Peanuts In My Pocket

I read California Progressives Are Making Homelessness Worse in the New York Times this morning. In an audio segment, Matthew Desmond offers his opinion about why California’s homelessness problem will not go away. I agree with him. I’ve seen the story from the inside. I am a volunteer city commissioner for our local Navigation Center. I started on the commission before the shelter was built and have continued supporting my city’s effort through COVID-19 and up to today. I see the problem clearly. As stated by Desmond, there is a shortage of low-income housing, and most cities and government agencies do little to fix the larger problem.

In my experience, those entering our Navigation Center do not make it through to long-term, low-cost housing in anything like a reasonable amount of time. Many spend a year or more waiting for a spot. Some residents spend much longer. It’s disheartening to talk to these people when their reality is daily life in a crowded shelter with little hope of change. Their life becomes a list of grievances and complaints typical of crowded and hopeless living conditions. My community tries to help. I am proud of what we do.

My measure of success is throughput—how many people we help get off the street and into a viable housing solution. The numbers are depressingly small. Locally, we celebrate a few people moving through the process each month. It’s a lot like winning the lottery. Two hundred people vie for 3 or 4 spots. The rest wait.

Another aspect of the problem is building affordable housing. Local governments must act with policies that encourage developers to participate. These policies must be supported by funding from local and state agencies. Short-term solutions, like converting a motel, come with strong opposition due to the associated increases in congestion, blight, and crime. In my community, the local hotel vouchering process was a success, but the community did not like it. Crime, especially drug-related crime, was a visible outcome.

Other solutions are slowly making their way into our community. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) offer a possible solution. Four units appeared in my neighborhood in the last year. In talking to the owners, they are renting in the local competitive rental market, so our homeless will not have an opportunity to take advantage of these yet. Again, support by policies and funding is the answer. Perhaps something less restrictive than the Section 8 process would help the process along?

This announcement worries me:

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has ordered state officials to remove homeless encampments and makeshift shelters, affecting thousands of unhoused people.

We offer no solutions to the problem besides a police state response. It’s like stomping in a puddle—the local problem gets immediate attention, but the surrounding community gets wet. We can do better. I am proud that my community makes the effort.