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"content": "\u003cp>A rural community on the banks of the San Joaquin River was spared from flooding during last winter’s powerful storms after hundreds of acres of former farmland were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965257/california-looks-to-restore-floodplains-to-protect-communities-from-impacts-of-climate-change\">restored to their natural state as floodplains\u003c/a>, giving the rising water a place to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An immigrant family in the Central Valley city of Tulare got relief from 100-degree heat and sky-high energy bills with insulation and energy retrofits installed under a state program to weatherize the homes of low-income farmworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small town mayor in a region with some of the most polluted air in the nation launched a free rideshare program with a fleet of electric vehicles — the first step in his goal of creating hundreds of green jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are a few of the climate resilience strategies emerging in hard-hit agricultural communities in California’s Central Valley, supported by state and federal funds that could enable local initiatives to scale up. But the very places that need help the most may have the hardest time accessing the funding available, \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/aYv2COYZQzi2BvYEskPu2V?domain=next10.org\">research shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents of San Joaquin Valley face a barrage of challenges as the planet warms and weather patterns shift, often with catastrophic results. Land development has been engineered over decades to maximize agricultural productivity, with little attention to environmental resilience. And low-income immigrant workers, who are the backbone of this economy, are on the front lines, living in communities that lack resources and critical infrastructure to cope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer temperatures throughout the valley routinely spike into triple digits, making outdoor work dangerous and shoddily built homes stifling. Wildfires repeatedly blanket the region with smoke, exacerbating the air pollution that leads to the state’s worst rates of asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966814\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966814\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A dry field with an irrigation channel alongside it.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An irrigation channel carries water to new plantings in the recently restored floodplain on the banks of the San Joaquin River near Grayson, Calif., on Aug. 31. The restoration work was conducted by the nonprofit River Partners to allow the fast-moving river to spread out over a wider expanse, diminishing its destructive force and preventing catastrophic flooding. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Violent floods wash away homes and livelihoods in communities with neglected levees and insufficient storm drains. And recurring drought contributes to the fact that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2021-118/index.html\">nearly 1 million Californians who lack access to safe drinking water\u003c/a> live in the Central Valley. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Pablo Ortiz-Partida, senior water and climate scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists\"]‘The biggest problem is the combination of things: farmworker communities not having a rest from one climate impact to another.’[/pullquote]“The biggest problem is the combination of things: farmworker communities not having a rest from one climate impact to another,” said Pablo Ortiz-Partida, senior water and climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “All these things start interconnecting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortiz-Partida said policymakers must listen to those who live with these impacts daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There needs to be some top-down solutions, but also some bottom-up solutions,” he said. “How can we start that process of equitable transition to cleaner energies? … How can we start bringing a new, more sustainable vision of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Left behind in the clean energy transition\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has established itself as a national leader in climate policy. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/bio/merrian-borgeson/ca-climate-energy-policy-update-summer-2023\">Natural Resources Defense Council estimates\u003c/a> the state has committed to spend more than $52 billion over the next several years to \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/ab-32-climate-change-scoping-plan/2022-scoping-plan-documents\">transition off fossil fuels\u003c/a> and tackle the effects of climate change. That’s in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars from President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Act and \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/California.pdf\">Inflation Reduction Act\u003c/a> that will soon flow to the state to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet low-income immigrant communities in rural areas that are among the most impacted have not always seen the benefit — and could be at risk of losing out again. [aside postID=news_11943590 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CalMatters_01-1020x680.jpg'] A \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/publications/local-climate\">new report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment, and two nonprofits — the Institute for Local Government and Next 10 — found that many California municipalities, especially smaller ones, need to staff up and develop detailed climate action plans if they want a shot at competitive grants for the unprecedented funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the state faces worsening impacts from climate change, local governments are the front-line defense for our communities,” said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10. “We need to identify the barriers cities and counties face so we can take full advantage of the historic federal and state funding available to better protect ourselves now and in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Anna Caballero represents some of the San Joaquin Valley’s poorest places and said climate policies don’t work if they only benefit wealthier residents of coastal cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s seen plenty of well-intentioned climate programs miss the mark for her Central Valley constituents. One example is rebates for purchasing electric cars and solar panels, which require paying the full price upfront and getting the discount later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The urgency of getting this right and including rural communities in our discussion about climate change is that we’re going to end up with two separate worlds,” she said. “If you can afford it, you have an electric vehicle and a solar rooftop. And if you can’t, there’s nothing for you. There’s no job. There’s no way to pay your bills. And your community has no way of sustaining itself.” [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"State Sen. Anna Caballero\"]‘If you can afford it, you have an electric vehicle and a solar rooftop. And if you can’t, there’s nothing for you.’[/pullquote]The region’s economy is dominated by agriculture and fossil fuel extraction industries, whose leaders trend Republican and have often resisted Democratic moves to slash carbon emissions and protect water and ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, 55% of the San Joaquin Valley’s 4.3 million residents live in disadvantaged communities, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment\u003c/a> for the region. \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS%20Research%20Report%2015.pdf\">Among California farmworkers, 9 in 10 are immigrants\u003c/a>, and 8 in 10 are not citizens. Though their labor is essential, and many have lived here for decades, they can’t vote, so their voices and experiences aren’t always represented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet Caballero, a Democrat, and many other lawmakers and advocates have been pushing for equitable solutions, and some are beginning to bear fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The river is their backyard’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The unincorporated community of Grayson, on the west bank of the San Joaquin River, is just five-by-six blocks. The only business, The One-Stop, is a gas station, convenience store, lunch counter and laundromat rolled into one. Residents rely on wells for drinking water that are often contaminated with agricultural chemicals from surrounding fields. Flooding has long been a risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lilia Lomelí-Gil, who runs the Grayson United Community Center, pointed out some older homes on Charles Street, where the water rose ominously as rain pounded the region last winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966813\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966813\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hair stands in front of a dry field.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilia Lomelí-Gil walks along the recently restored floodplain on the banks of the San Joaquin River near her home in Grayson, Calif., on Aug. 31. Lomelí-Gil, who runs the Grayson United Community Center, said the natural floodplain protected Grayson from flooding last winter and creates a place where community residents can get closer to nature. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The river is their backyard,” she said. “The lady that lives right there in that little house was at risk of getting flooded. It did go up to their yard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lomelí-Gil, 71, knows that risk firsthand. Back in 1997, she was living in nearby Modesto when \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXEza6kPyFk\">a massive flood hit on New Year’s Day\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my home,” she said. “Because the waters came in 4-feet high. And since we were downriver from the sewage plant, of course, it was all contaminated waters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She salvaged what she could and moved back to Grayson, where she’d grown up the daughter of farmworkers from Mexico. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Lilia Lomelí-Gil, co-founder, Grayson United Community Center\"]‘Going back to nature … It works with mental health and your physical health and your spiritual health. I think that triangle is the key to facing life’s challenges.’[/pullquote]During last winter’s storms, levees failed and catastrophic floods devastated other farmworker communities, like Pajaro and Planada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Grayson, the San Joaquin River surged, but the outcome was very different: the town did not flood. One reason? A \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/05/28/1178441292/flood-protection-california\">recent floodplain restoration project\u003c/a> allowed the fast-moving river to spread over a wider expanse, diminishing its destructive force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work was done by \u003ca href=\"https://riverpartners.org\">River Partners\u003c/a>, a nonprofit organization that restores riverside habitats around California. The group purchased unused farmland abutting the river, then removed the earthen berms holding the water in its channel. Dozens of people from the local community, including Lomelí-Gil, got involved in planting native tree saplings and grasses to restore wildlife habitat in the new floodplain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent weekday, Lomelí-Gil tramped down an abandoned road at the end of Minnie Street to show off the plantings. Once the work is complete, she said, she’s looking forward to taking kids and seniors from the community center out to walk along trails by the river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Going back to nature … It works with mental health and your physical health and your spiritual health,” she said, stopping to listen to the sound of the birds and the babbling water. “I think that triangle is the key to facing life’s challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Removing levees to allow floods to flow across fallow farmland is a low-tech solution with significant payoffs, River Partners executive director Julie Rentner said. It not only reduces flood risk and expands wildlife habitat and space for recreation, but it refills underground aquifers that have been depleted by decades of over-pumping — and that should lead to cleaner drinking water for Lomelí-Gil and her neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar projects will soon break ground. In the wake of last winter’s storms, state lawmakers budgeted nearly half a billion dollars to shore up levees and rebuild damaged communities. Tucked in there was $40 million for River Partners to restore natural floodplains on 2,500 more acres elsewhere along the San Joaquin River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money is only a downpayment on what’s ultimately needed, Rentner said, but it’s an important step that could be a game-changer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s thinking more holistically about how we manage our water and our soil and our communities,” she said. ”So that we can find solutions to climate resilience that benefit us all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Weatherization on steroids’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Extreme heat is another consequence of climate change hitting the San Joaquin Valley hard. Scientists calculate that annual average maximum \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">temperatures increased by 1F from 1950 to 2020\u003c/a>. In 2021, Fresno experienced \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/media/hnx/SEPTEMBER%202021%20WEATHER%20SUMMARY.pdf\">a record 69 straight days with temperatures over 100F\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside the little city of Tulare, nearly three hours south of Grayson, Arturo Yañez, 55, unloads crates of kiwis and pomegranates. He said in the three decades he’s lived in the valley, he’s felt it get a little hotter each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966816\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a baseball cap looks at photos on a shelf inside a home.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arturo Yañez looks at family photos at his home in Tulare on Aug. 31. He received home weatherization and solar panels through a state program for green energy retrofits for farmworkers’ households. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This year, too, it was extremely hot,” he said in Spanish. “To work in these temperatures is tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help mitigate the heat, California uses funds from the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/california-climate-investments\">cap-and-trade program\u003c/a> to weatherize homes of low-income families, with some of that money \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Farmworker-Housing-Component.aspx\">carved out for the small percentage of farmworkers who are homeowners\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yañez is one of them. On a late summer afternoon, he showed where a crew had laid insulation in his attic and installed ceiling fans. An efficient, electric air-conditioning system was on the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the thermometer outdoors still reading 103 F at 5 p.m., those measures would make the house more comfortable, he said, and keep his energy costs more manageable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes, it’s tough to cover all the bills,” he said, adding that when it’s too hot to safely work outside, farmworkers are sent home early, costing them hours on their paychecks. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Arturo Yañez, San Joaquin Valley resident\"]‘We’ll be saving energy. And we can help reduce global warming too.’[/pullquote]Yañez had also applied for solar panels through the weatherization program, and that afternoon he learned that he’d qualified. His face lit up in relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s wonderful!” he said. “We’ll be saving energy. And we can help reduce global warming too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caballero said efforts like these are exactly what the valley needs but they must expand rapidly, to include hundreds of thousands of farmworker families who rent, often in shoddy homes with poor insulation and no air conditioning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of ‘weatherization on steroids,’” she said. “The benefits could be very, very powerful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office published an \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Climate-Resilience/2022-Final-Extreme-Heat-Action-Plan.pdf\">extreme heat action plan\u003c/a>, and the legislature budgeted $1.1 billion for “decarbonization” retrofits in the homes of low- and moderate-income Californians, such as electric appliances and heat pumps for heating and cooling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Caballero wrote a bill, signed by Gov. Newsom, to monitor where those funds are spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wanted to make sure that, with limited funds, we started with the communities that had the worst extreme heat,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Building a greener economy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the town of Huron, becoming more climate resilient is also about creating new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surrounded by tomato fields and almond orchards, the Fresno County town of about 6,000 is not the kind of place you’d expect to see Teslas and Chevy Volts. The poverty rate is 40%, and just 3 in 10 adults have finished high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11960228\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person with a moustache and wearing a baseball cap stands in front of a white car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Huron Mayor Rey León stands near an electric vehicle outside the Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute offices, known as LEAP, in Huron, Calif., on Sept. 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yet, from a former diesel garage on an alley behind the struggling main street, a busy rideshare service dispatches drivers in shiny electric cars to ferry Huron residents to the doctor and other appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The free program is called \u003ca href=\"https://greenraiteros.org\">Green Raiteros\u003c/a>, a play on the Spanish slang for someone who gives rides. The five-year-old project is the brainchild of Rey León, founding director of the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://theleapinstitute.org\">Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute\u003c/a>, or LEAP. Green Raiteros is funded with state grants. And drivers are employees, not gig workers, with pay starting at $18 per hour, according to LEAP staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>León, who’s also Huron’s mayor, said the program is part of his vision of meeting basic needs like transportation while leaning into the green economy. The hope is to both reduce emissions and create jobs, preparing the workforce as climate change-induced drought disrupts the agricultural economy of the Central Valley. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Huron Mayor Rey León\"]‘Huron is in an area that’s been not just drought-stricken, but poverty-stricken for a very long time.’[/pullquote]“Huron is in an area that’s been not just drought-stricken, but poverty-stricken for a very long time,” said León, sitting in his office upstairs from the dispatchers. “We hope we can make the investments necessary to employ, empower and really animate folks from the community to advance their economy — with innovative technologies so that we can simultaneously fight the climate crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>León sees the physical health of his community as intertwined with its economic health — and both as inextricably linked with the health of the environment where they live: \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/california-has-some-of-the-worst-air-quality-in-the-country-the-problem-is-rooted-in-the-san-joaquin-valley\">one of the most contaminated air basins in the nation\u003c/a>. Huron residents breathe air that carries dust from the fields, pesticides and smog from nearby Interstate 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among other efforts, León has installed 30 EV charging stations around town, planted 300 street trees and enacted measures to promote water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, León is aware that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/environment/2022-11-03/amid-californias-three-year-drought-a-san-joaquin-valley-farmworker-considers-seeking-work-outside-the-region\">tens of thousands of agricultural jobs could dry up\u003c/a> in coming years, as climate-change-fueled drought persists and environmental laws to restore depleted aquifers take effect. The LEAP headquarters on the alley is an incubator for projects he hopes will eventually lead to hundreds of well-paying jobs in manufacturing and environmental stewardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960224\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11960224\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a baseball cap looks out the window from the backseat of a car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Enrique Contreras gets a ride in an all-electric vehicle from the Green Raiteros rideshare program in Huron, Calif., to a doctor’s appointment on Sept. 1, 2023. The program is run by Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute offices, known as Leap. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In one bay of the garage, several men were building prototypes of portable trailers with solar panels on top, that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-20-310-mobile-renewable-backup-generation-morbugs/\">California Energy Commission hopes can serve as emergency shelters\u003c/a> and power stations, to deploy during wildfires or other disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in a greenhouse behind the garage, two workers are running an experiment, funded by the USDA, to test a liquid organic fertilizer on tomatoes — with hopes of scaling up production and using local agricultural waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Huron’s mayor, León is also \u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-20-310-mobile-renewable-backup-generation-morbugs/\">scoping the possibility of developing a park\u003c/a> and nature conservancy on 3,000 acres of overgrown federal land just outside of town. He envisions replenishing the underground aquifer there using the town’s treated wastewater, and employing residents to build trails and plant native trees grown in LEAP greenhouses.\u003cbr>\n[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Solange Gould, co-director, Human Impact Partners\"]‘There’s a lot of funding, but the state needs to provide more technical assistance to Central Valley groups to be able to access that money.’[/pullquote]León’s dreams are big, but they’ll take more money, political muscle and capacity building to realize. He knows they won’t happen overnight and, for now, he’s experimenting at a small scale. The Green Raiteros fleet in Huron has 11 cars, but state grants are funding an expansion, with five additional vehicles in Fresno and three more in the Salinas Valley town of Pajaro. In a poor community like his, León said, such government funding has been essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If not for the resources provided by state agencies, it really wouldn’t be possible,” he said. “We’re farmworkers and, traditionally, farmworkers have never been afforded the privilege of being able to build up wealth. … We hope that with the projects we’re doing, they could see them as pilots for what could be done in similar communities throughout the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small farming towns like Huron have had some success winning competitive grants. But even with all the new money flowing from state and federal governments, it often goes to big cities and large nonprofits with sophisticated fundraising operations, leaving small, rural places at a disadvantage — even if their need is intense, some advocates say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are dire inequities on every measure of human wellbeing in the Central Valley because of past and current policies and disinvestment,” said Solange Gould, co-director of Human Impact Partners, a nonprofit that advocates for health equity. “There’s a lot of funding, but the state needs to provide more technical assistance to Central Valley groups to be able to access that money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A rural community on the banks of the San Joaquin River was spared from flooding during last winter’s powerful storms after hundreds of acres of former farmland were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965257/california-looks-to-restore-floodplains-to-protect-communities-from-impacts-of-climate-change\">restored to their natural state as floodplains\u003c/a>, giving the rising water a place to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An immigrant family in the Central Valley city of Tulare got relief from 100-degree heat and sky-high energy bills with insulation and energy retrofits installed under a state program to weatherize the homes of low-income farmworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small town mayor in a region with some of the most polluted air in the nation launched a free rideshare program with a fleet of electric vehicles — the first step in his goal of creating hundreds of green jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are a few of the climate resilience strategies emerging in hard-hit agricultural communities in California’s Central Valley, supported by state and federal funds that could enable local initiatives to scale up. But the very places that need help the most may have the hardest time accessing the funding available, \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/aYv2COYZQzi2BvYEskPu2V?domain=next10.org\">research shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents of San Joaquin Valley face a barrage of challenges as the planet warms and weather patterns shift, often with catastrophic results. Land development has been engineered over decades to maximize agricultural productivity, with little attention to environmental resilience. And low-income immigrant workers, who are the backbone of this economy, are on the front lines, living in communities that lack resources and critical infrastructure to cope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer temperatures throughout the valley routinely spike into triple digits, making outdoor work dangerous and shoddily built homes stifling. Wildfires repeatedly blanket the region with smoke, exacerbating the air pollution that leads to the state’s worst rates of asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966814\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966814\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A dry field with an irrigation channel alongside it.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An irrigation channel carries water to new plantings in the recently restored floodplain on the banks of the San Joaquin River near Grayson, Calif., on Aug. 31. The restoration work was conducted by the nonprofit River Partners to allow the fast-moving river to spread out over a wider expanse, diminishing its destructive force and preventing catastrophic flooding. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Violent floods wash away homes and livelihoods in communities with neglected levees and insufficient storm drains. And recurring drought contributes to the fact that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2021-118/index.html\">nearly 1 million Californians who lack access to safe drinking water\u003c/a> live in the Central Valley. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The biggest problem is the combination of things: farmworker communities not having a rest from one climate impact to another.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The biggest problem is the combination of things: farmworker communities not having a rest from one climate impact to another,” said Pablo Ortiz-Partida, senior water and climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “All these things start interconnecting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortiz-Partida said policymakers must listen to those who live with these impacts daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There needs to be some top-down solutions, but also some bottom-up solutions,” he said. “How can we start that process of equitable transition to cleaner energies? … How can we start bringing a new, more sustainable vision of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Left behind in the clean energy transition\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has established itself as a national leader in climate policy. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/bio/merrian-borgeson/ca-climate-energy-policy-update-summer-2023\">Natural Resources Defense Council estimates\u003c/a> the state has committed to spend more than $52 billion over the next several years to \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/ab-32-climate-change-scoping-plan/2022-scoping-plan-documents\">transition off fossil fuels\u003c/a> and tackle the effects of climate change. That’s in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars from President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Act and \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/California.pdf\">Inflation Reduction Act\u003c/a> that will soon flow to the state to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet low-income immigrant communities in rural areas that are among the most impacted have not always seen the benefit — and could be at risk of losing out again. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> A \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/publications/local-climate\">new report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment, and two nonprofits — the Institute for Local Government and Next 10 — found that many California municipalities, especially smaller ones, need to staff up and develop detailed climate action plans if they want a shot at competitive grants for the unprecedented funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the state faces worsening impacts from climate change, local governments are the front-line defense for our communities,” said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10. “We need to identify the barriers cities and counties face so we can take full advantage of the historic federal and state funding available to better protect ourselves now and in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Anna Caballero represents some of the San Joaquin Valley’s poorest places and said climate policies don’t work if they only benefit wealthier residents of coastal cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s seen plenty of well-intentioned climate programs miss the mark for her Central Valley constituents. One example is rebates for purchasing electric cars and solar panels, which require paying the full price upfront and getting the discount later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The urgency of getting this right and including rural communities in our discussion about climate change is that we’re going to end up with two separate worlds,” she said. “If you can afford it, you have an electric vehicle and a solar rooftop. And if you can’t, there’s nothing for you. There’s no job. There’s no way to pay your bills. And your community has no way of sustaining itself.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The region’s economy is dominated by agriculture and fossil fuel extraction industries, whose leaders trend Republican and have often resisted Democratic moves to slash carbon emissions and protect water and ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, 55% of the San Joaquin Valley’s 4.3 million residents live in disadvantaged communities, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment\u003c/a> for the region. \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS%20Research%20Report%2015.pdf\">Among California farmworkers, 9 in 10 are immigrants\u003c/a>, and 8 in 10 are not citizens. Though their labor is essential, and many have lived here for decades, they can’t vote, so their voices and experiences aren’t always represented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet Caballero, a Democrat, and many other lawmakers and advocates have been pushing for equitable solutions, and some are beginning to bear fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The river is their backyard’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The unincorporated community of Grayson, on the west bank of the San Joaquin River, is just five-by-six blocks. The only business, The One-Stop, is a gas station, convenience store, lunch counter and laundromat rolled into one. Residents rely on wells for drinking water that are often contaminated with agricultural chemicals from surrounding fields. Flooding has long been a risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lilia Lomelí-Gil, who runs the Grayson United Community Center, pointed out some older homes on Charles Street, where the water rose ominously as rain pounded the region last winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966813\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966813\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hair stands in front of a dry field.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lilia Lomelí-Gil walks along the recently restored floodplain on the banks of the San Joaquin River near her home in Grayson, Calif., on Aug. 31. Lomelí-Gil, who runs the Grayson United Community Center, said the natural floodplain protected Grayson from flooding last winter and creates a place where community residents can get closer to nature. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The river is their backyard,” she said. “The lady that lives right there in that little house was at risk of getting flooded. It did go up to their yard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lomelí-Gil, 71, knows that risk firsthand. Back in 1997, she was living in nearby Modesto when \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXEza6kPyFk\">a massive flood hit on New Year’s Day\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my home,” she said. “Because the waters came in 4-feet high. And since we were downriver from the sewage plant, of course, it was all contaminated waters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She salvaged what she could and moved back to Grayson, where she’d grown up the daughter of farmworkers from Mexico. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Going back to nature … It works with mental health and your physical health and your spiritual health. I think that triangle is the key to facing life’s challenges.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>During last winter’s storms, levees failed and catastrophic floods devastated other farmworker communities, like Pajaro and Planada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Grayson, the San Joaquin River surged, but the outcome was very different: the town did not flood. One reason? A \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/05/28/1178441292/flood-protection-california\">recent floodplain restoration project\u003c/a> allowed the fast-moving river to spread over a wider expanse, diminishing its destructive force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work was done by \u003ca href=\"https://riverpartners.org\">River Partners\u003c/a>, a nonprofit organization that restores riverside habitats around California. The group purchased unused farmland abutting the river, then removed the earthen berms holding the water in its channel. Dozens of people from the local community, including Lomelí-Gil, got involved in planting native tree saplings and grasses to restore wildlife habitat in the new floodplain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent weekday, Lomelí-Gil tramped down an abandoned road at the end of Minnie Street to show off the plantings. Once the work is complete, she said, she’s looking forward to taking kids and seniors from the community center out to walk along trails by the river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Going back to nature … It works with mental health and your physical health and your spiritual health,” she said, stopping to listen to the sound of the birds and the babbling water. “I think that triangle is the key to facing life’s challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Removing levees to allow floods to flow across fallow farmland is a low-tech solution with significant payoffs, River Partners executive director Julie Rentner said. It not only reduces flood risk and expands wildlife habitat and space for recreation, but it refills underground aquifers that have been depleted by decades of over-pumping — and that should lead to cleaner drinking water for Lomelí-Gil and her neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar projects will soon break ground. In the wake of last winter’s storms, state lawmakers budgeted nearly half a billion dollars to shore up levees and rebuild damaged communities. Tucked in there was $40 million for River Partners to restore natural floodplains on 2,500 more acres elsewhere along the San Joaquin River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money is only a downpayment on what’s ultimately needed, Rentner said, but it’s an important step that could be a game-changer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s thinking more holistically about how we manage our water and our soil and our communities,” she said. ”So that we can find solutions to climate resilience that benefit us all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Weatherization on steroids’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Extreme heat is another consequence of climate change hitting the San Joaquin Valley hard. Scientists calculate that annual average maximum \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">temperatures increased by 1F from 1950 to 2020\u003c/a>. In 2021, Fresno experienced \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/media/hnx/SEPTEMBER%202021%20WEATHER%20SUMMARY.pdf\">a record 69 straight days with temperatures over 100F\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside the little city of Tulare, nearly three hours south of Grayson, Arturo Yañez, 55, unloads crates of kiwis and pomegranates. He said in the three decades he’s lived in the valley, he’s felt it get a little hotter each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11966816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11966816\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a baseball cap looks at photos on a shelf inside a home.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/231108-CLIMATE-FLOODPLAIN-TH-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arturo Yañez looks at family photos at his home in Tulare on Aug. 31. He received home weatherization and solar panels through a state program for green energy retrofits for farmworkers’ households. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This year, too, it was extremely hot,” he said in Spanish. “To work in these temperatures is tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help mitigate the heat, California uses funds from the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/california-climate-investments\">cap-and-trade program\u003c/a> to weatherize homes of low-income families, with some of that money \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Farmworker-Housing-Component.aspx\">carved out for the small percentage of farmworkers who are homeowners\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yañez is one of them. On a late summer afternoon, he showed where a crew had laid insulation in his attic and installed ceiling fans. An efficient, electric air-conditioning system was on the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the thermometer outdoors still reading 103 F at 5 p.m., those measures would make the house more comfortable, he said, and keep his energy costs more manageable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes, it’s tough to cover all the bills,” he said, adding that when it’s too hot to safely work outside, farmworkers are sent home early, costing them hours on their paychecks. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Yañez had also applied for solar panels through the weatherization program, and that afternoon he learned that he’d qualified. His face lit up in relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s wonderful!” he said. “We’ll be saving energy. And we can help reduce global warming too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caballero said efforts like these are exactly what the valley needs but they must expand rapidly, to include hundreds of thousands of farmworker families who rent, often in shoddy homes with poor insulation and no air conditioning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of ‘weatherization on steroids,’” she said. “The benefits could be very, very powerful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office published an \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Climate-Resilience/2022-Final-Extreme-Heat-Action-Plan.pdf\">extreme heat action plan\u003c/a>, and the legislature budgeted $1.1 billion for “decarbonization” retrofits in the homes of low- and moderate-income Californians, such as electric appliances and heat pumps for heating and cooling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Caballero wrote a bill, signed by Gov. Newsom, to monitor where those funds are spent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wanted to make sure that, with limited funds, we started with the communities that had the worst extreme heat,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Building a greener economy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the town of Huron, becoming more climate resilient is also about creating new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surrounded by tomato fields and almond orchards, the Fresno County town of about 6,000 is not the kind of place you’d expect to see Teslas and Chevy Volts. The poverty rate is 40%, and just 3 in 10 adults have finished high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11960228\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person with a moustache and wearing a baseball cap stands in front of a white car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68672_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-50-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Huron Mayor Rey León stands near an electric vehicle outside the Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute offices, known as LEAP, in Huron, Calif., on Sept. 