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"content": "\u003cp>Advocates for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco are calling on the city to maintain its \u003ca href=\"https://sfgov.org/sheltermonitoring//sites/default/files/SIP%20Hotel%20-%20Operations%20Manual%20%26%20Guidance%20Updated%20201216.pdf\">shelter-in-place hotel program \u003c/a>and begin accepting people off the streets again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few dozen activists, who held a car caravan and rally outside City Hall Tuesday, praised the program, which has housed several thousand people experiencing homelessness in hotels since it began in April 2020 — and emphasized the need for its continuation, amid ongoing concern over the highly contagious delta variant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty common knowledge that the delta variant is even more infectious than the original COVID variant, which created and brought people together to create these hotels,” said Lina Khouer, a UCSF medical student who’s part of a group called the Do No Harm Coalition, which helped organize the rally. “Right now we’re calling on the city to not close the hotels, but expand them to keep our communities safe and healthy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, as new COVID-19 infection rates in San Francisco plummeted, before the delta variant reared its head, the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing began phasing out the hotel program, part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/cdss-programs/housing-programs/project-roomkey\">Project Roomkey\u003c/a>, a statewide homeless relief initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city has so far closed five of 25 hotel locations, with another one scheduled to close at the end of this month. Officials say due to budget constraints, the city will continue incrementally shutting down hotels through the end of the program, slated for June 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,400 people are still staying in the remaining hotels, said Emily Cohen, a spokesperson for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, adding that the program does not have the capacity to continue accepting new people off the street. Doing so would also slow down efforts to rehouse people already in the program, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are very full because we are moving very deliberately and intentionally to ensure that people are linked to permanent solutions,” Cohen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said almost 600 people have been placed in permanent housing since the program started. However, it’s unclear where many of the more than 1,500 people who have left hotels over the course of the program have gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"homelessness\"]Advocates for people experiencing homeless argue that the city can afford to keep the hotels open longer, pointing to the Biden administration’s recent commitment to reimburse cities for certain COVID-19-related expenses, including hotel rooms, through the end of 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cohen said San Francisco’s program is also reliant on the city’s general fund, which precludes keeping the hotels open past next June. The city, she added, is closing the hotels gradually to avoid “a humanitarian and logistical nightmare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes significant city and nonprofit staffing to move people from the hotels into housing,” Cohen said. “It’s not a quick process. And so we really need to have the capacity and the workers to do this process. Any delays will just result in a tremendous crisis at the end of the program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said she understands why the city would want to phase out the program gradually, but that right now, “lives are on the line.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have folks that are elders that are out there on the street still that have severe health conditions that would greatly benefit from being able to shelter in place inside a hotel,” she said. “They need the respite. It’s been a really transformative experience for the folks inside [the hotels]. The mortality rates have decreased significantly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dominique Griffin, who helped organize Tuesday’s protest, participated in a related shelter-in-place program after losing her job early on in the pandemic. She and her two children were able to stay for free for a year at the Oasis Inn near City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it wasn’t for that hotel, I’d be out on the streets in a tent as well, with my children,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Griffin and her family are moving into a subsidized two- bedroom apartment in the East Bay city of Pittsburg, an arrangement set up for her by a San Francisco housing case manager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she wants other people in need to have the same steadying experience she was able to have over the past year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the funding is there, the need is always going to be there,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Advocates for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco are calling on the city to maintain its \u003ca href=\"https://sfgov.org/sheltermonitoring//sites/default/files/SIP%20Hotel%20-%20Operations%20Manual%20%26%20Guidance%20Updated%20201216.pdf\">shelter-in-place hotel program \u003c/a>and begin accepting people off the streets again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few dozen activists, who held a car caravan and rally outside City Hall Tuesday, praised the program, which has housed several thousand people experiencing homelessness in hotels since it began in April 2020 — and emphasized the need for its continuation, amid ongoing concern over the highly contagious delta variant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty common knowledge that the delta variant is even more infectious than the original COVID variant, which created and brought people together to create these hotels,” said Lina Khouer, a UCSF medical student who’s part of a group called the Do No Harm Coalition, which helped organize the rally. “Right now we’re calling on the city to not close the hotels, but expand them to keep our communities safe and healthy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, as new COVID-19 infection rates in San Francisco plummeted, before the delta variant reared its head, the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing began phasing out the hotel program, part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/cdss-programs/housing-programs/project-roomkey\">Project Roomkey\u003c/a>, a statewide homeless relief initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city has so far closed five of 25 hotel locations, with another one scheduled to close at the end of this month. Officials say due to budget constraints, the city will continue incrementally shutting down hotels through the end of the program, slated for June 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Advocates for people experiencing homeless argue that the city can afford to keep the hotels open longer, pointing to the Biden administration’s recent commitment to reimburse cities for certain COVID-19-related expenses, including hotel rooms, through the end of 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cohen said San Francisco’s program is also reliant on the city’s general fund, which precludes keeping the hotels open past next June. The city, she added, is closing the hotels gradually to avoid “a humanitarian and logistical nightmare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes significant city and nonprofit staffing to move people from the hotels into housing,” Cohen said. “It’s not a quick process. And so we really need to have the capacity and the workers to do this process. Any delays will just result in a tremendous crisis at the end of the program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said she understands why the city would want to phase out the program gradually, but that right now, “lives are on the line.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have folks that are elders that are out there on the street still that have severe health conditions that would greatly benefit from being able to shelter in place inside a hotel,” she said. “They need the respite. It’s been a really transformative experience for the folks inside [the hotels]. The mortality rates have decreased significantly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dominique Griffin, who helped organize Tuesday’s protest, participated in a related shelter-in-place program after losing her job early on in the pandemic. She and her two children were able to stay for free for a year at the Oasis Inn near City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it wasn’t for that hotel, I’d be out on the streets in a tent as well, with my children,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Griffin and her family are moving into a subsidized two- bedroom apartment in the East Bay city of Pittsburg, an arrangement set up for her by a San Francisco housing case manager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she wants other people in need to have the same steadying experience she was able to have over the past year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the funding is there, the need is always going to be there,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Living unmedicated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Eugenia Hunter has a hard time recalling how long she’s been staying in the tent she calls home at the bustling intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood. Craft coffee shops and weed dispensaries are plentiful here, and one-bedroom apartments push $3,000 per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At least the rats aren’t all over me in here,” the 59-year-old Oakland native said on a bright August afternoon, stretching her arm to grab the zipper to her front door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was hot inside and the stench of wildfire smoke hung in the air. Still, after sleeping on a nearby bench for the better part of a year, she felt safer here, Hunter explained as she rolled a joint she’d use to ease the pain from also living with what she said is untreated pancreatic cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11887857\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1350px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11887857 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03.jpg\" alt=\"Woman with no hair sits in door of a tent on a bedframe, looking tired.\" width=\"1350\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03.jpg 1350w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1350px) 100vw, 1350px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eugenia Hunter lives in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood surrounded by upscale apartments and hip eateries. She can’t find a place she can afford on the $930 per month she receives in federal disability payments. \u003ccite>(Angela Hart/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hunter has been hospitalized repeatedly, including once last summer after she overdosed on alcohol and lay unconscious on a sidewalk until someone stopped to help. But she is reluctant to see a doctor or use Medi-Cal, California’s health insurance program for low-income and disabled people, largely because it would force her to leave her tent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My stuff keeps on getting taken when I’m not around and, besides, I’m waiting until I got a place to live to start taking my medication again,” Hunter said, tearing up. “I can’t get anything right out here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter’s long and complex list of ailments, combined with her mistrust of the health care system, make her an incredibly difficult and expensive patient to treat. But she is exactly the kind of person California intends to prioritize under an ambitious experiment to move Medi-Cal beyond traditional doctor visits and hospital stays into the realm of social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11887890\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1350px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11887890 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06.jpg\" alt=\"A row of tents alongside a cement sidewalk in an urban park surrounded by buildings.\" width=\"1350\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06.jpg 1350w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1350px) 100vw, 1350px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Staying in a tent in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood has been a safer experience for Eugenia Hunter than sleeping on a nearby bench, which was her living situation for most of the year. However, she is reluctant to see a doctor or use Medi-Cal, largely because it would force her to leave her tent. When she has left her tent in the past, her belongings have been stolen. \u003ccite>(Angela Hart/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under the program, vulnerable patients like Hunter will be assigned a personal care manager to coordinate their health care treatments and daily needs, like paying bills and buying groceries. And they will receive \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/09/CalAIM-Nontraditional-Services-2022.pdf\">services that aren’t typically covered by health insurance plans\u003c/a>, such as getting security deposits paid, receiving deliveries of fruits and vegetables, and having toxic mold removed from homes to reduce asthma flare-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next five years, California is plowing nearly $6 billion in state and federal money into the plan, which will target just a sliver of the 14 million low-income Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal: unhoused individuals or those at risk of losing their homes; heavy users of hospital emergency rooms; children and seniors with complicated physical and mental health conditions; and people in — or at risk of landing in — expensive institutions like jails, nursing homes or mental health crisis centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='large' align='right']Under the program, vulnerable patients like Hunter will be assigned a personal care manager to coordinate their health care treatments and daily needs, like paying bills and buying groceries.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom is trumpeting the first-in-the-nation initiative as the centerpiece of his ambitious health care agenda — and vows it will help fix the mental health and addiction crisis on the streets and get people into housing, all while saving taxpayer money. His top health care advisers have even \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/CalAIM-Role-in-Addressing-Homelessness-Fact-Sheet-%26-Letter-4-9-21.pdf\">cast it as an antidote to California’s worsening homelessness crisis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the first-term Democrat, who faces a Sept. 14 recall election, is making a risky bet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California does not have the evidence to prove this approach will work statewide, nor the workforce or infrastructure to make it happen on such a large scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11883165\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/07/041021_FacebookVaccine_AW_09-1020x680.jpeg\"]Critics also fear the program will do nothing to improve care for the millions of other Medi-Cal enrollees who won’t get help from this initiative. Medi-Cal has been slammed for failing to provide basic services, \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2018-111.pdf\">including vaccinations for kids\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2018-122.pdf\">timely appointments for rural residents\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/09/Newsom_begins_mental_health_care_crackdown_with_county_sanctions.pdf\">adequate mental health treatment\u003c/a> for Californians in crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the managed-care insurance companies responsible for most enrollees’ health will nonetheless be given massive new power as they implement this experiment. The insurers will decide which services to offer and which high-needs patients to target, likely creating disparities across regions and further contributing to an unequal system of care in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This will leave a lot of people behind,” said Linda Nguy, a policy advocate at the Western Center on Law & Poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We haven’t seen health plans excel in even providing basic preventative services to healthy people,” she said. “I mean, do your basic job first. How can they be expected to successfully take on these additional responsibilities for people with very high health needs?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This revolution in Medi-Cal’s scope and mission is taking place alongside a parallel initiative to hold insurance companies more accountable for providing quality health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='large' align='right']If California’s experiment succeeds, other states will likely follow … but if the richest state in the country can’t pull off better health outcomes and cost savings, the movement to put health insurers into the business of social work will falter.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State health officials are forcing Medi-Cal managed-care plans to reapply and meet stricter standards if they want to continue doing business in the program. Together, these initiatives will fundamentally reinvent the biggest Medicaid program in the country, which serves about one-third of the state population at a cost of $124 billion this fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Documents/CalAIM-Proposal-03-23-2021.pdf\">experiment succeeds\u003c/a>, other states will likely follow, national Medicaid experts say. But if the richest state in the country can’t pull off better health outcomes and cost savings, the movement to put health insurers into the business of social work will falter.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What it takes to provide ‘whole person care’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>When Newsom signed the “California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal” initiative into law in late July — “CalAIM” for short — he celebrated it as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to completely transform the Medicaid system in California.” He declined an interview request.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11877000\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49414_028_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1020x680.jpg\"]Beginning next year, public and private managed health care plans will pick high-needs Medi-Cal enrollees to receive nontraditional services from among \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/MCP-ECM-and-ILOS-Contract-Template-Provisions.pdf\">14 broad categories, including housing and food benefits, addiction care and home repairs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The approach is known as “whole person care,” and insurers will be required to assign patients a personal care manager to help them navigate the system. Insurers will receive incentive payments to offer new services and boost provider networks and, over time, the program will expand to more people and services. For instance, members of Native American tribes will eventually be eligible to receive treatment for substance use disorder, and incarcerated people will be enrolled in Medi-Cal automatically upon release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The insurers — currently 25 are participating — will focus most intensely on developing housing programs to combat the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/CalAIM-Role-in-Addressing-Homelessness-Fact-Sheet-%26-Letter-4-9-21.pdf\">worsening homelessness epidemic\u003c/a>. The state was home to at least 162,000 unhoused people in 2020, a 6.8% increase since Newsom took office in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Jacey Cooper, director of Medicaid for California\"]‘If you generally focus on [the most vulnerable], you will be able to yield better health outcomes for those individuals and, ultimately, cost savings.’[/pullquote]Jacey Cooper, the state’s Medicaid director, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/CalAIM-Role-in-Addressing-Homelessness-Fact-Sheet-%26-Letter-4-9-21.pdf\">all Medi-Cal members will eventually be eligible for housing services\u003c/a>. Initially, though, they will be available only to the costliest patients. State Medi-Cal expenditure data shows that 1% of Medi-Cal enrollees, many of the unhoused patients who frequently land in hospitals, account for a staggering 21% of overall spending. And 5% account for 44% of the budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You really need to focus on your top 1% to 5% of utilizers — that’s your most vulnerable,” Cooper said. “If you generally focus on that group, you will be able to yield better health outcomes for those individuals and, ultimately, cost savings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials do not have a savings estimate for the program, nor a projection of how many people will be enrolled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan, Cooper said, builds on more than \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/2020/wholepersoncare-report-jan2020.pdf\">25 successful regional experiments underway since 2016\u003c/a>. From Los Angeles to rural Shasta, big and small counties have provided vulnerable Medi-Cal patients with different services based on their communities’ needs, from job placement services to providing a safe place for an unhoused person to get sober.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cooper highlighted \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/2020/wholepersoncare-report-jan2020.pdf\">interim data from the experiments\u003c/a> that showed patients hospitalized due to mental illness were more likely to receive follow-up care, obtain treatment for substance abuse, avoid hospitalizations and emergency department visits, and see improvements in chronic diseases like diabetes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She argued that data — even though it is not comprehensive — is enough to prove the initiative will work on a statewide scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11870625\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43040_011_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-1020x680.jpg\"]However, studies of similar programs elsewhere have yielded mixed results. New York provided housing services to high-cost Medicaid enrollees with chronic diseases and mental health and substance use disorders and found major reductions in hospital admissions and emergency department visits between 2012 and 2017, and saw a \u003ca href=\"https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/supportive_housing/evaluation.htm\">15% reduction in Medicaid spending.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Camden, New Jersey, \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/news/despite-new-doubts-hotspotting-help-for-heavy-health-care-users-marches-on/\">an early test of the “whole person care” approach\u003c/a> provided expensive Medicaid patients with intensive care coordination, but not nontraditional services. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1906848\">study concluded in 2020 that it hadn’t lowered hospital readmissions\u003c/a> — and thus didn’t save health care dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found we just couldn’t help people with housing as quickly as they needed help,” said Kathleen Noonan, CEO of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. “Many of these clients have bad credit, they may have a record, and they’re still using. Those are huge challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California may find success where the coalition hadn’t because it will offer social services, she said, which the coalition has also started doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it will take time. California will have five years to prove to the federal government it can save money and improve health care quality. Insurers will be required to track health outcomes and savings, and can boost services over time or drop programs that don’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the regional experiments have failed to serve low-income Black and Latino residents, according to the interim assessments conducted by Nadereh Pourat, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. She concluded that they have \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/2020/wholepersoncare-report-jan2020.pdf\">primarily benefited white, English-speaking, middle-aged men\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11877585\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49286_002_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1020x680.jpg\"]Cooper said \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Documents/CalAIM-Proposal-03-23-2021.pdf\">the statewide initiative will tackle “systemic racism,” \u003c/a>initially as it targets \u003ca href=\"https://endhomelessness.org/resource/racial-inequalities-homelessness-numbers/\">unhoused individuals, who are disproportionately Black\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider Eugenia Hunter, who is African American, and whose many untreated mental and physical illnesses, intertwined with her addictions, mean it will take a herculean effort — and cost — to get her off the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter has gone without a stable housing situation for at least three years. Or maybe it’s five; her mental illness clouds her memory, and she erupts in anger when pressed for details. She eases her frustration sometimes with sleep, sometimes by smoking crystal meth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A stack of unopened health insurance letters sat beside Hunter one evening in late August. Her eyes were glassy when she struggled to remember when she received a cancer diagnosis — if she ever did at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Bringing stakeholders on board\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Health insurers will not be required to offer social services to patients like Hunter because federal law requires nontraditional Medicaid services to be optional. But California is enticing insurers with bigger payouts and higher state rankings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are asking the plans and providers to stretch. We’re asking them to reform,” Cooper said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Jacey Cooper, director of Medicaid for California\"]‘We are asking the plans and providers to stretch. We’re asking them to reform.’[/pullquote]The state is urging insurers to start with the roughly 130,500 Medi-Cal patients already enrolled in the local experiments. To prepare, they are cobbling together networks of nonprofits and social service organizations to provide food, housing and other services — much as they do with doctors and hospitals contracted to deliver medical care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/09/CalAIM-Nontraditional-Services-2022.pdf\">Services will also vary by insurer and region.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Inland Empire Health Plan, for example, will offer some patients home repairs that reduce asthma triggers, such as mold removal and installing air filters. But Partnership HealthPlan of California will not offer those benefits in its wildfire-prone Northern California region because it doesn’t have an adequate network of organizations equipped to provide those services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In interviews with nearly all of California’s Medi-Cal managed-care plans, executives said they support the dual goals of helping patients get healthier while saving money, but “it is a lot to take on,” said Richard Sanchez, CEO of CalOptima, which serves Orange County and will start modestly, primarily with housing services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='large' align='right']Nearly all the health plans will offer housing services right away, focusing on three categories of aid: helping enrollees secure housing and rent subsidies; providing temporary rent and security deposit payments; and helping tenants stay housed.