette said. “This plan was developed based on the
recommendations of a community stakeholder group appointed by the City Council
and city staff research on best practices from other California communities
that are addressing this issue.”
She added that San Rafael’s
plan includes a combination of enforcement, prevention and support actions
including adding an additional downtown police officer (now three officers),
adding an additional Open Space Ranger (now two rangers), adding a mental
health professional in the police department for street outreach, securing
additional funding for clearing encampments and launching the Downtown Streets
Team to clean the downtown streets and provide employment opportunities and
training for homeless persons.
There are more than 1,300
people in Marin experiencing homelessness and thousands more are at-risk of
losing their housing, according the most recent point-in-time homeless count.
“With the second most expensive rental market in the nation, one must work 176
hours per week at minimum wage to afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment and
there are over 10,000 people on the waiting list to for subsidized housing,”
states a city announcement.
June
10 2015
Marinscope
Community Newspapers
By Chris
Rooney
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