United Way of California

Helping the homeless: Grants enable Tulare, Kings counties to provide shelter but money's almost gone

Visalia Times-Delta
November 5, 2011

James "Crazy Horse" Shore has spent half his life on the streets, rummaging through trash cans, sleeping in ditches and under overpasses and eating scraps from the trash container behind KFC.

He will die on the streets, he said, without hesitation. In predicting his fate, the 42-year-old man added that more than 20 years on the streets of California has taught him two things ìì how to fend for himself and that the homeless are in desperate need of resources.

He's done every odd job you can think of, he said. But like others on the streets, he hasn't been able to find a permanent place to stay or work.

So every morning he packs his sleeping bag, sticks it in a Target shopping cart and wheels into Visalia.

He's given up hope.

"You live each day as if it's your last. I make $20 here and $20 there and I spend it on the things I need to live. I don't have any hope, so I don't save," he said. "I've lost in the game of life. To end homelessness, you have to catch it early. I had my chances."

Shore may have lost his opportunity, but for local organizations in Tulare and Kings counties, they see the key to ending homelessness as preventing it.

Federal money to fight homelessness

A federal stimulus grant administered by United Way of Tulare County dispersed $2.8 million beginning in February 2010: $1.6 was given to Tulare County and $1.2 million was allocated for Kings County.

That money runs dry Dec. 31 for Tulare County and next September for Kings County, creating a large hole to fill for local organizations such as Tulare/Kings Continuum of Care on Homelessness, Community Service Education and Training and United Way.

"I fear that homelessness will rise again, once the money is all gone," said Nanette Villarreal, executive director for Kings United Way. "There is no easy way to fill a $1.2 million gap. At this time next year, we'll see the progress that was made."

Leaders of the organizations say the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program, HPRP, helped create more than 170 new beds in Tulare and Kings counties during the last two years. They attribute a nearly 50 percent drop in homelessness in Kings County to the $1.2 million stimulus funds. Tulare County didn't see a dip in numbers, though. In fact, the number of homeless rose this year.

In 2010, there were 610 homeless men, women and children in Tulare County and 356 in Kings County. This year, the Continuum of Care reported that 620 people were homeless in Tulare County, 184 in Kings County.

"There are several reasons we are seeing lower numbers in Kings County. The number one reason has been the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program," said Sarah Scott, president of Continuum of Care. "Another reason has been new programs started in Hanford."

Cornerstone, the first men's facility in Kings County, opened in June with 20 beds and is now full, with a waiting list of more than 25 men. The shelter, which allows men to stay up to two years, has been credited with finding six men full time jobs and finding services for a dozen more, since June.

While most cities multiply their homeless numbers by three, to get what they say is a more accurate number, the Continuum of Care doesn't. They feel as if their survey on homeless is accurate.

In 2010, the survey, conducted by volunteers, estimated 428 homeless people in Visalia and 19 in Tulare. In January 2011, volunteers found that the number of homeless people in Visalia dropped by almost 100, to 331. In Tulare, the number rose to 34.

Some homeless contest that there are many more homeless people who don't want to be found. Organizers agree that many homeless are hoping to get lost in the shuffle.

"We like to see the hard numbers. But we know that many homeless people survive by being invisible," said Betsy McGovern-Garcia, the Continuum of Care's vice president. "Multiplying by three may be a better guess, but our volunteers do a great job."

Life on the streets

On the streets, the homeless say they survive by leaning on each other. Richard Ferguson, 46, and his girlfriend, Monica Marro, 46, say they often hang around the same group of two dozen homeless men and women in Tulare.

"It would be a lonely place without friends of the street. It would be much harder to be out here," Ferguson said. "But we have to slip into society and then slip out. We have to worry about code enforcement and police. We have to go unnoticed."

The couple faces another challenge — staying together.

Chris "Cowboy" Lewis and his longtime girlfriend June Steimel, say they're one of many couples on the streets who want to find shelter but can't because they would be forced to separate. So, like Ferguson and Marro, the couple spends most of their days searching the streets for anything they can recycle.