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The last thing I want to do is make promises that we can do all these things and not come through,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all the health plans will offer housing services right away, focusing on three categories of aid: helping enrollees secure housing and rent subsidies; providing temporary rent and security deposit payments; and helping tenants stay housed, like intervening with a landlord if a patient misses rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Dr. Robert Moore, chief medical officer of Partnership HealthPlan\"]‘It’s a great deal of money for a small number of members … we are building something extraordinarily ambitious quickly, without the infrastructure in place to make it successful.’[/pullquote]Partnership HealthPlan, which serves 616,000 Medi-Cal patients in 14 Northern California counties, will prioritize its most at-risk enrollees with housing services, food deliveries and a “homemaker” benefit to help them cook dinner, do laundry and pay bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a great deal of money for a small number of members and, frankly, there’s no guarantee it’s going to work,” said Dr. Robert Moore, the plan’s chief medical officer. “We are building something extraordinarily ambitious quickly, without the infrastructure in place to make it successful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if offering new services costs more money than it saves, it’s a worthwhile investment, said John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest Medi-Cal plan, which serves more than 2 million patients in Los Angeles County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When somebody has congestive heart failure, their diet should be structured around alleviating that chronic condition,” he said, explaining his plan to offer patients healthful food. “What are we going to do — let them eat ramen noodles for the rest of their lives?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Alameda County, two plans are available to serve Hunter. The Alameda Alliance for Health, a public insurer established by the county, and Anthem Blue Cross, a private insurance company, will expand housing services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label ='Related Coverage' tag='healthcare, health care']“People like Eugenia Hunter are exactly who we want to serve, and we’re prepared to go out and help her,” said Scott Coffin, CEO of the Alameda Alliance for Health, who is also on a local street medicine team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they’d have to find her first — chaos and homeless encampment sweeps force her to move her tent frequently. And then they’d have to win her trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one moment, Hunter angrily described how health plans have tried to enroll her in services, but she declined, mistrustful of their motives. In the next moment, fighting back voices in her head, she said she desperately wants care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone is going to help me?” she asked. “All I want to do is pay my rent and succeed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at Kaiser Family Foundation, an endowed nonprofit providing information on health issues.\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "'Whole Person Care': A Major Shift in Medi-Cal's Scope Targets Those Most in Need | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Living unmedicated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Eugenia Hunter has a hard time recalling how long she’s been staying in the tent she calls home at the bustling intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood. Craft coffee shops and weed dispensaries are plentiful here, and one-bedroom apartments push $3,000 per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At least the rats aren’t all over me in here,” the 59-year-old Oakland native said on a bright August afternoon, stretching her arm to grab the zipper to her front door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was hot inside and the stench of wildfire smoke hung in the air. Still, after sleeping on a nearby bench for the better part of a year, she felt safer here, Hunter explained as she rolled a joint she’d use to ease the pain from also living with what she said is untreated pancreatic cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11887857\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1350px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11887857 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03.jpg\" alt=\"Woman with no hair sits in door of a tent on a bedframe, looking tired.\" width=\"1350\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03.jpg 1350w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter03-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1350px) 100vw, 1350px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eugenia Hunter lives in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood surrounded by upscale apartments and hip eateries. She can’t find a place she can afford on the $930 per month she receives in federal disability payments. \u003ccite>(Angela Hart/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hunter has been hospitalized repeatedly, including once last summer after she overdosed on alcohol and lay unconscious on a sidewalk until someone stopped to help. But she is reluctant to see a doctor or use Medi-Cal, California’s health insurance program for low-income and disabled people, largely because it would force her to leave her tent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My stuff keeps on getting taken when I’m not around and, besides, I’m waiting until I got a place to live to start taking my medication again,” Hunter said, tearing up. “I can’t get anything right out here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter’s long and complex list of ailments, combined with her mistrust of the health care system, make her an incredibly difficult and expensive patient to treat. But she is exactly the kind of person California intends to prioritize under an ambitious experiment to move Medi-Cal beyond traditional doctor visits and hospital stays into the realm of social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11887890\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1350px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11887890 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06.jpg\" alt=\"A row of tents alongside a cement sidewalk in an urban park surrounded by buildings.\" width=\"1350\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06.jpg 1350w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/Hunter06-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1350px) 100vw, 1350px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Staying in a tent in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood has been a safer experience for Eugenia Hunter than sleeping on a nearby bench, which was her living situation for most of the year. However, she is reluctant to see a doctor or use Medi-Cal, largely because it would force her to leave her tent. When she has left her tent in the past, her belongings have been stolen. \u003ccite>(Angela Hart/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under the program, vulnerable patients like Hunter will be assigned a personal care manager to coordinate their health care treatments and daily needs, like paying bills and buying groceries. And they will receive \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/09/CalAIM-Nontraditional-Services-2022.pdf\">services that aren’t typically covered by health insurance plans\u003c/a>, such as getting security deposits paid, receiving deliveries of fruits and vegetables, and having toxic mold removed from homes to reduce asthma flare-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next five years, California is plowing nearly $6 billion in state and federal money into the plan, which will target just a sliver of the 14 million low-income Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal: unhoused individuals or those at risk of losing their homes; heavy users of hospital emergency rooms; children and seniors with complicated physical and mental health conditions; and people in — or at risk of landing in — expensive institutions like jails, nursing homes or mental health crisis centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom is trumpeting the first-in-the-nation initiative as the centerpiece of his ambitious health care agenda — and vows it will help fix the mental health and addiction crisis on the streets and get people into housing, all while saving taxpayer money. His top health care advisers have even \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/CalAIM-Role-in-Addressing-Homelessness-Fact-Sheet-%26-Letter-4-9-21.pdf\">cast it as an antidote to California’s worsening homelessness crisis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the first-term Democrat, who faces a Sept. 14 recall election, is making a risky bet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California does not have the evidence to prove this approach will work statewide, nor the workforce or infrastructure to make it happen on such a large scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Critics also fear the program will do nothing to improve care for the millions of other Medi-Cal enrollees who won’t get help from this initiative. Medi-Cal has been slammed for failing to provide basic services, \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2018-111.pdf\">including vaccinations for kids\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2018-122.pdf\">timely appointments for rural residents\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/09/Newsom_begins_mental_health_care_crackdown_with_county_sanctions.pdf\">adequate mental health treatment\u003c/a> for Californians in crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the managed-care insurance companies responsible for most enrollees’ health will nonetheless be given massive new power as they implement this experiment. The insurers will decide which services to offer and which high-needs patients to target, likely creating disparities across regions and further contributing to an unequal system of care in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This will leave a lot of people behind,” said Linda Nguy, a policy advocate at the Western Center on Law & Poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We haven’t seen health plans excel in even providing basic preventative services to healthy people,” she said. “I mean, do your basic job first. How can they be expected to successfully take on these additional responsibilities for people with very high health needs?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This revolution in Medi-Cal’s scope and mission is taking place alongside a parallel initiative to hold insurance companies more accountable for providing quality health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "If California’s experiment succeeds, other states will likely follow … but if the richest state in the country can’t pull off better health outcomes and cost savings, the movement to put health insurers into the business of social work will falter.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State health officials are forcing Medi-Cal managed-care plans to reapply and meet stricter standards if they want to continue doing business in the program. Together, these initiatives will fundamentally reinvent the biggest Medicaid program in the country, which serves about one-third of the state population at a cost of $124 billion this fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Documents/CalAIM-Proposal-03-23-2021.pdf\">experiment succeeds\u003c/a>, other states will likely follow, national Medicaid experts say. But if the richest state in the country can’t pull off better health outcomes and cost savings, the movement to put health insurers into the business of social work will falter.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What it takes to provide ‘whole person care’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>When Newsom signed the “California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal” initiative into law in late July — “CalAIM” for short — he celebrated it as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to completely transform the Medicaid system in California.” He declined an interview request.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Beginning next year, public and private managed health care plans will pick high-needs Medi-Cal enrollees to receive nontraditional services from among \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/MCP-ECM-and-ILOS-Contract-Template-Provisions.pdf\">14 broad categories, including housing and food benefits, addiction care and home repairs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The approach is known as “whole person care,” and insurers will be required to assign patients a personal care manager to help them navigate the system. Insurers will receive incentive payments to offer new services and boost provider networks and, over time, the program will expand to more people and services. For instance, members of Native American tribes will eventually be eligible to receive treatment for substance use disorder, and incarcerated people will be enrolled in Medi-Cal automatically upon release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The insurers — currently 25 are participating — will focus most intensely on developing housing programs to combat the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/CalAIM-Role-in-Addressing-Homelessness-Fact-Sheet-%26-Letter-4-9-21.pdf\">worsening homelessness epidemic\u003c/a>. The state was home to at least 162,000 unhoused people in 2020, a 6.8% increase since Newsom took office in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Jacey Cooper, the state’s Medicaid director, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/CalAIM-Role-in-Addressing-Homelessness-Fact-Sheet-%26-Letter-4-9-21.pdf\">all Medi-Cal members will eventually be eligible for housing services\u003c/a>. Initially, though, they will be available only to the costliest patients. State Medi-Cal expenditure data shows that 1% of Medi-Cal enrollees, many of the unhoused patients who frequently land in hospitals, account for a staggering 21% of overall spending. And 5% account for 44% of the budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You really need to focus on your top 1% to 5% of utilizers — that’s your most vulnerable,” Cooper said. “If you generally focus on that group, you will be able to yield better health outcomes for those individuals and, ultimately, cost savings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials do not have a savings estimate for the program, nor a projection of how many people will be enrolled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan, Cooper said, builds on more than \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/2020/wholepersoncare-report-jan2020.pdf\">25 successful regional experiments underway since 2016\u003c/a>. From Los Angeles to rural Shasta, big and small counties have provided vulnerable Medi-Cal patients with different services based on their communities’ needs, from job placement services to providing a safe place for an unhoused person to get sober.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cooper highlighted \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/2020/wholepersoncare-report-jan2020.pdf\">interim data from the experiments\u003c/a> that showed patients hospitalized due to mental illness were more likely to receive follow-up care, obtain treatment for substance abuse, avoid hospitalizations and emergency department visits, and see improvements in chronic diseases like diabetes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She argued that data — even though it is not comprehensive — is enough to prove the initiative will work on a statewide scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>However, studies of similar programs elsewhere have yielded mixed results. New York provided housing services to high-cost Medicaid enrollees with chronic diseases and mental health and substance use disorders and found major reductions in hospital admissions and emergency department visits between 2012 and 2017, and saw a \u003ca href=\"https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/supportive_housing/evaluation.htm\">15% reduction in Medicaid spending.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Camden, New Jersey, \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/news/despite-new-doubts-hotspotting-help-for-heavy-health-care-users-marches-on/\">an early test of the “whole person care” approach\u003c/a> provided expensive Medicaid patients with intensive care coordination, but not nontraditional services. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1906848\">study concluded in 2020 that it hadn’t lowered hospital readmissions\u003c/a> — and thus didn’t save health care dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found we just couldn’t help people with housing as quickly as they needed help,” said Kathleen Noonan, CEO of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. “Many of these clients have bad credit, they may have a record, and they’re still using. Those are huge challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California may find success where the coalition hadn’t because it will offer social services, she said, which the coalition has also started doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it will take time. California will have five years to prove to the federal government it can save money and improve health care quality. Insurers will be required to track health outcomes and savings, and can boost services over time or drop programs that don’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the regional experiments have failed to serve low-income Black and Latino residents, according to the interim assessments conducted by Nadereh Pourat, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. She concluded that they have \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/2020/wholepersoncare-report-jan2020.pdf\">primarily benefited white, English-speaking, middle-aged men\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cooper said \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Documents/CalAIM-Proposal-03-23-2021.pdf\">the statewide initiative will tackle “systemic racism,” \u003c/a>initially as it targets \u003ca href=\"https://endhomelessness.org/resource/racial-inequalities-homelessness-numbers/\">unhoused individuals, who are disproportionately Black\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider Eugenia Hunter, who is African American, and whose many untreated mental and physical illnesses, intertwined with her addictions, mean it will take a herculean effort — and cost — to get her off the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter has gone without a stable housing situation for at least three years. Or maybe it’s five; her mental illness clouds her memory, and she erupts in anger when pressed for details. She eases her frustration sometimes with sleep, sometimes by smoking crystal meth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A stack of unopened health insurance letters sat beside Hunter one evening in late August. Her eyes were glassy when she struggled to remember when she received a cancer diagnosis — if she ever did at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Bringing stakeholders on board\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Health insurers will not be required to offer social services to patients like Hunter because federal law requires nontraditional Medicaid services to be optional. But California is enticing insurers with bigger payouts and higher state rankings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are asking the plans and providers to stretch. We’re asking them to reform,” Cooper said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The state is urging insurers to start with the roughly 130,500 Medi-Cal patients already enrolled in the local experiments. To prepare, they are cobbling together networks of nonprofits and social service organizations to provide food, housing and other services — much as they do with doctors and hospitals contracted to deliver medical care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/09/CalAIM-Nontraditional-Services-2022.pdf\">Services will also vary by insurer and region.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Inland Empire Health Plan, for example, will offer some patients home repairs that reduce asthma triggers, such as mold removal and installing air filters. But Partnership HealthPlan of California will not offer those benefits in its wildfire-prone Northern California region because it doesn’t have an adequate network of organizations equipped to provide those services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In interviews with nearly all of California’s Medi-Cal managed-care plans, executives said they support the dual goals of helping patients get healthier while saving money, but “it is a lot to take on,” said Richard Sanchez, CEO of CalOptima, which serves Orange County and will start modestly, primarily with housing services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The last thing I want to do is make promises that we can do all these things and not come through,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all the health plans will offer housing services right away, focusing on three categories of aid: helping enrollees secure housing and rent subsidies; providing temporary rent and security deposit payments; and helping tenants stay housed, like intervening with a landlord if a patient misses rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It’s a great deal of money for a small number of members … we are building something extraordinarily ambitious quickly, without the infrastructure in place to make it successful.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Partnership HealthPlan, which serves 616,000 Medi-Cal patients in 14 Northern California counties, will prioritize its most at-risk enrollees with housing services, food deliveries and a “homemaker” benefit to help them cook dinner, do laundry and pay bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a great deal of money for a small number of members and, frankly, there’s no guarantee it’s going to work,” said Dr. Robert Moore, the plan’s chief medical officer. “We are building something extraordinarily ambitious quickly, without the infrastructure in place to make it successful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if offering new services costs more money than it saves, it’s a worthwhile investment, said John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest Medi-Cal plan, which serves more than 2 million patients in Los Angeles County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When somebody has congestive heart failure, their diet should be structured around alleviating that chronic condition,” he said, explaining his plan to offer patients healthful food. “What are we going to do — let them eat ramen noodles for the rest of their lives?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Alameda County, two plans are available to serve Hunter. The Alameda Alliance for Health, a public insurer established by the county, and Anthem Blue Cross, a private insurance company, will expand housing services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“People like Eugenia Hunter are exactly who we want to serve, and we’re prepared to go out and help her,” said Scott Coffin, CEO of the Alameda Alliance for Health, who is also on a local street medicine team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they’d have to find her first — chaos and homeless encampment sweeps force her to move her tent frequently. And then they’d have to win her trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one moment, Hunter angrily described how health plans have tried to enroll her in services, but she declined, mistrustful of their motives. In the next moment, fighting back voices in her head, she said she desperately wants care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone is going to help me?” she asked. “All I want to do is pay my rent and succeed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at Kaiser Family Foundation, an endowed nonprofit providing information on health issues.\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A total of 47 residents at a homeless shelter in Santa Rosa have tested positive for the delta variant of the coronavirus over the last week, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outbreak has affected almost a third of the 153 residents at Samuel L. Jones Hall, Sonoma County’s largest homeless shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jennielynn Holmes, Catholic Charities\"]‘The delta variant is reacting with the homeless population much differently than the original COVID situation.’