Report spotlights affordable housing need, offers short-, long-term fixes
In order to solve the homeless crisis in Humboldt County the area needs to prioritize a Housing First approach that provides immediate shelter to stabilize the homeless for transition into permanent housing, according to the 2018 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury report on homelessness released Tuesday. The caveat: Humboldt County, which recorded 1,473 unsheltered homeless during the 2019 Department of Housing and Urban Development Point-In-Time (PIT) count in January, lacks an “adequate stock” of affordable housing necessary to accomplish this solution. It states an additional 3,390 housing units must be built to meet anticipated housing demands through 2027 which “alone requires building an average of 170 units annually.”
“While creating more usable shelter is necessary, speeding up the rate at which affordable housing is generated will go a long way to address the homeless crisis,” the report notes, citing one of the primary recommendations offered by the consulting firm charged with studying this countywide problem, Focus Strategies.
The hard reality of the region’s shelter shortage, reported in a city homelessness assessment in August 2014, prompted Eureka and Humboldt County to hire Focus and jointly adopt the Housing First model in 2016, leading to the formation of the Homeless Strategy and Implementation Plan — a collaborative effort between the city and county to apply Housing First.
Since then little has been done by way of building those structures which could offer the kind of long-term care and support the homeless — many of whom are dealing with mental health issues, substance abuse problems and disability — need.
“Progress is hampered by a split” in the Housing Trust Fund and Homelessness Solutions Committee, the report reads.
Formed by the county Board of Supervisors, the trust fund committee, which began meeting in June 2018 as part of the implementation plan, is deadlocked on how best to tackle homelessness. The group is divided over whether a turn toward short-term solutions — such as safe parking programs for those who wish to take shelter in their cars, sanctioned camping areas or tiny home villages — or the implementation of building structures will best meet Housing First principles.
There is meanwhile no “ongoing funding source” for the purposes of building affordable housing projects nor is there any money available in the trust fund, the report reads. Possible as-yet untapped resources, according to the report, include state and federal grants, local financial institutions, local jurisdictions, sale of surplus county property, the county’s General Fund, private foundations and individuals.
The report offered a list of recommendations, noting that cities such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles “have found it necessary to create temporary shelter despite their commitment to Housing First.”
The document acknowledges that “while short-term solutions have drawbacks, there are segments of our homeless population that would be best served by implementing one or more of these short-term strategies, closely managed to ensure the well-being of guests and assuage public concerns.”
With proper screening and supervision, temporary shelter provides participants the safety and stability required for finding permanent housing.
The Focus firm’s stated issue with short-term solutions such as sanctioned encampments, however, is that they pull resources from affordable housing projects and thus the primary aim of establishing Housing First. In addition, they “have little impact on reducing homelessness.”
Finding a location for short-term solutions is also an obstacle, the report states, in light of “NIMBYism”: “an acronym for those not wanting an impact they consider unpleasant near their property (Not-In-My-Back-Yard-ism).”
To address this, the report highlighted the benefits of mobilizing the community through dialogue and education. It cited the Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation’s Blue Angel Village and the Eureka Rescue Mission (the Mission) as cases where the community impact has been “minimal.”
Other recommendations include:
• “(removing) barriers to using existing shelters” such as pet, partner and possession restrictions;
• “(expanding) existing models” such as the Mission, Arcata House Partnership, the Betty Kwan Chinn Foundation and Redwood Community Action Agency/Youth Services Bureau, each of which are dealing with limited resources;
• “(repurposing) existing structures for shelter” by making them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act;
• “(generating) affordable housing more quickly” by encouraging individual property owners to build affordable housing (what are called “accessory dwelling units” as well as tiny houses) through the use of county loans and permit-ready building plans and also by rehabilitating existing properties such as defunct hotels into affordable housing units.
The Homeless Strategy and Implementation Plan finally offered four “key strategies,” according to the report:
• adopt a countywide Housing First approach;
• “strengthen and reorient” the county Department of Health and Human Services Mobile Intervention and Services Team (MIST), which connects the chronically homeless with services for substance abuse, mental illness and housing through “ride-alongs” with the Eureka Police Department;
• “create direct and low-barrier pathways to housing” including “rental subsidies with supportive services available to help transition homeless people into rental properties,” “housing interventions” (“rapid rehousing,” “shelter diversion,” “interim housing” and “permanent supportive housing”), “landlord outreach” and social services to support housing stability;
• and the use of data systems to “track progress” in the homeless outreach programs.
Funds are available through state and federal agencies that offer grant money to address immediate and long-term housing needs but the City of Eureka, which “bears the brunt of the homeless population” while lacking the “independent funding and resources” necessary to confront the issue head-on, is beholden to the county government, “creating tension between the two.” Hence the implementation plan’s recommendation for increased cooperation between them.
Betty Kwan Chinn, director of her namesake homeless foundation, echoed the report’s findings.
“Everybody wants to do it, to help out, but we are so limited,” she said. “We need more housing.”
Part of the solution, added Chinn, whose various housing initiatives have required public relations campaigns, is a matter of shifting public perception about homelessness — particularly in light of the NIMBYism cited in the report.
“Some people, you just need to let them know what’s happened,” she said, referring to the necessity of educating the community about issues related to homelessness: age, disability, mental illness among them.
The Rev. Eric Duff, past president of Arcata House and former chair of the bygone Humboldt County Task Force on Homelessness and Housing, said the lack of affordable housing has been an issue for the last 30 years.
When asked about appropriate measures to address the problem he turned to Chinn as a model.
“We need to do like Betty’s doing — start from the ground up and build,” he said, acknowledging that there needs to be a both-and approach to Housing First which involves providing immediate, unrestricted shelter to stabilize the homeless and permanent housing projects.
Edie Jessup, who served on the board of Affordable Homeless and Homeless Alternatives, a homeless advocacy coalition in the county, said city and county officials need to nuance their understanding of Housing First.
“I think that Housing First and the way it’s been interpreted in Humboldt County is really a mistake,” Jessup said. “And that getting people stabilized, even if it’s in a temporary and not-full-on permanent housing way, is critical. And then when the housing’s developed, that’s terrific, people can move into it. But leaving people out is really just horrible … .”
Jessup added that the criminalization of homelessness just exacerbates the crisis. The disbanding of encampments such as the one at the Palco Marsh creates a kind of community-wide instability among the homeless and wastes valuable assets that could go into providing onsite services for the unsheltered, she said.
“It’s really cruel and we don’t have to do it that way,” Jessup said of breaking up short-term housing solutions like sanctioned encampments. “We could do it another way. It means taking a whole different attitude about who are neighbors are … .”
The grand jury has requested a response to its report from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Eureka City Council.
July 4, 2019
Eureka Times Standard
By Robert Peach
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