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yet, from a former diesel garage on an alley behind the struggling main street, a busy rideshare service dispatches drivers in shiny electric cars to ferry Huron residents to the doctor and other appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The free program is called \u003ca href=\"https://greenraiteros.org\">Green Raiteros\u003c/a>, a play on the Spanish slang for someone who gives rides. The five-year-old project is the brainchild of Rey León, founding director of the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://theleapinstitute.org\">Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute\u003c/a>, or LEAP. Green Raiteros is funded with state grants. And drivers are employees, not gig workers, with pay starting at $18 per hour, according to LEAP staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>León, who’s also Huron’s mayor, said the program is part of his vision of meeting basic needs like transportation while leaning into the green economy. The hope is to both reduce emissions and create jobs, preparing the workforce as climate change-induced drought disrupts the agricultural economy of the Central Valley. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Huron is in an area that’s been not just drought-stricken, but poverty-stricken for a very long time.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Huron is in an area that’s been not just drought-stricken, but poverty-stricken for a very long time,” said León, sitting in his office upstairs from the dispatchers. “We hope we can make the investments necessary to employ, empower and really animate folks from the community to advance their economy — with innovative technologies so that we can simultaneously fight the climate crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>León sees the physical health of his community as intertwined with its economic health — and both as inextricably linked with the health of the environment where they live: \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/california-has-some-of-the-worst-air-quality-in-the-country-the-problem-is-rooted-in-the-san-joaquin-valley\">one of the most contaminated air basins in the nation\u003c/a>. Huron residents breathe air that carries dust from the fields, pesticides and smog from nearby Interstate 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among other efforts, León has installed 30 EV charging stations around town, planted 300 street trees and enacted measures to promote water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, León is aware that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/environment/2022-11-03/amid-californias-three-year-drought-a-san-joaquin-valley-farmworker-considers-seeking-work-outside-the-region\">tens of thousands of agricultural jobs could dry up\u003c/a> in coming years, as climate-change-fueled drought persists and environmental laws to restore depleted aquifers take effect. The LEAP headquarters on the alley is an incubator for projects he hopes will eventually lead to hundreds of well-paying jobs in manufacturing and environmental stewardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960224\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11960224\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a baseball cap looks out the window from the backseat of a car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/RS68646_230901-CentralValleyClimateSolutions-13-BL-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Enrique Contreras gets a ride in an all-electric vehicle from the Green Raiteros rideshare program in Huron, Calif., to a doctor’s appointment on Sept. 1, 2023. The program is run by Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute offices, known as Leap. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In one bay of the garage, several men were building prototypes of portable trailers with solar panels on top, that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-20-310-mobile-renewable-backup-generation-morbugs/\">California Energy Commission hopes can serve as emergency shelters\u003c/a> and power stations, to deploy during wildfires or other disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in a greenhouse behind the garage, two workers are running an experiment, funded by the USDA, to test a liquid organic fertilizer on tomatoes — with hopes of scaling up production and using local agricultural waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Huron’s mayor, León is also \u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-20-310-mobile-renewable-backup-generation-morbugs/\">scoping the possibility of developing a park\u003c/a> and nature conservancy on 3,000 acres of overgrown federal land just outside of town. He envisions replenishing the underground aquifer there using the town’s treated wastewater, and employing residents to build trails and plant native trees grown in LEAP greenhouses.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>León’s dreams are big, but they’ll take more money, political muscle and capacity building to realize. He knows they won’t happen overnight and, for now, he’s experimenting at a small scale. The Green Raiteros fleet in Huron has 11 cars, but state grants are funding an expansion, with five additional vehicles in Fresno and three more in the Salinas Valley town of Pajaro. In a poor community like his, León said, such government funding has been essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If not for the resources provided by state agencies, it really wouldn’t be possible,” he said. “We’re farmworkers and, traditionally, farmworkers have never been afforded the privilege of being able to build up wealth. … We hope that with the projects we’re doing, they could see them as pilots for what could be done in similar communities throughout the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small farming towns like Huron have had some success winning competitive grants. But even with all the new money flowing from state and federal governments, it often goes to big cities and large nonprofits with sophisticated fundraising operations, leaving small, rural places at a disadvantage — even if their need is intense, some advocates say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are dire inequities on every measure of human wellbeing in the Central Valley because of past and current policies and disinvestment,” said Solange Gould, co-director of Human Impact Partners, a nonprofit that advocates for health equity. “There’s a lot of funding, but the state needs to provide more technical assistance to Central Valley groups to be able to access that money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "unhoused-californians-are-living-on-the-bleeding-edge-of-climate-change",
"title": "Unhoused Californians Are Living on the 'Bleeding Edge' of Climate Change",
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"headTitle": "Unhoused Californians Are Living on the ‘Bleeding Edge’ of Climate Change | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen summer temperatures in Fresno break 100 degrees, Deana Everhart cooks. It’s a rare privilege for a woman without a kitchen or a house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marie Callender’s TV dinners are her favorite, and she puts them on the sidewalk to let the sun do an oven’s work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They will cook as if they were in a microwave,” she said on a 108-degree day in July. “In about 30 minutes, they’re hot and ready.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It might be the only perk that’s come with the increasingly hellish summers plaguing her hometown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 61, Everhart has lived about 20 years cycling on and off Fresno’s streets. But as she gets older, and the \u003ca href=\"https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/bdd9567a847a4b52abd20253539143df/page/Weather-and-Climate/?views=All-Climate-Indicators%2CHeat-Waves\">heat waves become more frequent\u003c/a>, it’s harder to survive outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This past year has been especially challenging as \u003ca href=\"https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/atmospheric-rivers-hit-west-coast\">historic winter storms\u003c/a> gave way to a blistering summer. Now, she’s bracing for yet another potentially drenching winter, thanks to El Niño.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Everhart is caught in the middle of an ever-changing web of policies, put in place by Fresno city leaders who face pressures to reduce street homelessness while mitigating the harm unhoused residents face from deadly weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a story playing out across California as our climate and housing crises collide. \u003ca href=\"https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/coc-homeless-populations-and-subpopulations-reports/?filter_Year=2019&filter_Scope=State&filter_State=CA&filter_CoC=&program=CoC&group=PopSub\">The number of unsheltered people in California rose 6.5%\u003c/a> from 2019 to 2022. The increase is much steeper in Fresno, where unsheltered homelessness has spiked 48% since 2019, the vast majority of that increase during the first year of the pandemic, according to the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dangerously Hot Days Are on the Rise in Fresno\" aria-label=\"Interactive line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-EbsnW\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/EbsnW/6/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The heat index is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. As the heat index rises, so does the risk of heat-related illness.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the number of dangerously hot days in Fresno has \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/graphic/high-heat-index-days-2023?graphicSet=High+Heat+Index+Days&location=Fresno&lang=en\">gone up by 17 days a year\u003c/a> since 1979. The state is \u003ca href=\"https://oehha.ca.gov/climate-change/epic-2022/changes-climate/precipitation\">increasingly yo-yoing between periods of drought and heavy rain\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://blog.ucsusa.org/pablo-ortiz/climate-change-impacts-on-california-central-valley-the-warning-shot-the-us-is-ignoring/\">a trend that’s particularly pronounced in the Central Valley\u003c/a>, where bursts of heavy precipitation easily lead to flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seniors like Everhart are \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/older-adults-heat.html\">especially vulnerable\u003c/a> to the elements, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10061143/#:~:text=The%20cumulative%20disadvantage%20experienced%20by,functional%20and%20cognitive%20impairment%2C%20incontinence\">living on the streets hastens aging\u003c/a>. Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, compared the physical condition of a 50-year-old living outside to that of a person two to three decades older in the general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Folks experiencing homelessness are on the bleeding edge of the health crises that are happening with extremes of temperature,” said Kushel, the lead investigator on a \u003ca href=\"https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/our-impact/our-studies/california-statewide-study-people-experiencing-homelessness\">landmark survey\u003c/a> of houseless Californians released this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It found that people 50 years and older now represent nearly half of single adults experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just hard,” Everhart said. “At my age, everything combined is hard on me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The most-best shade in all of Fresno’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It was sometime in late spring when Everhart rolled her belongings onto a patch of dirt under an overpass near downtown Fresno. She was thinking about the oncoming heat when she chose the spot, shielded by hundreds of tons of concrete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the most-best shade, I bet, in all of Fresno, right here,” Everhart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5564168870&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The camp she made there with a longtime friend, Shannon Thom, was a jumble of carts and strollers piled with dozens of bulging plastic bags, chairs in various states of disrepair, empty food containers and a molding sheet cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Somebody gave it to us, but it’s already old,” Everhart said. “Out here, you learn to accept stuff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954896\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954896 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in a pink hat leans on a chainlink fence under a freeway overpass.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deana Everhart, 61, spent the hottest part of the summer sheltering under an overpass near downtown Fresno. She’s been unhoused on and off for about 20 years. “I remember how scared I was the first time sleeping by myself,” she said of her early days on the streets. Today, it’s hard for her to imagine another way of life. While she said she wants housing, the responsibility that comes with it feels daunting. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The living arrangement was chaotic but reflected their years of combined street savvy: cell phones, documents, food and clothes concealed by junky-looking bags were less likely to entice thieves. Allowing trash to build up around them was less likely to draw complaints than throwing it into the dumpster outside a nearby apartment complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, they’ve camped together and developed a system to keep each other and their things safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take shifts on sleeping because we have to watch the stuff 24/7,” Everhart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her skin is tanned and freckled from years of sun, but there’s something girlish about her. She wears her long, dark hair in low pigtails. In her 20s, Everhart played guitar in an all-girl metal band called Sweet Lies — “Like sweet, but not so sweet,” she said. “We were rocker girls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She still seems to relish the spotlight, but these days, she tends to hold her hand in front of her mouth while she talks because she’s shy about her teeth. She can’t always brush them outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everhart’s path to homelessness is entwined with her mental illness. As her obsessive-compulsive disorder became increasingly debilitating, she struggled to hold on to housing. Court records show she has been evicted twice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everhart now lives on $1,252 a month in Social Security disability benefits, plus food stamps — less than the median rent in Fresno, which spiked in recent years. Between 2017 and 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2021-03-31/fresno-rent-spike-taps-into-california-covid-housing-trends\">rents rose almost 40\u003c/a>%, the biggest increase of any large city in the country. [aside postID=news_11964791 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/CalMatters01-1020x680.jpg']Despite her situation, she is less worried about herself than her son, Travis Everhart. He’s 39, has schizophrenia and lives on Fresno’s streets, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the camp, she pointed out a box full of his things and the mat where he sleeps beside her when he’s not wandering the city alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last time she and Thom, 41, shared a room, they said her son was banned from visiting because his psychosis caused him to yell out. Early last summer, after a string of hot days gave him a nasty sunburn that turned his nose the mottled blue-red of raw hamburger meat, Everhart gave up her housing to be closer to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, I’ll go to him,” she said. “I’m trying to keep my son alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later, her anxiety about his well-being reached a new level after the death of his friend, Patrick Weaver, who was also unhoused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two were close in age, shared a love of comic books and a diagnosis of schizophrenia, Everhart said, adding, “It’s hard for my son to find a good friend like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weaver was found dead in a parking lot, according to a city official, at the tail end of a solid month of triple-digit temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Devastating is the only word I could think of to describe that,” Everhart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She believes heat played a role in Weaver’s death. He died four days after Fresno reached its second hottest temperature on record: 114 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Fresno County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office has yet to release his death report to KQED but did confirm the official cause was an overdose. Weaver had methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system. Meth raises a person’s body temperature and contributes \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-31/california-heat-related-deaths-climate-change-homelessness-methamphetamine\">to heat-related illness and death\u003c/a> across California. \u003ca href=\"https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/our-impact/our-studies/california-statewide-study-people-experiencing-homelessness\">Almost one-third\u003c/a> of unhoused Californians reported using it, according to the UCSF survey Kushel led.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schizophrenia, which is \u003ca href=\"https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-019-2361-7\">vastly more common\u003c/a> among unhoused people than the general population, affects the brain’s ability to regulate body temperature and make reasoned decisions, potentially putting people at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/content/article/schizophrenia-pinpointed-key-factor-heat-deaths#:~:text=Epidemiologists%20combing%20through%20provincial%20health,increase%20compared%20with%20typical%20summers.\">higher risk of heat-related death\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of unhoused people who die due to extreme weather in Fresno, and around California, is hard to know. Historically, most coroners haven’t tracked housing status. KQED public records requests to coroners and medical examiners across the state yielded few results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But people experiencing homelessness are \u003ca href=\"https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/BFI_WP_2023-41.pdf\">already far more likely to die than their housed counterparts\u003c/a>. Depending on age, studies found that \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2795475?guestAccessKey=7ac6269d-6dbd-4288-a405-b1ecca6e082e&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=082922\">death is three\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1556797\">nine times\u003c/a> more common on the streets. And there is some evidence extreme weather worsens those odds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unhoused people made up almost \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-19/la-me-homeless-heat-deaths#:~:text=Although%20the%20unhoused%20population%20represents,data%20from%20the%20coroner's%20office.\">half of heat-related deaths in Los Angeles County last year, though they represent less than 1% of the population\u003c/a>. In Sacramento County, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.srceh.org/_files/ugd/ee52bb_c3a8312b492b4ded8980857803c67708.pdf\">death rate among people experiencing homelessness in 2021 from hypothermia was 215.5 times higher than the county rate overall\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A ‘complete disaster’ or a lifesaver?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Faced with the confluence of increasingly deadly weather and a growing homeless population that’s especially vulnerable to it, Fresno city leaders are being forced to respond. Last year, under pressure from advocates, they \u003ca href=\"https://fresno.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11257222&GUID=51A17E03-0CE8-412D-BA38-6CB5A21A72C1\">expanded the city’s warming and cooling centers\u003c/a>, the primary resource for unhoused people during extreme weather events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cooling centers now open when temperatures reach 100 degrees, instead of 105, and stay open longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bigger change was to warming centers last winter. Because of the heavy rain, city officials \u003ca href=\"https://fresno.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11534615&GUID=D8ADCBC2-BA69-4C93-B820-E5B00A3589CB\">voted to keep certain centers open\u003c/a> for more than three months straight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People crowded in, filling them beyond capacity. The community centers, once home to after-school programs, services for the elderly and adult recreational activities, became de facto homeless shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In response to climate change, we’re having to fundamentally change the use of community centers in neighborhoods,” said City Councilmember Miguel Arias, who represents the district where Everhart and most of the city’s unhoused residents live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The backlash came fast and loud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954903\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954903 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED.jpg\" alt='The doors of a large community center are seen beyond a gate with a sign reading \"cooling center.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Ted C. Wills Community Center in Fresno hosts a temporary reprieve during triple-digit heat. In Fresno, like in many cities, warming and cooling centers are the main resource for unhoused people in extreme weather. Changes to Fresno’s centers have generated a backlash from residents in surrounding neighborhoods. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was a complete disaster for our neighborhood,” said Chris Collins, who lives with his family directly next to the Ted C. Wills Community Center, one of four recreation centers that became a warming center last winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said someone was living in a tent in the alley behind their house, and more tents lined the sidewalk around the corner. Another person dumped a stroller full of belongings in their front yard, and in the middle of the night, a man pounded on his neighbor’s door and refused to leave until the owner pulled out a gun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, staff at the center were completely overwhelmed, according to one parks department employee who declined to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People brought alcohol and weapons into the sleeping area, used drugs in the bathroom and left huge messes, according to the staffer. They said before the community center’s preschool program was put on pause, a little girl stepped in human waste and ended up smearing it on her clothes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arias acknowledged the challenges. Almost overnight, he said, employees accustomed to running rec rooms were disinfecting cots and triaging ailments ranging from gangrene to diabetic seizures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s got to be a better solution,” Collins said, adding that neighbors never had a problem with the center operating as it had in the past, a few days at a time. [aside postID=news_11956715 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/GettyImages-1557929497-KQED-1020x661.jpg']But as the stretches of wild weather get longer and city leaders are forced to step in, Arias expects this kind of conflict isn’t going away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is one of the many unintended consequences of climate change at the local level,” he said. “And residents will continue to push back on local government as we try to adjust and expand services to save lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes that made Collins and his neighbors miserable made the center lifesaving for Everhart, who stayed there nearly the whole time it was open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody loved it and most of the people in there were seniors,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, she rarely used the warming centers because the sporadic schedules made them impractical and people weren’t allowed to bring their belongings inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last winter, she’s not sure how she would have survived without it. “I was truly scared,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managing the centers now requires a full-time city employee, and Fresno has already more than doubled what it spends on them, from $300,000 to $800,000, Arias said. By next year, he expects that will rise to $1 million annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the controversy last winter, the city is looking for ways to minimize the impact on neighbors and center staff. The plan is to \u003ca href=\"https://www.planetbids.com/Fresno/BMfiles/20230707105523093%20PUBLIC%20NOTICE%2012400023.pdf\">turn over management to nonprofits and churches\u003c/a>, who would run the programs out of the community centers for now, and eventually find alternative facilities, Arias hopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A painful family history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Everhart once held jobs, went to community college and had an apartment and a car. There were always signs of her mental illness, but as she grew older, it progressed into a severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By her early 30s, she had four children, no income except what welfare programs supplied and couldn’t manage the responsibilities of parenting or maintaining a home. All of her kids ended up with their grandparents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was not capable of raising children because of how her mental illness affected her way to function,” her daughter Carolyn Mercer, 30, wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mercer, who was out of her mother’s care by the time she was 2 years old, described her as neglectful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954907\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954907 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A car drives up a street set below a freeway overpass.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An overpass along State Route 180, near the place Deana and Shannon camped during the summer. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I know I wasn’t taking as good of care of the kids as I felt I should,” Everhart said, acknowledging she was struggling with her mental health at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having OCD is like working two or three jobs — it’s mentally exhausting,” she said. “I did the best I could. I needed help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since she became homeless, Everhart has only lived indoors for short stretches. She said she lost a room in an SRO because she spent four hours in the shower, convinced she was still covered in soap, and got kicked out of a women’s shelter because she couldn’t keep up with their schedule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and Thom said they’re on waiting lists for housing, but Everhart finds the obligations that come with being housed daunting. She was hesitant when asked if she’d take what the city might eventually be able to offer: a converted motel room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not opposed to it, but if I have to be out here I’m OK,” she said, adding that she feels a sense of duty to help care for more severely incapacitated people living on the streets. “Maybe I just feel like I need to be out here to help them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s one responsibility, perhaps the only one, she feels equal to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954897\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954897 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman stands in the shade under a freeway overpass grasping the post of a street sign.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shannon Thom, 41, has camped with Deana for the past several years. Living together allows them to sleep in shifts to keep watch over each other and their things. They take turns using the bathroom at a liquor store, or take short breaks from the heat at a nearby cooling center. Shannon grew up in Fresno, bouncing around apartments with her mother and sister. At one point, she ended up homeless with her mother on L.A.’s Skid Row, she said. After her mother and sister died, she was left without any close relatives. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the winter, she and Thom keep extra blankets and jackets from thrift stores to hand out. She found one man’s family on Facebook and reconnected them, and when another young man wandered over to their camp confused and hungry one afternoon, Everhart was eager to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honey, if you wait a minute we’ll go to the store over there and get you a cup o’ noodle and we’ll heat it in the microwave and get you a little soda,” she said. “Do you want that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All I see in her is a little girl that never got the love and affection she truly deserved from her parents. I wish she would see the little girl in me that needed that same love, but she never will.’[/pullquote]She finds purpose in caring for people on the streets, trying in her way to “mother” them — most of all, her own son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Everhart’s daughter said she never benefited from this tenderness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I finally came to the realization that I will never get the mother I always wanted and needed,” she said. Mercer is no longer in contact with her mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s come to understand the pain her mother caused her as a legacy of Everhart’s own abuse and neglect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All I see in her is a little girl that never got the love and affection she truly deserved from her parents,” she said, speculating that this played a role in the development of Everhart’s mental illness. “I wish she would see the little girl in me that needed that same love, but she never will.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Mercer can’t help but worry about her mother, aging on the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It always keeps me up at night when I’m able to keep warm in my home with a heater in the winter or be comfortable with AC in the summer,” she said. “I always feel a sense of guilt that I never know if she’s ‘comfortable’ and safe from the elements outdoors while I’m able to live comfortably.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Business as usual\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Early this past summer, even as Fresno was expanding cooling centers, city leaders were taking aim at unhoused residents with a \u003ca href=\"https://fresno.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12032871&GUID=50F7141B-5564-4058-A28C-71BC9843868A\">new law restricting access to any place designated a “sensitive area.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the many sites listed as possible targets are overpasses, underpasses and bridges — places where Everhart often finds refuge from heat and rain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everhart and Thom fretted about where they would go to avoid the new law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t be under here. We thought they were bad — they went from bad to worse,” Everhart said, referring to the city’s Homeless Assistance Response Team. “We’re very scared now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954898 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a light pink button down shirt stands in front of large brown doors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias outside the entrance to the cooling center at the Ted C Wills community center. He and other city officials are facing pressure from homeowners and businesses to clean up homelessness while advocates simultaneously demand urgent action to protect unhoused people from increasingly extreme weather. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before they could figure out a plan, the Response Team showed up — a visit that had nothing to do with the new law, as far as Everhart could tell. It was just business as usual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was forecast to hit 110 degrees in Fresno that day, and the National Weather Service was \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/NWSHanford/status/1680213678715723776?s=20\">warning of a “major to extreme risk” for heat-related illnesses\u003c/a>, especially for people with no escape from the elements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Undeterred, city workers cleared the trash surrounding the camp, then told Everhart and Thom to leave the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, it’s real hot,” Everhart recalled telling one of the police officers with the team that responds to complaints about encampments. “Where can we go? I’m 61 years old. You want me to roll my stuff in the 110-degree [heat] and die?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweeps like this one have become routine, but advocates worry the new law, with its heightened restrictions, will make them even more frequent. Fresno city leaders approved the plan despite warnings that the consequences could be dire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s as though the city council looked for places where people go, where they can find shelter, and singled out those places,” said ACLU attorney William Freeman, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article276239381.html\">urged the city council not to pass the plan\u003c/a>, arguing it violates the constitutions of the United States and California. “Ordinances that essentially require people to constantly be moving and prohibit them from having any fixed place to be just puts tremendous stress on them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arias, one of the council members who put the new rule forward, said it was about ensuring unhoused people and their things don’t block public rights of way, a goal another official chalked up to an attempt to avoid a lawsuit similar to the one \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article272274053.html\">Sacramento is facing\u003c/a> from residents with disabilities who say homeless camps have taken over sidewalks, making it impossible for them to get around the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, Arias said, clearing encampments is a public health requirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954904 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A hand holds two bottles of cold water.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nas, an unhoused man in the Tower District in Fresno, holds cold water bottles given to him by\u003cbr>local advocates with the Fresno Homeless Union, Bob and Linda McCloskey, on July 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When you have the amount of feces, the amount of drug paraphernalia, the amount of rotting food, all in one location, you get outbreaks of disease,” he said. “That’s why we have to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After city workers left, Everhart and Thom set up their camp again — this time, about 200 feet from where they’d been, still under the same overpass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city formed the response team last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article257698758.html\">pitching it as a more compassionate alternative\u003c/a> to the police department’s former homeless task force. The team includes outreach workers from a local nonprofit, staff from the code enforcement department and police officers. The city rolled it out along with a new 311 line to field complaints about unhoused people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything we do, everything, revolves around them — trying to evade them,” Everhart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and Thom said the team has thrown away nearly all their possessions several times, a mental and financial blow that can be especially grave in extreme weather. They’ve lost things they need to survive in the heat and the cold, like blankets, clothes, food and water. By Everhart’s count, the response team has shuffled them around the city seven times in less than a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Activists here have tried — without success — to get the city to stop sweeps during extreme weather. This past summer, the Sacramento Homeless Union won a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article277931013.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">temporary injunction\u003c/a> banning the city from cleaning encampments during a heat wave, a case Everhart followed closely when she could charge her phone. [aside label='More Stories on Housing' tag='housing']Advocates are pushing for sanctioned encampments where people can set up tents or RVs with the city’s permission and tiny home villages with air conditioning. Everhart has helped them lobby for dumpsters and porta-potties to solve some of the sanitation concerns about camps. Long term, they are fighting for rent control and more affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2019, Fresno has spent over $100 million to address homelessness, more than 90% of it on housing, according to the city. It’s permanently housed nearly 1,900 people while sheltering or temporarily putting up more than 3,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the city estimates there are still 1,700 people living on its streets. “And that’s because the unhoused numbers continue to grow,” Arias said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A welcome ‘vacation’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In early September, an infected spider bite sent Everhart to the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She suspects a black widow because she spotted one near where she was sleeping. She had surgery to remove the necrotic flesh on her thumb, and the doctor put in a drain she described as a McDonald’s straw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My thumb looks like the zombie apocalypse,” she joked from her hospital bed. “I am not exaggerating either. It looks terrible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A couple of weeks earlier, her son, Travis Everhart, went to jail for property damage and resisting arrest. Everhart’s understanding is that he threw some rocks at a car, “because the car was loud,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s glad he’s set to be released in November, but in a way, she’s relieved he’s in jail. At least she knows where he is and that he has food and shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid of all this, the hospital, with its air conditioning and bed, is almost a welcome vacation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been nice, I’ll tell you that,” she said. “They bring your food, you lay in this comfortable bed that has lots of pillows.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She met with a social worker there, but when she explained she was already on a waiting list for housing, Everhart said the woman told her there wasn’t much else to do but wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she gets released from the hospital, the plan is to have Thom help her tie a plastic bag around her bandaged hand to keep out the dirt. Their camp is alongside a different stretch of freeway now, where they’ll wait for her son to get out of jail. There, under a tarp and umbrella, they’ll try to shelter from the waning heat and the coming rains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "KQED follows one woman struggling to survive on the streets of Fresno during a summer of blisteringly hot temperatures.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen summer temperatures in Fresno break 100 degrees, Deana Everhart cooks. It’s a rare privilege for a woman without a kitchen or a house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marie Callender’s TV dinners are her favorite, and she puts them on the sidewalk to let the sun do an oven’s work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They will cook as if they were in a microwave,” she said on a 108-degree day in July. “In about 30 minutes, they’re hot and ready.