[/pullquote]The majority of those infected were unvaccinated, Jennielynn Holmes \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/47-test-positive-for-delta-variant-at-sonoma-countys-largest-homeless-cent/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said on Thursday\u003c/a>. Holmes leads homeless services at Catholic Charities, the nonprofit managing the shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Holmes, just one homeless resident has been hospitalized, and no one else with a positive test has severe symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said they’re fortunate to have enough space to help those who have tested positive and those who haven’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can separate the two populations and make sure that we’re giving the appropriate medical care and isolation space for those who are positive, while also continuing to test at a pretty regular basis those that are living in our other site,” Holmes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said they’ve maintained fairly strict COVID guidelines, even after the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted some rules. They still require masking and social distancing, and are cleaning the facilities multiple times a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma County’s “case rate and hospitalization rate has been slowly increasing, due primarily to spread of the virus among unvaccinated individuals,” according to a \u003ca href=\"https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CAO/Press-Releases/More-than-325-000-Sonoma-County-residents-now-vaccinated/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press release from Tuesday\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has spread rapidly among the unvaccinated population, causing a rise in new cases and hospitalizations. It now accounts for the majority of all new infections in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, anyone 12 and over is eligible for the vaccine. So far, \u003ca href=\"https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccination-progress-data/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">about 70%\u003c/a> of that population in California has received at least one dose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"delta-variant\" label=\"more on the delta variant\"]Homeless people have been among the hardest to reach in the months-long inoculation campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outbreak is only the second time the coronavirus has been detected at the Samuel Jones Hall shelter. There was a smaller cluster of cases in January during the peak of the pandemic, according to Holmes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The delta variant is reacting with the homeless population much differently than the original COVID situation,” she said. “We had very few cases for the entire pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across Sonoma County, 62 homeless people have tested positive within the past two weeks, according to Kathryn Pack, a manager of the county health department’s epidemiology team. That’s a 48% jump in the homeless population’s total COVID-19 caseload, which now stands at 191 since the start of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from KQED’s Keith Mizuguchi and The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A total of 47 residents at a homeless shelter in Santa Rosa have tested positive for the delta variant of the coronavirus over the last week, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outbreak has affected almost a third of the 153 residents at Samuel L. Jones Hall, Sonoma County’s largest homeless shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The majority of those infected were unvaccinated, Jennielynn Holmes \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/47-test-positive-for-delta-variant-at-sonoma-countys-largest-homeless-cent/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said on Thursday\u003c/a>. Holmes leads homeless services at Catholic Charities, the nonprofit managing the shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Holmes, just one homeless resident has been hospitalized, and no one else with a positive test has severe symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said they’re fortunate to have enough space to help those who have tested positive and those who haven’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can separate the two populations and make sure that we’re giving the appropriate medical care and isolation space for those who are positive, while also continuing to test at a pretty regular basis those that are living in our other site,” Holmes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said they’ve maintained fairly strict COVID guidelines, even after the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted some rules. They still require masking and social distancing, and are cleaning the facilities multiple times a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma County’s “case rate and hospitalization rate has been slowly increasing, due primarily to spread of the virus among unvaccinated individuals,” according to a \u003ca href=\"https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CAO/Press-Releases/More-than-325-000-Sonoma-County-residents-now-vaccinated/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press release from Tuesday\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has spread rapidly among the unvaccinated population, causing a rise in new cases and hospitalizations. It now accounts for the majority of all new infections in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, anyone 12 and over is eligible for the vaccine. So far, \u003ca href=\"https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccination-progress-data/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">about 70%\u003c/a> of that population in California has received at least one dose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Homeless people have been among the hardest to reach in the months-long inoculation campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outbreak is only the second time the coronavirus has been detected at the Samuel Jones Hall shelter. There was a smaller cluster of cases in January during the peak of the pandemic, according to Holmes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The delta variant is reacting with the homeless population much differently than the original COVID situation,” she said. “We had very few cases for the entire pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across Sonoma County, 62 homeless people have tested positive within the past two weeks, according to Kathryn Pack, a manager of the county health department’s epidemiology team. That’s a 48% jump in the homeless population’s total COVID-19 caseload, which now stands at 191 since the start of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from KQED’s Keith Mizuguchi and The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>State-funding efforts to shelter unhoused residents in converted motels could be a game-changer for Motel Drive, an area of Fresno that city leaders say has long been overrun by drugs, human trafficking and prostitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local city leaders say \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/homekey.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Project Homekey\u003c/a> has been a success in Fresno, providing shelter for about 1,500 people over the past 18 months. Not only have the funds helped shelter the city’s unhoused residents, but they also provided the opportunity to invest in the transformation of Motel Drive, said Fresno Councilmember Miguel Arias in an interview with The Fresno Bee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Councilmember Miguel Arias\"]‘Project Homekey has been a saving grace for this city.’[/pullquote]“I’ve always had a plan since 2019 to clean up this whole corridor, but we’ve never had the resources,” said Arias, who in May of 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article237853109.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">initiated an ordinance to require inspection of the neglected motels\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then, the pandemic hit, and we found ourselves with no shelter beds,” said Arias, adding that Fresno historically only had 10 beds a year to shelter the city’s unhoused population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when the city decided to use a majority of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article246807347.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$35 million in Project Homekey funds\u003c/a> to acquire four motels along Motel Drive, a stretch of motels on Parkway Drive along Highway 99 that city leaders have described as hotbeds for prostitution, drug and sex trafficking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal CARES Act funds have also enabled the city to acquire and convert additional motels on Motel Drive for shelter and affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Project Homekey has been a saving grace for this city,” said Arias. Without Homekey, Arias said, the city “wouldn’t have made a dent,” sheltering unhoused residents during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Housing advocacy groups that have long criticized the city’s sheltering efforts agree that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Project Homekey has been a success in Fresno but said the program remains too small and said local leaders need to do more to address homelessness and affordable housing in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Project Homekey Sites at Capacity in Fresno\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://fresnohousing.org/about-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresno Housing Authority\u003c/a> owns and manages four of the five Homekey sites, sheltering about 507 people as of this week. About 55 adults this week were living at Golden State Triage Center (formerly Parkside Inn), 135 adults at Sun Lodge (formerly Days Inn) and 83 adults at Journey Home (formerly Welcome Inn).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 100 adults and 134 children were staying in the transitional housing center, Step Up On 99 (formerly Motel 99), and the city has applied for another $3 million to finish the conversion of the complex, which will include more park space for the residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each community has 24-hour on-site security, laundry facilities, community rooms and private offices for on-site staff and residents to hold meetings. Case managers and social workers support residents that need mental health and drug rehabilitation services, and Fresno Unified School District educators provide homeless student services. Swimming pools have been converted into dog parks for residents with pets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fifth Homekey project is located at The Crossroads Village shelter on Blackstone Avenue, managed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.rhcommunitybuilders.com/our-team-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RH Community Builders\u003c/a>, and is home to 165 households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a next step, the city will convert the renovated motels into affordable housing and operate the sites for the next five years. Due to the lack of affordable housing for residents, there’s no limit on the amount of time people can stay at the Homekey sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Arias and the Fresno Housing Authority confirmed that the available Project Homekey shelters are at or near 100% capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Federal Funds Used to Acquire More Motels on Motel Drive in Fresno\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Furthering the plan to transform Motel Drive, the city also acquired two additional motels using federal CARES Act funding: the Travel Inn & Suites and the Valley Inn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, the Travel Inn opened 33 of its 57 units for emergency shelter under the management of RH Community Builders. The remaining 24 units will be available on Aug. 1, confirmed Arias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Valley Inn, which is currently undergoing renovations, will also be available on Aug. 1 with approximately 80 units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arias confirmed that negotiations are underway for the city to acquire two more motels on Motel Drive. Arias said, eventually, he hopes to see the city take over all of the motels on Motel Drive to convert them into affordable housing that will look “like any other apartment complex” that are part of the neighboring residential community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"project-homekey\" label=\"More on Project Homekey\"]But the choice to place all of the Homekey sites along Motel Drive has drawn criticism from local homeless advocates. Critics are concerned about the decision to place families in an area plagued with drugs and sex trafficking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arias said he shares those concerns for residents’ safety and well-being and is aware of the illicit activity at the neighboring motels. He pointed out that the location of the family shelter, Step Up On 99, was intentionally secluded from the other motel locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help keep the area safe, Arias said that the city recently approved $250,000 for the police department to beef up patrols at night in the Motel Drive area.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Affordable Housing Problems Plaguing Fresno, Rest of State\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While local leaders laud the city’s Project Homekey as a success, they acknowledge that the city needs to do more to support families and individuals experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The success [of Project Homekey] feels good, but we know we still have a lot of work to do,” said Doreen Eley, assistant director of Special Programs at Fresno Housing Authority, in an email to The Fresno Bee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patience Milrod, executive director of Central California Legal Services, said she applauds the city’s efforts to use state and federal dollars to “keep low-income renters housed, and to find homes for the un-housed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Doreen Eley, assistant director of Special Programs at Fresno Housing Authority\"]‘The success [of Project Homekey] feels good, but we know we still have a lot of work to do.’[/pullquote]But, Milrod said, it’s not enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said Fresno is “long overdue” for “coherent, citywide policies that incentivize and support affordable housing.” She also said that an affordable housing strategy must “involve investment of the city’s own resources long into the foreseeable future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a recent \u003ca href=\"https://chpc.net/?sfid=181&_sf_s=fresno&_sft_resources_type=housing-need+level-county\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2021 Affordable Housing Needs Report\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article251989463.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more than 36,000 low-income households are without affordable housing\u003c/a> in Fresno County. This affordable housing shortage comes at a time that \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article252425493.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresno home prices are at an all-time high\u003c/a>. In Fresno County, the median price of a single-family home in May 2021 was $361,500, an increase of more than 22% compared to May 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A bigger need than anything else quite frankly is affordable housing,” said Eley. “Not just for the homeless, for everyone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Melissa Montalvo is a reporter with The Fresno Bee and a Report for America corps member. This article is part of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/projects/california-divide/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The California Divide\u003c/a>, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequity and economic survival in California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>State-funding efforts to shelter unhoused residents in converted motels could be a game-changer for Motel Drive, an area of Fresno that city leaders say has long been overrun by drugs, human trafficking and prostitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local city leaders say \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/homekey.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Project Homekey\u003c/a> has been a success in Fresno, providing shelter for about 1,500 people over the past 18 months. Not only have the funds helped shelter the city’s unhoused residents, but they also provided the opportunity to invest in the transformation of Motel Drive, said Fresno Councilmember Miguel Arias in an interview with The Fresno Bee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I’ve always had a plan since 2019 to clean up this whole corridor, but we’ve never had the resources,” said Arias, who in May of 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article237853109.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">initiated an ordinance to require inspection of the neglected motels\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then, the pandemic hit, and we found ourselves with no shelter beds,” said Arias, adding that Fresno historically only had 10 beds a year to shelter the city’s unhoused population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when the city decided to use a majority of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article246807347.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$35 million in Project Homekey funds\u003c/a> to acquire four motels along Motel Drive, a stretch of motels on Parkway Drive along Highway 99 that city leaders have described as hotbeds for prostitution, drug and sex trafficking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal CARES Act funds have also enabled the city to acquire and convert additional motels on Motel Drive for shelter and affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Project Homekey has been a saving grace for this city,” said Arias. Without Homekey, Arias said, the city “wouldn’t have made a dent,” sheltering unhoused residents during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Housing advocacy groups that have long criticized the city’s sheltering efforts agree that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Project Homekey has been a success in Fresno but said the program remains too small and said local leaders need to do more to address homelessness and affordable housing in Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Project Homekey Sites at Capacity in Fresno\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://fresnohousing.org/about-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresno Housing Authority\u003c/a> owns and manages four of the five Homekey sites, sheltering about 507 people as of this week. About 55 adults this week were living at Golden State Triage Center (formerly Parkside Inn), 135 adults at Sun Lodge (formerly Days Inn) and 83 adults at Journey Home (formerly Welcome Inn).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 100 adults and 134 children were staying in the transitional housing center, Step Up On 99 (formerly Motel 99), and the city has applied for another $3 million to finish the conversion of the complex, which will include more park space for the residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each community has 24-hour on-site security, laundry facilities, community rooms and private offices for on-site staff and residents to hold meetings. Case managers and social workers support residents that need mental health and drug rehabilitation services, and Fresno Unified School District educators provide homeless student services. Swimming pools have been converted into dog parks for residents with pets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fifth Homekey project is located at The Crossroads Village shelter on Blackstone Avenue, managed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.rhcommunitybuilders.com/our-team-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RH Community Builders\u003c/a>, and is home to 165 households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a next step, the city will convert the renovated motels into affordable housing and operate the sites for the next five years. Due to the lack of affordable housing for residents, there’s no limit on the amount of time people can stay at the Homekey sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Arias and the Fresno Housing Authority confirmed that the available Project Homekey shelters are at or near 100% capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Federal Funds Used to Acquire More Motels on Motel Drive in Fresno\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Furthering the plan to transform Motel Drive, the city also acquired two additional motels using federal CARES Act funding: the Travel Inn & Suites and the Valley Inn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, the Travel Inn opened 33 of its 57 units for emergency shelter under the management of RH Community Builders. The remaining 24 units will be available on Aug. 1, confirmed Arias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Valley Inn, which is currently undergoing renovations, will also be available on Aug. 1 with approximately 80 units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arias confirmed that negotiations are underway for the city to acquire two more motels on Motel Drive. Arias said, eventually, he hopes to see the city take over all of the motels on Motel Drive to convert them into affordable housing that will look “like any other apartment complex” that are part of the neighboring residential community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But the choice to place all of the Homekey sites along Motel Drive has drawn criticism from local homeless advocates. Critics are concerned about the decision to place families in an area plagued with drugs and sex trafficking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arias said he shares those concerns for residents’ safety and well-being and is aware of the illicit activity at the neighboring motels. He pointed out that the location of the family shelter, Step Up On 99, was intentionally secluded from the other motel locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help keep the area safe, Arias said that the city recently approved $250,000 for the police department to beef up patrols at night in the Motel Drive area.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Affordable Housing Problems Plaguing Fresno, Rest of State\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While local leaders laud the city’s Project Homekey as a success, they acknowledge that the city needs to do more to support families and individuals experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The success [of Project Homekey] feels good, but we know we still have a lot of work to do,” said Doreen Eley, assistant director of Special Programs at Fresno Housing Authority, in an email to The Fresno Bee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patience Milrod, executive director of Central California Legal Services, said she applauds the city’s efforts to use state and federal dollars to “keep low-income renters housed, and to find homes for the un-housed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But, Milrod said, it’s not enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said Fresno is “long overdue” for “coherent, citywide policies that incentivize and support affordable housing.” She also said that an affordable housing strategy must “involve investment of the city’s own resources long into the foreseeable future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a recent \u003ca href=\"https://chpc.net/?sfid=181&_sf_s=fresno&_sft_resources_type=housing-need+level-county\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2021 Affordable Housing Needs Report\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article251989463.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more than 36,000 low-income households are without affordable housing\u003c/a> in Fresno County. This affordable housing shortage comes at a time that \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article252425493.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fresno home prices are at an all-time high\u003c/a>. In Fresno County, the median price of a single-family home in May 2021 was $361,500, an increase of more than 22% compared to May 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A bigger need than anything else quite frankly is affordable housing,” said Eley. “Not just for the homeless, for everyone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Melissa Montalvo is a reporter with The Fresno Bee and a Report for America corps member. This article is part of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/projects/california-divide/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The California Divide\u003c/a>, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequity and economic survival in California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Homeless Should Be Forced Into Treatment, Says California GOP Gubernatorial Candidate John Cox",
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"content": "\u003cp>John Cox, a Republican candidate for California governor, said Monday that he would force homeless people into mental health or addiction treatment before providing them with housing as part of his effort to cut homelessness in half within five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his second bid for governor, Cox also said he would step up enforcement against people living on the streets and work to speed housing construction. If elected, he would likely face fierce resistance to many of his proposals in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If someone is just insisting that they can live on the street, they either have to be arrested and put in jail or they have to be arrested and put into a place where they can get the treatment they need,” he said in an interview. “If they don’t want either of those, they can certainly leave California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox, who made a fortune in real estate, is running in the forthcoming recall election of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. He ran against Newsom in 2018 and lost badly. He’s never won political office despite numerous attempts. This time, he’s one of several Republicans running, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who is expected to release a homelessness plan Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A date has not yet been set for the recall election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is home to about 12% of the nation’s population but more than a quarter of its homeless people, with roughly 161,500 people experiencing homelessness as of January 2020, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2020.pdf\">most recent federal data\u003c/a>. About a quarter of homeless people in the state were experiencing severe mental illness in 2019, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom has made tackling homelessness one of his top priorities, dedicating his 2020 State of the State address to the topic and pledging to appoint a homelessness czar, which he has not yet done. While the COVID-19 pandemic changed the state’s focus, Newsom last year launched a program to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-health-coronavirus-pandemic-government-and-politics-5ce86f5447d5cf3505e59fdc22876788\">convert hotel and motel rooms\u003c/a> into permanent housing for homeless people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox would take an opposite tack, requiring people who need it to get treatment for addiction or mental illness before they can get housing. He said if pop star \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/explaining-britney-spears-court-conservatorship-hearing-48451f0cb51d7c646a51f2e10e97fb61\">Britney Spears\u003c/a> can be placed under a conservatorship, it should be possible to place people living on the streets who need help into a similar arrangement — generally done when people are deemed unable to control their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, former Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation allowing San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles counties to place chronically homeless people into such arrangements if they have a serious mental health or substance use disorder. San Francisco moved ahead with a narrowly tailored pilot program in 2019, though it has barely been used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"recall\"]Cox, who is prone to campaigning with props — \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/05/john-cox-bear-california-recall/\">including a 1,000-pound Kodiak bear\u003c/a> — is bringing an 8-foot ball of trash on his statewide bus tour to tout his homelessness plan. In a news release, he said it’s supposed to symbolize “the blight the homeless — and current homeless policies — have inflicted on California neighborhoods.” He said in an interview that he blames the problem on government failures, not people who are homeless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbara DiPietro, senior director of policy for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, called Cox’s plan “terrible” and said his use of a ball of trash “specifically conveys that he believes that these people are trash.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadly, she said Cox’s plan “reflects a candidate for public office who does not understand the fundamental structural issues that produce homelessness faster than we can end it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research shows putting people in treatment without housing does not work, and that counties do not have enough beds in the behavioral health system to treat everyone anyway, DiPietro said. The plan also has an over-reliance on law enforcement, she said. She does, however, support efforts to lower the cost of housing construction, which is also part of Cox’s plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox on Monday also said he would challenge a court decision that blocks Los Angeles from enforcing a sidewalk camping ban until enough housing is available, and that he would seek to roll back parts of a voter-backed initiative that reduced some penalties for non-violent offenses.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>John Cox, a Republican candidate for California governor, said Monday that he would force homeless people into mental health or addiction treatment before providing them with housing as part of his effort to cut homelessness in half within five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his second bid for governor, Cox also said he would step up enforcement against people living on the streets and work to speed housing construction. If elected, he would likely face fierce resistance to many of his proposals in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If someone is just insisting that they can live on the street, they either have to be arrested and put in jail or they have to be arrested and put into a place where they can get the treatment they need,” he said in an interview. “If they don’t want either of those, they can certainly leave California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox, who made a fortune in real estate, is running in the forthcoming recall election of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. He ran against Newsom in 2018 and lost badly. He’s never won political office despite numerous attempts. This time, he’s one of several Republicans running, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who is expected to release a homelessness plan Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A date has not yet been set for the recall election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is home to about 12% of the nation’s population but more than a quarter of its homeless people, with roughly 161,500 people experiencing homelessness as of January 2020, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2020.pdf\">most recent federal data\u003c/a>. About a quarter of homeless people in the state were experiencing severe mental illness in 2019, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom has made tackling homelessness one of his top priorities, dedicating his 2020 State of the State address to the topic and pledging to appoint a homelessness czar, which he has not yet done. While the COVID-19 pandemic changed the state’s focus, Newsom last year launched a program to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-health-coronavirus-pandemic-government-and-politics-5ce86f5447d5cf3505e59fdc22876788\">convert hotel and motel rooms\u003c/a> into permanent housing for homeless people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox would take an opposite tack, requiring people who need it to get treatment for addiction or mental illness before they can get housing. He said if pop star \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/explaining-britney-spears-court-conservatorship-hearing-48451f0cb51d7c646a51f2e10e97fb61\">Britney Spears\u003c/a> can be placed under a conservatorship, it should be possible to place people living on the streets who need help into a similar arrangement — generally done when people are deemed unable to control their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, former Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation allowing San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles counties to place chronically homeless people into such arrangements if they have a serious mental health or substance use disorder. San Francisco moved ahead with a narrowly tailored pilot program in 2019, though it has barely been used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cox, who is prone to campaigning with props — \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/05/john-cox-bear-california-recall/\">including a 1,000-pound Kodiak bear\u003c/a> — is bringing an 8-foot ball of trash on his statewide bus tour to tout his homelessness plan. In a news release, he said it’s supposed to symbolize “the blight the homeless — and current homeless policies — have inflicted on California neighborhoods.” He said in an interview that he blames the problem on government failures, not people who are homeless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbara DiPietro, senior director of policy for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, called Cox’s plan “terrible” and said his use of a ball of trash “specifically conveys that he believes that these people are trash.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadly, she said Cox’s plan “reflects a candidate for public office who does not understand the fundamental structural issues that produce homelessness faster than we can end it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research shows putting people in treatment without housing does not work, and that counties do not have enough beds in the behavioral health system to treat everyone anyway, DiPietro said. The plan also has an over-reliance on law enforcement, she said. She does, however, support efforts to lower the cost of housing construction, which is also part of Cox’s plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox on Monday also said he would challenge a court decision that blocks Los Angeles from enforcing a sidewalk camping ban until enough housing is available, and that he would seek to roll back parts of a voter-backed initiative that reduced some penalties for non-violent offenses.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "San Francisco’s New Chief of Homelessness on How to Spend $1 Billion and Get People Housed Quickly",
