Santa Cruz County groups address homelessness
Inside the Calvary Episcopal Church, people of all backgrounds gathered Saturday to learn more about and tackle an age old problem in Santa Cruz County.
“Homeless people have not only been pushed to the economic margin but off the margin,” said Annette March of Smart Solutions to Homelessness, an event sponsor.
“It’s immoral to have a rich nation, to have so much,” said Sarah Peterson of Aptos. “People like me have so much and poor people do not have anything.”
According to the Santa Cruz County Homeless Census and Survey, about 2,000 people in the county don’t have place to call home. Sixty-nine percent of them are unsheltered.
“We do not have enough emergency shelters at all,” said Elise, who is homeless. “The situation is not even being addressed and we are having a slow, strange genocide.”
Lack of housing and affordability are some of the main obstacles homeless face.
“I’m on disability, I only make a little over $900 a month,” said Al, who is homeless.
Event coordinators suggested people take a one-on-one approach to help solve the problem, starting with gaining a better understanding of who the homeless are and how they are viewed.
“What types of assumptions and stereotypes we all carry that begin to be decreased when we have real interaction with people who are homeless,” said March.
Organizers said other solutions include hosting events to create more awareness, advocating for policies to improve the situation and volunteering for agencies serving the homeless.
“Some of the programs need what we call housing navigators,” said Santa Cruz City Councilor Don Lane. “They’re people that are housed and who are helping a person who is homeless find housing because it’s such a challenge here and they need some support.”
Smart Solutions to Homelessness is one of the sponsors of the event. They said they are looking to have more gatherings at other churches and community groups.