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It might be the only perk that’s come with the increasingly hellish summers plaguing her hometown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 61, Everhart has lived about 20 years cycling on and off Fresno’s streets. But as she gets older, and the \u003ca href=\"https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/bdd9567a847a4b52abd20253539143df/page/Weather-and-Climate/?views=All-Climate-Indicators%2CHeat-Waves\">heat waves become more frequent\u003c/a>, it’s harder to survive outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This past year has been especially challenging as \u003ca href=\"https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/atmospheric-rivers-hit-west-coast\">historic winter storms\u003c/a> gave way to a blistering summer. Now, she’s bracing for yet another potentially drenching winter, thanks to El Niño.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Everhart is caught in the middle of an ever-changing web of policies, put in place by Fresno city leaders who face pressures to reduce street homelessness while mitigating the harm unhoused residents face from deadly weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a story playing out across California as our climate and housing crises collide. \u003ca href=\"https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/coc-homeless-populations-and-subpopulations-reports/?filter_Year=2019&filter_Scope=State&filter_State=CA&filter_CoC=&program=CoC&group=PopSub\">The number of unsheltered people in California rose 6.5%\u003c/a> from 2019 to 2022. The increase is much steeper in Fresno, where unsheltered homelessness has spiked 48% since 2019, the vast majority of that increase during the first year of the pandemic, according to the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dangerously Hot Days Are on the Rise in Fresno\" aria-label=\"Interactive line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-EbsnW\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/EbsnW/6/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The heat index is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. As the heat index rises, so does the risk of heat-related illness.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the number of dangerously hot days in Fresno has \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/graphic/high-heat-index-days-2023?graphicSet=High+Heat+Index+Days&location=Fresno&lang=en\">gone up by 17 days a year\u003c/a> since 1979. The state is \u003ca href=\"https://oehha.ca.gov/climate-change/epic-2022/changes-climate/precipitation\">increasingly yo-yoing between periods of drought and heavy rain\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://blog.ucsusa.org/pablo-ortiz/climate-change-impacts-on-california-central-valley-the-warning-shot-the-us-is-ignoring/\">a trend that’s particularly pronounced in the Central Valley\u003c/a>, where bursts of heavy precipitation easily lead to flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seniors like Everhart are \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/older-adults-heat.html\">especially vulnerable\u003c/a> to the elements, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10061143/#:~:text=The%20cumulative%20disadvantage%20experienced%20by,functional%20and%20cognitive%20impairment%2C%20incontinence\">living on the streets hastens aging\u003c/a>. Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, compared the physical condition of a 50-year-old living outside to that of a person two to three decades older in the general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Folks experiencing homelessness are on the bleeding edge of the health crises that are happening with extremes of temperature,” said Kushel, the lead investigator on a \u003ca href=\"https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/our-impact/our-studies/california-statewide-study-people-experiencing-homelessness\">landmark survey\u003c/a> of houseless Californians released this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It found that people 50 years and older now represent nearly half of single adults experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just hard,” Everhart said. “At my age, everything combined is hard on me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The most-best shade in all of Fresno’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It was sometime in late spring when Everhart rolled her belongings onto a patch of dirt under an overpass near downtown Fresno. She was thinking about the oncoming heat when she chose the spot, shielded by hundreds of tons of concrete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the most-best shade, I bet, in all of Fresno, right here,” Everhart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5564168870&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The camp she made there with a longtime friend, Shannon Thom, was a jumble of carts and strollers piled with dozens of bulging plastic bags, chairs in various states of disrepair, empty food containers and a molding sheet cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Somebody gave it to us, but it’s already old,” Everhart said. “Out here, you learn to accept stuff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954896\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954896 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in a pink hat leans on a chainlink fence under a freeway overpass.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deana Everhart, 61, spent the hottest part of the summer sheltering under an overpass near downtown Fresno. She’s been unhoused on and off for about 20 years. “I remember how scared I was the first time sleeping by myself,” she said of her early days on the streets. Today, it’s hard for her to imagine another way of life. While she said she wants housing, the responsibility that comes with it feels daunting. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The living arrangement was chaotic but reflected their years of combined street savvy: cell phones, documents, food and clothes concealed by junky-looking bags were less likely to entice thieves. Allowing trash to build up around them was less likely to draw complaints than throwing it into the dumpster outside a nearby apartment complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, they’ve camped together and developed a system to keep each other and their things safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take shifts on sleeping because we have to watch the stuff 24/7,” Everhart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her skin is tanned and freckled from years of sun, but there’s something girlish about her. She wears her long, dark hair in low pigtails. In her 20s, Everhart played guitar in an all-girl metal band called Sweet Lies — “Like sweet, but not so sweet,” she said. “We were rocker girls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She still seems to relish the spotlight, but these days, she tends to hold her hand in front of her mouth while she talks because she’s shy about her teeth. She can’t always brush them outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everhart’s path to homelessness is entwined with her mental illness. As her obsessive-compulsive disorder became increasingly debilitating, she struggled to hold on to housing. Court records show she has been evicted twice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everhart now lives on $1,252 a month in Social Security disability benefits, plus food stamps — less than the median rent in Fresno, which spiked in recent years. Between 2017 and 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2021-03-31/fresno-rent-spike-taps-into-california-covid-housing-trends\">rents rose almost 40\u003c/a>%, the biggest increase of any large city in the country. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Despite her situation, she is less worried about herself than her son, Travis Everhart. He’s 39, has schizophrenia and lives on Fresno’s streets, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the camp, she pointed out a box full of his things and the mat where he sleeps beside her when he’s not wandering the city alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last time she and Thom, 41, shared a room, they said her son was banned from visiting because his psychosis caused him to yell out. Early last summer, after a string of hot days gave him a nasty sunburn that turned his nose the mottled blue-red of raw hamburger meat, Everhart gave up her housing to be closer to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, I’ll go to him,” she said. “I’m trying to keep my son alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later, her anxiety about his well-being reached a new level after the death of his friend, Patrick Weaver, who was also unhoused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two were close in age, shared a love of comic books and a diagnosis of schizophrenia, Everhart said, adding, “It’s hard for my son to find a good friend like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weaver was found dead in a parking lot, according to a city official, at the tail end of a solid month of triple-digit temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Devastating is the only word I could think of to describe that,” Everhart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She believes heat played a role in Weaver’s death. He died four days after Fresno reached its second hottest temperature on record: 114 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Fresno County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office has yet to release his death report to KQED but did confirm the official cause was an overdose. Weaver had methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system. Meth raises a person’s body temperature and contributes \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-31/california-heat-related-deaths-climate-change-homelessness-methamphetamine\">to heat-related illness and death\u003c/a> across California. \u003ca href=\"https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/our-impact/our-studies/california-statewide-study-people-experiencing-homelessness\">Almost one-third\u003c/a> of unhoused Californians reported using it, according to the UCSF survey Kushel led.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schizophrenia, which is \u003ca href=\"https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-019-2361-7\">vastly more common\u003c/a> among unhoused people than the general population, affects the brain’s ability to regulate body temperature and make reasoned decisions, potentially putting people at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/content/article/schizophrenia-pinpointed-key-factor-heat-deaths#:~:text=Epidemiologists%20combing%20through%20provincial%20health,increase%20compared%20with%20typical%20summers.\">higher risk of heat-related death\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of unhoused people who die due to extreme weather in Fresno, and around California, is hard to know. Historically, most coroners haven’t tracked housing status. KQED public records requests to coroners and medical examiners across the state yielded few results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But people experiencing homelessness are \u003ca href=\"https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/BFI_WP_2023-41.pdf\">already far more likely to die than their housed counterparts\u003c/a>. Depending on age, studies found that \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2795475?guestAccessKey=7ac6269d-6dbd-4288-a405-b1ecca6e082e&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=082922\">death is three\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1556797\">nine times\u003c/a> more common on the streets. And there is some evidence extreme weather worsens those odds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unhoused people made up almost \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-19/la-me-homeless-heat-deaths#:~:text=Although%20the%20unhoused%20population%20represents,data%20from%20the%20coroner's%20office.\">half of heat-related deaths in Los Angeles County last year, though they represent less than 1% of the population\u003c/a>. In Sacramento County, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.srceh.org/_files/ugd/ee52bb_c3a8312b492b4ded8980857803c67708.pdf\">death rate among people experiencing homelessness in 2021 from hypothermia was 215.5 times higher than the county rate overall\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A ‘complete disaster’ or a lifesaver?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Faced with the confluence of increasingly deadly weather and a growing homeless population that’s especially vulnerable to it, Fresno city leaders are being forced to respond. Last year, under pressure from advocates, they \u003ca href=\"https://fresno.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11257222&GUID=51A17E03-0CE8-412D-BA38-6CB5A21A72C1\">expanded the city’s warming and cooling centers\u003c/a>, the primary resource for unhoused people during extreme weather events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cooling centers now open when temperatures reach 100 degrees, instead of 105, and stay open longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bigger change was to warming centers last winter. Because of the heavy rain, city officials \u003ca href=\"https://fresno.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11534615&GUID=D8ADCBC2-BA69-4C93-B820-E5B00A3589CB\">voted to keep certain centers open\u003c/a> for more than three months straight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People crowded in, filling them beyond capacity. The community centers, once home to after-school programs, services for the elderly and adult recreational activities, became de facto homeless shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In response to climate change, we’re having to fundamentally change the use of community centers in neighborhoods,” said City Councilmember Miguel Arias, who represents the district where Everhart and most of the city’s unhoused residents live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The backlash came fast and loud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954903\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954903 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED.jpg\" alt='The doors of a large community center are seen beyond a gate with a sign reading \"cooling center.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Ted C. Wills Community Center in Fresno hosts a temporary reprieve during triple-digit heat. In Fresno, like in many cities, warming and cooling centers are the main resource for unhoused people in extreme weather. Changes to Fresno’s centers have generated a backlash from residents in surrounding neighborhoods. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was a complete disaster for our neighborhood,” said Chris Collins, who lives with his family directly next to the Ted C. Wills Community Center, one of four recreation centers that became a warming center last winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said someone was living in a tent in the alley behind their house, and more tents lined the sidewalk around the corner. Another person dumped a stroller full of belongings in their front yard, and in the middle of the night, a man pounded on his neighbor’s door and refused to leave until the owner pulled out a gun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, staff at the center were completely overwhelmed, according to one parks department employee who declined to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People brought alcohol and weapons into the sleeping area, used drugs in the bathroom and left huge messes, according to the staffer. They said before the community center’s preschool program was put on pause, a little girl stepped in human waste and ended up smearing it on her clothes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arias acknowledged the challenges. Almost overnight, he said, employees accustomed to running rec rooms were disinfecting cots and triaging ailments ranging from gangrene to diabetic seizures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s got to be a better solution,” Collins said, adding that neighbors never had a problem with the center operating as it had in the past, a few days at a time. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But as the stretches of wild weather get longer and city leaders are forced to step in, Arias expects this kind of conflict isn’t going away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is one of the many unintended consequences of climate change at the local level,” he said. “And residents will continue to push back on local government as we try to adjust and expand services to save lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes that made Collins and his neighbors miserable made the center lifesaving for Everhart, who stayed there nearly the whole time it was open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody loved it and most of the people in there were seniors,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, she rarely used the warming centers because the sporadic schedules made them impractical and people weren’t allowed to bring their belongings inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last winter, she’s not sure how she would have survived without it. “I was truly scared,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managing the centers now requires a full-time city employee, and Fresno has already more than doubled what it spends on them, from $300,000 to $800,000, Arias said. By next year, he expects that will rise to $1 million annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the controversy last winter, the city is looking for ways to minimize the impact on neighbors and center staff. The plan is to \u003ca href=\"https://www.planetbids.com/Fresno/BMfiles/20230707105523093%20PUBLIC%20NOTICE%2012400023.pdf\">turn over management to nonprofits and churches\u003c/a>, who would run the programs out of the community centers for now, and eventually find alternative facilities, Arias hopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A painful family history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Everhart once held jobs, went to community college and had an apartment and a car. There were always signs of her mental illness, but as she grew older, it progressed into a severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By her early 30s, she had four children, no income except what welfare programs supplied and couldn’t manage the responsibilities of parenting or maintaining a home. All of her kids ended up with their grandparents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was not capable of raising children because of how her mental illness affected her way to function,” her daughter Carolyn Mercer, 30, wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mercer, who was out of her mother’s care by the time she was 2 years old, described her as neglectful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954907\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954907 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A car drives up a street set below a freeway overpass.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-04-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An overpass along State Route 180, near the place Deana and Shannon camped during the summer. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I know I wasn’t taking as good of care of the kids as I felt I should,” Everhart said, acknowledging she was struggling with her mental health at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having OCD is like working two or three jobs — it’s mentally exhausting,” she said. “I did the best I could. I needed help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since she became homeless, Everhart has only lived indoors for short stretches. She said she lost a room in an SRO because she spent four hours in the shower, convinced she was still covered in soap, and got kicked out of a women’s shelter because she couldn’t keep up with their schedule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and Thom said they’re on waiting lists for housing, but Everhart finds the obligations that come with being housed daunting. She was hesitant when asked if she’d take what the city might eventually be able to offer: a converted motel room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not opposed to it, but if I have to be out here I’m OK,” she said, adding that she feels a sense of duty to help care for more severely incapacitated people living on the streets. “Maybe I just feel like I need to be out here to help them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s one responsibility, perhaps the only one, she feels equal to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954897\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954897 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman stands in the shade under a freeway overpass grasping the post of a street sign.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-07-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shannon Thom, 41, has camped with Deana for the past several years. Living together allows them to sleep in shifts to keep watch over each other and their things. They take turns using the bathroom at a liquor store, or take short breaks from the heat at a nearby cooling center. Shannon grew up in Fresno, bouncing around apartments with her mother and sister. At one point, she ended up homeless with her mother on L.A.’s Skid Row, she said. After her mother and sister died, she was left without any close relatives. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the winter, she and Thom keep extra blankets and jackets from thrift stores to hand out. She found one man’s family on Facebook and reconnected them, and when another young man wandered over to their camp confused and hungry one afternoon, Everhart was eager to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honey, if you wait a minute we’ll go to the store over there and get you a cup o’ noodle and we’ll heat it in the microwave and get you a little soda,” she said. “Do you want that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All I see in her is a little girl that never got the love and affection she truly deserved from her parents. I wish she would see the little girl in me that needed that same love, but she never will.’[/pullquote]She finds purpose in caring for people on the streets, trying in her way to “mother” them — most of all, her own son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Everhart’s daughter said she never benefited from this tenderness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I finally came to the realization that I will never get the mother I always wanted and needed,” she said. Mercer is no longer in contact with her mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s come to understand the pain her mother caused her as a legacy of Everhart’s own abuse and neglect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All I see in her is a little girl that never got the love and affection she truly deserved from her parents,” she said, speculating that this played a role in the development of Everhart’s mental illness. “I wish she would see the little girl in me that needed that same love, but she never will.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Mercer can’t help but worry about her mother, aging on the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It always keeps me up at night when I’m able to keep warm in my home with a heater in the winter or be comfortable with AC in the summer,” she said. “I always feel a sense of guilt that I never know if she’s ‘comfortable’ and safe from the elements outdoors while I’m able to live comfortably.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Business as usual\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Early this past summer, even as Fresno was expanding cooling centers, city leaders were taking aim at unhoused residents with a \u003ca href=\"https://fresno.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12032871&GUID=50F7141B-5564-4058-A28C-71BC9843868A\">new law restricting access to any place designated a “sensitive area.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the many sites listed as possible targets are overpasses, underpasses and bridges — places where Everhart often finds refuge from heat and rain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everhart and Thom fretted about where they would go to avoid the new law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t be under here. We thought they were bad — they went from bad to worse,” Everhart said, referring to the city’s Homeless Assistance Response Team. “We’re very scared now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954898 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a light pink button down shirt stands in front of large brown doors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-14-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias outside the entrance to the cooling center at the Ted C Wills community center. He and other city officials are facing pressure from homeowners and businesses to clean up homelessness while advocates simultaneously demand urgent action to protect unhoused people from increasingly extreme weather. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before they could figure out a plan, the Response Team showed up — a visit that had nothing to do with the new law, as far as Everhart could tell. It was just business as usual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was forecast to hit 110 degrees in Fresno that day, and the National Weather Service was \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/NWSHanford/status/1680213678715723776?s=20\">warning of a “major to extreme risk” for heat-related illnesses\u003c/a>, especially for people with no escape from the elements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Undeterred, city workers cleared the trash surrounding the camp, then told Everhart and Thom to leave the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, it’s real hot,” Everhart recalled telling one of the police officers with the team that responds to complaints about encampments. “Where can we go? I’m 61 years old. You want me to roll my stuff in the 110-degree [heat] and die?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweeps like this one have become routine, but advocates worry the new law, with its heightened restrictions, will make them even more frequent. Fresno city leaders approved the plan despite warnings that the consequences could be dire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s as though the city council looked for places where people go, where they can find shelter, and singled out those places,” said ACLU attorney William Freeman, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article276239381.html\">urged the city council not to pass the plan\u003c/a>, arguing it violates the constitutions of the United States and California. “Ordinances that essentially require people to constantly be moving and prohibit them from having any fixed place to be just puts tremendous stress on them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arias, one of the council members who put the new rule forward, said it was about ensuring unhoused people and their things don’t block public rights of way, a goal another official chalked up to an attempt to avoid a lawsuit similar to the one \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article272274053.html\">Sacramento is facing\u003c/a> from residents with disabilities who say homeless camps have taken over sidewalks, making it impossible for them to get around the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, Arias said, clearing encampments is a public health requirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954904 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A hand holds two bottles of cold water.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230701-FRESNO-UNHOUSED-HEAT-MHN-17-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nas, an unhoused man in the Tower District in Fresno, holds cold water bottles given to him by\u003cbr>local advocates with the Fresno Homeless Union, Bob and Linda McCloskey, on July 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When you have the amount of feces, the amount of drug paraphernalia, the amount of rotting food, all in one location, you get outbreaks of disease,” he said. “That’s why we have to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After city workers left, Everhart and Thom set up their camp again — this time, about 200 feet from where they’d been, still under the same overpass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city formed the response team last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article257698758.html\">pitching it as a more compassionate alternative\u003c/a> to the police department’s former homeless task force. The team includes outreach workers from a local nonprofit, staff from the code enforcement department and police officers. The city rolled it out along with a new 311 line to field complaints about unhoused people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything we do, everything, revolves around them — trying to evade them,” Everhart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and Thom said the team has thrown away nearly all their possessions several times, a mental and financial blow that can be especially grave in extreme weather. They’ve lost things they need to survive in the heat and the cold, like blankets, clothes, food and water. By Everhart’s count, the response team has shuffled them around the city seven times in less than a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Activists here have tried — without success — to get the city to stop sweeps during extreme weather. This past summer, the Sacramento Homeless Union won a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article277931013.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">temporary injunction\u003c/a> banning the city from cleaning encampments during a heat wave, a case Everhart followed closely when she could charge her phone. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Advocates are pushing for sanctioned encampments where people can set up tents or RVs with the city’s permission and tiny home villages with air conditioning. Everhart has helped them lobby for dumpsters and porta-potties to solve some of the sanitation concerns about camps. Long term, they are fighting for rent control and more affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2019, Fresno has spent over $100 million to address homelessness, more than 90% of it on housing, according to the city. It’s permanently housed nearly 1,900 people while sheltering or temporarily putting up more than 3,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the city estimates there are still 1,700 people living on its streets. “And that’s because the unhoused numbers continue to grow,” Arias said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A welcome ‘vacation’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In early September, an infected spider bite sent Everhart to the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She suspects a black widow because she spotted one near where she was sleeping. She had surgery to remove the necrotic flesh on her thumb, and the doctor put in a drain she described as a McDonald’s straw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My thumb looks like the zombie apocalypse,” she joked from her hospital bed. “I am not exaggerating either. It looks terrible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A couple of weeks earlier, her son, Travis Everhart, went to jail for property damage and resisting arrest. Everhart’s understanding is that he threw some rocks at a car, “because the car was loud,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s glad he’s set to be released in November, but in a way, she’s relieved he’s in jail. At least she knows where he is and that he has food and shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid of all this, the hospital, with its air conditioning and bed, is almost a welcome vacation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been nice, I’ll tell you that,” she said. “They bring your food, you lay in this comfortable bed that has lots of pillows.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She met with a social worker there, but when she explained she was already on a waiting list for housing, Everhart said the woman told her there wasn’t much else to do but wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she gets released from the hospital, the plan is to have Thom help her tie a plastic bag around her bandaged hand to keep out the dirt. Their camp is alongside a different stretch of freeway now, where they’ll wait for her son to get out of jail. There, under a tarp and umbrella, they’ll try to shelter from the waning heat and the coming rains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Seventeen \u003ca href=\"https://hcai.ca.gov/california-announces-300-million-in-financial-support-for-community-hospitals-across-the-state/\">financially distressed California hospitals\u003c/a> — including three that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year — will receive close to $300 million in interest-free loans, state officials announced Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/01/hospital-closure/\">Madera Community Hospital\u003c/a>, which closed its doors in January, stands to receive the biggest chunk, $52 million. The money comes from the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, which the Legislature created to support rural and independent hospitals that faced financial challenges coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Madera hospital had requested $80 million, but the money it received is expected to be enough to fund a reopening for the rural hospital about 25 miles north of Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adventist Health, which operates hospitals in four West Coast states, last month announced a proposal to take over Madera’s operations through a management agreement, contingent on it receiving the state funds. In a letter outlining its terms, Adventist \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Madera-LOI-20230727-final.pdf\">projected needing $55 million to reopen (PDF)\u003c/a> and another $30 million to sustain operations in the second year.[aside postID=news_11958245 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/033023_Hollister_Hospital_LV_CM_01-1020x680.jpg']Madera will initially receive $2 million to cover immediate operating costs. Officials at Adventist Health and Madera Community will have to submit a “comprehensive hospital turnaround plan” and, if approved, will then become eligible to receive the remaining $50 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This financial assistance is an important step in the right direction to help Madera Community Hospital reopen its doors to the community. We have more work to do, but I’m proud to have led this effort,” said Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, a Fresno Democrat whose district includes Madera and who authored legislation that led to the loan program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adventist Health in a written statement said it is working with “community partners and stakeholders in developing a thoughtful, comprehensive hospital turnaround plan.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beverly Hospital, located east of Los Angeles, will receive $5 million to cover operations while it is in bankruptcy. The hospital applied for $35 million, but it is now set to be bought by Adventist Health White Memorial. A bankruptcy judge last week approved \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/bh-638.pdf\">Adventist’s $39 million purchase of Beverly (PDF)\u003c/a>.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"State Treasurer Fiona Ma\"]‘The hospitals approved for this program have shown a detailed plan for financial recovery and these funds will help them keep the doors open so they can keep serving their communities.’[/pullquote]Another bankrupt hospital, Hazel Hawkins Memorial, will receive the $10 million it requested. It’s the only source of emergency care in San Benito County, a rural community east of Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The hospitals approved for this program have shown a detailed plan for financial recovery and these funds will help them keep the doors open so they can keep serving their communities,” said State Treasurer Fiona Ma, whose office is helping administer the funds. Ma said her team has already begun providing instructions and assistance to the awarded hospitals.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Biggest loans to distressed hospitals\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Department of Health Care Access and Information reviewed applications and selected hospitals for the program. Thirty hospitals applied for loans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other hospitals that will receive significant funding include the following:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tricitymed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/agenda-packet.Special-Meeting-7.27.23.pdf\">Tri-City Medical Center (PDF)\u003c/a> in San Diego will receive $33.2 million. The hospital recently announced plans to suspend its labor and delivery services amid “financial losses.”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/01/hospital-closure/\">Kaweah Delta Health Care District\u003c/a> in Visalia will get a $20.8 million loan. This hospital laid off 130 employees late last year.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://inewsource.org/2023/02/07/el-centro-hospital-financial-problems/\">El Centro Regional Medical Center\u003c/a> in Imperial County, which in January closed its maternity ward, will receive $28 million.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://pmhd.org/\">Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District\u003c/a>, Imperial County’s only other hospital, also is set to receive $28 million.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.dameronhospital.org/\">Dameron Hospital\u003c/a> in Stockton, now also being managed by Adventist Health, will be loaned $29 million.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Vulnerable California hospitals\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Most California hospitals are part of large networks that can navigate turbulent financial periods. A number of community and independent hospitals have struggled for years, especially after the peak of the pandemic. Some recently reduced services or laid off staff.[aside label='More on Health Care' tag='health-care']Hospitals have pointed to a number of factors for their distressed state — increased labor costs, and inadequate reimbursement from public insurance programs, Medicare and Medi-Cal, and in \u003ca href=\"https://fresnoland.org/2023/03/01/reimbursements-rates-madera-hospital-closure/\">some cases private insurance.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some hospitals began to ask the state for help late last year, but the closure of Madera Community Hospital prompted more urgency from lawmakers. It shut its doors after Trinity Health, a large Catholic health system, pulled out of negotiations to purchase the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Madera Community Hospital in the San Joaquin Valley was the only general acute care hospital in the county of about 160,000 people. The closest emergency rooms are about \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article272712840.html\">30 and 40 minutes drive away in Fresno and Merced\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Distressed Hospital Loan Program closes at the end of 2031. Hospitals will get an 18-month grace period and then will have to repay loans over a six-year period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Seventeen \u003ca href=\"https://hcai.ca.gov/california-announces-300-million-in-financial-support-for-community-hospitals-across-the-state/\">financially distressed California hospitals\u003c/a> — including three that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year — will receive close to $300 million in interest-free loans, state officials announced Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/01/hospital-closure/\">Madera Community Hospital\u003c/a>, which closed its doors in January, stands to receive the biggest chunk, $52 million. The money comes from the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, which the Legislature created to support rural and independent hospitals that faced financial challenges coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Madera hospital had requested $80 million, but the money it received is expected to be enough to fund a reopening for the rural hospital about 25 miles north of Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adventist Health, which operates hospitals in four West Coast states, last month announced a proposal to take over Madera’s operations through a management agreement, contingent on it receiving the state funds. In a letter outlining its terms, Adventist \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Madera-LOI-20230727-final.pdf\">projected needing $55 million to reopen (PDF)\u003c/a> and another $30 million to sustain operations in the second year.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Madera will initially receive $2 million to cover immediate operating costs. Officials at Adventist Health and Madera Community will have to submit a “comprehensive hospital turnaround plan” and, if approved, will then become eligible to receive the remaining $50 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This financial assistance is an important step in the right direction to help Madera Community Hospital reopen its doors to the community. We have more work to do, but I’m proud to have led this effort,” said Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, a Fresno Democrat whose district includes Madera and who authored legislation that led to the loan program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adventist Health in a written statement said it is working with “community partners and stakeholders in developing a thoughtful, comprehensive hospital turnaround plan.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beverly Hospital, located east of Los Angeles, will receive $5 million to cover operations while it is in bankruptcy. The hospital applied for $35 million, but it is now set to be bought by Adventist Health White Memorial. A bankruptcy judge last week approved \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/bh-638.pdf\">Adventist’s $39 million purchase of Beverly (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The hospitals approved for this program have shown a detailed plan for financial recovery and these funds will help them keep the doors open so they can keep serving their communities.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Another bankrupt hospital, Hazel Hawkins Memorial, will receive the $10 million it requested. It’s the only source of emergency care in San Benito County, a rural community east of Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The hospitals approved for this program have shown a detailed plan for financial recovery and these funds will help them keep the doors open so they can keep serving their communities,” said State Treasurer Fiona Ma, whose office is helping administer the funds. Ma said her team has already begun providing instructions and assistance to the awarded hospitals.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Biggest loans to distressed hospitals\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Department of Health Care Access and Information reviewed applications and selected hospitals for the program. Thirty hospitals applied for loans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other hospitals that will receive significant funding include the following:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tricitymed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/agenda-packet.Special-Meeting-7.27.23.pdf\">Tri-City Medical Center (PDF)\u003c/a> in San Diego will receive $33.2 million. The hospital recently announced plans to suspend its labor and delivery services amid “financial losses.”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/01/hospital-closure/\">Kaweah Delta Health Care District\u003c/a> in Visalia will get a $20.8 million loan. This hospital laid off 130 employees late last year.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://inewsource.org/2023/02/07/el-centro-hospital-financial-problems/\">El Centro Regional Medical Center\u003c/a> in Imperial County, which in January closed its maternity ward, will receive $28 million.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://pmhd.org/\">Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District\u003c/a>, Imperial County’s only other hospital, also is set to receive $28 million.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.dameronhospital.org/\">Dameron Hospital\u003c/a> in Stockton, now also being managed by Adventist Health, will be loaned $29 million.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Vulnerable California hospitals\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Most California hospitals are part of large networks that can navigate turbulent financial periods. A number of community and independent hospitals have struggled for years, especially after the peak of the pandemic. Some recently reduced services or laid off staff.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Hospitals have pointed to a number of factors for their distressed state — increased labor costs, and inadequate reimbursement from public insurance programs, Medicare and Medi-Cal, and in \u003ca href=\"https://fresnoland.org/2023/03/01/reimbursements-rates-madera-hospital-closure/\">some cases private insurance.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some hospitals began to ask the state for help late last year, but the closure of Madera Community Hospital prompted more urgency from lawmakers. It shut its doors after Trinity Health, a large Catholic health system, pulled out of negotiations to purchase the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Madera Community Hospital in the San Joaquin Valley was the only general acute care hospital in the county of about 160,000 people. The closest emergency rooms are about \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article272712840.html\">30 and 40 minutes drive away in Fresno and Merced\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Distressed Hospital Loan Program closes at the end of 2031. Hospitals will get an 18-month grace period and then will have to repay loans over a six-year period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "thousands-of-californians-are-still-waiting-for-covid-unemployment-funds",