"title": "San Francisco’s New Chief of Homelessness on How to Spend $1 Billion and Get People Housed Quickly",
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"content": "\u003cp>Shireen McSpadden took the helm last month as the director of San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. McSpadden is coming to the department at a pivotal time. At last count, the city had more than \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2019HIRDReport_SanFrancisco_FinalDraft-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">8,000 people\u003c/a> experiencing homelessness, and experts have predicted that number could grow as a result of pandemic-related job losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s overseeing a department with a budget that’s grown more than 60% to nearly \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/HSH-FY21-23-Budget-Deck_LHCB_6.7.2021_corrected.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$672 million\u003c/a>. The dramatic increase is a result of newly released funding from Proposition C, a tax on corporate revenues that voters approved in 2018, to fund new housing and services for people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former executive director of the Department of Disability and Aging Services, McSpadden takes over from Abigail Stewart-Kahn, who served as interim director of the department during the pandemic after former Director Jeff Kositsky stepped down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, McSpadden toured one of San Francisco’s newest permanent supportive housing sites, the Post Hotel, operated by Episcopal Community Services and Caritas Management Corporation. The converted hotel will provide housing for 89 adults and couples, including 18 existing tenants. Residents will pay no more than 30% of their income toward rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McSpadden said the hotel represents “a great example” of Mayor London Breed’s \u003ca href=\"https://sfmayor.org/article/mayor-london-breed-announces-plan-fund-homelessness-recovery-plan-prioritizing-housing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Homelessness Recovery Plan\u003c/a>, which includes placing 4,500 households in permanent housing with supportive services onsite over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11878669\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11878669\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shireen McSpadden, director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, visiting a room at the Post Hotel in San Francisco on June 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>McSpadden spoke with KQED about her vision and priorities for the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for clarity and length.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>What Policy Implementation Might Look Like\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You mentioned the Post Hotel is a good example of what the mayor’s plan on homelessness will look like. Could you talk a little bit about what implementing this policy is going to look like?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We're looking to [do] 4,500 placements in the next two years, which is huge. It’s really a huge commitment on the part of the city. We're able to do it because of Prop. C dollars, because of the mayor's budget and the emphasis she places on homelessness and making sure that people have the right supports. We can move people into housing, but without those supportive pieces of it, sometimes people don't stabilize in housing. And we've seen that with a lot of the populations on the street. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Shireen McSpadden\"]'There's such an equity piece to homelessness. We know that close to 40% of the people who are homeless are African American ... It's part of making sure that people who've been displaced in San Francisco actually have a home to go to.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's exciting for various reasons. One of them is there's such an equity piece to homelessness. We know that close to 40% of the people who are homeless are African American. And the city has a history of not doing well by the African American population, a horrible history. It's part of making sure that people who've been displaced in San Francisco actually have a home to go to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a chance for us to think about ways that we serve our residents better across the city. So, we're not only thinking about having supportive housing in this area, we're thinking about how we do this across the city so that there's a geographical equity piece to that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To me, it's just really exciting to come into the department at this time when we have an unprecedented amount of resources. We're also building up the department, so that we will really be able to respond to the needs of people, get our contracts out the door quicker and things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's just a lot happening at once. There's a confluence of federal, state and local resources that are finally coming together in a way that makes sense and that really will help us make a much larger dent in this issue than we've been able to do in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Department Priorities\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>There’s a lot that needs to get done. What are your priorities for the department?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a really good framework at this department. We have really good interventions, whether it's problem solving and prevention or it's housing people and all the other things that we do.\u003cbr>\nBut I think we still have a lot of gaps even within those buckets. Trying to tease out what those are and figuring out how do we create a better system for people to enter? Can we make things quicker?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We can look at certain populations and see if we can do a better job. Again, equity is a huge thing and it's a huge thing for us to tackle because we have such an inequity in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the big things for this department is that it's new. It was formed in 2016 by bringing together staff from a couple of different departments. It's been under-resourced, and we're in the process now of really building up our capacity and building up our staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's important because with all this money, we have to be able to be the engine that gets it out the door, ultimately to get people housed. And we're challenged by that right now because we're in building mode. So doing that as quickly as possible is really important, and that's a high priority for us.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Staffing Up to Distribute Proposition C Funds\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>With all this new money — distributing around $1 billion in Prop. C funds over the next few years, new state and federal money — it’s all coming together. But without the capacity to get the money out the door, then it just sits in the bank. You brought on two new positions to your leadership team: Noelle Simmons, the former deputy director at the [San Francisco] Human Services Agency, and Cynthia Nagendra, the former executive director at the [UCSF] Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. Can you tell me a little bit about what else is going on with the staffing and how the department is trying to build itself up so it is really positioned to get the money out the door quickly?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, it's hiring right now. Our team is working fast and furiously to hire all of these positions that we have. We have new positions in our budget. Right now, I think we have about 130 staff and we've got something like 80 positions that we will be hiring for, which is a ton when you think about the size of the department. And so we're doing that as quickly as we can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>At this point, Emily Cohen, a spokesperson for the department, chimed in to add that the department’s budget is growing by 62%.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Emily Cohen:\u003c/strong> In terms of operationalizing that, tracking it, accountability, ensuring we have due diligence and public process to get it out the door, we want to have the highest level of integrity in everything we do. It turns out that takes capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Shireen McSpadden:\u003c/strong> The other thing is we want to be able to communicate our success. We want to be able to show that we're moving the needle. We hear a lot of frustration in the community about what's not being done. We want to be able to show what we are doing and how many people really have been housed. So we're going to be working on that. Certainly we track information, and we have data but we continuously want to improve that process. We also want to think about how we communicate to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Bridging the Equity Gap\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You talked a little bit earlier about gap in equity. I'm just wondering, could you give me an example of some things where there might be gaps, or disconnects, that you're looking to bridge?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are challenged a little bit by our process in being able to reach specific populations. And I'll give one example, and that's because I came from the Department of Disability and Aging. One example is older people. I have known older people who don't rise to the top in terms of priority, but they're clearly 80 and homeless. So that's just one example of how I think we need to tweak our system a little bit to figure out how we can change that. [aside tag=\"housing\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Maintaining a Sense of Urgency\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>So much happened during the pandemic — the city opened around 2,000 units of new, interim shelter in a very short period of time under the state’s Project Roomkey. And I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how the pandemic created a new sense of urgency to get people experiencing homelessness into housing, quickly. But, homelessness was a humanitarian crisis before the pandemic, and we weren’t seeing that same sense of urgency. How do you maintain that sense of urgency even as the economy reopens and people begin to return to a sense of normalcy?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's an interesting question. I've always thought of it as being urgent. What did happen during the pandemic is people came together better. But to me, it is a very urgent issue for people in this city, for homeless people, but also for people who are housed, who see homelessness and don't like it for various reasons, either for humanitarian reasons or because they see it as scary or dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think there's a high level of urgency. I do think that COVID taught us a lot about what we can do and what we can fund and how that makes a difference. And so I think to that end, we'll keep the sense of urgency as well.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Shireen McSpadden took the helm last month as the director of San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. McSpadden is coming to the department at a pivotal time. At last count, the city had more than \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2019HIRDReport_SanFrancisco_FinalDraft-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">8,000 people\u003c/a> experiencing homelessness, and experts have predicted that number could grow as a result of pandemic-related job losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s overseeing a department with a budget that’s grown more than 60% to nearly \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/HSH-FY21-23-Budget-Deck_LHCB_6.7.2021_corrected.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$672 million\u003c/a>. The dramatic increase is a result of newly released funding from Proposition C, a tax on corporate revenues that voters approved in 2018, to fund new housing and services for people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former executive director of the Department of Disability and Aging Services, McSpadden takes over from Abigail Stewart-Kahn, who served as interim director of the department during the pandemic after former Director Jeff Kositsky stepped down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, McSpadden toured one of San Francisco’s newest permanent supportive housing sites, the Post Hotel, operated by Episcopal Community Services and Caritas Management Corporation. The converted hotel will provide housing for 89 adults and couples, including 18 existing tenants. Residents will pay no more than 30% of their income toward rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McSpadden said the hotel represents “a great example” of Mayor London Breed’s \u003ca href=\"https://sfmayor.org/article/mayor-london-breed-announces-plan-fund-homelessness-recovery-plan-prioritizing-housing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Homelessness Recovery Plan\u003c/a>, which includes placing 4,500 households in permanent housing with supportive services onsite over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11878669\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11878669\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS50026_004_SanFrancisco_PostHotel_06172021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shireen McSpadden, director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, visiting a room at the Post Hotel in San Francisco on June 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>McSpadden spoke with KQED about her vision and priorities for the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for clarity and length.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>What Policy Implementation Might Look Like\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You mentioned the Post Hotel is a good example of what the mayor’s plan on homelessness will look like. Could you talk a little bit about what implementing this policy is going to look like?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We're looking to [do] 4,500 placements in the next two years, which is huge. It’s really a huge commitment on the part of the city. We're able to do it because of Prop. C dollars, because of the mayor's budget and the emphasis she places on homelessness and making sure that people have the right supports. We can move people into housing, but without those supportive pieces of it, sometimes people don't stabilize in housing. And we've seen that with a lot of the populations on the street. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'There's such an equity piece to homelessness. We know that close to 40% of the people who are homeless are African American ... It's part of making sure that people who've been displaced in San Francisco actually have a home to go to.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's exciting for various reasons. One of them is there's such an equity piece to homelessness. We know that close to 40% of the people who are homeless are African American. And the city has a history of not doing well by the African American population, a horrible history. It's part of making sure that people who've been displaced in San Francisco actually have a home to go to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a chance for us to think about ways that we serve our residents better across the city. So, we're not only thinking about having supportive housing in this area, we're thinking about how we do this across the city so that there's a geographical equity piece to that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To me, it's just really exciting to come into the department at this time when we have an unprecedented amount of resources. We're also building up the department, so that we will really be able to respond to the needs of people, get our contracts out the door quicker and things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's just a lot happening at once. There's a confluence of federal, state and local resources that are finally coming together in a way that makes sense and that really will help us make a much larger dent in this issue than we've been able to do in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Department Priorities\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>There’s a lot that needs to get done. What are your priorities for the department?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a really good framework at this department. We have really good interventions, whether it's problem solving and prevention or it's housing people and all the other things that we do.\u003cbr>\nBut I think we still have a lot of gaps even within those buckets. Trying to tease out what those are and figuring out how do we create a better system for people to enter? Can we make things quicker?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We can look at certain populations and see if we can do a better job. Again, equity is a huge thing and it's a huge thing for us to tackle because we have such an inequity in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the big things for this department is that it's new. It was formed in 2016 by bringing together staff from a couple of different departments. It's been under-resourced, and we're in the process now of really building up our capacity and building up our staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's important because with all this money, we have to be able to be the engine that gets it out the door, ultimately to get people housed. And we're challenged by that right now because we're in building mode. So doing that as quickly as possible is really important, and that's a high priority for us.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Staffing Up to Distribute Proposition C Funds\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>With all this new money — distributing around $1 billion in Prop. C funds over the next few years, new state and federal money — it’s all coming together. But without the capacity to get the money out the door, then it just sits in the bank. You brought on two new positions to your leadership team: Noelle Simmons, the former deputy director at the [San Francisco] Human Services Agency, and Cynthia Nagendra, the former executive director at the [UCSF] Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. Can you tell me a little bit about what else is going on with the staffing and how the department is trying to build itself up so it is really positioned to get the money out the door quickly?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, it's hiring right now. Our team is working fast and furiously to hire all of these positions that we have. We have new positions in our budget. Right now, I think we have about 130 staff and we've got something like 80 positions that we will be hiring for, which is a ton when you think about the size of the department. And so we're doing that as quickly as we can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>At this point, Emily Cohen, a spokesperson for the department, chimed in to add that the department’s budget is growing by 62%.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Emily Cohen:\u003c/strong> In terms of operationalizing that, tracking it, accountability, ensuring we have due diligence and public process to get it out the door, we want to have the highest level of integrity in everything we do. It turns out that takes capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Shireen McSpadden:\u003c/strong> The other thing is we want to be able to communicate our success. We want to be able to show that we're moving the needle. We hear a lot of frustration in the community about what's not being done. We want to be able to show what we are doing and how many people really have been housed. So we're going to be working on that. Certainly we track information, and we have data but we continuously want to improve that process. We also want to think about how we communicate to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Bridging the Equity Gap\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You talked a little bit earlier about gap in equity. I'm just wondering, could you give me an example of some things where there might be gaps, or disconnects, that you're looking to bridge?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are challenged a little bit by our process in being able to reach specific populations. And I'll give one example, and that's because I came from the Department of Disability and Aging. One example is older people. I have known older people who don't rise to the top in terms of priority, but they're clearly 80 and homeless. So that's just one example of how I think we need to tweak our system a little bit to figure out how we can change that. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Maintaining a Sense of Urgency\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>So much happened during the pandemic — the city opened around 2,000 units of new, interim shelter in a very short period of time under the state’s Project Roomkey. And I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how the pandemic created a new sense of urgency to get people experiencing homelessness into housing, quickly. But, homelessness was a humanitarian crisis before the pandemic, and we weren’t seeing that same sense of urgency. How do you maintain that sense of urgency even as the economy reopens and people begin to return to a sense of normalcy?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's an interesting question. I've always thought of it as being urgent. What did happen during the pandemic is people came together better. But to me, it is a very urgent issue for people in this city, for homeless people, but also for people who are housed, who see homelessness and don't like it for various reasons, either for humanitarian reasons or because they see it as scary or dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think there's a high level of urgency. I do think that COVID taught us a lot about what we can do and what we can fund and how that makes a difference. And so I think to that end, we'll keep the sense of urgency as well.