Because both couples have spent more than 90 days on the streets, they can't apply for HPRP funds and the Visalia Rescue Mission doesn't allow couples to stay together while staying at their facility.

"I won't leave my girl," Ferguson said.

Danny Little, the Visalia Rescue Mission executive director, said there has been talk of adding a family shelter, but with limited resources and space, the men and women and children will remain separated.

"I am not trying to be insensitive. But our option is often much better than the option they often choose, which is sleeping in bush every night," he said. "We have limited resources and may someday be able to help even more people than we do now."

The Rescue Mission is the only shelter in town and sleeps more than 130 people on its property every night. The mission also feeds more than 500 people per day. Some homeless men and women, though, say the Rescue Mission isn't meeting their needs.

"There are too many rules and regulations," said Lewis. "It's not really a mission. It's a privately owned shelter that pushes Jesus and looks out for its bottom line."

Models for help

The Visalia Rescue Mission, funded through local churches and donations, sleeps three times as many people as Cornerstone in Hanford, which receives federal funds. Each abides by a different model when they take in residents.

The Rescue Mission tests its residents for drugs and does not allow anyone to be intoxicated while on their property. They do not test for drugs or alcohol, however, at the shelter's kitchen.

In Hanford, Cornerstone's founder Tom Doyle no longer tests for drugs and alcohol. They dropped those rules and are now based on a behavioral model.

"Anyone who screws up while staying at Cornerstone is gone. But while we once had a zero-tolerance rule for our residents, we now give them a chance to prove themselves," Doyle said. "We believe we are helping more people."

McGovern-Garcia says she has been impressed with early results from Cornerstone. She believes that allowing people to begin to receive basic services, even though they may have recently used drugs or alcohol, can encourage people to leave drugs and alcohol behind. Many believe the key to getting people off the streets is a combination of both models.

"The behavior method provides the opportunity for more people to start getting services, but it really comes down to helping as many people as possible, while not promoting irresponsible behavior," said Scott, who also oversaw this year's Project Homeless Connect in Visalia. "You have to work with the various needs of people."

Resources

Project Homeless Connect brought together in one location numerous service providers, including medical, dental and veterinarian service providers, plus the California DMV. Locations were set up in Visalia, Tulare, Porterville and Hanford. Hanford is the only city that conducts two events each year, one in the spring and one in fall.

While funds generated by HPRP were designed to help people at risk of being homeless or who recently became homeless, many who have been on the streets for years are asking where the money is for the chronically homeless.

"There's no money for us. We can't afford many of these programs," Shore said. "There are many of us on the streets who have been here since we were teenagers. It's a way of life."

The Visalia Rescue Mission offers transitional housing for some graduates of their substance abuse program. Currently, there are eight men staying in a four-plex residence. They are charged $400 per room, but that is often split into two.

A one-time program resident, Luis Placencia, believes the programs are too expensive for men just graduating, many of whom have no money.

Little says the cost of living in the transitional home is a part of gaining back responsibility.

"Whether it's a meal, bed or transitional housing, we believe we are doing it in the very best interest of those we serve," Little said. "We are not here to gouge."

Transitional housing may be limited for some, but a new voucher program in Tulare has placed six formerly homeless people into homes for at least the next five years. A $185,000 Housing and Urban Development grant provides for a reduced rent over five years for homeless who have been on the street for longer than one year. A new grant that will be available early next year will spread the money countywide, and provide more than a dozen vouchers for chronically homeless men, women and children. McGovern-Garcia said that while the vouchers and HPRP funds have helped put homeless into homes, she doesn't believe homelessness will end anytime soon.

There are those — including Shore, Steimel, Lewis, Ferguson and Marro — who have been on the streets for years and have become accustomed to their lifestyle. For those left to combat homelessness, they'll continue to connect the dots and hope for more resources.

"We're not naive enough to think we'll end homelessness. What we want is that when they say, 'There are no resources for us,' that we can say, 'Yes, there are,' " McGovern-Garcia said. "We want to them to get a foot in the door and a roof over their heads."