"title": "Thousands of Californians Are Still Waiting for COVID Unemployment Funds",
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"headTitle": "Thousands of Californians Are Still Waiting for COVID Unemployment Funds | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s been 22 months and three unemployment appeals since Nicolas Allen’s last job in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the time it has taken the 44-year-old graphic designer to win a fraction of the benefits that he applied for, his wife has weathered a high-risk pregnancy, his youngest son was born and his family has been pushed to the financial brink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Allen is one of thousands of Californians who\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>say they lost jobs due to the pandemic, but are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide. It’s a ripple effect of earlier \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">benefit backlogs\u003c/a> that ensnared some \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">5 million people\u003c/a> at the state Employment Development Department (EDD), which \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-128and628.1/introduction.html\">officials have said\u003c/a> was unprepared and overwhelmed by mass job losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those caught up in payment disputes say they have struggled with debt, housing and necessities like food or health care. Meanwhile, no one is publicly tracking how much appeals cases and lawsuits might end up costing workers or taxpayers in a state that still owes the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/trustFundSolvReport2023.pdf\">nearly $19 billion (PDF)\u003c/a> in unemployment debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easier to not think the money’s there,” Allen said. “Because if I worry about it too much, it’s too painful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD has paid out \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/\">$188 billion\u003c/a> in unemployment benefits since the first pandemic shutdowns. State and federal officials waived many ordinary application requirements as millions of claims flooded in, and the agency \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/california-edd-unemployment-fraud-ca-scam-insurance/10011810/#:~:text=CA%20EDD%20admits%20that%20as,to%20scammers%2C%20California%20EDD%20admits.\">has acknowledged\u003c/a> that up to $31 billion was paid to scammers in the rush to distribute money quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the way, state watchdogs say \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">up to 1 million workers\u003c/a> were wrongly denied benefits — many mistakenly flagged for committing fraud themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Accusing people of fraud is a big deal,” said George Warner, director of the Wage Protection Program at San Francisco’s Legal Aid at Work. “And the EDD does it very casually, very frequently.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest logjam of contested unemployment cases lies in a \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/appeals/\">state appeals process\u003c/a>, where more than 1 million workers have asked for a review of EDD’s decisions in their cases since March 2020. About 880,000 of those cases have already \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">been transferred (PDF)\u003c/a> and heard by a lesser-known state labor agency, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where the average case is still languishing for 139 days before a hearing with a judge, federal \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of workers who have exhausted this state process have elevated their claims even further, to \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/03/Historical-CourtCases-0223b.pdf\">appellate or superior courts (PDF)\u003c/a>. Finally, advocacy groups and hundreds more workers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/01/bank-of-america-sued-over-edd-unemployment-debit-card-fraud/\">have joined\u003c/a> proposed class-action lawsuits against the EDD or its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/02/how-edd-and-bank-of-america-make-millions-on-california-unemployment/\">debit card contractor\u003c/a>, Bank of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the EDD and the Appeals Board refused requests for interviews to discuss workers’ concerns and state efforts to respond. The agencies also referred some inquiries to one another or offered conflicting answers, raising questions about how delays and associated costs are being tracked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Carole M., officer manager, Southern California\"]‘I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?”[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gregory Crettol, assistant director of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, told CalMatters in a statement that the Appeals Board has hired and trained 105 judges and 100 new support staffers since the onset of the pandemic. The board is also rolling out a new online system for workers to track their cases, and officials said at an April meeting that judges are now closing almost twice as many cases per month as pre-pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, “Given the historic backlog of appeals,” Crettol said in a statement, the Appeals Board “anticipates it will likely take several more years to completely resolve before workload returns to normal levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unemployment cases are complex and vary widely, but workers awaiting disputed funds have faced similarly dire challenges. A 33-year-old video editor in Burbank had to create a GoFundMe to restart her life during a gender transition. A security guard In L.A. County worried whether fellow workers still seeking unemployment would end up in the homeless camps he once patrolled. A 62-year-old temp worker in Sacramento spent months terrified she’d lose her car, and a legal office manager in Southern California filed for food stamps and Medi-Cal to survive an appeal with no end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really feel like I’m a hostage,” said the office manager, who asked to be identified only as Carole M. and has been awaiting an appeal hearing since November. “I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Fraud fury\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like many of California’s COVID-era unemployment challenges, slow and unwieldy payment disputes aren’t new. But the pandemic did two things: unleash an unprecedented flood of \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/#TotalUnemploymentClaims\">29 million\u003c/a> jobless claims, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/12/who-will-pay-for-all-of-californias-unemployment-fraud/\">supercharge anxiety\u003c/a> about a new generation of online fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rival politicians have seized on jobless claims filed in the name of \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-24/california-has-sent-jobless-benefits-to-death-row-inmates\">death row inmates\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/us/nuke-bizzle-fraud-youtube.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story-,Rapper%20Arrested%20After%20Bragging%20About%20Unemployment%20Fraud%20in%20Video,coronavirus%20pandemic%2C%20the%20authorities%20said.\">YouTube rappers\u003c/a> bragging about EDD-fueled spending sprees. \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-and-unemployment-benefits\">Investigators attribute\u003c/a> the bulk of pandemic unemployment fraud to organized identity theft. Unemployment attorneys, meanwhile, say they’re seeing regular workers who thought they were eligible for benefits disqualified — and sometimes charged with lying — in cases that can sometimes be explained by confusion about state forms, clerical errors, language barriers or disagreements between workers and employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so wrong,” said Assaf Lichtash, founding attorney of Los Angeles-based Pershing Square Law Firm. “The way I see it, the EDD is punishing regular civilians that are just filing for benefits who make honest mistakes — they’re punishing them for their failure to safeguard the money from fraudsters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State reports have also highlighted a disconnect between the EDD’s ham-fisted approach to large-scale fraud and what some say seems like a hair-trigger impulse to flag individual workers. Organized scammers evaded the agency’s automated application systems early in the pandemic, one \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">September 2020 report (PDF)\u003c/a> by a governor-appointed EDD Strike Team found, while the vast majority of individual workers scrutinized in manual reviews appeared to be innocent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Processes intended to block fraud are slowing service delivery without catching fraud,” the Strike Team wrote, since just 0.02% of the 1.3 million cases flagged that summer appeared to be real fraud. “The cost of finding that small number of imposters is extremely high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Stories on Health' tag='health']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">report last August\u003c/a> by the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that, during the pandemic, state appeals judges overturned EDD unemployment denials up to 80% of the time. That report highlighted another sample of 1.1 million unemployment claims stopped due to fraud concerns by an EDD consultant early in the pandemic, where at least 600,000 cases were later “confirmed as legitimate” and workers saw payments needlessly delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before COVID upended the job market, the Analyst’s Office estimated that improper unemployment denials cost workers $500 million to $1 billion a year in unpaid benefits. The agency also noted “concerning steps” at EDD in recent years that “suggest that ensuring eligible workers get benefits is not among its top priorities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD refused to discuss its approach to appeals during the pandemic. Over the past three years, the agency has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">invested heavily\u003c/a> in new anti-fraud technology and \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/pdf/news-22-06.pdf\">sought federal waivers (PDF)\u003c/a> for some workers who may have received extra federal pandemic unemployment funds “through no fault of their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers who still want to fight an unemployment case, \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">the first step (PDF)\u003c/a> is to notify the EDD in writing. The EDD then transfers the case to a local office of the Appeals Board, which schedules a hearing with an administrative judge. If a worker or business still feels that their case is unresolved, they can file another appeal with the state-level office of the Appeals Board, or eventually escalate the case to a superior or appellate court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of March, the average first-level appeals case with a judge was taking 139 days — a lag not as extreme as some other states, U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>, but still roughly triple the federal government’s 30- and 45-day targets for state unemployment appeals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621589/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of surge is predictable after a recession; the Appeals Board heard about 1.6 million cases in the years around the Great Recession, Crettol said. But workers like Allen, the Fresno graphic designer, have seen first-hand how pandemic cases can be complicated by heightened focus on fraud and differing interpretations of emergency health orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Allen’s case, he told state officials that he quit his job in July 2021, when the Delta variant of the coronavirus was raging and his wife was instructed not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 while navigating a high-risk pregnancy. Since health precautions like masking were not strictly enforced at his in-person job as a sign installer, Allen wrote in a state appeals filing, he quit “to eliminate the risk of bringing COVID-19 home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One unemployment payment arrived, but then the money stopped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949703\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949703\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a black shirt, gold chain and a black Bluetooth device in his ear poses inside his home next to a white door. On the white door is a homemade sign that reads, "William's and Joseph's Room" with two photos of the two boys.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nicolas Allen in his home in Fresno on April 10, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I was told that it had been reported that it was a fraudulent claim,” Allen said. “Because my former employer was claiming that I quit without cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So began an odyssey that involved months of arguing about pandemic protocols, clerical confusion over a brief freelance gig and paperwork ping-ponging between the EDD and the Appeals Board. After the second appeal, a state judge awarded Allen about six weeks out of the six months of benefits he applied for — securing around $3,000 of the $10,000 he sought, not counting potential federal unemployment supplements available during the pandemic — but denied the rest after questioning how actively he was seeking work while caring for two children under age 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, some 170,000 other appeals cases are still pending, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data reported\u003c/a> by the U.S. Department of Labor. Crettol said the Appeals Board is encouraged that new appeals have started to decline in recent months, and cited a lower state count of 154,000 backlogged cases through the end of March — a discrepancy that he said stems from differences in how state and federal numbers are reported due to funding sources and EDD processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621625/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys like Lichtash add that for those stuck waiting, one challenge is a lack of information about if and when a case has been transferred to the Appeals Board from the EDD, the latter of which he called a “black hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD said in a statement to CalMatters that it sends cases to the Appeals Board in an average of three days. The Appeals Board offered a conflicting number: that it receives about two-thirds of appeals within a week after an appeal is filed, which Crettol said could differ due to how the two agencies track processing times. Neither agency regularly tracks the “monetary value” of appeals cases, or how much the state is being awarded or ordered to pay, spokespeople said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers like Allen caught in the fray, the price of being caught up in the confusion has been high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His family slashed expenses like cable TV and was able to refinance their house, which they credit with avoiding falling behind on the mortgage. But Allen said they were still forced to borrow money from family and take on credit card debt, putting everyday luxuries like a dinner at a restaurant with their kids out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s horrible. I mean, we’re living off my paycheck,” said Allen’s wife, Sharon, who works in human resources. “We’ve almost divorced a few times because of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A path for reform?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In many ways, unemployment advocates like Jenna Gerry say the pandemic has shone “a spotlight” on chronic problems with the state’s job safety net, from worker confusion over benefit denials to delays at EDD to inconsistent anti-fraud efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question she and others are asking now is whether state officials will act to change the system that has once again gone haywire, or whether workers caught up in pandemic disputes will be left to bear the brunt of the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a perfect storm,” said Gerry, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “Instead of being like, ‘Wow, that was really bad. How do we make reforms now?’ … all people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest underlying issue, Gerry said, is that millions of California workers — such as gig workers, undocumented workers and others in tenuous hourly positions — aren’t eligible for normal unemployment benefits. That was why the federal government started \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">emergency jobless programs\u003c/a> like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. But subsequent high rates of fraud in the emergency program have complicated conversations at the federal and state levels about whether to make elements of the program permanent to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/04/california-undocumented-immigrants/\">cover more workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jenna Gerry, staff attorney, National Employment Law Project\"]‘All people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One potential change that advocates are watching closely in California is a plan to finally upgrade the state’s unemployment technology. The Appeals Board says it is rolling out a new system now, and the EDD is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/12/unemployment-benefits-california-edd/\">preparing to launch\u003c/a> an effort called EDDNext. The challenge will be ensuring that such projects are more effective than other \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">costly upgrades\u003c/a> after the Great Recession, which audits said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">buckled at the EDD during the pandemic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the more targeted reforms that state agencies \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">have recommended\u003c/a>, but which legislators have yet to act on: removing the EDD from the appeals process, expanding the role of the Appeals Board or adding a new surcharge for businesses that frivolously appeal unemployment insurance (UI) claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To correct state practices that have the effect of limiting UI payments,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote last summer, “the state should give the appeals board the authority and responsibility to set UI policy and practices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As these debates drag on, some unemployment advocates and workers are taking matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/notice-of-class-action-settlement.pdf\">lawsuit against the EDD (PDF)\u003c/a>, the Sacramento-based Center for Workers’ Rights negotiated a February settlement to head off more payment disputes. The EDD \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/edd-won-t-require-refunds-unemployment-17789516.php\">agreed to cancel\u003c/a> around 5,000 notices of overpayment sent to workers already past a year-long statute of limitations, and to refrain from sending other similar notices past the allowed timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agreement applies only to workers not flagged for potential fraud, leaving attorneys to worry that others still caught up in disputes or unsure how to contest their cases will slip through the cracks. Workers marked for making false statements to EDD face severe penalties — they could be forced to repay the money at high interest, have their wages garnished or be disqualified from collecting benefits if they lose a future job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The burden is generally put on the claimant to appeal,” said Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers’ Rights. “But these notices never should have been issued.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949702\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949702\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with reddish, shoulder-length hair, cateye glasses and a yellow and black floral blouse poses with a serious face in front of her apartment complex.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Madeline Maye, a video editor based in Burbank on Feb. 12, 2023. Maye lost $5000 to the Bank of America EDD debit card fraud of 2020. She had been laid off from her job just months earlier and was struggling to find freelance video editing work in the pandemic. The situation was compounded for Maye by the fact that she had just come out as transgender, was navigating hormone therapy, and trying to pay for essentials like rent and feminine-presenting clothes and products. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Farther south, in Burbank, Madeline Maye is still seeking some form of closure two years into another proposed class action lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing couldn’t have been worse in mid-2020, when, in the midst of hormone therapy and a gender transition, the video editor became \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/11/how-bank-of-america-helped-fuel-californias-unemployment-meltdown/\">one of thousands of California workers\u003c/a> who noticed money draining from their unemployment debit cards in alleged fraudulent charges. The next year, she joined a class action claim against the state’s debit card contractor, Bank of America, which is now awaiting a hearing date before a federal judge in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bank of America has filed to dismiss the suit and declined to comment on ongoing litigation. It was separately \u003ca href=\"https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic/\">fined $225 million\u003c/a> last year by federal regulators for what they deemed “botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Maye’s case, it took about six months to get her unemployment money back from the bank, forcing her to start a GoFundMe account to pay rent and buy essentials like new clothes to restart her life. Her lawsuit is one of several that will test what justice might look like after the state’s job safety net failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got my money back, but it was one of the worst times in my life,” Maye said. “It felt like I was alone — that no one gave a shit about me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Californians who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s been 22 months and three unemployment appeals since Nicolas Allen’s last job in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the time it has taken the 44-year-old graphic designer to win a fraction of the benefits that he applied for, his wife has weathered a high-risk pregnancy, his youngest son was born and his family has been pushed to the financial brink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Allen is one of thousands of Californians who\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>say they lost jobs due to the pandemic, but are still fighting lengthy legal battles over unemployment money that state and federal relief programs were designed to provide. It’s a ripple effect of earlier \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">benefit backlogs\u003c/a> that ensnared some \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">5 million people\u003c/a> at the state Employment Development Department (EDD), which \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-128and628.1/introduction.html\">officials have said\u003c/a> was unprepared and overwhelmed by mass job losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those caught up in payment disputes say they have struggled with debt, housing and necessities like food or health care. Meanwhile, no one is publicly tracking how much appeals cases and lawsuits might end up costing workers or taxpayers in a state that still owes the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/trustFundSolvReport2023.pdf\">nearly $19 billion (PDF)\u003c/a> in unemployment debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easier to not think the money’s there,” Allen said. “Because if I worry about it too much, it’s too painful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD has paid out \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/\">$188 billion\u003c/a> in unemployment benefits since the first pandemic shutdowns. State and federal officials waived many ordinary application requirements as millions of claims flooded in, and the agency \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/california-edd-unemployment-fraud-ca-scam-insurance/10011810/#:~:text=CA%20EDD%20admits%20that%20as,to%20scammers%2C%20California%20EDD%20admits.\">has acknowledged\u003c/a> that up to $31 billion was paid to scammers in the rush to distribute money quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the way, state watchdogs say \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">up to 1 million workers\u003c/a> were wrongly denied benefits — many mistakenly flagged for committing fraud themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Accusing people of fraud is a big deal,” said George Warner, director of the Wage Protection Program at San Francisco’s Legal Aid at Work. “And the EDD does it very casually, very frequently.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest logjam of contested unemployment cases lies in a \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/unemployment/appeals/\">state appeals process\u003c/a>, where more than 1 million workers have asked for a review of EDD’s decisions in their cases since March 2020. About 880,000 of those cases have already \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">been transferred (PDF)\u003c/a> and heard by a lesser-known state labor agency, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where the average case is still languishing for 139 days before a hearing with a judge, federal \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of workers who have exhausted this state process have elevated their claims even further, to \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/03/Historical-CourtCases-0223b.pdf\">appellate or superior courts (PDF)\u003c/a>. Finally, advocacy groups and hundreds more workers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/01/bank-of-america-sued-over-edd-unemployment-debit-card-fraud/\">have joined\u003c/a> proposed class-action lawsuits against the EDD or its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/02/how-edd-and-bank-of-america-make-millions-on-california-unemployment/\">debit card contractor\u003c/a>, Bank of America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the EDD and the Appeals Board refused requests for interviews to discuss workers’ concerns and state efforts to respond. The agencies also referred some inquiries to one another or offered conflicting answers, raising questions about how delays and associated costs are being tracked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gregory Crettol, assistant director of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, told CalMatters in a statement that the Appeals Board has hired and trained 105 judges and 100 new support staffers since the onset of the pandemic. The board is also rolling out a new online system for workers to track their cases, and officials said at an April meeting that judges are now closing almost twice as many cases per month as pre-pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, “Given the historic backlog of appeals,” Crettol said in a statement, the Appeals Board “anticipates it will likely take several more years to completely resolve before workload returns to normal levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unemployment cases are complex and vary widely, but workers awaiting disputed funds have faced similarly dire challenges. A 33-year-old video editor in Burbank had to create a GoFundMe to restart her life during a gender transition. A security guard In L.A. County worried whether fellow workers still seeking unemployment would end up in the homeless camps he once patrolled. A 62-year-old temp worker in Sacramento spent months terrified she’d lose her car, and a legal office manager in Southern California filed for food stamps and Medi-Cal to survive an appeal with no end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really feel like I’m a hostage,” said the office manager, who asked to be identified only as Carole M. and has been awaiting an appeal hearing since November. “I had no money, and I kept saying: ‘How long is this going to take?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Fraud fury\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like many of California’s COVID-era unemployment challenges, slow and unwieldy payment disputes aren’t new. But the pandemic did two things: unleash an unprecedented flood of \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/en/newsroom/facts-and-stats/dashboard/#TotalUnemploymentClaims\">29 million\u003c/a> jobless claims, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/12/who-will-pay-for-all-of-californias-unemployment-fraud/\">supercharge anxiety\u003c/a> about a new generation of online fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rival politicians have seized on jobless claims filed in the name of \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-24/california-has-sent-jobless-benefits-to-death-row-inmates\">death row inmates\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/us/nuke-bizzle-fraud-youtube.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story-,Rapper%20Arrested%20After%20Bragging%20About%20Unemployment%20Fraud%20in%20Video,coronavirus%20pandemic%2C%20the%20authorities%20said.\">YouTube rappers\u003c/a> bragging about EDD-fueled spending sprees. \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-and-unemployment-benefits\">Investigators attribute\u003c/a> the bulk of pandemic unemployment fraud to organized identity theft. Unemployment attorneys, meanwhile, say they’re seeing regular workers who thought they were eligible for benefits disqualified — and sometimes charged with lying — in cases that can sometimes be explained by confusion about state forms, clerical errors, language barriers or disagreements between workers and employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so wrong,” said Assaf Lichtash, founding attorney of Los Angeles-based Pershing Square Law Firm. “The way I see it, the EDD is punishing regular civilians that are just filing for benefits who make honest mistakes — they’re punishing them for their failure to safeguard the money from fraudsters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State reports have also highlighted a disconnect between the EDD’s ham-fisted approach to large-scale fraud and what some say seems like a hair-trigger impulse to flag individual workers. Organized scammers evaded the agency’s automated application systems early in the pandemic, one \u003ca href=\"https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf\">September 2020 report (PDF)\u003c/a> by a governor-appointed EDD Strike Team found, while the vast majority of individual workers scrutinized in manual reviews appeared to be innocent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Processes intended to block fraud are slowing service delivery without catching fraud,” the Strike Team wrote, since just 0.02% of the 1.3 million cases flagged that summer appeared to be real fraud. “The cost of finding that small number of imposters is extremely high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">report last August\u003c/a> by the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that, during the pandemic, state appeals judges overturned EDD unemployment denials up to 80% of the time. That report highlighted another sample of 1.1 million unemployment claims stopped due to fraud concerns by an EDD consultant early in the pandemic, where at least 600,000 cases were later “confirmed as legitimate” and workers saw payments needlessly delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before COVID upended the job market, the Analyst’s Office estimated that improper unemployment denials cost workers $500 million to $1 billion a year in unpaid benefits. The agency also noted “concerning steps” at EDD in recent years that “suggest that ensuring eligible workers get benefits is not among its top priorities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD refused to discuss its approach to appeals during the pandemic. Over the past three years, the agency has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">invested heavily\u003c/a> in new anti-fraud technology and \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/pdf/news-22-06.pdf\">sought federal waivers (PDF)\u003c/a> for some workers who may have received extra federal pandemic unemployment funds “through no fault of their own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers who still want to fight an unemployment case, \u003ca href=\"https://cuiab.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/documents/cuiabUiAppealsFlowchart.pdf\">the first step (PDF)\u003c/a> is to notify the EDD in writing. The EDD then transfers the case to a local office of the Appeals Board, which schedules a hearing with an administrative judge. If a worker or business still feels that their case is unresolved, they can file another appeal with the state-level office of the Appeals Board, or eventually escalate the case to a superior or appellate court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of March, the average first-level appeals case with a judge was taking 139 days — a lag not as extreme as some other states, U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data shows\u003c/a>, but still roughly triple the federal government’s 30- and 45-day targets for state unemployment appeals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621589/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This kind of surge is predictable after a recession; the Appeals Board heard about 1.6 million cases in the years around the Great Recession, Crettol said. But workers like Allen, the Fresno graphic designer, have seen first-hand how pandemic cases can be complicated by heightened focus on fraud and differing interpretations of emergency health orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Allen’s case, he told state officials that he quit his job in July 2021, when the Delta variant of the coronavirus was raging and his wife was instructed not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 while navigating a high-risk pregnancy. Since health precautions like masking were not strictly enforced at his in-person job as a sign installer, Allen wrote in a state appeals filing, he quit “to eliminate the risk of bringing COVID-19 home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One unemployment payment arrived, but then the money stopped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949703\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949703\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a black shirt, gold chain and a black Bluetooth device in his ear poses inside his home next to a white door. On the white door is a homemade sign that reads, "William's and Joseph's Room" with two photos of the two boys.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersNicolasAllen-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nicolas Allen in his home in Fresno on April 10, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I was told that it had been reported that it was a fraudulent claim,” Allen said. “Because my former employer was claiming that I quit without cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So began an odyssey that involved months of arguing about pandemic protocols, clerical confusion over a brief freelance gig and paperwork ping-ponging between the EDD and the Appeals Board. After the second appeal, a state judge awarded Allen about six weeks out of the six months of benefits he applied for — securing around $3,000 of the $10,000 he sought, not counting potential federal unemployment supplements available during the pandemic — but denied the rest after questioning how actively he was seeking work while caring for two children under age 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, some 170,000 other appeals cases are still pending, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/ui_insurance_appeal.asp\">data reported\u003c/a> by the U.S. Department of Labor. Crettol said the Appeals Board is encouraged that new appeals have started to decline in recent months, and cited a lower state count of 154,000 backlogged cases through the end of March — a discrepancy that he said stems from differences in how state and federal numbers are reported due to funding sources and EDD processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/13621625/embed?auto=1\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys like Lichtash add that for those stuck waiting, one challenge is a lack of information about if and when a case has been transferred to the Appeals Board from the EDD, the latter of which he called a “black hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EDD said in a statement to CalMatters that it sends cases to the Appeals Board in an average of three days. The Appeals Board offered a conflicting number: that it receives about two-thirds of appeals within a week after an appeal is filed, which Crettol said could differ due to how the two agencies track processing times. Neither agency regularly tracks the “monetary value” of appeals cases, or how much the state is being awarded or ordered to pay, spokespeople said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers like Allen caught in the fray, the price of being caught up in the confusion has been high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His family slashed expenses like cable TV and was able to refinance their house, which they credit with avoiding falling behind on the mortgage. But Allen said they were still forced to borrow money from family and take on credit card debt, putting everyday luxuries like a dinner at a restaurant with their kids out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s horrible. I mean, we’re living off my paycheck,” said Allen’s wife, Sharon, who works in human resources. “We’ve almost divorced a few times because of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A path for reform?