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "How a Landless Native American Tribe in California Is Housing Its Homeless Members | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Cheyanne Wright felt stuck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 23-year-old was renting a room from her boyfriend’s mother in Stockton. Her relationship with the woman had soured during the coronavirus pandemic after an argument exploded over using the kitchen. Things became so tense that Wright no longer felt safe leaving the room she shared with her boyfriend and her 4-year-old son. Space got even tighter after she gave birth to their son, Romeo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just wasn’t working and it was really stressful,” Wright said. “I just tried to stay positive as much as possible, because [kids] can feel your stress and when you’re unhappy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More Stories From KQED's Homekey Series\" postID=\"news_11877000,news_11876745\"]Wright had lost her job as a resident assistant at an elder care home in early 2020. She was desperate for a better housing situation, but all the rentals she found were over $1,200 a month, which was out of her reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And when you have a family, it makes it really, really hard because you have to buy the food. You have to buy their clothes or diapers,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wright grew up in the Mendocino County city of Ukiah, three hours from Stockton. She longed to return to rural Northern California to be closer to the redwood trees, the mountains — and to her tribe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wright is Native American and an enrolled tribal member of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, and thought they might be able to help her find a new job and a pediatrician for her newborn. She reached out to her cousin, Joshua Ray, who is a social worker with the tribe, to see if he knew of any rooms opening up in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ray said he had something better: Her own two-bedroom apartment in Lakeport — across the street from Clear Lake — where the Scotts Valley tribe is headquartered. And at $450 a month, the rent was something she could afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just felt blessed,” she said. “It really saved us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Wright moved in mid-February, she was one of the first residents at the 10-unit apartment complex. The goal is to eventually rent out all the units to tribal members who are currently homeless or at risk of losing their housing. The tribe estimates that about 33 of its 302 enrolled members fit into this category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the second-floor deck of one of the units, you can see the edge of Clear Lake, once a rich resource for Pomo people to fish and hunt game. Tall tule reeds growing along the water’s edge were used to make baskets, boats and even entire homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small apartment building, which the tribe just this week named the Sugar Bowl Apartments, was purchased and remodeled using funding from \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/homekey.shtml\">Homekey\u003c/a>, a statewide effort to quickly convert existing properties into temporary or permanent housing. Since launching in June 2020, the program has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11877000/californias-homekey-is-revolutionizing-homeless-housing-but-can-it-last\">created nearly 6,000 new units statewide\u003c/a> for people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lake County project is one of three awarded to Northern California tribes during Homekey’s first year of funding. In Sonoma County, the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians are converting a Santa Rosa motel into 19 apartments for people who are chronically homeless. And in Humboldt County, the Yurok Tribe was awarded $2.2 million to purchase a Eureka motel and turn it into 18 units of permanent supportive housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877618\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877618 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joshua Ray, a social worker with the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, inside an apartment in Lakeport on May 14, 2021 that’s being remodeled for new tenants. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ray oversees the management and renovation of the Lakeport complex. The units were run-down when the building was purchased last year, he says, and have since been renovated with a fresh coat of paint, laminate wood flooring, a new roof and new appliances — including air conditioning. He hopes the complex will become a small modern-day village, with Native people lifting each other up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal is for me to help you become better than you were when you moved in here. To get you a better job. You’re going to be saving money,” he said, money that could go toward a down payment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The need for more tribal housing to reduce homelessness becomes abundantly clear when reviewing the statistics. Nationally, \u003ca href=\"https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-2020/\">Native Americans have the second-highest rate of homelessness\u003c/a> among all racial groups, behind Pacific Islanders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For American Indians living on reservation land, homelessness often translates into overcrowding. \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/HNAIHousingNeeds.pdf\">A 2017 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report\u003c/a> found 16% of tribal households were considered overcrowded, compared with only 2% of households nationwide. Without enough affordable, safe housing, two or three families sometimes live under one roof — like Wright did in Stockton — often a last resort before falling into street homelessness or staying at a shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Lake County, Native Americans make up about 4% of the general population, but account for over 22% of the homeless population, according to the county’s 2021 \u003ca href=\"https://www.lakecoc.org/2021-pit-count-restults\">point-in-time homeless count\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have a big tribe, but we do have a tribe that doesn’t have housing,” said Ray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also a tribe that doesn’t have land, he adds, which further exacerbates their housing challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>No Land, No Home\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The story of how the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians lost their land is rooted in our country’s origin story. It’s a history of disenfranchisement, relocation and assimilation forged by European settlers and the federal government, with the goal of eliminating tribes and erasing native culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877627\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877627 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pomo dancers perform during a tribal youth event in Upper Lake, California, on May 14, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But two government policies, in particular, were most harmful to Ray’s tribe: the termination of tribal status and the voluntary relocation of Native people off their reservation and into urban cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For centuries, the Scotts Valley tribe roamed from the mountains surrounding Clear Lake to the Pacific coast and down to San Pablo Bay. After a series of false promises and broken treaties, the federal government, in 1911, purchased a 56-acre parcel of land near Lakeport for the tribe to live on. But the Sugar Bowl Rancheria, as it was named, lacked water and basic utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tribe then lost that land in 1965, when the government terminated its tribal status, along with that of over 100 other tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around the same time, government relocation programs ushered Native people to cities, promising good housing and steady jobs. But that didn’t always happen, and some people disappeared into poverty or homelessness.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Patricia Franklin, member of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians\"]‘It’s a tough thing when you don’t have a place to call home and lay your head. And I finally do at my house. But I want my tribe to have a home, too.’[/pullquote]As a result of these programs, about 70% of Scotts Valley tribal members had relocated to the Bay Area by the 1970s. After a years-long court battle, the tribe had their status restored in 1992, but their homeland was never replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very challenging because we don’t have a place to call home,” said Patricia Franklin, a Scotts Valley tribal member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because Scotts Valley is a landless tribe, its members are spread out across Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Many members live about two hours away from the tribe’s offices in Lakeport, making it difficult to have centralized health and housing services and stay united as a community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Native people, being homeless takes on a whole different meaning when you consider the legacy of racism, colonialism and land theft, says Colleen Echohawk, founder of the National Coalition to End Urban Indigenous Homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can trace it back to the very first moments of colonization in this country,” she said, noting that there were no Native homeless people before Europeans arrived in 1492.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The folks that were coming into the West were like, ‘Hey, we want this land,’ ” she said. “And they moved us all into reservations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arrival of European settlers brought diseases, forced assimilation and violent massacres of Native communities. Echohawk says many Native people today are still traumatized and distrustful of government involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve worked with elders who for years stuck outside, slept in tents, but did not want to go anywhere near a shelter. That’s because it triggered the trauma of boarding schools, those institutionalized systems that harmed them,” she said, referring to the Indian boarding schools that many Native children were sent to as part of the government’s drive to forcibly assimilate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11875075\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11875075 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A plaque on the site of the Bloody Island massacre near Upper Lake, California. The plaque was installed by the Native Sons of the Golden West and downplays the murder of men, women and children here in 1850 at the hands of U.S. soldiers. It is covered with red paint to signify the blood spilled. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Off Highway 20 near Lakeport, a dirt road leads to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11818362/marking-a-california-massacre-with-a-native-ceremony-of-forgiveness\">another site of loss and violence\u003c/a> specific to the Pomo people — a small hill past a large grassy field. It’s what remains of Bonopoti, an island where U.S. soldiers in 1850 killed nearly every man, woman and child — in what came to be known as Bloody Island. Every year, on May 15, the tribe holds \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11874585/we-always-have-our-ancestors-within-us-scenes-from-bloody-islands-sunrise-ceremony\">a sunrise ceremony\u003c/a> at the site to remember the lives lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11874585 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony-1020x633.jpg']“It’s something that occurred to our people,” said Scotts Valley tribal member Jesse Gonzalez. “That, you know, our people never forgot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Breaking the Cycle\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513X12447178?journalCode=jfia&\">growing body of research\u003c/a> has found that historical trauma in Native communities can be passed down through generations. Today, many Scotts Valley tribal members are plagued by poverty, depression and substance abuse, says Gabriel Ray, Joshua Ray’s uncle, who sits on the Scotts Valley tribal council. More than half of the tribe’s members are currently unemployed, he notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our members don’t even realize that their life has been so affected by historical trauma,” Gabriel Ray said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tribal member Patricia Franklin, Gabriel Ray’s sister, knows this firsthand. She grew up poor and was homeless most of her childhood. She, Ray and their other siblings would sleep in their car near Hopland or camp along the banks of Lake Mendocino, sometimes even during the winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You start to think, this is normal,” she said. “But your normal is totally different than the rest of the world’s normal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]Because they moved around a lot and didn’t have stable housing, Franklin and her siblings would often miss school for months at a time. She taught herself to read when she was 7 by sounding out the words she saw in her mom’s magazines. It wasn’t until she was an adult that she went back to school to learn math and how to write, eventually earning her GED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were just surviving,” Franklin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Franklin has had her own struggles with alcohol and methamphetamine addiction, and experienced homelessness again as an adult, staying at a local shelter on and off with her kids. She eventually got sober after reconnecting with her faith and her tribe, and she was later elected to the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877628\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11877628\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patricia Franklin performing with other Pomo dancers during a tribal youth event in Upper Lake, California, on May 14, 2021.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2008, the Scotts Valley tribe received a $600,000 federal housing grant to help six families with their down payments. Franklin was one of the recipients, allowing her to buy a home in Ukiah, where she still lives with her husband Dino and their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having a home has helped her heal, she says, and allowed her to reconnect with her culture and identity. She’s started to dance again and is part of a group of Pomo weavers who are trying to revive traditional basket weaving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a tough thing when you don’t have a place to call home and lay your head. And I finally do at my house,” she said. “But I want my tribe to have a home, too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Native-Led Housing\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Lakeport apartments purchased under the Homekey program mark the most significant action to date the Scotts Valley tribe has taken to house its own members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand our own people,” said Franklin. “We always try to help. And so now we’re going to be able to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a few other Native-led housing projects around the country, including several in Minnesota. In Seattle, Colleen Echohawk, the housing activist, spearheaded one that’s set to open in the fall. She says the 80-unit project will be decorated with Indigenous art, include a Native health care clinic, and offer housing and employment assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hopes that it shows other Native organizations that culturally specific housing is possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we build our own housing, when we own our own housing, when we run our own housing, we’re continuing to message that we are healing, that we are resilient,” Echohawk said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877616\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877616 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A deck with views of Clear Lake at the new Homekey apartment complex in Lakeport. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The apartment complex in Lakeport is just part of the Scotts Valley tribe’s greater housing vision. That includes a safe house, alcohol and substance rehabilitation, and a plot of land where the tribe could one day build its own community with housing for families and elders. But to reach that goal, it will need more funding and more land, which is likely years in the making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Camille Miller is on a waiting list to move into the Lakeport apartment site. She lost her job and her partner during the pandemic, and has since drained her savings to make the rent. She says getting into one of the apartments will help her get back on her feet, adding that the prospect of living among other Native people puts her at ease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My roots are here,” she said. “This is where we belong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Cheyanne Wright felt stuck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 23-year-old was renting a room from her boyfriend’s mother in Stockton. Her relationship with the woman had soured during the coronavirus pandemic after an argument exploded over using the kitchen. Things became so tense that Wright no longer felt safe leaving the room she shared with her boyfriend and her 4-year-old son. Space got even tighter after she gave birth to their son, Romeo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just wasn’t working and it was really stressful,” Wright said. “I just tried to stay positive as much as possible, because [kids] can feel your stress and when you’re unhappy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Wright had lost her job as a resident assistant at an elder care home in early 2020. She was desperate for a better housing situation, but all the rentals she found were over $1,200 a month, which was out of her reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And when you have a family, it makes it really, really hard because you have to buy the food. You have to buy their clothes or diapers,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wright grew up in the Mendocino County city of Ukiah, three hours from Stockton. She longed to return to rural Northern California to be closer to the redwood trees, the mountains — and to her tribe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wright is Native American and an enrolled tribal member of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, and thought they might be able to help her find a new job and a pediatrician for her newborn. She reached out to her cousin, Joshua Ray, who is a social worker with the tribe, to see if he knew of any rooms opening up in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ray said he had something better: Her own two-bedroom apartment in Lakeport — across the street from Clear Lake — where the Scotts Valley tribe is headquartered. And at $450 a month, the rent was something she could afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just felt blessed,” she said. “It really saved us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Wright moved in mid-February, she was one of the first residents at the 10-unit apartment complex. The goal is to eventually rent out all the units to tribal members who are currently homeless or at risk of losing their housing. The tribe estimates that about 33 of its 302 enrolled members fit into this category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the second-floor deck of one of the units, you can see the edge of Clear Lake, once a rich resource for Pomo people to fish and hunt game. Tall tule reeds growing along the water’s edge were used to make baskets, boats and even entire homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small apartment building, which the tribe just this week named the Sugar Bowl Apartments, was purchased and remodeled using funding from \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/homekey.shtml\">Homekey\u003c/a>, a statewide effort to quickly convert existing properties into temporary or permanent housing. Since launching in June 2020, the program has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11877000/californias-homekey-is-revolutionizing-homeless-housing-but-can-it-last\">created nearly 6,000 new units statewide\u003c/a> for people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lake County project is one of three awarded to Northern California tribes during Homekey’s first year of funding. In Sonoma County, the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians are converting a Santa Rosa motel into 19 apartments for people who are chronically homeless. And in Humboldt County, the Yurok Tribe was awarded $2.2 million to purchase a Eureka motel and turn it into 18 units of permanent supportive housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877618\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877618 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49293_009_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joshua Ray, a social worker with the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, inside an apartment in Lakeport on May 14, 2021 that’s being remodeled for new tenants. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ray oversees the management and renovation of the Lakeport complex. The units were run-down when the building was purchased last year, he says, and have since been renovated with a fresh coat of paint, laminate wood flooring, a new roof and new appliances — including air conditioning. He hopes the complex will become a small modern-day village, with Native people lifting each other up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal is for me to help you become better than you were when you moved in here. To get you a better job. You’re going to be saving money,” he said, money that could go toward a down payment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The need for more tribal housing to reduce homelessness becomes abundantly clear when reviewing the statistics. Nationally, \u003ca href=\"https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-2020/\">Native Americans have the second-highest rate of homelessness\u003c/a> among all racial groups, behind Pacific Islanders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For American Indians living on reservation land, homelessness often translates into overcrowding. \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/HNAIHousingNeeds.pdf\">A 2017 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report\u003c/a> found 16% of tribal households were considered overcrowded, compared with only 2% of households nationwide. Without enough affordable, safe housing, two or three families sometimes live under one roof — like Wright did in Stockton — often a last resort before falling into street homelessness or staying at a shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Lake County, Native Americans make up about 4% of the general population, but account for over 22% of the homeless population, according to the county’s 2021 \u003ca href=\"https://www.lakecoc.org/2021-pit-count-restults\">point-in-time homeless count\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have a big tribe, but we do have a tribe that doesn’t have housing,” said Ray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also a tribe that doesn’t have land, he adds, which further exacerbates their housing challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>No Land, No Home\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The story of how the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians lost their land is rooted in our country’s origin story. It’s a history of disenfranchisement, relocation and assimilation forged by European settlers and the federal government, with the goal of eliminating tribes and erasing native culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877627\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877627 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49358_086_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pomo dancers perform during a tribal youth event in Upper Lake, California, on May 14, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But two government policies, in particular, were most harmful to Ray’s tribe: the termination of tribal status and the voluntary relocation of Native people off their reservation and into urban cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For centuries, the Scotts Valley tribe roamed from the mountains surrounding Clear Lake to the Pacific coast and down to San Pablo Bay. After a series of false promises and broken treaties, the federal government, in 1911, purchased a 56-acre parcel of land near Lakeport for the tribe to live on. But the Sugar Bowl Rancheria, as it was named, lacked water and basic utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tribe then lost that land in 1965, when the government terminated its tribal status, along with that of over 100 other tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around the same time, government relocation programs ushered Native people to cities, promising good housing and steady jobs. But that didn’t always happen, and some people disappeared into poverty or homelessness.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As a result of these programs, about 70% of Scotts Valley tribal members had relocated to the Bay Area by the 1970s. After a years-long court battle, the tribe had their status restored in 1992, but their homeland was never replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very challenging because we don’t have a place to call home,” said Patricia Franklin, a Scotts Valley tribal member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because Scotts Valley is a landless tribe, its members are spread out across Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Many members live about two hours away from the tribe’s offices in Lakeport, making it difficult to have centralized health and housing services and stay united as a community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Native people, being homeless takes on a whole different meaning when you consider the legacy of racism, colonialism and land theft, says Colleen Echohawk, founder of the National Coalition to End Urban Indigenous Homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can trace it back to the very first moments of colonization in this country,” she said, noting that there were no Native homeless people before Europeans arrived in 1492.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The folks that were coming into the West were like, ‘Hey, we want this land,’ ” she said. “And they moved us all into reservations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arrival of European settlers brought diseases, forced assimilation and violent massacres of Native communities. Echohawk says many Native people today are still traumatized and distrustful of government involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve worked with elders who for years stuck outside, slept in tents, but did not want to go anywhere near a shelter. That’s because it triggered the trauma of boarding schools, those institutionalized systems that harmed them,” she said, referring to the Indian boarding schools that many Native children were sent to as part of the government’s drive to forcibly assimilate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11875075\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11875075 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/RS49203_069_UpperLake_BloodyIslandSunriseCeremony_05152021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A plaque on the site of the Bloody Island massacre near Upper Lake, California. The plaque was installed by the Native Sons of the Golden West and downplays the murder of men, women and children here in 1850 at the hands of U.S. soldiers. It is covered with red paint to signify the blood spilled. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Off Highway 20 near Lakeport, a dirt road leads to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11818362/marking-a-california-massacre-with-a-native-ceremony-of-forgiveness\">another site of loss and violence\u003c/a> specific to the Pomo people — a small hill past a large grassy field. It’s what remains of Bonopoti, an island where U.S. soldiers in 1850 killed nearly every man, woman and child — in what came to be known as Bloody Island. Every year, on May 15, the tribe holds \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11874585/we-always-have-our-ancestors-within-us-scenes-from-bloody-islands-sunrise-ceremony\">a sunrise ceremony\u003c/a> at the site to remember the lives lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It’s something that occurred to our people,” said Scotts Valley tribal member Jesse Gonzalez. “That, you know, our people never forgot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Breaking the Cycle\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513X12447178?journalCode=jfia&\">growing body of research\u003c/a> has found that historical trauma in Native communities can be passed down through generations. Today, many Scotts Valley tribal members are plagued by poverty, depression and substance abuse, says Gabriel Ray, Joshua Ray’s uncle, who sits on the Scotts Valley tribal council. More than half of the tribe’s members are currently unemployed, he notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our members don’t even realize that their life has been so affected by historical trauma,” Gabriel Ray said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tribal member Patricia Franklin, Gabriel Ray’s sister, knows this firsthand. She grew up poor and was homeless most of her childhood. She, Ray and their other siblings would sleep in their car near Hopland or camp along the banks of Lake Mendocino, sometimes even during the winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You start to think, this is normal,” she said. “But your normal is totally different than the rest of the world’s normal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Because they moved around a lot and didn’t have stable housing, Franklin and her siblings would often miss school for months at a time. She taught herself to read when she was 7 by sounding out the words she saw in her mom’s magazines. It wasn’t until she was an adult that she went back to school to learn math and how to write, eventually earning her GED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were just surviving,” Franklin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Franklin has had her own struggles with alcohol and methamphetamine addiction, and experienced homelessness again as an adult, staying at a local shelter on and off with her kids. She eventually got sober after reconnecting with her faith and her tribe, and she was later elected to the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877628\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11877628\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49368_096_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patricia Franklin performing with other Pomo dancers during a tribal youth event in Upper Lake, California, on May 14, 2021.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2008, the Scotts Valley tribe received a $600,000 federal housing grant to help six families with their down payments. Franklin was one of the recipients, allowing her to buy a home in Ukiah, where she still lives with her husband Dino and their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having a home has helped her heal, she says, and allowed her to reconnect with her culture and identity. She’s started to dance again and is part of a group of Pomo weavers who are trying to revive traditional basket weaving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a tough thing when you don’t have a place to call home and lay your head. And I finally do at my house,” she said. “But I want my tribe to have a home, too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Native-Led Housing\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Lakeport apartments purchased under the Homekey program mark the most significant action to date the Scotts Valley tribe has taken to house its own members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand our own people,” said Franklin. “We always try to help. And so now we’re going to be able to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a few other Native-led housing projects around the country, including several in Minnesota. In Seattle, Colleen Echohawk, the housing activist, spearheaded one that’s set to open in the fall. She says the 80-unit project will be decorated with Indigenous art, include a Native health care clinic, and offer housing and employment assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hopes that it shows other Native organizations that culturally specific housing is possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we build our own housing, when we own our own housing, when we run our own housing, we’re continuing to message that we are healing, that we are resilient,” Echohawk said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877616\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877616 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49303_019_LakeCounty_ProjectHomekey_05142021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A deck with views of Clear Lake at the new Homekey apartment complex in Lakeport. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The apartment complex in Lakeport is just part of the Scotts Valley tribe’s greater housing vision. That includes a safe house, alcohol and substance rehabilitation, and a plot of land where the tribe could one day build its own community with housing for families and elders. But to reach that goal, it will need more funding and more land, which is likely years in the making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Camille Miller is on a waiting list to move into the Lakeport apartment site. She lost her job and her partner during the pandemic, and has since drained her savings to make the rent. She says getting into one of the apartments will help her get back on her feet, adding that the prospect of living among other Native people puts her at ease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My roots are here,” she said. “This is where we belong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Mountain View's New Homekey Site Serves as Temporary Refuge for City's Growing Homeless Population",
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"content": "\u003cp>Clyde Julian landed on Mountain View’s streets in November 2020. He used to live with his wife and two kids in Roseville, north of Sacramento, but after a domestic dispute, moved to the heart of Silicon Valley to stay with his brother in a trailer park community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the community had strict rules about long-term guests, and without other options to fall back on, Julian started living on the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Living on the streets, not knowing if you’re going to wake up the next day, it was just hard sleeping on the outside, sometimes without blankets, in the freezing cold,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More Stories From KQED's Homekey Series\" postID=\"news_11877585,news_11877000\"]Over the next six months, Julian gained 60 pounds and developed a myriad of health issues. But he caught a break after being referred to \u003ca href=\"https://www.lifemoves.org/\">LifeMoves\u003c/a>, a South Bay housing nonprofit. And in May, he was among the first to move into the organization’s new modular housing site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just glad to be here. I mean, everything is great out here,” Julian said. “Better than staying out on the streets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lifemoves.org/homekey/\">LifeMoves Mountain View\u003c/a>, as it’s called, is part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/homekey.shtml\">Homekey,\u003c/a> a statewide program that in just the last year has produced nearly 6,000 new units of housing at 94 different sites across the state. While the majority of the program’s new sites are hotel and motel conversions, they also include apartment buildings and tiny homes, in addition to former vacation rentals, mobile homes and single-family homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LifeMoves worked with the city to build modular housing on an empty industrial parking lot. The prefabricated units were built in a factory and assembled on site. Joanne Price, LifeMoves’ vice president of real estate and operations, says modular housing was much cheaper and faster to build: The entire site came together in nine months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Hotels] still need renovation, so they may be built already, but then it’s really hard to modify hotels when you’re occupying them,” she said. “Rapid housing, like the modular [we built] with Homekey, can be purchased and installed within a matter of months.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877272\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877272 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Image-from-iOS-scaled-e1623281916550.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clyde Julian stands in front of his room on May 20, 2021 at a newly constructed Homekey site in Mountain View, where he is one of the first tenants. \u003ccite>(Adhiti Bandlamudi/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Christina Dickerson, who sits on the LifeMoves’ board, says the site is also more customizable than typical brick-and-mortar models, and its layout is optimized for the services LifeMoves offers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So not only is it cost-effective, but it’s flexible, which allows cities that we partner with to redevelop as is needed or change the type of housing that is needed in a particular area,” Dickerson said. “Brick-and-mortar infrastructure is more expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site, which expects to receive ongoing funding from Santa Clara County and corporate donors after support from the state dries up, resembles neat rows of shipping containers. Close to the entrance are family units with private bathrooms, and a nearby playground. Behind that is a communal kitchen, which provides three meals a day, and a small hall where LifeMoves plans to offer job fairs, movie nights and other social activities for residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit also provides access to supportive services, including mental health treatment, financial literacy and job training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877276\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877276 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A family housing unit still under construction at LifeMoves Mountain View contains a room with two bunk beds. The space provides temporary housing and resources to people who are currently unhoused in the city. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Every client that is homeless has got there by a different reason, and we need to unravel that reason and connect that client with the right resources,” Price said. “Be it health care, be it social services, be it connection to jobs, employment, reuniting with family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward the back of the site are the single units — where Julian is now staying. Each one consists of a narrow room with a bed and a desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now I can just relax and be calm and see my next step,” Julian said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, it’s just a peace of mind for me to relax here and get my mind cleared up,” he added. “Next would be to get back to work, hopefully to get my own place and have my two little ones come live with me here.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Clyde Julian, LifeMoves Mountain View temporary resident\"]‘Right now, it’s just a peace of mind for me to relax here and get my mind cleared up.’[/pullquote]The site can house up to 124 people at a time, but only temporarily — intended as a launching point for those who need some help getting back on their feet. In contrast to some other Homekey sites, where tenants can stay for long periods, and in some cases, permanently, Julian will only be able to stay here for three to four months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dickerson says that short-term stay is by design. “There are people who are going to go from our place into permanent supportive housing because they will forever need the support,” she said. “But there’s a whole lot of people who will be able to live on their own again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of LifeMoves’ goal is to help its clients find permanent housing before they depart. But that concerns some housing advocates, like Lenny Siegel, Mountain View’s former mayor, who fears program participants will be forced to move elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877275\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11877275\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A communal dining space at LifeMoves Mountain View, a modular housing community, on June 8, 2021. The space provides temporary housing and resources to people currently unhoused in the city. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“And elsewhere means far from Mountain View because housing in Mountain View is too expensive for people who don’t have an income,” Siegel said. “In Mountain View, whether you’re owning a home or even renting, you have to have a six-figure income.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/preservation/living_in_vehicles_and_homeless_information.asp\">2019 survey\u003c/a> tallied more than 600 homeless people in Mountain View, including people living in RVs and oversized vehicles. Last November, voters in the city passed\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11848619/mountain-view-voters-passed-measure-c-now-what-happens-to-rv-dwellers\"> Measure C\u003c/a>, which will soon ban most oversized vehicles from parking on the majority of the city’s residential streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]Siegel is convinced the city’s homeless population has grown during the coronavirus pandemic, and says he’s concerned many in this group won’t benefit from the new Homekey site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think some people in the city expect that [the site’s] going to make a dent in our vehicle resident population, our motor-home population, and the evidence I’ve seen suggests it won’t work for that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain View is also working on other permanent housing projects for low-income people, including refurbishing the\u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/housing/active_projects/crestview_hotel/default.asp\"> Crestview Hotel\u003c/a> and developing the\u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/preservation/lot_12/lot_12_rfp.asp\"> Lot 12 project \u003c/a>on an empty parking lot downtown, which will include a six-story apartment complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For its part, LifeMoves officials say they want to house as many people as possible, and hope they can serve those living in RVs and oversized vehicles. But for now, they want to focus on helping people like Julian, who they say more urgently need shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A temporary housing facility for homeless people in Mountain View opened its doors last month as part of California’s Homekey program. The site can accommodate up to 124 people at a time, but only temporarily, a factor some housing advocates consider problematic.",
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"title": "Mountain View's New Homekey Site Serves as Temporary Refuge for City's Growing Homeless Population | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Clyde Julian landed on Mountain View’s streets in November 2020. He used to live with his wife and two kids in Roseville, north of Sacramento, but after a domestic dispute, moved to the heart of Silicon Valley to stay with his brother in a trailer park community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the community had strict rules about long-term guests, and without other options to fall back on, Julian started living on the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Living on the streets, not knowing if you’re going to wake up the next day, it was just hard sleeping on the outside, sometimes without blankets, in the freezing cold,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Over the next six months, Julian gained 60 pounds and developed a myriad of health issues. But he caught a break after being referred to \u003ca href=\"https://www.lifemoves.org/\">LifeMoves\u003c/a>, a South Bay housing nonprofit. And in May, he was among the first to move into the organization’s new modular housing site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just glad to be here. I mean, everything is great out here,” Julian said. “Better than staying out on the streets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lifemoves.org/homekey/\">LifeMoves Mountain View\u003c/a>, as it’s called, is part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/homekey.shtml\">Homekey,\u003c/a> a statewide program that in just the last year has produced nearly 6,000 new units of housing at 94 different sites across the state. While the majority of the program’s new sites are hotel and motel conversions, they also include apartment buildings and tiny homes, in addition to former vacation rentals, mobile homes and single-family homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LifeMoves worked with the city to build modular housing on an empty industrial parking lot. The prefabricated units were built in a factory and assembled on site. Joanne Price, LifeMoves’ vice president of real estate and operations, says modular housing was much cheaper and faster to build: The entire site came together in nine months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Hotels] still need renovation, so they may be built already, but then it’s really hard to modify hotels when you’re occupying them,” she said. “Rapid housing, like the modular [we built] with Homekey, can be purchased and installed within a matter of months.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877272\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877272 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Image-from-iOS-scaled-e1623281916550.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clyde Julian stands in front of his room on May 20, 2021 at a newly constructed Homekey site in Mountain View, where he is one of the first tenants. \u003ccite>(Adhiti Bandlamudi/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Christina Dickerson, who sits on the LifeMoves’ board, says the site is also more customizable than typical brick-and-mortar models, and its layout is optimized for the services LifeMoves offers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So not only is it cost-effective, but it’s flexible, which allows cities that we partner with to redevelop as is needed or change the type of housing that is needed in a particular area,” Dickerson said. “Brick-and-mortar infrastructure is more expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site, which expects to receive ongoing funding from Santa Clara County and corporate donors after support from the state dries up, resembles neat rows of shipping containers. Close to the entrance are family units with private bathrooms, and a nearby playground. Behind that is a communal kitchen, which provides three meals a day, and a small hall where LifeMoves plans to offer job fairs, movie nights and other social activities for residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit also provides access to supportive services, including mental health treatment, financial literacy and job training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877276\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11877276 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49756_025_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A family housing unit still under construction at LifeMoves Mountain View contains a room with two bunk beds. The space provides temporary housing and resources to people who are currently unhoused in the city. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Every client that is homeless has got there by a different reason, and we need to unravel that reason and connect that client with the right resources,” Price said. “Be it health care, be it social services, be it connection to jobs, employment, reuniting with family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward the back of the site are the single units — where Julian is now staying. Each one consists of a narrow room with a bed and a desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now I can just relax and be calm and see my next step,” Julian said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, it’s just a peace of mind for me to relax here and get my mind cleared up,” he added. “Next would be to get back to work, hopefully to get my own place and have my two little ones come live with me here.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The site can house up to 124 people at a time, but only temporarily — intended as a launching point for those who need some help getting back on their feet. In contrast to some other Homekey sites, where tenants can stay for long periods, and in some cases, permanently, Julian will only be able to stay here for three to four months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dickerson says that short-term stay is by design. “There are people who are going to go from our place into permanent supportive housing because they will forever need the support,” she said. “But there’s a whole lot of people who will be able to live on their own again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of LifeMoves’ goal is to help its clients find permanent housing before they depart. But that concerns some housing advocates, like Lenny Siegel, Mountain View’s former mayor, who fears program participants will be forced to move elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877275\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11877275\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49741_010_MountainView_ProjectHomekey_06082021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A communal dining space at LifeMoves Mountain View, a modular housing community, on June 8, 2021. The space provides temporary housing and resources to people currently unhoused in the city. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“And elsewhere means far from Mountain View because housing in Mountain View is too expensive for people who don’t have an income,” Siegel said. “In Mountain View, whether you’re owning a home or even renting, you have to have a six-figure income.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/preservation/living_in_vehicles_and_homeless_information.asp\">2019 survey\u003c/a> tallied more than 600 homeless people in Mountain View, including people living in RVs and oversized vehicles. Last November, voters in the city passed\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11848619/mountain-view-voters-passed-measure-c-now-what-happens-to-rv-dwellers\"> Measure C\u003c/a>, which will soon ban most oversized vehicles from parking on the majority of the city’s residential streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Siegel is convinced the city’s homeless population has grown during the coronavirus pandemic, and says he’s concerned many in this group won’t benefit from the new Homekey site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think some people in the city expect that [the site’s] going to make a dent in our vehicle resident population, our motor-home population, and the evidence I’ve seen suggests it won’t work for that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain View is also working on other permanent housing projects for low-income people, including refurbishing the\u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/housing/active_projects/crestview_hotel/default.asp\"> Crestview Hotel\u003c/a> and developing the\u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/preservation/lot_12/lot_12_rfp.asp\"> Lot 12 project \u003c/a>on an empty parking lot downtown, which will include a six-story apartment complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For its part, LifeMoves officials say they want to house as many people as possible, and hope they can serve those living in RVs and oversized vehicles. But for now, they want to focus on helping people like Julian, who they say more urgently need shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "californias-homekey-is-revolutionizing-homeless-housing-but-can-it-last",
"title": "Faster, Cheaper: How California Is Revolutionizing Homeless Housing — And Why It Might Not Last",
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"headTitle": "Faster, Cheaper: How California Is Revolutionizing Homeless Housing — And Why It Might Not Last | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Letta “Oneka” Glover checked into the shelter in San Rafael, she was exhausted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s 50 and has bad knees, a condition made worse by sleeping in her car. That’s where she was living in February when she heard about the new shelter on Kerner Boulevard. She moved in a week later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was relief,” Glover said. “I felt like I could kind of let my shoulders down, you know, and not have to be so on guard about everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More Stories From KQED's Homekey Series\" postID=\"news_11877585,news_11876745\"]This shelter isn’t like others, where she’s stayed. It’s tucked into the third floor of an office building that was once home to a legal services company. But instead of desks and chairs inside the offices, there are cots. The old lobby is now a shared work space, with computers for residents to search for jobs and housing. Large windows line a common room, with views of Mount Tamalpais.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Usually, temporary shelters are built in factories or warehouses, said Paul Fordham, deputy executive director of Homeward Bound of Marin, which is operating the shelter until it can be converted into permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But there’s so much light here,” he said. “It’s a very dignified, nice space to rebuild your life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site is one of 94 projects funded through \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/homekey.shtml\">Homekey\u003c/a>, a statewide program that’s created nearly 6,000 new units of housing. While the majority are hotel and motel conversions, they also include tiny homes and former vacation rentals, a college dormitory and single-family houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Project Homekey Sites\" aria-label=\"Map\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-x4dU5\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/x4dU5/11/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"852\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Homekey is barely a year old, Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing a massive $7 billion, 46,000-unit expansion of the program. Half of the funding would be dedicated to housing for people with acute behavioral and mental health needs. It’s all part of his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11873157/newsom-wants-12-billion-to-house-californias-homeless-residents-calling-situation-unacceptable\">$12 billion proposal\u003c/a> to combat homelessness over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Policy experts, service providers and others who work on homelessness in California have lauded Homekey as a monumental step in creating desperately needed new subsidized housing for the state’s more than \u003ca href=\"https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">161,000 homeless residents\u003c/a>. But they’re only cautiously optimistic about its future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the projects will need additional money to convert to permanent housing, and they’ll also need ongoing funding to pay for services that are often critical for keeping people housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a great concept,” said Ellen Hammerle, Catholic Charities’ chief programs officer. “My concern is that we need to sustain it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, this new housing will need to produce a visible reduction in chronic homelessness, said Andrew Hening, co-founder of the nonprofit Opening Doors Marin. It’s an issue voters say is one of their \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/04/bay-area-residents-are-fed-up-with-the-homelessness-crisis/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">top concerns\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the public’s perception of this issue, if we don’t solve chronic homelessness, then it’s going to feel like nothing has been accomplished,” Hening said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A ‘Herculean’ Task\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The idea of converting existing buildings into housing for people experiencing homelessness had been bandied about for years, said Jason Elliott, Newsom’s senior counselor on housing. But it had never been tried at this scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the coronavirus pandemic hit California, Newsom’s administration first launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11838323/heres-how-california-is-turning-hotels-into-housing-for-formerly-homeless-people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Project Roomkey\u003c/a>, an effort to temporarily house some 23,000 homeless seniors and medically vulnerable people in hotels and motels across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11847782/thousands-of-homeless-people-were-placed-in-hotels-due-to-covid-19-now-many-are-homeless-again\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">where would they all go\u003c/a> once those hotels close? Homekey was one answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So the question is,” Elliott said, “how do you get housing open as quickly and cost effectively as possible?