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In many ways, unemployment advocates like Jenna Gerry say the pandemic has shone “a spotlight” on chronic problems with the state’s job safety net, from worker confusion over benefit denials to delays at EDD to inconsistent anti-fraud efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question she and others are asking now is whether state officials will act to change the system that has once again gone haywire, or whether workers caught up in pandemic disputes will be left to bear the brunt of the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a perfect storm,” said Gerry, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “Instead of being like, ‘Wow, that was really bad. How do we make reforms now?’ … all people want to lift up is fraud, and not actually look at the systemic issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest underlying issue, Gerry said, is that millions of California workers — such as gig workers, undocumented workers and others in tenuous hourly positions — aren’t eligible for normal unemployment benefits. That was why the federal government started \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-edd-unemployment-crisis-explained/\">emergency jobless programs\u003c/a> like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. But subsequent high rates of fraud in the emergency program have complicated conversations at the federal and state levels about whether to make elements of the program permanent to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/04/california-undocumented-immigrants/\">cover more workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One potential change that advocates are watching closely in California is a plan to finally upgrade the state’s unemployment technology. The Appeals Board says it is rolling out a new system now, and the EDD is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/12/unemployment-benefits-california-edd/\">preparing to launch\u003c/a> an effort called EDDNext. The challenge will be ensuring that such projects are more effective than other \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">costly upgrades\u003c/a> after the Great Recession, which audits said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2021/04/california-unemployment-crisis-contracts/\">buckled at the EDD during the pandemic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the more targeted reforms that state agencies \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615\">have recommended\u003c/a>, but which legislators have yet to act on: removing the EDD from the appeals process, expanding the role of the Appeals Board or adding a new surcharge for businesses that frivolously appeal unemployment insurance (UI) claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To correct state practices that have the effect of limiting UI payments,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote last summer, “the state should give the appeals board the authority and responsibility to set UI policy and practices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As these debates drag on, some unemployment advocates and workers are taking matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one Alameda County \u003ca href=\"https://edd.ca.gov/siteassets/files/about_edd/notice-of-class-action-settlement.pdf\">lawsuit against the EDD (PDF)\u003c/a>, the Sacramento-based Center for Workers’ Rights negotiated a February settlement to head off more payment disputes. The EDD \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/edd-won-t-require-refunds-unemployment-17789516.php\">agreed to cancel\u003c/a> around 5,000 notices of overpayment sent to workers already past a year-long statute of limitations, and to refrain from sending other similar notices past the allowed timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agreement applies only to workers not flagged for potential fraud, leaving attorneys to worry that others still caught up in disputes or unsure how to contest their cases will slip through the cracks. Workers marked for making false statements to EDD face severe penalties — they could be forced to repay the money at high interest, have their wages garnished or be disqualified from collecting benefits if they lose a future job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The burden is generally put on the claimant to appeal,” said Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers’ Rights. “But these notices never should have been issued.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949702\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949702\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with reddish, shoulder-length hair, cateye glasses and a yellow and black floral blouse poses with a serious face in front of her apartment complex.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/CalMattersMadelineMaye-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Madeline Maye, a video editor based in Burbank on Feb. 12, 2023. Maye lost $5000 to the Bank of America EDD debit card fraud of 2020. She had been laid off from her job just months earlier and was struggling to find freelance video editing work in the pandemic. The situation was compounded for Maye by the fact that she had just come out as transgender, was navigating hormone therapy, and trying to pay for essentials like rent and feminine-presenting clothes and products. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Farther south, in Burbank, Madeline Maye is still seeking some form of closure two years into another proposed class action lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing couldn’t have been worse in mid-2020, when, in the midst of hormone therapy and a gender transition, the video editor became \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2020/11/how-bank-of-america-helped-fuel-californias-unemployment-meltdown/\">one of thousands of California workers\u003c/a> who noticed money draining from their unemployment debit cards in alleged fraudulent charges. The next year, she joined a class action claim against the state’s debit card contractor, Bank of America, which is now awaiting a hearing date before a federal judge in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bank of America has filed to dismiss the suit and declined to comment on ongoing litigation. It was separately \u003ca href=\"https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic/\">fined $225 million\u003c/a> last year by federal regulators for what they deemed “botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Maye’s case, it took about six months to get her unemployment money back from the bank, forcing her to start a GoFundMe account to pay rent and buy essentials like new clothes to restart her life. Her lawsuit is one of several that will test what justice might look like after the state’s job safety net failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got my money back, but it was one of the worst times in my life,” Maye said. “It felt like I was alone — that no one gave a shit about me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Fresno School Plants Trees to Reduce Highway Pollution, Others May Follow",
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"content": "\u003cp>At first glance, the 60 trees that border Tehipite Middle School in Fresno may not look like much. Only a few years old, they are still short and thin, some supported by wooden poles on each side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But their potential is large, especially for the health of students and staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the trees grow in the coming years, the people who planted them hope to find they provide a barrier from what lies just over the fence: the tangle of busy and noisy freeways at the Highway 41 and 180 interchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tehipite is nestled right up against the two highways, leaving the more than 500 students and employees vulnerable to \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/mobile-source-pollution/how-mobile-source-pollution-affects-your-health#content1\">vehicle pollution, which has been known to cause health problems\u003c/a>, including cardiovascular disease and decreased lung function.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Steven Brown, senior atmospheric scientist, Sonoma Tech\"]'It's been known for a long time that there’s a lot of health disparities for anybody who lives next to a roadway.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trees were planted in 2020 in hopes that air quality measurements in the future will show they helped mitigate pollution that drifts into the school grounds. If that proves true, the practice could be used more widely at California schools and other freeway-adjacent places where people live and work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The planting is jointly run by \u003ca href=\"https://treefresno.org/\">Tree Fresno\u003c/a>, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing green space in the Central Valley, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomatech.com/services/airquality\">Sonoma Technology\u003c/a>, a private consulting firm that specializes in studying air quality. The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-06/fresno_trees_sep.pdf\">Fresno TREES (PDF)\u003c/a> project is funded by the California Air Resources Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The impact of air pollution in the Central Valley\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“It’s been known for a long time that there’s a lot of health disparities for anybody who lives next to a roadway,” said Steven Brown, senior atmospheric scientist at Sonoma Tech, who is working on the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really see that, in particular for people who live or work or go to school or have a lot of time being exposed to pollution next to roadways,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200320040SB352\">building new schools within 500 feet of freeways was banned in 2003\u003c/a>, unless space is limited or the pollution can be diminished. But many students, especially in dense urban areas such as Los Angeles, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15143656\">still attend older schools right next to freeways\u003c/a>. Some schools were there before the roads were built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About \u003ca href=\"https://publicintegrity.org/environment/the-invisible-hazard-afflicting-thousands-of-schools/\">4.4 million students in the U.S. attend a school that lies within 500 feet of highways\u003c/a>, truck routes and other roads with significant traffic, according to a 2017 investigation from the Center for Public Integrity, and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. That’s nearly 8,000 public schools, or about 1 in every 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown said even people exposed to “major pollution events in utero” are affected as they grow. Children in particular are more sensitive to the effects of pollution on their lungs because they’re still growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11934063\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11934063\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1.jpeg\" alt=\"A view of security guard and small family standing next to trees lining a school sports field.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"750\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1.jpeg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1-800x500.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1-1020x638.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1-160x100.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 60 trees that were planted at Tehipite Middle School are still growing, but researchers say it’s possible that up to 50% of particulate matter could be reduced after the trees grow to maturity. \u003ccite>(Ashleigh Panoo/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s just a little bit different lung functions, a little bit different heart outcomes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Joaquin Valley is known for its poor air quality. The surrounding \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sanjoaquinvalley/epa-activities-cleaner-air\">mountain ranges trap pollutants on the valley floor\u003c/a>, leaving cities such as Fresno, Bakersfield and Visalia the most polluted in the nation, according to the American Lung Association. In 2022, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities\">Fresno region ranked first in short-term particle pollution\u003c/a>, and second in year-round particle pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vehicle exhaust is a major producer of PM 2.5, or particulate matter that is two-and-a-half microns or less in width.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you breathe it in, it can stay and go deep into your lungs and then really impact your cells,” Brown said. “It can impact how different pieces of your lung are able to function.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>'The trees are important'\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Tehipite Middle School, students coming out of their classrooms looked on as a car loudly peeled out one afternoon in the neighborhood that surrounds the other sides of the school, leaving a thick cloud of smoke drifting toward the campus and its border of young trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers say vegetative barriers can act in two ways against pollution, such as car exhaust: directly blocking it, and also absorbing it. It’s possible that up to 50% of particulate matter could be reduced after the trees grow to maturity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7092696/#:~:text=Solid%20sound%20walls%20and%20vegetation,mitigate%20near%2Droad%20air%20pollution.\">studies\u003c/a> have shown that \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0115-3\">it depends on how thick the vegetation is\u003c/a>, how the wind blows and whether the barrier is working alongside a concrete sound barrier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trees planted at Tehipite are a mix of Aleppo pine, Deodar cedar, Chinese elm and other evergreen trees, according to Mona Cummings, CEO of Tree Fresno. Trees whose leaves don’t fall are best used for barriers because they stay thick year-round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marilyn Lopez-Cuevas has been the principal at Tehipite Middle School for three years, and she grew up in the neighborhood. She says it’s how she understands the challenges her seventh and eighth graders face living in the community near downtown Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Lopez-Cuevas rushed back onto the Tehipite campus one recent afternoon, she held bags of candy for students who reached their academic goals, and she was also thinking about a birthday party she was planning for a student who wouldn’t get any celebration at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of her job, she says, is connecting with students in small ways that feel big, such as with the candy and the birthday party. She sees the trees as just one more solution to the myriad problems the community faces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People in \u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/who-is-at-risk/disparities\">lower-socioeconomic neighborhoods tend to fare the worst\u003c/a> when it comes to being exposed to pollution, many researchers have found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/community-air-protection-program/communities/south-central-fresno\">south central Fresno, where Tehipite is located, was selected to be monitored\u003c/a> by the California Air Resources Board because of its proximity to major freeways and industrial plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11934064\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11934064\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1.jpeg\" alt=\"A view of a highway with a line of trees and a fence along the side.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1.jpeg 2560w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tehipite Middle School's row of new trees separating the school from Highway 41. \u003ccite>(Ashleigh Panoo/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://community.valleyair.org/media/1308/fresno_camp_v1_2019_july-1.pdf\">Residents in the area are likely the most heavily burdened (PDF)\u003c/a> in the state by health and environmental challenges, a 2019 report from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District indicated. People are more likely to be burdened by housing costs, to live in poverty or to be unemployed, according to census tract data, and less likely to have graduated from high school or college. Low birth weights, asthma and cardiovascular diseases are also higher than state averages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the project, the air quality at Tehipite was measured before the trees were planted. Average black carbon measurements were at \u003ca href=\"https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/crnr/appendixa.pdf\">a level that can cause an elevated cancer risk after a lifetime of exposure\u003c/a>, according to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (PDF).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lopez-Cuevas said she did not know for sure whether students at her school suffered from asthma or other lung conditions more often than in other places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to answer that question, because obviously it’s very scientific, I would have to have data,” she said. “But we know the impact that better air quality has on our lives. So having said that, you can infer that this has an impact on our community. The trees are important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Monitoring in the future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The planting at Tehipite cost about $41,000 for the three-year-old, 15-gallon trees, including irrigation, Cummings said. Air quality monitoring is not included in that total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Great strides have been made in the last decade in air pollution measuring technology, Brown said, making it easier to get a good idea whether projects such as these can really help mitigate pollution near roadways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/researchers-assess-roadside-vegetation-barriers-suite-air-monitors\">ongoing pilot study at an elementary school in Oakland\u003c/a> also seeks to understand which sort of vegetative barriers work best, using air quality monitoring, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaders on the Fresno project hope to come away with a similar understanding of whether pollution at Tehipite (and the several other sites they’ve planted) has been reduced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project gets funded in increments, Brown said, when money is available from the California Air Resources Board. There is not yet funding to return to Tehipite to measure air quality after the trees have grown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“However, it will take one to five years for the trees to grow sufficiently to have a measured impact,” Brown said, “and we continue to work with CARB to secure funding for future air monitoring, so we are hopeful that funding will be in place in future years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/can-trees-reduce-pollution-at-schools-next-to-freeways-a-fresno-campus-tries-plantings/681826\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At first glance, the 60 trees that border Tehipite Middle School in Fresno may not look like much. Only a few years old, they are still short and thin, some supported by wooden poles on each side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But their potential is large, especially for the health of students and staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the trees grow in the coming years, the people who planted them hope to find they provide a barrier from what lies just over the fence: the tangle of busy and noisy freeways at the Highway 41 and 180 interchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tehipite is nestled right up against the two highways, leaving the more than 500 students and employees vulnerable to \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/mobile-source-pollution/how-mobile-source-pollution-affects-your-health#content1\">vehicle pollution, which has been known to cause health problems\u003c/a>, including cardiovascular disease and decreased lung function.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trees were planted in 2020 in hopes that air quality measurements in the future will show they helped mitigate pollution that drifts into the school grounds. If that proves true, the practice could be used more widely at California schools and other freeway-adjacent places where people live and work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The planting is jointly run by \u003ca href=\"https://treefresno.org/\">Tree Fresno\u003c/a>, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing green space in the Central Valley, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomatech.com/services/airquality\">Sonoma Technology\u003c/a>, a private consulting firm that specializes in studying air quality. The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-06/fresno_trees_sep.pdf\">Fresno TREES (PDF)\u003c/a> project is funded by the California Air Resources Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The impact of air pollution in the Central Valley\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“It’s been known for a long time that there’s a lot of health disparities for anybody who lives next to a roadway,” said Steven Brown, senior atmospheric scientist at Sonoma Tech, who is working on the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really see that, in particular for people who live or work or go to school or have a lot of time being exposed to pollution next to roadways,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200320040SB352\">building new schools within 500 feet of freeways was banned in 2003\u003c/a>, unless space is limited or the pollution can be diminished. But many students, especially in dense urban areas such as Los Angeles, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15143656\">still attend older schools right next to freeways\u003c/a>. Some schools were there before the roads were built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About \u003ca href=\"https://publicintegrity.org/environment/the-invisible-hazard-afflicting-thousands-of-schools/\">4.4 million students in the U.S. attend a school that lies within 500 feet of highways\u003c/a>, truck routes and other roads with significant traffic, according to a 2017 investigation from the Center for Public Integrity, and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. That’s nearly 8,000 public schools, or about 1 in every 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown said even people exposed to “major pollution events in utero” are affected as they grow. Children in particular are more sensitive to the effects of pollution on their lungs because they’re still growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11934063\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11934063\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1.jpeg\" alt=\"A view of security guard and small family standing next to trees lining a school sports field.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"750\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1.jpeg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1-800x500.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1-1020x638.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221117_121735-1-1200x750-1-160x100.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 60 trees that were planted at Tehipite Middle School are still growing, but researchers say it’s possible that up to 50% of particulate matter could be reduced after the trees grow to maturity. \u003ccite>(Ashleigh Panoo/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s just a little bit different lung functions, a little bit different heart outcomes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Joaquin Valley is known for its poor air quality. The surrounding \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sanjoaquinvalley/epa-activities-cleaner-air\">mountain ranges trap pollutants on the valley floor\u003c/a>, leaving cities such as Fresno, Bakersfield and Visalia the most polluted in the nation, according to the American Lung Association. In 2022, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities\">Fresno region ranked first in short-term particle pollution\u003c/a>, and second in year-round particle pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vehicle exhaust is a major producer of PM 2.5, or particulate matter that is two-and-a-half microns or less in width.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you breathe it in, it can stay and go deep into your lungs and then really impact your cells,” Brown said. “It can impact how different pieces of your lung are able to function.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>'The trees are important'\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Tehipite Middle School, students coming out of their classrooms looked on as a car loudly peeled out one afternoon in the neighborhood that surrounds the other sides of the school, leaving a thick cloud of smoke drifting toward the campus and its border of young trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers say vegetative barriers can act in two ways against pollution, such as car exhaust: directly blocking it, and also absorbing it. It’s possible that up to 50% of particulate matter could be reduced after the trees grow to maturity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7092696/#:~:text=Solid%20sound%20walls%20and%20vegetation,mitigate%20near%2Droad%20air%20pollution.\">studies\u003c/a> have shown that \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0115-3\">it depends on how thick the vegetation is\u003c/a>, how the wind blows and whether the barrier is working alongside a concrete sound barrier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trees planted at Tehipite are a mix of Aleppo pine, Deodar cedar, Chinese elm and other evergreen trees, according to Mona Cummings, CEO of Tree Fresno. Trees whose leaves don’t fall are best used for barriers because they stay thick year-round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marilyn Lopez-Cuevas has been the principal at Tehipite Middle School for three years, and she grew up in the neighborhood. She says it’s how she understands the challenges her seventh and eighth graders face living in the community near downtown Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Lopez-Cuevas rushed back onto the Tehipite campus one recent afternoon, she held bags of candy for students who reached their academic goals, and she was also thinking about a birthday party she was planning for a student who wouldn’t get any celebration at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of her job, she says, is connecting with students in small ways that feel big, such as with the candy and the birthday party. She sees the trees as just one more solution to the myriad problems the community faces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People in \u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/who-is-at-risk/disparities\">lower-socioeconomic neighborhoods tend to fare the worst\u003c/a> when it comes to being exposed to pollution, many researchers have found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/community-air-protection-program/communities/south-central-fresno\">south central Fresno, where Tehipite is located, was selected to be monitored\u003c/a> by the California Air Resources Board because of its proximity to major freeways and industrial plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11934064\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11934064\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1.jpeg\" alt=\"A view of a highway with a line of trees and a fence along the side.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1.jpeg 2560w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/20221129_150639-5-scaled-1-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tehipite Middle School's row of new trees separating the school from Highway 41. \u003ccite>(Ashleigh Panoo/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://community.valleyair.org/media/1308/fresno_camp_v1_2019_july-1.pdf\">Residents in the area are likely the most heavily burdened (PDF)\u003c/a> in the state by health and environmental challenges, a 2019 report from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District indicated. People are more likely to be burdened by housing costs, to live in poverty or to be unemployed, according to census tract data, and less likely to have graduated from high school or college. Low birth weights, asthma and cardiovascular diseases are also higher than state averages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the project, the air quality at Tehipite was measured before the trees were planted. Average black carbon measurements were at \u003ca href=\"https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/crnr/appendixa.pdf\">a level that can cause an elevated cancer risk after a lifetime of exposure\u003c/a>, according to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (PDF).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lopez-Cuevas said she did not know for sure whether students at her school suffered from asthma or other lung conditions more often than in other places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to answer that question, because obviously it’s very scientific, I would have to have data,” she said. “But we know the impact that better air quality has on our lives. So having said that, you can infer that this has an impact on our community. The trees are important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Monitoring in the future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The planting at Tehipite cost about $41,000 for the three-year-old, 15-gallon trees, including irrigation, Cummings said. Air quality monitoring is not included in that total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Great strides have been made in the last decade in air pollution measuring technology, Brown said, making it easier to get a good idea whether projects such as these can really help mitigate pollution near roadways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/researchers-assess-roadside-vegetation-barriers-suite-air-monitors\">ongoing pilot study at an elementary school in Oakland\u003c/a> also seeks to understand which sort of vegetative barriers work best, using air quality monitoring, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaders on the Fresno project hope to come away with a similar understanding of whether pollution at Tehipite (and the several other sites they’ve planted) has been reduced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project gets funded in increments, Brown said, when money is available from the California Air Resources Board. There is not yet funding to return to Tehipite to measure air quality after the trees have grown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“However, it will take one to five years for the trees to grow sufficiently to have a measured impact,” Brown said, “and we continue to work with CARB to secure funding for future air monitoring, so we are hopeful that funding will be in place in future years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/can-trees-reduce-pollution-at-schools-next-to-freeways-a-fresno-campus-tries-plantings/681826\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/program/the-california-report-magazine\">The California Report Magazine\u003c/a> rebroadcast this story this week after it won a national Edward R. Murrow award, among the most prestigious honors in journalism. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11892838/there-is-anger-he-should-be-alive-an-investigation-into-deadly-covid-19-outbreaks-at-foster-farms\">KQED’s investigation of COVID-19 outbreaks at Foster Farms\u003c/a>, originally broadcast last fall, won best news documentary in the large market radio category. \u003ca href=\"https://www.rtdna.org/content/2022_rtdna_edward_r_murrow_awards_national_honorees\">Here’s a full list of the 2022 winners.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, California’s Foster Farms became the site of one of the nation’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks at a meat or poultry plant. The California Report’s Central Valley reporter, Alex Hall, spent a year and a half talking to spouses and family members of workers who spent decades at the company’s chicken-processing plants. She found that hundreds of Foster Farms workers tested positive for the virus in 2020. Sixteen people died, and at least 20 others were hospitalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hall’s investigation showed that as plants stayed open to maintain the food supply, and workers got sick from COVID-19, or even died, Foster Farms didn’t always give a complete picture of the problem to health officials, state regulators or their own employees. She introduced listeners to families who lost loved ones who worked at Foster Farms — families who are grieving, struggling financially and trying to make sense of what happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11892838 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2027/10/50872_transform-1020x679.jpg']This encore rebroadcast includes some updates since the story first aired in October 2021. This summer, Foster Farms was sold to a Connecticut-based private equity firm, Atlas Holdings. The company’s new chair and CEO, Donnie Smith, is the former head of Tyson Foods, one of the world’s biggest meat and poultry producers and processors. The California Report reached out to Atlas Holdings with questions, including whether there were any lessons learned from how the company’s previous owners handled the COVID-19 outbreaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Smith responded: “There are many lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, for federal and state government, public health officials, and the private sector. The delivery of timely data to public health officials was and remains essential to efforts to combat disease and is something that Foster Farms is irrevocably committed to ensuring. More broadly, since June, my team and I have focused squarely on creating a workplace culture that is second to none — a culture that nobody wants to walk away from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith also noted that the company recently increased pay for workers at Foster Farms’ processing facility in Livingston, Merced County, by 25%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the challenges the families of workers who died face is the complicated and slow process of receiving death benefits. Since this story first aired, some family members have finally begun to receive financial compensation. Rosa Velasquez, for example, whose husband, Gregorio Velasquez, died in January of 2021 after working at a Foster Farms plant in Fresno for about 20 years, began receiving benefits in May, about a year after she first applied for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Velasquez is still waiting to find out what amount her children and grandchildren will receive. Alma Ruth Hernández Núñez, the widow of another employee, Eufracio Caballero, also began receiving benefits earlier this year, according to her attorney. The amount their children will receive is also still being determined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a spokesperson from California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Foster Farms is still appealing \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/covid19citations.asp\">multiple citations Cal/OSHA issued against the company in 2021\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/program/the-california-report-magazine\">The California Report Magazine\u003c/a> rebroadcast this story this week after it won a national Edward R. Murrow award, among the most prestigious honors in journalism. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11892838/there-is-anger-he-should-be-alive-an-investigation-into-deadly-covid-19-outbreaks-at-foster-farms\">KQED’s investigation of COVID-19 outbreaks at Foster Farms\u003c/a>, originally broadcast last fall, won best news documentary in the large market radio category. \u003ca href=\"https://www.rtdna.org/content/2022_rtdna_edward_r_murrow_awards_national_honorees\">Here’s a full list of the 2022 winners.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, California’s Foster Farms became the site of one of the nation’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks at a meat or poultry plant. The California Report’s Central Valley reporter, Alex Hall, spent a year and a half talking to spouses and family members of workers who spent decades at the company’s chicken-processing plants. She found that hundreds of Foster Farms workers tested positive for the virus in 2020. Sixteen people died, and at least 20 others were hospitalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hall’s investigation showed that as plants stayed open to maintain the food supply, and workers got sick from COVID-19, or even died, Foster Farms didn’t always give a complete picture of the problem to health officials, state regulators or their own employees. She introduced listeners to families who lost loved ones who worked at Foster Farms — families who are grieving, struggling financially and trying to make sense of what happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This encore rebroadcast includes some updates since the story first aired in October 2021. This summer, Foster Farms was sold to a Connecticut-based private equity firm, Atlas Holdings. The company’s new chair and CEO, Donnie Smith, is the former head of Tyson Foods, one of the world’s biggest meat and poultry producers and processors. The California Report reached out to Atlas Holdings with questions, including whether there were any lessons learned from how the company’s previous owners handled the COVID-19 outbreaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Smith responded: “There are many lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, for federal and state government, public health officials, and the private sector. The delivery of timely data to public health officials was and remains essential to efforts to combat disease and is something that Foster Farms is irrevocably committed to ensuring. More broadly, since June, my team and I have focused squarely on creating a workplace culture that is second to none — a culture that nobody wants to walk away from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith also noted that the company recently increased pay for workers at Foster Farms’ processing facility in Livingston, Merced County, by 25%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the challenges the families of workers who died face is the complicated and slow process of receiving death benefits. Since this story first aired, some family members have finally begun to receive financial compensation. Rosa Velasquez, for example, whose husband, Gregorio Velasquez, died in January of 2021 after working at a Foster Farms plant in Fresno for about 20 years, began receiving benefits in May, about a year after she first applied for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Velasquez is still waiting to find out what amount her children and grandchildren will receive. Alma Ruth Hernández Núñez, the widow of another employee, Eufracio Caballero, also began receiving benefits earlier this year, according to her attorney. The amount their children will receive is also still being determined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a spokesperson from California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Foster Farms is still appealing \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/covid19citations.asp\">multiple citations Cal/OSHA issued against the company in 2021\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Regulators are investigating a hepatitis A outbreak across the U.S. and Canada that may be linked to fresh organic strawberries, with more than a dozen cases reported in California so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a joint weekend statement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Public Health Agency of Canada said \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-hepatitis-virus-strawberries-may-2022#:~:text=The%20FDA%2C%20along%20with%20CDC,as%20FreshKampo%20and%20HEB%2C%20purchased\">people fell ill after consuming FreshKampo and H-E-B brand strawberries\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been 17 illnesses and 12 hospitalizations reported in the U.S., the FDA said, with 15 of those cases occurring in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agencies said the strawberries were purchased between March 5 and April 25. They were sold at various U.S. retailers, including Aldi, Kroger, Safeway, Walmart and Trader Joe’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mexico-based FreshKampo, which grew the strawberries, said in a statement Sunday that it is working with regulators to determine how the problem occurred. FreshKampo said the label on the containers of potentially affected strawberries would have said “Product of Mexico” or “Distributed by Meridian Foods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meridian Fine Foods, a FreshKampo subsidiary, is based in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potentially affected strawberries are past their shelf life, but health officials say consumers who purchased them and froze them to eat later should throw them away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hepatitis A is a virus that can cause liver disease and, in rare cases, liver failure and death. Illness usually occurs within 15 to 50 days after eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Symptoms include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and jaundice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumers who ate the potentially affected berries in the last two weeks and have not been vaccinated against hepatitis A should immediately consult with a physician, the FDA said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Regulators are investigating a hepatitis A outbreak across the U.S. and Canada that may be linked to fresh organic strawberries, with more than a dozen cases reported in California so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a joint weekend statement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Public Health Agency of Canada said \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-hepatitis-virus-strawberries-may-2022#:~:text=The%20FDA%2C%20along%20with%20CDC,as%20FreshKampo%20and%20HEB%2C%20purchased\">people fell ill after consuming FreshKampo and H-E-B brand strawberries\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been 17 illnesses and 12 hospitalizations reported in the U.S., the FDA said, with 15 of those cases occurring in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agencies said the strawberries were purchased between March 5 and April 25. They were sold at various U.S. retailers, including Aldi, Kroger, Safeway, Walmart and Trader Joe’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mexico-based FreshKampo, which grew the strawberries, said in a statement Sunday that it is working with regulators to determine how the problem occurred. FreshKampo said the label on the containers of potentially affected strawberries would have said “Product of Mexico” or “Distributed by Meridian Foods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meridian Fine Foods, a FreshKampo subsidiary, is based in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potentially affected strawberries are past their shelf life, but health officials say consumers who purchased them and froze them to eat later should throw them away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hepatitis A is a virus that can cause liver disease and, in rare cases, liver failure and death. Illness usually occurs within 15 to 50 days after eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Symptoms include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and jaundice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumers who ate the potentially affected berries in the last two weeks and have not been vaccinated against hepatitis A should immediately consult with a physician, the FDA said.