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Homekey \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/06/30/governor-newsom-visits-project-roomkey-site-in-bay-area-to-announce-homekey-the-next-phase-in-states-covid-19-response-to-protect-homeless-californians/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">launched\u003c/a> in June 2020. To pay for it, the state relied on \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/12/29/governor-newsom-announces-major-homekey-milestone-all-94-sites-closing-escrow-ahead-of-deadline/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$750 million\u003c/a> in federal CARES Act funding and nearly $100 million in state general funds and \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-27/behested-payments-newsom-top-donors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">philanthropic donations\u003c/a>. The federal money, however, had to be spent by the end of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That meant cities and counties had to identify and evaluate sites, find service providers and development partners, get the projects approved and close escrow — all within a matter of months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11877008\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Parra sits in a communal dining area in a former office building in San Rafael that was recently converted into a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The timeline was “Herculean,” said Ashley Hart McIntyre, Marin County’s homelessness policy analyst. But it also helped the projects quickly clear hurdles that typically take years to overcome: The state Legislature waived some environmental reviews to speed projects along, and there was less time for community opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, the program has become a national model, said Diane Yentel, the president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In the \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1319/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">latest round of federal stimulus\u003c/a>, approved in March, Congress allocated $5 billion for states to create new affordable housing, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/04/08/homeless-hud-marcia-fudge/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hotel and motel conversions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think we would have been able to be successful in getting Congress to put that $5 billion forward for this purpose if we hadn’t had states like California take that first step,” Yentel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many city and county officials also say Homekey helped overcome some of the bureaucracy that’s come to define \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-112/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California’s disjointed approach\u003c/a> to addressing homelessness. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-112/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scathing audit\u003c/a> published earlier this year found there are nine state agencies administering 41 separate programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]Mike Walsh, deputy director at the Riverside County Housing Authority, said his agency was able to apply to one large pot of money that was then used for multiple projects, including one for LGBTQ+ youth in downtown Riverside and another for immigrant farmworker communities in Oasis, Mecca and Thermal. To him, that was a big deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really allows us to be creative and come up with different types of projects,” he said. “That level of flexibility under one program creates efficiency without having to say, ‘OK, we apply for this bucket of money for the farmworkers, and this bucket of money for the LGBTQ youth.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Hidden Costs\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In addition to the speed and flexibility of the initiative, Newsom’s administration has touted Homekey’s comparatively low cost. They \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/plans-reports/docs/hcd100_homekeyreport_v18.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">frequently highlight\u003c/a> the average amount of CARES Act funding spent on each of Homekey’s nearly 6,000 housing units — $129,254 — pointing out that it’s well below the \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/LIHTC_Construction_Costs_March_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statewide average of $480,000 per unit\u003c/a> for new affordable housing construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that lower per-unit cost belies two important caveats: Most of the projects required city and county matching funds, bringing the total average development cost to $226,000, according to data from the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. And many of the projects — like the Kerner Boulevard office building in San Rafael — will need additional funding to convert from temporary to permanent housing, which means the full costs are not yet known.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the case of the Kerner Boulevard site, nonprofit developer Eden Housing is planning to apply for roughly $24 million in federal and state funding, plus a private loan, that will go toward seismic and Americans With Disabilities Act upgrades, as well as new interior walls, kitchenettes and bathrooms, said Andrea Osgood, the nonprofit’s vice president of real estate development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877009\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11877009\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The outside of a former office building in San Rafael that was recently converted into a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With 41 units and a total development cost of around $31 million, including the initial Homekey funding, the final per-unit cost comes in at around $756,000 — a price comparable to new construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Osgood said, Homekey’s real benefit is that it allowed her organization to quickly break through some of the biggest barriers affordable housing projects face: the permitting process and neighborhood opposition. Getting the building meant it could then be used to leverage other federal and state funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By comparison, Eden is working on another affordable housing project in San Rafael that will break ground around the same time as the Kerner Boulevard location. Osgood says she’s been working on that project for around seven years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Homekey money really helped us secure the opportunity and the building, and then operate it as a shelter in this interim phase,” Osgood said. “Just being able to have that site and also feel secure that housing is going to happen there — it’s huge.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Letta “Oneka” Glover, Homekey housing recipient\"]‘It was relief. I felt like I could kind of let my shoulders down, you know, and not have to be so on guard about everything.’[/pullquote]Oneka Glover has already moved out of the Kerner Boulevard shelter and into another nearby transitional housing program, which she said she really likes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dorms are smaller and more private. There’s a garden. The kitchen has more food options and is open all day. And there are a ton of services onsite, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes, when I go out for the day, I can’t wait to get back,” Glover said, “because I feel like I’m coming home, you know? Even though it’s not my home, I just feel safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, her goal is to move into a place that will be home. And that’s the goal of Homekey: to provide permanent housing for more people like her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case of Kerner Boulevard, however, shows that creating it often takes time and can be complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other projects have a more straightforward path. Many of the hotel conversions won’t require as large of an investment, because they’ll only need kitchenettes installed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And some won’t need any additional funding. In Oakland, Bay Area Community Services purchased 17 single-family houses that will be used as group homes, with an average per-unit cost of around $102,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the homes were move-in ready,” said Jamie Almanza, the nonprofit’s CEO. “We were able to acquire all the homes within a three-month span of time, and then we did very minor improvements as needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Homekey’s Future\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>But buying the building is only the first step, and it’s still unclear where ongoing funding for onsite services and maintenance will come from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have the same question that many others in the field have, which is what’s a sustainable source of funding?” said Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the Center for Vulnerable Populations at UCSF. “Because it’s not a one-time expense. A one-time expense is necessary, but not sufficient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state required all of the applicants to submit plans for how they would pay for up to five years of operations. And, it’s also funding up to two years of operating expenses for some projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, once that funding expires, there aren’t many places for service providers to apply to get the money they would need to keep operating, said Catholic Charities’ Ellen Hammerle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, we’re kind of in a creative process at the moment,” Hammerle said. “I would say, ‘It’s developing.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877004\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11877004\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Resident Daunte Floyd Beauchamp stands in his dorm room at an office space in San Rafael that was recently converted into a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jason Elliott, Newsom’s housing adviser, said it was better to act quickly to get the money out the door and buy the buildings than wait for all the details to be worked out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a challenge that every affordable housing project faces at some level and in some time frame,” Elliott said. “But, I’d rather answer those questions with people under roofs than with them living under overpasses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, Kushel says there is a danger in moving too quickly — that speed could come at the cost of equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the state looks to expand Homekey, Kushel said special attention must be paid to ensure Homekey doesn’t perpetuate the systems that have failed so many people of color, particularly African Americans. Black people make up \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">6.5% of the general population\u003c/a> in California, but \u003ca href=\"https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">31% of its homeless population\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the application process, cities and counties had to explain how their proposed projects would address inequities in their communities. But it’s unclear whether the approved projects actually do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations\"]‘It has been so hard to separate the homelessness crisis from all of the impacts of structural racism.’[/pullquote]The state doesn’t yet have racial demographic data on who is benefiting from Homekey, said Housing and Community Development Department’s Zack Olmstead. But, he expects to have more data this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has been so hard to separate the homelessness crisis from all of the impacts of structural racism,” Kushel said. “And I worry if we’re not being really intentional about it, you could wind up unintentionally replicating the racism or the disparities that we see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, Kushel says, in the rush to house people quickly, there’s also the risk of leaving out people who need housing the most. People who have been homeless for years will need the most help transitioning into housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people with the biggest impairments might not be able to walk through the door on the first day,” Kushel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office agrees. In his proposal to expand Homekey, the governor proposed $3.5 billion for board and care homes and other types of clinical residential facilities to specifically target people with acute behavioral and mental health needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re looking to make meaningful and sustainable change,” Elliott said. “The way to do that is through housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED staff reporters Molly Solomon and Adhiti Bandlamudi contributed to this story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Letta “Oneka” Glover checked into the shelter in San Rafael, she was exhausted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s 50 and has bad knees, a condition made worse by sleeping in her car. That’s where she was living in February when she heard about the new shelter on Kerner Boulevard. She moved in a week later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was relief,” Glover said. “I felt like I could kind of let my shoulders down, you know, and not have to be so on guard about everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This shelter isn’t like others, where she’s stayed. It’s tucked into the third floor of an office building that was once home to a legal services company. But instead of desks and chairs inside the offices, there are cots. The old lobby is now a shared work space, with computers for residents to search for jobs and housing. Large windows line a common room, with views of Mount Tamalpais.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Usually, temporary shelters are built in factories or warehouses, said Paul Fordham, deputy executive director of Homeward Bound of Marin, which is operating the shelter until it can be converted into permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But there’s so much light here,” he said. “It’s a very dignified, nice space to rebuild your life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site is one of 94 projects funded through \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/homekey.shtml\">Homekey\u003c/a>, a statewide program that’s created nearly 6,000 new units of housing. While the majority are hotel and motel conversions, they also include tiny homes and former vacation rentals, a college dormitory and single-family houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Project Homekey Sites\" aria-label=\"Map\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-x4dU5\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/x4dU5/11/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"852\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Homekey is barely a year old, Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing a massive $7 billion, 46,000-unit expansion of the program. Half of the funding would be dedicated to housing for people with acute behavioral and mental health needs. It’s all part of his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11873157/newsom-wants-12-billion-to-house-californias-homeless-residents-calling-situation-unacceptable\">$12 billion proposal\u003c/a> to combat homelessness over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Policy experts, service providers and others who work on homelessness in California have lauded Homekey as a monumental step in creating desperately needed new subsidized housing for the state’s more than \u003ca href=\"https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">161,000 homeless residents\u003c/a>. But they’re only cautiously optimistic about its future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the projects will need additional money to convert to permanent housing, and they’ll also need ongoing funding to pay for services that are often critical for keeping people housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a great concept,” said Ellen Hammerle, Catholic Charities’ chief programs officer. “My concern is that we need to sustain it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, this new housing will need to produce a visible reduction in chronic homelessness, said Andrew Hening, co-founder of the nonprofit Opening Doors Marin. It’s an issue voters say is one of their \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/04/bay-area-residents-are-fed-up-with-the-homelessness-crisis/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">top concerns\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the public’s perception of this issue, if we don’t solve chronic homelessness, then it’s going to feel like nothing has been accomplished,” Hening said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A ‘Herculean’ Task\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The idea of converting existing buildings into housing for people experiencing homelessness had been bandied about for years, said Jason Elliott, Newsom’s senior counselor on housing. But it had never been tried at this scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the coronavirus pandemic hit California, Newsom’s administration first launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11838323/heres-how-california-is-turning-hotels-into-housing-for-formerly-homeless-people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Project Roomkey\u003c/a>, an effort to temporarily house some 23,000 homeless seniors and medically vulnerable people in hotels and motels across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11847782/thousands-of-homeless-people-were-placed-in-hotels-due-to-covid-19-now-many-are-homeless-again\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">where would they all go\u003c/a> once those hotels close? Homekey was one answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So the question is,” Elliott said, “how do you get housing open as quickly and cost effectively as possible?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Homekey \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/06/30/governor-newsom-visits-project-roomkey-site-in-bay-area-to-announce-homekey-the-next-phase-in-states-covid-19-response-to-protect-homeless-californians/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">launched\u003c/a> in June 2020. To pay for it, the state relied on \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/12/29/governor-newsom-announces-major-homekey-milestone-all-94-sites-closing-escrow-ahead-of-deadline/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$750 million\u003c/a> in federal CARES Act funding and nearly $100 million in state general funds and \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-27/behested-payments-newsom-top-donors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">philanthropic donations\u003c/a>. The federal money, however, had to be spent by the end of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That meant cities and counties had to identify and evaluate sites, find service providers and development partners, get the projects approved and close escrow — all within a matter of months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11877008\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49392_006_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Parra sits in a communal dining area in a former office building in San Rafael that was recently converted into a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The timeline was “Herculean,” said Ashley Hart McIntyre, Marin County’s homelessness policy analyst. But it also helped the projects quickly clear hurdles that typically take years to overcome: The state Legislature waived some environmental reviews to speed projects along, and there was less time for community opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, the program has become a national model, said Diane Yentel, the president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In the \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1319/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">latest round of federal stimulus\u003c/a>, approved in March, Congress allocated $5 billion for states to create new affordable housing, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/04/08/homeless-hud-marcia-fudge/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hotel and motel conversions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think we would have been able to be successful in getting Congress to put that $5 billion forward for this purpose if we hadn’t had states like California take that first step,” Yentel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many city and county officials also say Homekey helped overcome some of the bureaucracy that’s come to define \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-112/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California’s disjointed approach\u003c/a> to addressing homelessness. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-112/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scathing audit\u003c/a> published earlier this year found there are nine state agencies administering 41 separate programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Mike Walsh, deputy director at the Riverside County Housing Authority, said his agency was able to apply to one large pot of money that was then used for multiple projects, including one for LGBTQ+ youth in downtown Riverside and another for immigrant farmworker communities in Oasis, Mecca and Thermal. To him, that was a big deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really allows us to be creative and come up with different types of projects,” he said. “That level of flexibility under one program creates efficiency without having to say, ‘OK, we apply for this bucket of money for the farmworkers, and this bucket of money for the LGBTQ youth.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Hidden Costs\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In addition to the speed and flexibility of the initiative, Newsom’s administration has touted Homekey’s comparatively low cost. They \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/plans-reports/docs/hcd100_homekeyreport_v18.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">frequently highlight\u003c/a> the average amount of CARES Act funding spent on each of Homekey’s nearly 6,000 housing units — $129,254 — pointing out that it’s well below the \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/LIHTC_Construction_Costs_March_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statewide average of $480,000 per unit\u003c/a> for new affordable housing construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that lower per-unit cost belies two important caveats: Most of the projects required city and county matching funds, bringing the total average development cost to $226,000, according to data from the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. And many of the projects — like the Kerner Boulevard office building in San Rafael — will need additional funding to convert from temporary to permanent housing, which means the full costs are not yet known.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the case of the Kerner Boulevard site, nonprofit developer Eden Housing is planning to apply for roughly $24 million in federal and state funding, plus a private loan, that will go toward seismic and Americans With Disabilities Act upgrades, as well as new interior walls, kitchenettes and bathrooms, said Andrea Osgood, the nonprofit’s vice president of real estate development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877009\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11877009\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49433_047_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The outside of a former office building in San Rafael that was recently converted into a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With 41 units and a total development cost of around $31 million, including the initial Homekey funding, the final per-unit cost comes in at around $756,000 — a price comparable to new construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Osgood said, Homekey’s real benefit is that it allowed her organization to quickly break through some of the biggest barriers affordable housing projects face: the permitting process and neighborhood opposition. Getting the building meant it could then be used to leverage other federal and state funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By comparison, Eden is working on another affordable housing project in San Rafael that will break ground around the same time as the Kerner Boulevard location. Osgood says she’s been working on that project for around seven years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Homekey money really helped us secure the opportunity and the building, and then operate it as a shelter in this interim phase,” Osgood said. “Just being able to have that site and also feel secure that housing is going to happen there — it’s huge.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It was relief. I felt like I could kind of let my shoulders down, you know, and not have to be so on guard about everything.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Oneka Glover has already moved out of the Kerner Boulevard shelter and into another nearby transitional housing program, which she said she really likes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dorms are smaller and more private. There’s a garden. The kitchen has more food options and is open all day. And there are a ton of services onsite, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes, when I go out for the day, I can’t wait to get back,” Glover said, “because I feel like I’m coming home, you know? Even though it’s not my home, I just feel safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, her goal is to move into a place that will be home. And that’s the goal of Homekey: to provide permanent housing for more people like her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case of Kerner Boulevard, however, shows that creating it often takes time and can be complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other projects have a more straightforward path. Many of the hotel conversions won’t require as large of an investment, because they’ll only need kitchenettes installed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And some won’t need any additional funding. In Oakland, Bay Area Community Services purchased 17 single-family houses that will be used as group homes, with an average per-unit cost of around $102,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the homes were move-in ready,” said Jamie Almanza, the nonprofit’s CEO. “We were able to acquire all the homes within a three-month span of time, and then we did very minor improvements as needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Homekey’s Future\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>But buying the building is only the first step, and it’s still unclear where ongoing funding for onsite services and maintenance will come from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have the same question that many others in the field have, which is what’s a sustainable source of funding?” said Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the Center for Vulnerable Populations at UCSF. “Because it’s not a one-time expense. A one-time expense is necessary, but not sufficient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state required all of the applicants to submit plans for how they would pay for up to five years of operations. And, it’s also funding up to two years of operating expenses for some projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, once that funding expires, there aren’t many places for service providers to apply to get the money they would need to keep operating, said Catholic Charities’ Ellen Hammerle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, we’re kind of in a creative process at the moment,” Hammerle said. “I would say, ‘It’s developing.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877004\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11877004\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49418_032_SanRafael_ProjectHomekey_05172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Resident Daunte Floyd Beauchamp stands in his dorm room at an office space in San Rafael that was recently converted into a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jason Elliott, Newsom’s housing adviser, said it was better to act quickly to get the money out the door and buy the buildings than wait for all the details to be worked out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a challenge that every affordable housing project faces at some level and in some time frame,” Elliott said. “But, I’d rather answer those questions with people under roofs than with them living under overpasses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, Kushel says there is a danger in moving too quickly — that speed could come at the cost of equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the state looks to expand Homekey, Kushel said special attention must be paid to ensure Homekey doesn’t perpetuate the systems that have failed so many people of color, particularly African Americans. Black people make up \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">6.5% of the general population\u003c/a> in California, but \u003ca href=\"https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">31% of its homeless population\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the application process, cities and counties had to explain how their proposed projects would address inequities in their communities. But it’s unclear whether the approved projects actually do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It has been so hard to separate the homelessness crisis from all of the impacts of structural racism.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The state doesn’t yet have racial demographic data on who is benefiting from Homekey, said Housing and Community Development Department’s Zack Olmstead. But, he expects to have more data this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has been so hard to separate the homelessness crisis from all of the impacts of structural racism,” Kushel said. “And I worry if we’re not being really intentional about it, you could wind up unintentionally replicating the racism or the disparities that we see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, Kushel says, in the rush to house people quickly, there’s also the risk of leaving out people who need housing the most. People who have been homeless for years will need the most help transitioning into housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people with the biggest impairments might not be able to walk through the door on the first day,” Kushel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office agrees. In his proposal to expand Homekey, the governor proposed $3.5 billion for board and care homes and other types of clinical residential facilities to specifically target people with acute behavioral and mental health needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re looking to make meaningful and sustainable change,” Elliott said. “The way to do that is through housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED staff reporters Molly Solomon and Adhiti Bandlamudi contributed to this story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "from-new-york-to-helsinki-what-the-bay-area-can-learn-in-addressing-homelessness",