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When it comes to eviction court, tenants are far less likely than property owners to be represented by an attorney. That makes it especially difficult for them to understand their rights and navigate the complex system. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The right to counsel is something that tenant advocates are pushing for across the country, and more cities and states are considering it, especially in light of the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this episode of Sold Out, we’ll go to Fresno in California’s Central Valley, where rents are rising, and meet tenant advocates who have organized to push for a right to counsel. And we’ll also visit New York, where this movement took off, and speak to the activists behind it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5 id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC6308765795&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/h5>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>LANDLORD V. TENANT [TRANSCRIPT]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ERIKA KELLY, EDITOR\u003c/strong>: I’m Erika Kelly, the editor of Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America, here to say thank you for listening to the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our team is wrapping up the season, and we’d love to know what you thought about it, what you liked, what you didn’t like. Most importantly, we’d like to know a little more about you, our listener. What issues or stories [do] you want to hear more of in the future?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Head over to \u003ca href=\"https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6755022/f959eb5782fc\">kqed.org/soldoutsurvey\u003c/a> to leave us some feedback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thanks so much!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(KQED music in)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY SOLOMON, HOST\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Hey, I’m Molly Solomon.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN BALDASSARI, HOST\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And I’m Erin Baldassari. From KQED this is Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This season we’ve been exploring evictions. If you’ve been following along, you already know the system is stacked against tenants. And that evictions have devastating consequences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Nowhere is that more clear than in eviction court. It’s where most cases end up, and it’s where a push for reform is growing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On today’s episode: a fight to balance the scales. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sounds: City streets. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molly Solomon is walking and speaks into her recorder.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MOLLY IN FRESNO\u003c/strong>: OK. We’re on O Street, downtown Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MOLLY\u003c/strong>: Last fall I drove out to California’s Central Valley, and pulled up to a mid-century modern building in the middle of downtown, the Fresno County Superior Courthouse.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY IN FRESNO\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There is already a line of people that are getting ready to check in through the front door.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A security guard milled around outside. The crisp early morning air was starting to warm as the sun peeked out from behind the building. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m trying to look for Robert Cortez. He’s going to help me out today check out eviction court. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are you Robert? Hi, I’m Molly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT CORTEZ\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi, nice to meet you.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robert is an attorney who represents tenants. His law firm, \u003ca href=\"https://www.centralcallegal.org/\">Central California Legal Services\u003c/a>, handles the vast majority of eviction defense cases in Fresno.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We head up to the fourth floor where eviction hearings start every Tuesday morning at 8:30. Today, there are about 20 cases on the docket. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11907099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11907099\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A gray and tan building with various columns, and two people passing in front of it.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Fresno County Superior Courthouse in downtown Fresno. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So 90% of the time we’re in 404, which is just down the hall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The room is small, no windows. There are a few rows of benches that are about half full. It’s not as packed as it was before the pandemic. Many hearings are still happening on Zoom. Robert points out some lawyers in the room. He calls them the regulars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: A\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">bout four or five regular landlord attorneys are here every day.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robert tells me one of the attorneys also serves as a debt collector for the landlords he represents. He collects past due rent from tenants who’ve been evicted. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He gets these unrepresented clients to agree to these deals that are payment plans basically. And they go on for years, like five, six, seven years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I couldn’t record inside the courtroom while trials were underway. But I’ll say — you didn’t miss much. There’s a reason you never see TV shows about eviction courts. There’s not a lot of drama. Usually, you don’t call witnesses or present evidence. And a lot of times, evictions aren’t even decided in the courtroom.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(Music out)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The action is out in the hallway.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sounds: Door opens and closes.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’ll see a lot of dealmaking out here in the hallways. A lot of times attorneys will come outside and, you know, see if there’s a deal to be made. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s how most cases end up: in deals or settlements. And that’s what Robert’s trying to do for his client Lea Esparza. Lea came to Robert after the court had already issued a default judgment against her, which is basically an automatic win for the landlord. It happens when tenants don’t show up or don’t file their paperwork in time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Lea’s case, she tried to file her paperwork. The problem was she’d hired a paralegal off of Craigslist to help her fill it out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LEA ESPARZA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She charged me $500 and she didn’t turn in the paperwork. That’s why we ended up with the lockout.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So the sheriff is scheduled to come to the residence on Thursday. So what I’m trying to get the judge to do is delay that sheriff.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LEA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes, they said they were going to come at 6 a.m. and lock me out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in) \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Lea had to stop working about a year ago after she was diagnosed with cancer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LEA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am battling cervical cancer and I’m also battling — I just had a surgery three months ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says after this morning’s hearing she’s going back to the hospital for another surgery. And if her eviction goes through, she doesn’t know where she and her kids will go.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LEA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I got four daughters and myself and like I said, I do, I am battling my health, so I don’t think I have anywhere to go. I don’t got family around here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robert has just come out of a small mediators’ room with the landlord’s attorney. He and Lea huddle in a corner of the hallway, and keep their voices low. He’s got good news: Lea can stay through the end of the year, 109 more days. He’s also gotten her rent payments lowered to about $2 a day.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of this work is delaying the inevitable. Sometimes eviction is inevitable. But we just try to get as much time as possible, so the client’s not on the street.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lea will\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">eventually \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">have to leave. But the deal is way better than what she could have negotiated on her own.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most people don’t have someone like Robert on their side. These eviction cases move quickly and play out in courtrooms every day. And wherever you go, there’s the same imbalance: Landlords have attorneys. And tenants don’t.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JOHN POLLOCK\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that kind of representational imbalance yields the kind of results you would expect, which is it’s just completely one-sided.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> John Pollock is with the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://civilrighttocounsel.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Their data shows that across the country, 81% of landlords have a lawyer, but only 3% of tenants do.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JOHN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The tenants always lose, and half of them don’t even participate in the process because it is such a hopeless, disempowering process right now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> He says many tenants get pushed into deals that are on the landlord’s terms. And that’s why Pollock says tenants need attorneys, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sold Out theme song begins.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MOLLY\u003c/strong>: Think of it this way: We grant defendants a right to an attorney in criminal cases. Why should it be any different for housing court?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JOHN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From our perspective, these are very serious proceedings on par with criminal ones in terms of the consequences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, the eviction protections put in place during the pandemic are expiring. And, eviction courts are filling up again. As they do, the calls for change are getting louder. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because tenants and their allies say the current system isn’t fair, and it needs to change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sold Out theme song ends.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843281\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 657px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843281\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/SOLD-OUT-Web-Banners__Tune-In_656x336.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"657\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/SOLD-OUT-Web-Banners__Tune-In_656x336.png 657w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/SOLD-OUT-Web-Banners__Tune-In_656x336-160x82.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 657px) 100vw, 657px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sold Out: Rethinking Housing In America is a five-part series reimagining what housing could be by examining California, the epicenter of the nation’s housing affordability crisis.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On a windy morning last spring, a couple dozen people gathered outside Fresno City Hall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There were tenants, faith leaders and housing advocates. And they were there to call attention to evictions in their neighborhoods.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A SPEAKER AT CITY HALL\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is a home when one is renting from a landlord who abuses their power dynamic and refuses to fix these conditions and then threatens to evict tenants who complain? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They directed their protest to the city council, which was meeting inside the gleaming stainless steel building. On their agenda was a proposal to help tenants avoid eviction. Outside, a local pastor, D.J. Criner, took the mic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>D.J. CRINER\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are you going to hold landlords just as accountable as landlords think they’re holding residents? Are you going to give individuals an opportunity to have legal aid? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Renters held signs and shared their stories about the rent going up, about being forced to move, about worrying for their children. One of them was Jessica Ramirez, a mother of five who was born and raised in Fresno.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She was evicted a few years ago and didn’t have an attorney to help her out. Now with that on her record, it’s almost impossible to find new housing. Speaking to the crowd, she held up her eviction papers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JESSICA RAMIREZ\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is why I’m here today, I’m here to raise my voice. You know, this voice that I have is not for one, but for many.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She shared how she and her family had to live in their car. How her kids had to bathe themselves in the restrooms of a public park.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JESSICA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, many out here in this world. You know, I live. This is a struggle. I’m in pain. You know, you guys don’t know how it is, living in the streets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pastor Criner called on the city council to protect renters like Jessica. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>D.J.\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is about a call to action. Speak for this young lady and mother of five that is praying for an opportunity to raise her children in the same decent housing you’re able to raise yours in. So we studied the problem. We found the solution. We wrote the proposal, and the money has already been found. The question is now, are you listening and are you going to do something about it?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Fresno City Hall is in the middle of downtown. It’s densely packed with tall office buildings. But you don’t have to drive far before you’re surrounded by farmland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fresno sits at the center of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Founded as a railroad town, it’s grown into an agricultural powerhouse. It’s also been an affordable city in an extremely unaffordable state, at least until recently.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CLIPS FROM FRESNO RENT NEWSCASTS\u003c/b>: “\u003cem>The real estate market is buzzing in the valley.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“According to a story in The Los Angeles Times called Fresno the hottest market in the country.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>\u003cem>Monthly rent in Fresno has soared over the last year — experts cite high demand and low inventory.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In the last year alone, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article258073823.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">rents spiked 28%\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Now, the average one-bedroom is over \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.zumper.com/rent-research/fresno-ca\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">$1,400 a month\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/article252425493.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And home prices are way up, too\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Driving around Fresno, you can almost feel the hype. Everywhere you go, there are these advertisements for new housing developments. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alexandra Alvarado has felt it, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALEXANDRA ALVARADO\u003c/b>:\u003cb> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Central Valley has this myth of affordability that, like, people can just come in and afford it and be able to buy houses.\u003c/span>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She’s always lived around Fresno. She grew up in a small town nearby, moved here for college. Alexandra is now a community organizer with a group called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://faithinthevalley.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Faith in the Valley\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — the same group that organized the tenant protest outside City Hall. She says the idea of Fresno as an affordable place … is part of what’s driving up prices.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALEXANDRA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Especially during the pandemic, when people were working from home, we were running across stories of people from the bay or from LA that were saying, oh, I could buy two houses in Fresno.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fresno might be cheaper than San Francisco or Los Angeles, but it’s also \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article209826869.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">one of the poorest cities in the country\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fresnocitycalifornia/INC110219\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One in four families\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> here live below the federal poverty line.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As prices rise, it’s becoming harder for people to find safe housing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALEXANDRA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What they end up being pushed to is what they can afford.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[HOST]\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">An investigation\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by local newspaper The Fresno Bee found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article249299005.html\">some tenants were living in terrible conditions\u003c/a>: with no heat, leaky pipes, and mold. And when they complained, they were often threatened with an eviction.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Even before the pandemic, there are anywhere from three [thousand] to 4,000 eviction filings in Fresno each year. That’s according to a 2019 report from two researchers at Fresno State University.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>AMBER CROWELL\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So that’s a lot of people. And it was, you know, 200 or 300 families a month. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s Amber Crowell. She wrote the report with her colleague Janine Nkosi. They also work on housing advocacy with Faith in the Valley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Janine and Amber spent months observing eviction hearings at the Fresno courthouse, the same place I met up with Robert and Lea. And they saw a lot of the same disparities that I did. Landlords had lawyers, and tenants didn’t. Here’s Janine:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JANINE NKOSI\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I could literally cry right now when I think about it. Three, like maybe three people, were able to get some type of legal representation in housing court.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">most recent data from Eviction Lab\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003ca href=\"https://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016?geography=counties&bounds=-122.192,35.603,-116.28,37.847&type=er&locations=06019,-119.443,36.916\">Fresno has one of the highest eviction rates in the state\u003c/a>. Far higher than in Los Angeles and San Francisco. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But there’s only one legal aid organization in Fresno. And about half of the residents here are renters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JANINE\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The challenges that we are experiencing, they are not so different than what folks in the Bay Area, right, or Northern California, are experiencing, or in Southern California, but they are happening at an accelerated rate. We have the highest need and the fewest amount of resources.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[HOST]\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What Janine and Amber found inspired a growing coalition of renters, faith leaders and students — one that only grew as economic shutdowns during the pandemic made it harder for tenants to pay their rent, tenants like Shar Thompson.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SHAR THOMPSON\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m a single mom that works two jobs. So, you know, it’s really tough.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shar works part time at Costco. When her shift ends in the afternoon, she heads to her second job at Walmart, where she works overnight stocking shelves. Shar’s from the Central Valley. She grew up in a small farming town nearby called Coalinga.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SHAR\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you drive down I-5 and smell the fresh air of cow manure, that’s Coalinga. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She moved to Fresno during the pandemic and was having trouble paying her rent. She found Faith in the Valley when she Googled local rent assistance programs.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then she started showing up at meetings, learning about her rights as a tenant, and discovered what was possible when she worked alongside other renters.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SHAR\u003c/b>: There’s passion behind it from everybody. And I love the fact that we’re all from different walks of life, but we all have the same main goal and that’s to make a whole new housing system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: Shar and the ot\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">her Fresno renters had specific demands for the city. They wanted every tenant fighting an eviction to have an attorney: a\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://leadershipcounsel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Fresno-Right-to-Counsel-Coalition-Community-Proposal.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> right to counsel\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But they took it even further. They wanted the city to connect tenants with rent relief. And create a diversion program to help tenants and\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">landlords avoid the courtroom altogether. By early last year, their proposal was ready for the city council.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SPEAKER AT CITY COUNCIL\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you. Last item — that’s public item that we have is 4-B, it’s a workshop to discuss right-to-counsel proposal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11907097\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11907097 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman stares pensively off into the distance, she wears a green shirt.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fresno renter Jessica Ramirez. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jessica Ramirez, the same renter who spoke outside City Hall, called into this meeting, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JESSICA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am one of many that are speaking out asking for help because I know it only takes one eviction on someone’s record to change their lives forever.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But there’s pushback from landlords and within City Hall. Here’s City Council member Garry Bredefeld.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>GARRY BREDEFELD\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I know. Imagine, I guess we’re pretty flush with money at the City of Fresno, and now we’re going into the rental tenant defense business. I don’t see any way that I will support these kinds of things. I don’t think this is what we should be doing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[HOST]\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Renters continued to pressure the city for months to vote on their proposal. But eventually, it became clear: A true right to counsel was not going to pass. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s Amber Crowell, the eviction researcher at Fresno State.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>AMBER\u003c/b>: It was tough. It was a tough battle. And we didn’t get everything we wanted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What they got was something of a compromise. The city calls it the Eviction Protection Program. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not for all tenants — just the ones who are being wrongfully evicted, like if their landlord’s retaliating against them, or illegally locking them out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amber and other housing activists think only a small number of tenants will qualify or even know the program exists, leaving many still vulnerable.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell is more optimistic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TYLER MAXWELL\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I can tell you, it is an uphill battle to get where we’re at today. I’m happy we’re able to get our foot in the door.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He helped introduce the Eviction Protection Program. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article258184263.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s already helped 180 people get free legal help.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nearly all of them were able to avoid trial. For the few who did go, most were able to get the eviction off their record. And that’s important, because having an eviction on your record can lock you out of new housing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11907096\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11907096\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural in downtown Fresno. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The program is only funded for one year and Tyler hopes they’ll extend it. But a right to counsel is still a pretty radical idea for Fresno, and he thinks there’s always going to be some people questioning whether it’s worth it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TYLER\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why are we giving away free things? You know, why? Why are we providing something for free for people? You know they need to pick themselves up from the bootstraps, which, representing a district like I do, I know that’s a bunch of B.S. — picking yourself up by the bootstraps doesn’t work when you can’t afford the bootstraps. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story isn’t over. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple months ago, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article256467491.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">150 people showed up at City Hall to demand the city use federal COVID dollars\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to pass a true right to counsel, rent control and more eviction protections. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amber Crowell and Janine Nkosi say renters in Fresno can’t back down now, even if it feels like a battle between David and Goliath. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>AMBER\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The groups that represent property owners are much more powerful politically than the groups that represent tenants. And so that’s just an ideology that we’re always fighting against.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JANINE\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, it’s always a battle between individual rights versus, like, collective care and collective responsibility. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They say it’s a battle worth fighting. And you can’t win anything if you don’t ask for it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JANINE\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are made to believe that these are big asks, but we should be dreaming much, much bigger than we ever have been. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Fresno isn’t the only place to fight for a right to counsel. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coming up on Sold Out: where the movement first began.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CROWD CHANTING\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Housing is a human right. Fight, fight, fight.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY DILLARD\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Good morning, good morning, good morning. My name is Randy Dillard and we are facing an eviction crisis in the Bronx.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Randy Dillard wears a bright orange T-shirt. On it is a fist thrust in the air. He energizes the crowd outside New York City Hall in lower Manhattan. It’s 2013 and he’s part of a tenants group in the South Bronx.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Representation for tenants in housing court should be a right.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Randy was familiar with housing court. Before he was an organizer, he worked as a bricklayer. A single dad with five kids, Randy was on Section 8, but his apartment was not up to code. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have mold all over the apartment. We had leaks coming from up above into an open-light fixture in the bathroom that could have started a fire. We had to put plastic bags up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He said the leaks were so bad, sometimes they had to use an umbrella inside the house to keep from getting wet. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because of the conditions, Randy’s home failed a Section 8 inspection, so the government program stopped making payments to his landlord. And then he developed emphysema and ended up in the hospital. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And they was getting ready to put me on a breathing machine ’cause my lungs was getting ready to collapse. I almost, almost died.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He was in the hospital for two months. Three days after he got out, he got a knock on his door.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My landlord’s lawyer served me with eviction papers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Randy says going to housing court to fight his eviction was confusing and scary. When he got there, he was met with long lines and little information.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It leaves you numb, and empty inside. As soon as you get there first, you don’t know what to look for and you’ve got a long line of people. And some of them are emotional, crying, you know, while you waiting in line to go through the metal detector to get in there.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At that time, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://newsettlement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/CDP.WEB_.doc_Report_CASA-TippingScales-full_201303.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">about 2,000 tenants were showing up at the Bronx housing court \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">every day. It was the busiest eviction courtroom in all five boroughs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ultimately, Randy did end up getting an attorney. He found someone through a legal help group in his neighborhood. His case took almost two years, but he eventually won, an outcome he says would have been impossible without his attorney. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t think no tenant should have to go through what me and my kids went through, and no tenant should have to stand before a judge and not know what their rights are. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Randy got involved with the group \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://newsettlement.org/casa/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community Action for Safe Apartments, or CASA\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CASA and a coalition of housing groups pressured the city to adopt a right to counsel. Organizers made the moral case that no one should have to face something as life-altering as losing your home without the benefit of an attorney.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Susanna Blankley was the group’s director at the time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SUSANNA BLANKLEY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It meant the right to not face eviction alone. It meant the right to know that you would be protected. It meant the right to have power within the court system.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The coalition kept pushing, whipping up support wherever they could. First at a neighborhood board meeting, then City Council hearings, delivering a petition with 7,000 signatures to the mayor’s office. They even got the chief judge of the New York court system to testify in support of a right to counsel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Until finally, after three years of organizing, New York City tenants made history. And won something that didn’t exist anywhere else in America: a right to counsel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the program rolled out in 2017, it guaranteed most low-income tenants access to an attorney if they’re facing eviction. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the legislation at CASA’s offices in the Bronx. Standing beside him was Randy Dillard.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sounds from the moments when Mayor Bill de Blasio was signing the legislation.) \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The reason why I’m here today, you wouldn’t be able to see me if I didn’t have an attorney. That’s why I’m standing up here. That’s why I’ve been fighting with the coalition and with CASA to make this possible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In a video of the signing, Randy has this big smile on his face. Afterward, de Blasio turns to him and hands him the pen. He still has it today, framed on his wall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I introduced the mayor and I, and I spoke. They let me speak. It was powerful. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was something that I had never imagined. Something that big that I will be a part of. I never looked at it starting out when we was fighting for it. I only looked at it, that is something that needed to be done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/EKYbCM890xsxzEyOiQa3O9?domain=www1.nyc.gov\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And early results show it’s working.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Since a right to counsel passed in 2017, more than half a million New Yorkers have gotten legal representation. And 84% of them were able to stay in their homes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Fewer evictions means fewer households falling into homelessness.\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/4408380/PDF/Cost-Benefit-Impact-Studies/SRR%20Report%20-%20Eviction%20Right%20to%20Counsel%20%203%2016%2016.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> A cost-benefit analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on New York City predicted it would save $320 million, most of it in emergency shelter costs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When a tenant is guaranteed an attorney, it also changes the way landlords use eviction courts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/EKYbCM890xsxzEyOiQa3O9?domain=www1.nyc.gov\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since 2013, eviction filings have dropped by about 40%, and bogus cases are thrown out quickly.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, here’s Susanna Blankley:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SUSANNA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve seen filings go down. It means landlords are suing people less. You see people show up to court way more because they believe that they have a chance to win. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It might not be surprising to hear that landlords don’t welcome the right-to-counsel laws. Sam Gilboard is the senior manager of public policy at the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://apartmentalize.naahq.org/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=apt22&utm_term=national-apartment-association&utm_content=responsive-search&gclid=Cj0KCQiA64GRBhCZARIsAHOLriL66LfyCp8d1UMwyleBNAQfzwlSf7ohYlCMaPJNOEqaQm5f-RJEuUoaAiYpEALw_wcB\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">National Apartment Association\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SAM GILBOARD\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It prolongs an already lengthy process. When you have a right to counsel, you’re prolonging an experience that is stressful. It’s costly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sam says landlords try to avoid evictions whenever possible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SAM\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Evictions are the only legal pathway that a housing provider has to dealing with issues of nonpayment or breach of lease. It’s a last-resort measure that is used in only the most dire of circumstances. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instead, Gilboard advocates for different solutions — like more rental assistance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But landlord opposition isn’t the only challenge. Legal defense programs are expensive. New York City budgeted $166 million for right to counsel this year. And not every city has that kind of money.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brandi Snow is the legal director with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.centralcallegal.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Central California Legal Services.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>BRANDI SNOW\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It obviously costs money to pay lawyers to do that, somebody has to pay for it. And there is a resistance in some places to the idea of using taxpayer money to assist those who didn’t pay their rent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The other issue is bandwidth, and having enough tenant attorneys to make sure they can actually take those cases. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>BRANDI\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you’re lacking enough attorneys for it now, you’ve created this right to something that you can’t provide.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But that isn’t stopping this idea from taking off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>BRANDI\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Across the country, you’re seeing more of these right-to-counsel programs pop up that are doing amazing things. You know, New York has it, Cleveland has it, San Francisco has this also, and so does LA.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last year\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Washington became the first state\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to pass it. John Pollock with the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel says that’s a big deal. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JOHN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s everything. It’s the fact that we went from having no jurisdiction with the right to counsel, to having 13. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, you know, from a movement standpoint, I think it’s really come to a high point.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the last year, 11 more states have introduced the idea. John says the pandemic is driving a lot of the interest.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Even President Joe Biden is paying attention. Right to counsel and other court diversion programs were the focus of a White House summit last year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s the biggest win for tenants like Randy Dillard, who started this fight — that it didn’t stop with New York City.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: For other cities to follow, to me, is a great achievement, and I never knew that I would ever be a part of something so great. I feel good. I really do. And you know, knowing that somebody like me that was getting ready to go in front of a judge can sleep a little bit peaceful at night because they got somebody fighting for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s a reminder that movements don’t happen overnight. They’re usually built on small victories. But sometimes they turn into something bigger that shifts the power and changes the narrative, and gives tenants the right to a fighting chance to stay in their homes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sold Out theme song begins.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Next time on Sold Out: We go to the root of the problem — how to keep people housed when they can’t pay the rent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEMANIE\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Knowing that we had the housing voucher, we thought it was going to be easier because it was a guarantee.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>EVA ROSEN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It can be really hard to find a place to live with that voucher at all.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>EUGENE ZINCHIK\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s like dealing with the DMV. It’s, you know, we’ve all been there, but you know, we don’t really want to do that, unless we have to.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Erin Baldassari.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I’m Molly Solomon. You’ve been listening to Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you like what you hear, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts — and tell a friend about the show!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sold Out is a production of KQED. This episode was written and reported by us: Molly Solomon and Erin Baldassari.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adhiti Bandlamudi produced this episode. Kyana Moghadam is our senior producer. Brendan Willard is our sound engineer. And Rob Speight wrote our theme song. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Natalia Aldana is our senior engagement producer and Gerald Fermin is our engagement intern.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you to our editor, Erika Kelly. Additional editing from Jessica Placzek and Otis Taylor Jr.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We couldn’t have made this season without Ethan Toven-Lindsey, Holly Kernan, Erika Aguilar and Vinnee Tong. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you next week.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In this episode of Sold Out, we'll go to Fresno in California's Central Valley and meet tenant advocates who are pushing for a right to counsel. And we'll also visit New York, where this movement took off, and speak to the activists behind it.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When it comes to eviction court, tenants are far less likely than property owners to be represented by an attorney. That makes it especially difficult for them to understand their rights and navigate the complex system. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The right to counsel is something that tenant advocates are pushing for across the country, and more cities and states are considering it, especially in light of the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this episode of Sold Out, we’ll go to Fresno in California’s Central Valley, where rents are rising, and meet tenant advocates who have organized to push for a right to counsel. And we’ll also visit New York, where this movement took off, and speak to the activists behind it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch5 id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC6308765795&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/h5>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>LANDLORD V. TENANT [TRANSCRIPT]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ERIKA KELLY, EDITOR\u003c/strong>: I’m Erika Kelly, the editor of Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America, here to say thank you for listening to the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our team is wrapping up the season, and we’d love to know what you thought about it, what you liked, what you didn’t like. Most importantly, we’d like to know a little more about you, our listener. What issues or stories [do] you want to hear more of in the future?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Head over to \u003ca href=\"https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6755022/f959eb5782fc\">kqed.org/soldoutsurvey\u003c/a> to leave us some feedback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thanks so much!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(KQED music in)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY SOLOMON, HOST\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Hey, I’m Molly Solomon.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN BALDASSARI, HOST\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And I’m Erin Baldassari. From KQED this is Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This season we’ve been exploring evictions. If you’ve been following along, you already know the system is stacked against tenants. And that evictions have devastating consequences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Nowhere is that more clear than in eviction court. It’s where most cases end up, and it’s where a push for reform is growing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On today’s episode: a fight to balance the scales. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sounds: City streets. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Molly Solomon is walking and speaks into her recorder.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MOLLY IN FRESNO\u003c/strong>: OK. We’re on O Street, downtown Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MOLLY\u003c/strong>: Last fall I drove out to California’s Central Valley, and pulled up to a mid-century modern building in the middle of downtown, the Fresno County Superior Courthouse.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY IN FRESNO\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There is already a line of people that are getting ready to check in through the front door.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A security guard milled around outside. The crisp early morning air was starting to warm as the sun peeked out from behind the building. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m trying to look for Robert Cortez. He’s going to help me out today check out eviction court. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are you Robert? Hi, I’m Molly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT CORTEZ\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi, nice to meet you.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robert is an attorney who represents tenants. His law firm, \u003ca href=\"https://www.centralcallegal.org/\">Central California Legal Services\u003c/a>, handles the vast majority of eviction defense cases in Fresno.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We head up to the fourth floor where eviction hearings start every Tuesday morning at 8:30. Today, there are about 20 cases on the docket. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11907099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11907099\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A gray and tan building with various columns, and two people passing in front of it.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7937-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Fresno County Superior Courthouse in downtown Fresno. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So 90% of the time we’re in 404, which is just down the hall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The room is small, no windows. There are a few rows of benches that are about half full. It’s not as packed as it was before the pandemic. Many hearings are still happening on Zoom. Robert points out some lawyers in the room. He calls them the regulars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: A\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">bout four or five regular landlord attorneys are here every day.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robert tells me one of the attorneys also serves as a debt collector for the landlords he represents. He collects past due rent from tenants who’ve been evicted. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He gets these unrepresented clients to agree to these deals that are payment plans basically. And they go on for years, like five, six, seven years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I couldn’t record inside the courtroom while trials were underway. But I’ll say — you didn’t miss much. There’s a reason you never see TV shows about eviction courts. There’s not a lot of drama. Usually, you don’t call witnesses or present evidence. And a lot of times, evictions aren’t even decided in the courtroom.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(Music out)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The action is out in the hallway.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sounds: Door opens and closes.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’ll see a lot of dealmaking out here in the hallways. A lot of times attorneys will come outside and, you know, see if there’s a deal to be made. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s how most cases end up: in deals or settlements. And that’s what Robert’s trying to do for his client Lea Esparza. Lea came to Robert after the court had already issued a default judgment against her, which is basically an automatic win for the landlord. It happens when tenants don’t show up or don’t file their paperwork in time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Lea’s case, she tried to file her paperwork. The problem was she’d hired a paralegal off of Craigslist to help her fill it out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LEA ESPARZA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She charged me $500 and she didn’t turn in the paperwork. That’s why we ended up with the lockout.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So the sheriff is scheduled to come to the residence on Thursday. So what I’m trying to get the judge to do is delay that sheriff.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LEA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes, they said they were going to come at 6 a.m. and lock me out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in) \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Lea had to stop working about a year ago after she was diagnosed with cancer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LEA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am battling cervical cancer and I’m also battling — I just had a surgery three months ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says after this morning’s hearing she’s going back to the hospital for another surgery. And if her eviction goes through, she doesn’t know where she and her kids will go.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LEA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I got four daughters and myself and like I said, I do, I am battling my health, so I don’t think I have anywhere to go. I don’t got family around here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robert has just come out of a small mediators’ room with the landlord’s attorney. He and Lea huddle in a corner of the hallway, and keep their voices low. He’s got good news: Lea can stay through the end of the year, 109 more days. He’s also gotten her rent payments lowered to about $2 a day.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ROBERT\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of this work is delaying the inevitable. Sometimes eviction is inevitable. But we just try to get as much time as possible, so the client’s not on the street.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lea will\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">eventually \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">have to leave. But the deal is way better than what she could have negotiated on her own.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most people don’t have someone like Robert on their side. These eviction cases move quickly and play out in courtrooms every day. And wherever you go, there’s the same imbalance: Landlords have attorneys. And tenants don’t.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JOHN POLLOCK\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that kind of representational imbalance yields the kind of results you would expect, which is it’s just completely one-sided.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> John Pollock is with the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://civilrighttocounsel.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Their data shows that across the country, 81% of landlords have a lawyer, but only 3% of tenants do.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JOHN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The tenants always lose, and half of them don’t even participate in the process because it is such a hopeless, disempowering process right now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> He says many tenants get pushed into deals that are on the landlord’s terms. And that’s why Pollock says tenants need attorneys, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sold Out theme song begins.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MOLLY\u003c/strong>: Think of it this way: We grant defendants a right to an attorney in criminal cases. Why should it be any different for housing court?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JOHN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From our perspective, these are very serious proceedings on par with criminal ones in terms of the consequences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, the eviction protections put in place during the pandemic are expiring. And, eviction courts are filling up again. As they do, the calls for change are getting louder. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because tenants and their allies say the current system isn’t fair, and it needs to change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sold Out theme song ends.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11843281\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 657px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11843281\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/SOLD-OUT-Web-Banners__Tune-In_656x336.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"657\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/SOLD-OUT-Web-Banners__Tune-In_656x336.png 657w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/10/SOLD-OUT-Web-Banners__Tune-In_656x336-160x82.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 657px) 100vw, 657px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sold Out: Rethinking Housing In America is a five-part series reimagining what housing could be by examining California, the epicenter of the nation’s housing affordability crisis.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On a windy morning last spring, a couple dozen people gathered outside Fresno City Hall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There were tenants, faith leaders and housing advocates. And they were there to call attention to evictions in their neighborhoods.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A SPEAKER AT CITY HALL\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is a home when one is renting from a landlord who abuses their power dynamic and refuses to fix these conditions and then threatens to evict tenants who complain? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They directed their protest to the city council, which was meeting inside the gleaming stainless steel building. On their agenda was a proposal to help tenants avoid eviction. Outside, a local pastor, D.J. Criner, took the mic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>D.J. CRINER\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are you going to hold landlords just as accountable as landlords think they’re holding residents? Are you going to give individuals an opportunity to have legal aid? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Renters held signs and shared their stories about the rent going up, about being forced to move, about worrying for their children. One of them was Jessica Ramirez, a mother of five who was born and raised in Fresno.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She was evicted a few years ago and didn’t have an attorney to help her out. Now with that on her record, it’s almost impossible to find new housing. Speaking to the crowd, she held up her eviction papers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JESSICA RAMIREZ\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is why I’m here today, I’m here to raise my voice. You know, this voice that I have is not for one, but for many.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She shared how she and her family had to live in their car. How her kids had to bathe themselves in the restrooms of a public park.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JESSICA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, many out here in this world. You know, I live. This is a struggle. I’m in pain. You know, you guys don’t know how it is, living in the streets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pastor Criner called on the city council to protect renters like Jessica. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>D.J.\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is about a call to action. Speak for this young lady and mother of five that is praying for an opportunity to raise her children in the same decent housing you’re able to raise yours in. So we studied the problem. We found the solution. We wrote the proposal, and the money has already been found. The question is now, are you listening and are you going to do something about it?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Fresno City Hall is in the middle of downtown. It’s densely packed with tall office buildings. But you don’t have to drive far before you’re surrounded by farmland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fresno sits at the center of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Founded as a railroad town, it’s grown into an agricultural powerhouse. It’s also been an affordable city in an extremely unaffordable state, at least until recently.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CLIPS FROM FRESNO RENT NEWSCASTS\u003c/b>: “\u003cem>The real estate market is buzzing in the valley.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“According to a story in The Los Angeles Times called Fresno the hottest market in the country.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>\u003cem>Monthly rent in Fresno has soared over the last year — experts cite high demand and low inventory.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In the last year alone, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article258073823.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">rents spiked 28%\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Now, the average one-bedroom is over \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.zumper.com/rent-research/fresno-ca\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">$1,400 a month\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/article252425493.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And home prices are way up, too\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Driving around Fresno, you can almost feel the hype. Everywhere you go, there are these advertisements for new housing developments. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alexandra Alvarado has felt it, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALEXANDRA ALVARADO\u003c/b>:\u003cb> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Central Valley has this myth of affordability that, like, people can just come in and afford it and be able to buy houses.\u003c/span>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She’s always lived around Fresno. She grew up in a small town nearby, moved here for college. Alexandra is now a community organizer with a group called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://faithinthevalley.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Faith in the Valley\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — the same group that organized the tenant protest outside City Hall. She says the idea of Fresno as an affordable place … is part of what’s driving up prices.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALEXANDRA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Especially during the pandemic, when people were working from home, we were running across stories of people from the bay or from LA that were saying, oh, I could buy two houses in Fresno.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fresno might be cheaper than San Francisco or Los Angeles, but it’s also \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article209826869.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">one of the poorest cities in the country\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fresnocitycalifornia/INC110219\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One in four families\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> here live below the federal poverty line.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As prices rise, it’s becoming harder for people to find safe housing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALEXANDRA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What they end up being pushed to is what they can afford.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[HOST]\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">An investigation\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by local newspaper The Fresno Bee found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article249299005.html\">some tenants were living in terrible conditions\u003c/a>: with no heat, leaky pipes, and mold. And when they complained, they were often threatened with an eviction.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Even before the pandemic, there are anywhere from three [thousand] to 4,000 eviction filings in Fresno each year. That’s according to a 2019 report from two researchers at Fresno State University.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>AMBER CROWELL\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So that’s a lot of people. And it was, you know, 200 or 300 families a month. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s Amber Crowell. She wrote the report with her colleague Janine Nkosi. They also work on housing advocacy with Faith in the Valley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Janine and Amber spent months observing eviction hearings at the Fresno courthouse, the same place I met up with Robert and Lea. And they saw a lot of the same disparities that I did. Landlords had lawyers, and tenants didn’t. Here’s Janine:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JANINE NKOSI\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I could literally cry right now when I think about it. Three, like maybe three people, were able to get some type of legal representation in housing court.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">most recent data from Eviction Lab\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003ca href=\"https://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016?geography=counties&bounds=-122.192,35.603,-116.28,37.847&type=er&locations=06019,-119.443,36.916\">Fresno has one of the highest eviction rates in the state\u003c/a>. Far higher than in Los Angeles and San Francisco. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But there’s only one legal aid organization in Fresno. And about half of the residents here are renters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JANINE\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The challenges that we are experiencing, they are not so different than what folks in the Bay Area, right, or Northern California, are experiencing, or in Southern California, but they are happening at an accelerated rate. We have the highest need and the fewest amount of resources.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[HOST]\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What Janine and Amber found inspired a growing coalition of renters, faith leaders and students — one that only grew as economic shutdowns during the pandemic made it harder for tenants to pay their rent, tenants like Shar Thompson.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SHAR THOMPSON\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m a single mom that works two jobs. So, you know, it’s really tough.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shar works part time at Costco. When her shift ends in the afternoon, she heads to her second job at Walmart, where she works overnight stocking shelves. Shar’s from the Central Valley. She grew up in a small farming town nearby called Coalinga.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SHAR\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you drive down I-5 and smell the fresh air of cow manure, that’s Coalinga. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She moved to Fresno during the pandemic and was having trouble paying her rent. She found Faith in the Valley when she Googled local rent assistance programs.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then she started showing up at meetings, learning about her rights as a tenant, and discovered what was possible when she worked alongside other renters.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SHAR\u003c/b>: There’s passion behind it from everybody. And I love the fact that we’re all from different walks of life, but we all have the same main goal and that’s to make a whole new housing system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: Shar and the ot\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">her Fresno renters had specific demands for the city. They wanted every tenant fighting an eviction to have an attorney: a\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://leadershipcounsel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Fresno-Right-to-Counsel-Coalition-Community-Proposal.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> right to counsel\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But they took it even further. They wanted the city to connect tenants with rent relief. And create a diversion program to help tenants and\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">landlords avoid the courtroom altogether. By early last year, their proposal was ready for the city council.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SPEAKER AT CITY COUNCIL\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you. Last item — that’s public item that we have is 4-B, it’s a workshop to discuss right-to-counsel proposal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11907097\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11907097 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman stares pensively off into the distance, she wears a green shirt.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7983-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fresno renter Jessica Ramirez. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jessica Ramirez, the same renter who spoke outside City Hall, called into this meeting, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JESSICA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am one of many that are speaking out asking for help because I know it only takes one eviction on someone’s record to change their lives forever.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But there’s pushback from landlords and within City Hall. Here’s City Council member Garry Bredefeld.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>GARRY BREDEFELD\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I know. Imagine, I guess we’re pretty flush with money at the City of Fresno, and now we’re going into the rental tenant defense business. I don’t see any way that I will support these kinds of things. I don’t think this is what we should be doing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>[HOST]\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Renters continued to pressure the city for months to vote on their proposal. But eventually, it became clear: A true right to counsel was not going to pass. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s Amber Crowell, the eviction researcher at Fresno State.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>AMBER\u003c/b>: It was tough. It was a tough battle. And we didn’t get everything we wanted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What they got was something of a compromise. The city calls it the Eviction Protection Program. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not for all tenants — just the ones who are being wrongfully evicted, like if their landlord’s retaliating against them, or illegally locking them out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amber and other housing activists think only a small number of tenants will qualify or even know the program exists, leaving many still vulnerable.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell is more optimistic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TYLER MAXWELL\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I can tell you, it is an uphill battle to get where we’re at today. I’m happy we’re able to get our foot in the door.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He helped introduce the Eviction Protection Program. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article258184263.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s already helped 180 people get free legal help.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nearly all of them were able to avoid trial. For the few who did go, most were able to get the eviction off their record. And that’s important, because having an eviction on your record can lock you out of new housing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11907096\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11907096\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/IMG_7874-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural in downtown Fresno. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The program is only funded for one year and Tyler hopes they’ll extend it. But a right to counsel is still a pretty radical idea for Fresno, and he thinks there’s always going to be some people questioning whether it’s worth it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TYLER\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why are we giving away free things? You know, why? Why are we providing something for free for people? You know they need to pick themselves up from the bootstraps, which, representing a district like I do, I know that’s a bunch of B.S. — picking yourself up by the bootstraps doesn’t work when you can’t afford the bootstraps. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story isn’t over. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple months ago, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article256467491.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">150 people showed up at City Hall to demand the city use federal COVID dollars\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to pass a true right to counsel, rent control and more eviction protections. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amber Crowell and Janine Nkosi say renters in Fresno can’t back down now, even if it feels like a battle between David and Goliath. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>AMBER\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The groups that represent property owners are much more powerful politically than the groups that represent tenants. And so that’s just an ideology that we’re always fighting against.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JANINE\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, it’s always a battle between individual rights versus, like, collective care and collective responsibility. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They say it’s a battle worth fighting. And you can’t win anything if you don’t ask for it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JANINE\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are made to believe that these are big asks, but we should be dreaming much, much bigger than we ever have been. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Fresno isn’t the only place to fight for a right to counsel. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coming up on Sold Out: where the movement first began.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>CROWD CHANTING\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Housing is a human right. Fight, fight, fight.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY DILLARD\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Good morning, good morning, good morning. My name is Randy Dillard and we are facing an eviction crisis in the Bronx.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Randy Dillard wears a bright orange T-shirt. On it is a fist thrust in the air. He energizes the crowd outside New York City Hall in lower Manhattan. It’s 2013 and he’s part of a tenants group in the South Bronx.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Representation for tenants in housing court should be a right.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Randy was familiar with housing court. Before he was an organizer, he worked as a bricklayer. A single dad with five kids, Randy was on Section 8, but his apartment was not up to code. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have mold all over the apartment. We had leaks coming from up above into an open-light fixture in the bathroom that could have started a fire. We had to put plastic bags up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He said the leaks were so bad, sometimes they had to use an umbrella inside the house to keep from getting wet. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because of the conditions, Randy’s home failed a Section 8 inspection, so the government program stopped making payments to his landlord. And then he developed emphysema and ended up in the hospital. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And they was getting ready to put me on a breathing machine ’cause my lungs was getting ready to collapse. I almost, almost died.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He was in the hospital for two months. Three days after he got out, he got a knock on his door.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My landlord’s lawyer served me with eviction papers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Randy says going to housing court to fight his eviction was confusing and scary. When he got there, he was met with long lines and little information.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It leaves you numb, and empty inside. As soon as you get there first, you don’t know what to look for and you’ve got a long line of people. And some of them are emotional, crying, you know, while you waiting in line to go through the metal detector to get in there.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At that time, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://newsettlement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/CDP.WEB_.doc_Report_CASA-TippingScales-full_201303.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">about 2,000 tenants were showing up at the Bronx housing court \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">every day. It was the busiest eviction courtroom in all five boroughs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ultimately, Randy did end up getting an attorney. He found someone through a legal help group in his neighborhood. His case took almost two years, but he eventually won, an outcome he says would have been impossible without his attorney. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t think no tenant should have to go through what me and my kids went through, and no tenant should have to stand before a judge and not know what their rights are. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Randy got involved with the group \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://newsettlement.org/casa/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community Action for Safe Apartments, or CASA\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CASA and a coalition of housing groups pressured the city to adopt a right to counsel. Organizers made the moral case that no one should have to face something as life-altering as losing your home without the benefit of an attorney.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Susanna Blankley was the group’s director at the time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SUSANNA BLANKLEY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It meant the right to not face eviction alone. It meant the right to know that you would be protected. It meant the right to have power within the court system.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The coalition kept pushing, whipping up support wherever they could. First at a neighborhood board meeting, then City Council hearings, delivering a petition with 7,000 signatures to the mayor’s office. They even got the chief judge of the New York court system to testify in support of a right to counsel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Until finally, after three years of organizing, New York City tenants made history. And won something that didn’t exist anywhere else in America: a right to counsel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the program rolled out in 2017, it guaranteed most low-income tenants access to an attorney if they’re facing eviction. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the legislation at CASA’s offices in the Bronx. Standing beside him was Randy Dillard.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sounds from the moments when Mayor Bill de Blasio was signing the legislation.) \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The reason why I’m here today, you wouldn’t be able to see me if I didn’t have an attorney. That’s why I’m standing up here. That’s why I’ve been fighting with the coalition and with CASA to make this possible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In a video of the signing, Randy has this big smile on his face. Afterward, de Blasio turns to him and hands him the pen. He still has it today, framed on his wall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I introduced the mayor and I, and I spoke. They let me speak. It was powerful. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was something that I had never imagined. Something that big that I will be a part of. I never looked at it starting out when we was fighting for it. I only looked at it, that is something that needed to be done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/EKYbCM890xsxzEyOiQa3O9?domain=www1.nyc.gov\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And early results show it’s working.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Since a right to counsel passed in 2017, more than half a million New Yorkers have gotten legal representation. And 84% of them were able to stay in their homes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Fewer evictions means fewer households falling into homelessness.\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/4408380/PDF/Cost-Benefit-Impact-Studies/SRR%20Report%20-%20Eviction%20Right%20to%20Counsel%20%203%2016%2016.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> A cost-benefit analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on New York City predicted it would save $320 million, most of it in emergency shelter costs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When a tenant is guaranteed an attorney, it also changes the way landlords use eviction courts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/EKYbCM890xsxzEyOiQa3O9?domain=www1.nyc.gov\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since 2013, eviction filings have dropped by about 40%, and bogus cases are thrown out quickly.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, here’s Susanna Blankley:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SUSANNA\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’ve seen filings go down. It means landlords are suing people less. You see people show up to court way more because they believe that they have a chance to win. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It might not be surprising to hear that landlords don’t welcome the right-to-counsel laws. Sam Gilboard is the senior manager of public policy at the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://apartmentalize.naahq.org/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=apt22&utm_term=national-apartment-association&utm_content=responsive-search&gclid=Cj0KCQiA64GRBhCZARIsAHOLriL66LfyCp8d1UMwyleBNAQfzwlSf7ohYlCMaPJNOEqaQm5f-RJEuUoaAiYpEALw_wcB\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">National Apartment Association\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SAM GILBOARD\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It prolongs an already lengthy process. When you have a right to counsel, you’re prolonging an experience that is stressful. It’s costly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sam says landlords try to avoid evictions whenever possible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SAM\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Evictions are the only legal pathway that a housing provider has to dealing with issues of nonpayment or breach of lease. It’s a last-resort measure that is used in only the most dire of circumstances. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instead, Gilboard advocates for different solutions — like more rental assistance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But landlord opposition isn’t the only challenge. Legal defense programs are expensive. New York City budgeted $166 million for right to counsel this year. And not every city has that kind of money.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brandi Snow is the legal director with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.centralcallegal.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Central California Legal Services.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>BRANDI SNOW\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It obviously costs money to pay lawyers to do that, somebody has to pay for it. And there is a resistance in some places to the idea of using taxpayer money to assist those who didn’t pay their rent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The other issue is bandwidth, and having enough tenant attorneys to make sure they can actually take those cases. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>BRANDI\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you’re lacking enough attorneys for it now, you’ve created this right to something that you can’t provide.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But that isn’t stopping this idea from taking off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>BRANDI\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Across the country, you’re seeing more of these right-to-counsel programs pop up that are doing amazing things. You know, New York has it, Cleveland has it, San Francisco has this also, and so does LA.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last year\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Washington became the first state\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to pass it. John Pollock with the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel says that’s a big deal. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>JOHN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s everything. It’s the fact that we went from having no jurisdiction with the right to counsel, to having 13. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, you know, from a movement standpoint, I think it’s really come to a high point.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the last year, 11 more states have introduced the idea. John says the pandemic is driving a lot of the interest.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Even President Joe Biden is paying attention. Right to counsel and other court diversion programs were the focus of a White House summit last year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music in)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s the biggest win for tenants like Randy Dillard, who started this fight — that it didn’t stop with New York City.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>RANDY\u003c/b>: For other cities to follow, to me, is a great achievement, and I never knew that I would ever be a part of something so great. I feel good. I really do. And you know, knowing that somebody like me that was getting ready to go in front of a judge can sleep a little bit peaceful at night because they got somebody fighting for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s a reminder that movements don’t happen overnight. They’re usually built on small victories. But sometimes they turn into something bigger that shifts the power and changes the narrative, and gives tenants the right to a fighting chance to stay in their homes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Music out)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Sold Out theme song begins.)\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Next time on Sold Out: We go to the root of the problem — how to keep people housed when they can’t pay the rent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KEMANIE\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Knowing that we had the housing voucher, we thought it was going to be easier because it was a guarantee.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>EVA ROSEN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It can be really hard to find a place to live with that voucher at all.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>EUGENE ZINCHIK\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s like dealing with the DMV. It’s, you know, we’ve all been there, but you know, we don’t really want to do that, unless we have to.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Erin Baldassari.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I’m Molly Solomon. You’ve been listening to Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you like what you hear, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts — and tell a friend about the show!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sold Out is a production of KQED. This episode was written and reported by us: Molly Solomon and Erin Baldassari.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ERIN\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adhiti Bandlamudi produced this episode. Kyana Moghadam is our senior producer. Brendan Willard is our sound engineer. And Rob Speight wrote our theme song. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Natalia Aldana is our senior engagement producer and Gerald Fermin is our engagement intern.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you to our editor, Erika Kelly. Additional editing from Jessica Placzek and Otis Taylor Jr.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MOLLY\u003c/b>: \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We couldn’t have made this season without Ethan Toven-Lindsey, Holly Kernan, Erika Aguilar and Vinnee Tong. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you next week.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "satellites-are-becoming-a-part-of-californias-water-conservation-effort",
"title": "Satellites Are Becoming a Part of California's Water Conservation Strategy",
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"headTitle": "Satellites Are Becoming a Part of California’s Water Conservation Strategy | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In a new push to stop further depletion of California’s shrinking aquifers, state regulators are turning to technology once used to count Soviet missile silos during the Cold War: satellites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Joel Kimmelshue, co-founder of Land IQ\"]‘The days of agricultural anonymity are over.’[/pullquote]Historically, California’s farmers could pump as much as they wanted from their wells. But as a consequence of that unrestricted use, the underground water table has sunk by hundreds of feet in some areas, and the state is now trying to stabilize those aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators need to calculate just how much water each farmer is using across California’s vast agricultural lands, and scientists and private companies are now offering a technique that uses images from orbiting satellites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The days of agricultural anonymity are over,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.landiq.com/joel-kimmelshue\">Joel Kimmelshue\u003c/a>, co-founder of the company \u003ca href=\"https://www.landiq.com/\">Land IQ\u003c/a>, which is helping to hone the technique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water surveillance got a big boost when \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891246/california-farmers-are-storing-water-in-underground-aquifers-that-function-like-savings-accounts\">California passed a law in 2014 that aims to protect the state’s aquifers\u003c/a>. It places limits on the amount of water that farmers are allowed to pump.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\nThere was a big problem: Local officials like Eric Limas weren’t sure how to enforce limits on water use. Limas is general manager of the Lower Tule River and Pixley irrigation districts, in Tulare County, where aquifers are among the most depleted in the entire state. He’s also in charge of a newly established groundwater sustainability agency for that area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was one of the first conversations that our groundwater committee tackled,” Limas says. “‘OK, how are we going to do that? Are we going to measure every molecule that’s pumped?'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11891401\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/aquifer1-1020x679.jpg\"]Limas doesn’t even know exactly how many wells there are in his part of the county. Thousands of them are hidden away in the middle of cornfields and almond orchards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many farmers weren’t inclined to help him out, especially in the first years after the law was passed. Limas recalls the initial reaction: “At first it’s like, ‘You’re crazy if you think you’re going to come on my place and … figure out how much I’m pumping. That’s my water.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then Limas heard that researchers at California Polytechnic State University had developed \u003ca href=\"http://www.itrc.org/projects/metric.htm\">a way to estimate the amount of water used by agricultural crops from images recorded by NASA-operated satellites\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land IQ, meanwhile, was using that same technique — supplemented with stations on the ground — to collect data on field-by-field water use. It sounded like “Star Wars stuff,” Limas recalls. But it also sounded easier and cheaper than getting water meters installed on every well in his district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The technique involves several steps. The first is figuring out which crops are growing on each field. The satellite images, which are updated almost every week, contain clues: the shade of green, the spacing of vegetation, the time of year the field turns green.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combining these clues, Kimmelshue says, produces a fingerprint of each crop. “We have a fingerprint for walnuts and a fingerprint for alfalfa, tomatoes and all these different crops,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11892959\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1342px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11892959 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite.jpg\" alt=\"Two maps side-by-side created by LandIQ. Both use a multi-color, grid system to describe different factors present in a small patch of land in the Central Valley: what crops are grown and how much water is being consumed.\" width=\"1342\" height=\"870\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite.jpg 1342w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite-800x519.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite-1020x661.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite-160x104.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1342px) 100vw, 1342px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Land IQ uses data from a NASA satellite to determine which crops are growing on each field. The map on the left shows one small part of California’s Central Valley. The darkest green areas are almond groves. The map on the right shows “evapotranspiration” (water used by crops or evaporated from soil) in the region during June 2020. Some fields (shown in dark blue) consumed 8 inches of water. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of LandIQ)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>About 4% of the time, Kimmelshue says, there’s a case of mistaken identity. “We might confuse almonds for peaches,” he says. “But a peach tree and an almond tree have similar water needs” so the estimate of water use still ends up being quite accurate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each crop, at a particular point in its life cycle, takes up a predictable amount of water and releases it through its leaves, depending on local weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land IQ has set up local monitoring stations to keep track of things like wind speed, heat and humidity, at hundreds of locations. Putting it all together, the company calculates the amount of “evapotranspiration” — the amount of water that the plants are releasing to the air, as well as what’s evaporating from the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"science_1976952\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/Grapes-1920x1440.jpg\"]That’s different from the amount that farmers are pumping because some irrigation water that’s pumped from the aquifer sinks back into the earth. Because of this, Kimmelshue has convinced officials like Limas that it’s more important to regulate water consumption, in the form of evapotranspiration, rather than water pumping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s now selling that data to more than a dozen groundwater regulatory agencies, including the ones that Eric Limas manages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Limas and his colleagues can monitor how much water is consumed by every farmer, field by field, and show farmers how that compares with their legal allotment under the new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of guys are going in and looking at their water budgets and saying, ‘Oh, yeah, we don’t have enough water to plant that summer crop,'” Limas says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how the process is supposed to work. Farming practices are supposed to change to conserve aquifer water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label ='More Climate Coverage' tag='climate']Some officials worry that it won’t go so smoothly when limits on groundwater use get tighter over the next two decades, while others are predicting court battles over whether the satellite-based technique is accurate. Some farmers say that regulators ultimately may shift to using data from water meters that are installed on every well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, though, the technique is growing more popular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later this week, a coalition of scientists, NASA and environmental groups like the Environmental Defense Fund plans to launch a new version of space-based water monitoring. This one is called OpenET (“ET” refers to evapotranspiration). It will estimate water use in agricultural areas across much of the western United States, and make it available on the web for anyone to see.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a new push to stop further depletion of California’s shrinking aquifers, state regulators are turning to technology once used to count Soviet missile silos during the Cold War: satellites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Historically, California’s farmers could pump as much as they wanted from their wells. But as a consequence of that unrestricted use, the underground water table has sunk by hundreds of feet in some areas, and the state is now trying to stabilize those aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators need to calculate just how much water each farmer is using across California’s vast agricultural lands, and scientists and private companies are now offering a technique that uses images from orbiting satellites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The days of agricultural anonymity are over,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.landiq.com/joel-kimmelshue\">Joel Kimmelshue\u003c/a>, co-founder of the company \u003ca href=\"https://www.landiq.com/\">Land IQ\u003c/a>, which is helping to hone the technique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water surveillance got a big boost when \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891246/california-farmers-are-storing-water-in-underground-aquifers-that-function-like-savings-accounts\">California passed a law in 2014 that aims to protect the state’s aquifers\u003c/a>. It places limits on the amount of water that farmers are allowed to pump.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nThere was a big problem: Local officials like Eric Limas weren’t sure how to enforce limits on water use. Limas is general manager of the Lower Tule River and Pixley irrigation districts, in Tulare County, where aquifers are among the most depleted in the entire state. He’s also in charge of a newly established groundwater sustainability agency for that area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was one of the first conversations that our groundwater committee tackled,” Limas says. “‘OK, how are we going to do that? Are we going to measure every molecule that’s pumped?'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Limas doesn’t even know exactly how many wells there are in his part of the county. Thousands of them are hidden away in the middle of cornfields and almond orchards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many farmers weren’t inclined to help him out, especially in the first years after the law was passed. Limas recalls the initial reaction: “At first it’s like, ‘You’re crazy if you think you’re going to come on my place and … figure out how much I’m pumping. That’s my water.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then Limas heard that researchers at California Polytechnic State University had developed \u003ca href=\"http://www.itrc.org/projects/metric.htm\">a way to estimate the amount of water used by agricultural crops from images recorded by NASA-operated satellites\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land IQ, meanwhile, was using that same technique — supplemented with stations on the ground — to collect data on field-by-field water use. It sounded like “Star Wars stuff,” Limas recalls. But it also sounded easier and cheaper than getting water meters installed on every well in his district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The technique involves several steps. The first is figuring out which crops are growing on each field. The satellite images, which are updated almost every week, contain clues: the shade of green, the spacing of vegetation, the time of year the field turns green.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combining these clues, Kimmelshue says, produces a fingerprint of each crop. “We have a fingerprint for walnuts and a fingerprint for alfalfa, tomatoes and all these different crops,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11892959\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1342px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11892959 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite.jpg\" alt=\"Two maps side-by-side created by LandIQ. Both use a multi-color, grid system to describe different factors present in a small patch of land in the Central Valley: what crops are grown and how much water is being consumed.\" width=\"1342\" height=\"870\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite.jpg 1342w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite-800x519.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite-1020x661.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/alfa-maps-satellite-160x104.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1342px) 100vw, 1342px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Land IQ uses data from a NASA satellite to determine which crops are growing on each field. The map on the left shows one small part of California’s Central Valley. The darkest green areas are almond groves. The map on the right shows “evapotranspiration” (water used by crops or evaporated from soil) in the region during June 2020. Some fields (shown in dark blue) consumed 8 inches of water. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of LandIQ)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>About 4% of the time, Kimmelshue says, there’s a case of mistaken identity. “We might confuse almonds for peaches,” he says. “But a peach tree and an almond tree have similar water needs” so the estimate of water use still ends up being quite accurate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each crop, at a particular point in its life cycle, takes up a predictable amount of water and releases it through its leaves, depending on local weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land IQ has set up local monitoring stations to keep track of things like wind speed, heat and humidity, at hundreds of locations. Putting it all together, the company calculates the amount of “evapotranspiration” — the amount of water that the plants are releasing to the air, as well as what’s evaporating from the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That’s different from the amount that farmers are pumping because some irrigation water that’s pumped from the aquifer sinks back into the earth. Because of this, Kimmelshue has convinced officials like Limas that it’s more important to regulate water consumption, in the form of evapotranspiration, rather than water pumping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s now selling that data to more than a dozen groundwater regulatory agencies, including the ones that Eric Limas manages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Limas and his colleagues can monitor how much water is consumed by every farmer, field by field, and show farmers how that compares with their legal allotment under the new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of guys are going in and looking at their water budgets and saying, ‘Oh, yeah, we don’t have enough water to plant that summer crop,'” Limas says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how the process is supposed to work. Farming practices are supposed to change to conserve aquifer water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September 2020, the fast-moving Creek Fire tore through remote stretches of the Sierra Nevada, northeast of Fresno, trapping hundreds of campers who were in the area for Labor Day weekend. Their only chance to escape the rapidly spreading flames was to gather together in a nearby lake. Miraculously, this story has a happy ending — all 242 people and 16 dogs were airlifted to safety as the forest burned around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11890478\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11890478 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolCreekFire3_AlexT-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"An orange-and-black-hued photo of an RV and a few cars alongside a lake completely darkened by smoky skies.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The smoke-ridden sky above Mammoth Pool in September 2020. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Alex Tettamanti)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A new podcast, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/programs/escape-mammoth-pool\">Escape From Mammoth Pool\u003c/a>, chronicles that dramatic event through the experiences of families who lived through it. Reporter Kerry Klein of Valley Public Radio spent more than a year talking to people trapped by the fire, and the rescuers who helped save them. She also dug into government documents and data to piece together what happened. Klein joins California Report Magazine host Sasha Khokha to share excerpts of the podcast, and talks about what it takes in the era of climate change to launch a successful large-scale rescue from a massive forest fire in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11890428\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11890428 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/CreekFireHuntington_USFS-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Massive plumes of white smoke above an otherwise clear day, with turquoise water of a lake and green trees in the foreground.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smoke billows from the Creek Fire in September 2020. \u003ccite>(Courtesy U.S. Forest Service)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11890481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11890481 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolRescue2_Rosamond-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A helicopter hovers over the lake with two trucks on the shore and a hillside burning beyond. Dark sky is completely orange and smoke-filled.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolRescue2_Rosamond-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolRescue2_Rosamond-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolRescue2_Rosamond.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The rescue operation underway at Mammoth Pool in September 2020. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Joseph Rosamond)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Escape From Mammoth Pool is a production of Valley Public Radio. It was reported and produced by Kerry Klein, and edited by Alice Daniel. Music in the podcast is written by Kevin MacLeod with additional music help from Benjamin Boone.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September 2020, the fast-moving Creek Fire tore through remote stretches of the Sierra Nevada, northeast of Fresno, trapping hundreds of campers who were in the area for Labor Day weekend. Their only chance to escape the rapidly spreading flames was to gather together in a nearby lake. Miraculously, this story has a happy ending — all 242 people and 16 dogs were airlifted to safety as the forest burned around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11890478\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11890478 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolCreekFire3_AlexT-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"An orange-and-black-hued photo of an RV and a few cars alongside a lake completely darkened by smoky skies.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The smoke-ridden sky above Mammoth Pool in September 2020. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Alex Tettamanti)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A new podcast, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/programs/escape-mammoth-pool\">Escape From Mammoth Pool\u003c/a>, chronicles that dramatic event through the experiences of families who lived through it. Reporter Kerry Klein of Valley Public Radio spent more than a year talking to people trapped by the fire, and the rescuers who helped save them. She also dug into government documents and data to piece together what happened. Klein joins California Report Magazine host Sasha Khokha to share excerpts of the podcast, and talks about what it takes in the era of climate change to launch a successful large-scale rescue from a massive forest fire in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11890428\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11890428 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/CreekFireHuntington_USFS-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Massive plumes of white smoke above an otherwise clear day, with turquoise water of a lake and green trees in the foreground.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smoke billows from the Creek Fire in September 2020. \u003ccite>(Courtesy U.S. Forest Service)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11890481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11890481 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolRescue2_Rosamond-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A helicopter hovers over the lake with two trucks on the shore and a hillside burning beyond. Dark sky is completely orange and smoke-filled.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolRescue2_Rosamond-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolRescue2_Rosamond-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/MammothPoolRescue2_Rosamond.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The rescue operation underway at Mammoth Pool in September 2020. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Joseph Rosamond)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Escape From Mammoth Pool is a production of Valley Public Radio. It was reported and produced by Kerry Klein, and edited by Alice Daniel. Music in the podcast is written by Kevin MacLeod with additional music help from Benjamin Boone.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/hidden-gems\">\u003cem>Read more from The California Report Magazine’s ‘Hidden Gems’ series.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Just off Highway 99, halfway between Fresno and Bakersfield, lies the small community of Goshen. It’s mostly known for its ethanol plant, but among the warehouses and agricultural supply stores that line its commercial streets, there’s a jewel of a joint whose popularity goes well beyond even state lines: a food truck that serves Lao fried chicken and rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The truck sits in the parking lot of a large store that sells plastic dinosaurs, stuffed animals and novelty items for vending machines. Lady Chicken & Rice is hand painted in candied red letters on its front. Lady Chicken is named for the woman who created the deep-fried Lao chicken recipe that’s so popular here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11889486\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11889486 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling man in a ball cap and glasses standing inside a food truck puts two small plastic containers into a plastic bag.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bounthong Sang prepares an order for a customer. \u003ccite>(Alice Daniel/KVPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I call her Lady. She’s my Lady,” said Bounthong Sang, who runs the business. He was talking about his wife, Bounleuk. Bounthong didn’t give her the nickname, though — fame did. Well, fame among the locals here in Goshen who love her chicken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They didn’t know her name. They call, ‘Oh, that’s Lady Chicken,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The food truck serves as many as 500 customers a day. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and lines form as soon as the first batch of chicken is out of the fryer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bounthong said he’s met travelers from as far away as Virginia and Texas who find rave reviews on Yelp or other food apps. But there are also plenty of regulars, like Tony Solis, a UPS driver who comes here at least once a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Great food, good price, friendly people, awesome,” Tony said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The friendly people include Bounthong’s employees, whom he calls family even though they’re from Mexico and he’s from Laos. Ramona Villa, who was inside the truck prepping the $3 plates of golden brown chicken and sticky rice, said they stay busy all day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We never stop cooking until it’s time to go home,” she said. Ramona has a large colorful tattoo just below her neck that says “Robert.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My husband,” she said, looking down at the word and smiling. Robert. Lady Chicken. Love is written all around here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Ramona Villa, Works at Lady Chicken & Rice\"]‘Everybody always comes back over and over and that’s the first thing they always say is the chile.’[/pullquote]Speaking of love, people also return for the homemade green jalapeño sauce that goes with the chicken, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody always comes back over and over and that’s the first thing they always say is the chile,” Ramona said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villa packed two wrapped plates in a brown paper lunch bag, threw in a couple containers of sauce and handed them to Marbella Sotelo. Marbella ran the cash register and took orders, sometimes in English and sometimes in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Un pollo con arroz, unas spring rolls, y — gracias,” she said to a customer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said everyone who works here knows how to do all the tasks: ring up orders, make rice, deep-fry the egg rolls, deep-fry the chicken, twice. The second time, it’s fried at a higher temperature to make it extra crispy, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11889487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11889487 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Two women, backs turned, stand inside a food truck, one wearing an apron and pulling chicken from a deep fryer.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bounleuk Sang, nicknamed ‘Lady,’ fries chicken at the food truck. \u003ccite>(Alice Daniel/KVPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s the flavor, you know, they’ve got something,” she said, explaining why the chicken is so popular. “The chicken, you know, it’s a good flavor and the way that they cook, it’s crispy, and soft inside. So it’s really good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from the chicken, fresh spring rolls also are on the menu. Egg rolls, too. That’s why Erendira Aranzazu comes here. Often.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“More often than I should!” she said, laughing loudly. “Very, very good food. You can taste the authenticity of it, and my favorite are the egg rolls. Egg rolls by far are the best in town. For sure. Hands down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few other customers in line shared why they visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s close by, the food is good, and the ladies are friendly,” said one woman ordering for herself and her co-workers who work at a nearby grocery store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"hidden-gems\" label=\"More Stories From the California Report Magazine's Hidden Gems Series\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Quality, I guess you could say. Because I’ve tried a lot of chicken and rice and it’s not the same,” said a young man named Brian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The authenticity of it. It’s not like anything else. You can’t really get this anywhere else other than here,” said Jonathan Zavaleta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bounthong knows he’s got a good thing going here: regulars he greets daily, people who come from far away to enjoy the food, employees he views as family and a popular chicken recipe created by the woman he loves\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, maybe I say, ‘Hey, Lady, I love you.’ Something like that every day,” he said. “We have to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have to, he said, because how can you run a popular food truck without letting the woman behind it know how much she’s appreciated? Without Lady Chicken, he said, there would be no Lady Chicken & Rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/hidden-gems\">\u003cem>Read more from The California Report Magazine’s ‘Hidden Gems’ series.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Just off Highway 99, halfway between Fresno and Bakersfield, lies the small community of Goshen. It’s mostly known for its ethanol plant, but among the warehouses and agricultural supply stores that line its commercial streets, there’s a jewel of a joint whose popularity goes well beyond even state lines: a food truck that serves Lao fried chicken and rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The truck sits in the parking lot of a large store that sells plastic dinosaurs, stuffed animals and novelty items for vending machines. Lady Chicken & Rice is hand painted in candied red letters on its front. Lady Chicken is named for the woman who created the deep-fried Lao chicken recipe that’s so popular here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11889486\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11889486 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling man in a ball cap and glasses standing inside a food truck puts two small plastic containers into a plastic bag.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1725-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bounthong Sang prepares an order for a customer. \u003ccite>(Alice Daniel/KVPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I call her Lady. She’s my Lady,” said Bounthong Sang, who runs the business. He was talking about his wife, Bounleuk. Bounthong didn’t give her the nickname, though — fame did. Well, fame among the locals here in Goshen who love her chicken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They didn’t know her name. They call, ‘Oh, that’s Lady Chicken,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The food truck serves as many as 500 customers a day. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and lines form as soon as the first batch of chicken is out of the fryer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bounthong said he’s met travelers from as far away as Virginia and Texas who find rave reviews on Yelp or other food apps. But there are also plenty of regulars, like Tony Solis, a UPS driver who comes here at least once a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Great food, good price, friendly people, awesome,” Tony said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The friendly people include Bounthong’s employees, whom he calls family even though they’re from Mexico and he’s from Laos. Ramona Villa, who was inside the truck prepping the $3 plates of golden brown chicken and sticky rice, said they stay busy all day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We never stop cooking until it’s time to go home,” she said. Ramona has a large colorful tattoo just below her neck that says “Robert.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My husband,” she said, looking down at the word and smiling. Robert. Lady Chicken. Love is written all around here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Speaking of love, people also return for the homemade green jalapeño sauce that goes with the chicken, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody always comes back over and over and that’s the first thing they always say is the chile,” Ramona said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villa packed two wrapped plates in a brown paper lunch bag, threw in a couple containers of sauce and handed them to Marbella Sotelo. Marbella ran the cash register and took orders, sometimes in English and sometimes in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Un pollo con arroz, unas spring rolls, y — gracias,” she said to a customer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said everyone who works here knows how to do all the tasks: ring up orders, make rice, deep-fry the egg rolls, deep-fry the chicken, twice. The second time, it’s fried at a higher temperature to make it extra crispy, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11889487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11889487 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Two women, backs turned, stand inside a food truck, one wearing an apron and pulling chicken from a deep fryer.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/IMG_1737-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bounleuk Sang, nicknamed ‘Lady,’ fries chicken at the food truck. \u003ccite>(Alice Daniel/KVPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s the flavor, you know, they’ve got something,” she said, explaining why the chicken is so popular. “The chicken, you know, it’s a good flavor and the way that they cook, it’s crispy, and soft inside. So it’s really good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from the chicken, fresh spring rolls also are on the menu. Egg rolls, too. That’s why Erendira Aranzazu comes here. Often.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“More often than I should!” she said, laughing loudly. “Very, very good food. You can taste the authenticity of it, and my favorite are the egg rolls. Egg rolls by far are the best in town. For sure. Hands down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few other customers in line shared why they visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s close by, the food is good, and the ladies are friendly,” said one woman ordering for herself and her co-workers who work at a nearby grocery store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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