"title": "From New York to Helsinki: What the Bay Area Can Learn in Addressing Homelessness",
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"headTitle": "From New York to Helsinki: What the Bay Area Can Learn in Addressing Homelessness | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]H[/dropcap]omeless encampments are so ubiquitous in the Bay Area, they’ve become a part of the landscape as people seek shelter in tents and RVs, along residential streets and under highway overpasses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious listener Matthew Schmitz lives in San Francisco’s Mission District and was shocked to see this kind of extreme poverty in a region as wealthy as the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t seem to make sense,” he said. “It feels dystopian.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It made him wonder: How does homelessness in San Francisco — and by extension, the Bay Area — compare to other major cities across the globe? Are more people experiencing homelessness in the Bay Area, or is it just more visible?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you look at just the numbers, the rate of homelessness in San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area is really high. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-surpasses-other-large-California-cities-14271160.php\">San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/a> analysis found that Oakland and San Francisco had the highest rates of homelessness per capita, compared to other large cities in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/coc-homeless-populations-and-subpopulations-reports/\">more than 8,000 people\u003c/a> experienced homelessness in San Francisco on any given night, and the vast majority — more than 5,100 — were unsheltered. That is, they spent the night either sleeping on the street or in cars, tents and RVs. And if we count the entire nine-county Bay Area, there were more than 35,000 homeless people in 2020. Nearly three-quarters of them lived outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But comparing San Francisco and the greater Bay Area to other cities around the world is not as simple as comparing numbers on a chart. That’s because there’s no international definition for what it means to be homeless.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Not apples to apples\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen it comes to defining who is homeless, countries stick to three broad categories, according to Marissa Plouin, a housing researcher at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international policy group. The first category is for “rough sleepers,” or people who sleep in tents, on sidewalks or park benches. The second category covers people who are living in temporary institutional settings, like emergency shelters, mental health facilities or jails, but don’t have a home to return to when they leave. And finally, the third category includes people who are couch surfing with family or friends, or are otherwise living in crowded, unstable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11870665\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Encampments and motor homes in West Oakland\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Encampments and motor homes near 24th and Wood streets in West Oakland on March 25, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some countries — like Australia and New Zealand — use the broadest definition, counting all three categories, Plouin said. Others, like Japan, count only rough sleepers and people in certain types of institutions. Plouin said the United States is somewhere in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not really comparing, in all cases, apples to apples and oranges to oranges,” Plouin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here in the U.S., it is easier to make comparisons between big cities. That’s because the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a more uniform process for getting a snapshot of the number of people who are homeless. It’s called the point-in-time count, and it involves an inventory of who is living in shelters, as well as sending out volunteers to manually count people on the street on a given night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you look at those numbers, there are some startling differences between cities in California and other big cities across the country. Take New York City, where housing costs are as high — or sometimes higher — than in the Bay Area. But unlike in San Francisco, you won’t see sprawling homeless encampments in New York City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/coc-homeless-populations-and-subpopulations-reports/\">latest count\u003c/a>, there were nearly 78,000 people experiencing homelessness in New York City in 2020, but the vast majority — nearly 71,000 — slept in shelters. Giselle Routhier, the policy director at the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, said a big reason for that stark contrast is a policy called the “right to shelter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Right to shelter\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the late 1970s, mass homelessness as we know it today was just beginning to emerge across the country. A young lawyer in New York City, Robert Hayes, befriended a man experiencing homelessness who told him that he would have liked to get into the city’s shelters, but that he kept getting turned away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were no beds for him,” Routhier said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11838323' label='More Reading']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Hayes sued the state and the city, arguing that the state constitution required the city to provide shelter for its residents. And, he won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a huge victory, Routhier said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The point of the shelter system is to provide a basic safety net,” she said, “so that people actually have a roof over their head, have access to food and bathrooms and space to be while they are homeless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the shelters first opened, they were massive, said Dr. Deborah Padgett, a professor of social work at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They would take over a whole armory and then fill it with up to 900 men and beds and a huge open floor,” she said. “And that became sort of intolerable — just the size and the scale of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over time, Padgett said the shelters evolved and became smaller. The city introduced cluster apartments, where families would share a kitchen and bathrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it hasn’t solved homelessness in New York City, where \u003ca href=\"https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/3/22151208/nyc-is-home-to-more-than-111000-homeless-students-new-data-shows\">one in 10 public school children experience homlessness\u003c/a>. Instead, Padgett says it’s created an intensely bureaucratic shelter industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11870666\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless.jpg\" alt=\"Families who are homeless wait to get into an emergency shelter in New York City.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Homeless families try to keep their belongings dry while waiting for housing placement outside of the emergency overnight shelter intake center Oct. 11, 2007 in the Bronx borough of New York City. \u003ccite>(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I call it an industry because there are dozens and dozens of nonprofits that get millions of dollars a year in contracts to run shelters,” she said. “And so you have thousands and thousands of people whose jobs depend on homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New York City spends \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-citys-spending-on-homeless-hits-3-2-billion-this-year-11558562997#:~:text=Spending%20on%20homelessness%20in%20New,Wednesday%20by%20Comptroller%20Scott%20Stringer.\">more than $3 billion a year on homelessness\u003c/a>, but Padgett said moving from the shelter system into permanent, affordable housing is “almost a dream that never comes true.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People spend years in shelters,” she said. “There’s this huge bottleneck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem is that New York is legally obligated to spend all of this money on shelters to comply with the right to shelter mandate. That leaves them with fewer resources to spend on housing, and like in the Bay Area, it’s incredibly expensive to build.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Solving homelessness by giving people a home\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here is a place an ocean away that has done the opposite of New York City and is now considered \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness\">a model for reducing homelessness\u003c/a>. In Finland, housing authorities tore down the country’s once vast shelter system and replaced it with affordable apartments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You could say that we stole the idea from the U.S.,” said Freek Spinnewijn, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.feantsa.org/en\">European Federation of National Organizations Working With the Homeless\u003c/a>, or FEANTSA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early 1990s, Sam Tsemberis, a homeless services provider in New York City, came up with a radically new concept when it came to addressing homelessness. He called it “Housing First.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea was really simple: The solution to homelessness is housing. And in order for people to address the root causes of their homelessness — whether that’s getting sober, accessing mental health treatment, getting medical care or getting a job — they had to have a place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1980s, Finland looked a lot like New York City: The shelter system was a revolving door for the country’s 20,000 homeless people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So in 2008, a four-person working group — a politician, an activist, a sociologist and a bishop — got in a room together and devised a new plan to tackle homelessness. They also called it Housing First, and policymakers adopted it as Finland’s national policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not rocket science at all,” said Juha Kaakinen, CEO of the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://ysaatio.fi/en/home\">Y-Foundation\u003c/a> and one of the original architects of Finland’s Housing First approach. “In Finnish society, we have this thinking that housing should be a basic human right, that society has to take care of its members.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/oecd/47846161552/in/photolist-25n1gT4-2fU16iE-2fU164S-2fU16Ys-2eLRS1W-25n1gEi-2ezEbRn-2fU17es-2ezEb4k-2fU15SE-2eLRRHG-25n1gXx-2ezEbsg-2eLRRLh-2ezEbbK-2fU15LN-2fU167N-2fU16MA-2ezEbVv-2fU15TS-2ezEc6a-2ezEcgv-2ezEc8e-2eLRRYw-2fU15Q5\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11870667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen.jpg\" alt=\"Juha Kaakinen\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juha Kaakinen speaking at 2019 OECD Housing Forum: Your Investment, My Home \u003ccite>(Andrew Wheeler / OECD/\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/oecd/47846161552/in/photolist-25n1gT4-2fU16iE-2fU164S-2fU16Ys-2eLRS1W-25n1gEi-2ezEbRn-2fU17es-2ezEb4k-2fU15SE-2eLRRHG-25n1gXx-2ezEbsg-2eLRRLh-2ezEbbK-2fU15LN-2fU167N-2fU16MA-2ezEbVv-2fU15TS-2ezEc6a-2ezEcgv-2ezEc8e-2eLRRYw-2fU15Q5\">Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, Finland has 5,400 homeless people, a 40% reduction in homelessness since the Housing First policy was adopted. Street homelessness is almost nonexistent and only one 50-bed emergency shelter in the country remains. Finnish officials say the country is on track to end homelessness by 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spinnewijn attributed the country’s success to long-term commitment from political leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Finland, there is a consensus that Housing First is the way to go,” Spinnewijn said. “So they’re not afraid of the elections. Whatever political coalition comes into power, Housing First will continue. And so it allowed them to have a longer-term perspective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finland has invested heavily in supportive housing and permanently affordable apartments, also called social housing. Kaakinen’s Y-Foundation is the fourth-largest landlord in Finland, with 17,300 social housing units meant for low-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are very good quality. That’s the special thing with social housing. If you go around in the housing area in Helsinki, you can’t make the difference which one is private housing and which one is social housing,” Kaakinen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But building new, permanently affordable housing isn’t cheap. Finland has spent about 350 million euros on Housing First since the policy began more than a decade ago. The bulk of that money is spent on building new affordable housing and buying rental units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Finnish officials argue the policy saves taxpayers around 15,000 euros a year, from fewer emergency room visits, encounters with police and other social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By comparison, San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/about/budget/\">proposed budget\u003c/a> for its Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for the upcoming year is a little more than $567 million. More than half, or about 54%, is dedicated to providing rent subsidies, operating permanent, supportive housing and building new housing. About 12% funds the city’s shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Could San Francisco Follow Finland’s Lead?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here is a movement in San Francisco to build more permanently affordable housing as a long-term solution to homelessness. In 2018, voters approved Proposition C, a new tax that has so far \u003ca href=\"https://sfcontroller.org/sites/default/files/Our%20City%2C%20Our%20Home/OCOH%20Comm.%20Meeting%20One%20Final%20Presentation.pdf\">raised nearly $600 million, with another $300 million expected to come in this year\u003c/a>, and is primarily dedicated to creating new, affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11870668\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Tents are spaced for social distancing at Bay View Park K.C. Jones Playground on May 5, 2020.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tents are spaced for social distancing at Bay View Park K.C. Jones Playground on April 5, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Proposition C nearly doubles the amount of money available annually to address homelessness, and represents a sea change in the city’s approach to solving homelessness, said Christin Evans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Prop. C funds are a game changer for the city,” said Evans, a local book store owner and one of the proponents of Proposition C. “It’s giving a significant amount of resources to service providers who have a proven track record in helping people exit homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But San Francisco is only one of 101 cities across the Bay Area. And, it won’t be able to solve homelessness on its own. Many of the most impactful financial resources for housing programs come from state and federal governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Gov. Gavin Newsom allocated over \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/12/29/governor-newsom-announces-major-homekey-milestone-all-94-sites-closing-escrow-ahead-of-deadline/\">$800 million in funding last year\u003c/a> to create some 6,000 new units of permanent housing through a program called \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11838323/heres-how-california-is-turning-hotels-into-housing-for-formerly-homeless-people\">Project Homekey\u003c/a>. And, he’s proposing doubling down on that program this year, with another $750 million. The 6,000 new units won’t be nearly enough to house everyone experiencing homelessness in California, but even so, it represents one of the largest expansions of affordable housing for formerly homeless residents in the state’s recent history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the federal level, President Biden has \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/biden-administration-will-bring-new-focus-on-housing-and-possibly-new-funding-as-well/\">declared housing a human right\u003c/a> — becoming the first president to do so since\u003cbr>\nFranklin D. Roosevelt. And, he has proposed vastly expanding the federal rental voucher program to prevent more people from becoming homeless, as well as doubling the amount of new funding for affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in order for these policies to be truly effective — and to put a significant dent in the Bay Area’s homeless population — they will need to outlive Newsom’s and Biden’s terms in office. The U.S. will have to learn from Finland’s example and commit to a policy that doesn’t change course with every election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Too many countries try to solve homelessness or radically reduce it within one political mandate,” said FEANSTA’s Freek Spinnewijn. “And that’s not possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Comparing homelessness in the Bay Area to cities across the world isn't as simple as it sounds because there's not a universal definition for homelessness. But, we can learn some things from other places.",
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"title": "From New York to Helsinki: What the Bay Area Can Learn in Addressing Homelessness | KQED",
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"subhead": "How Does Bay Area Homelessness Compare Globally?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">H\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>omeless encampments are so ubiquitous in the Bay Area, they’ve become a part of the landscape as people seek shelter in tents and RVs, along residential streets and under highway overpasses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious listener Matthew Schmitz lives in San Francisco’s Mission District and was shocked to see this kind of extreme poverty in a region as wealthy as the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t seem to make sense,” he said. “It feels dystopian.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It made him wonder: How does homelessness in San Francisco — and by extension, the Bay Area — compare to other major cities across the globe? Are more people experiencing homelessness in the Bay Area, or is it just more visible?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you look at just the numbers, the rate of homelessness in San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area is really high. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-surpasses-other-large-California-cities-14271160.php\">San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/a> analysis found that Oakland and San Francisco had the highest rates of homelessness per capita, compared to other large cities in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/coc-homeless-populations-and-subpopulations-reports/\">more than 8,000 people\u003c/a> experienced homelessness in San Francisco on any given night, and the vast majority — more than 5,100 — were unsheltered. That is, they spent the night either sleeping on the street or in cars, tents and RVs. And if we count the entire nine-county Bay Area, there were more than 35,000 homeless people in 2020. Nearly three-quarters of them lived outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But comparing San Francisco and the greater Bay Area to other cities around the world is not as simple as comparing numbers on a chart. That’s because there’s no international definition for what it means to be homeless.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Not apples to apples\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen it comes to defining who is homeless, countries stick to three broad categories, according to Marissa Plouin, a housing researcher at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international policy group. The first category is for “rough sleepers,” or people who sleep in tents, on sidewalks or park benches. The second category covers people who are living in temporary institutional settings, like emergency shelters, mental health facilities or jails, but don’t have a home to return to when they leave. And finally, the third category includes people who are couch surfing with family or friends, or are otherwise living in crowded, unstable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11870665\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Encampments and motor homes in West Oakland\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS42267_001_KQED_Oakland_CoronavirusHomelessRelief_03252020_0007-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Encampments and motor homes near 24th and Wood streets in West Oakland on March 25, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some countries — like Australia and New Zealand — use the broadest definition, counting all three categories, Plouin said. Others, like Japan, count only rough sleepers and people in certain types of institutions. Plouin said the United States is somewhere in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not really comparing, in all cases, apples to apples and oranges to oranges,” Plouin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here in the U.S., it is easier to make comparisons between big cities. That’s because the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a more uniform process for getting a snapshot of the number of people who are homeless. It’s called the point-in-time count, and it involves an inventory of who is living in shelters, as well as sending out volunteers to manually count people on the street on a given night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you look at those numbers, there are some startling differences between cities in California and other big cities across the country. Take New York City, where housing costs are as high — or sometimes higher — than in the Bay Area. But unlike in San Francisco, you won’t see sprawling homeless encampments in New York City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/coc-homeless-populations-and-subpopulations-reports/\">latest count\u003c/a>, there were nearly 78,000 people experiencing homelessness in New York City in 2020, but the vast majority — nearly 71,000 — slept in shelters. Giselle Routhier, the policy director at the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, said a big reason for that stark contrast is a policy called the “right to shelter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Right to shelter\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n the late 1970s, mass homelessness as we know it today was just beginning to emerge across the country. A young lawyer in New York City, Robert Hayes, befriended a man experiencing homelessness who told him that he would have liked to get into the city’s shelters, but that he kept getting turned away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were no beds for him,” Routhier said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Hayes sued the state and the city, arguing that the state constitution required the city to provide shelter for its residents. And, he won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a huge victory, Routhier said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The point of the shelter system is to provide a basic safety net,” she said, “so that people actually have a roof over their head, have access to food and bathrooms and space to be while they are homeless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the shelters first opened, they were massive, said Dr. Deborah Padgett, a professor of social work at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They would take over a whole armory and then fill it with up to 900 men and beds and a huge open floor,” she said. “And that became sort of intolerable — just the size and the scale of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over time, Padgett said the shelters evolved and became smaller. The city introduced cluster apartments, where families would share a kitchen and bathrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it hasn’t solved homelessness in New York City, where \u003ca href=\"https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/3/22151208/nyc-is-home-to-more-than-111000-homeless-students-new-data-shows\">one in 10 public school children experience homlessness\u003c/a>. Instead, Padgett says it’s created an intensely bureaucratic shelter industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11870666\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless.jpg\" alt=\"Families who are homeless wait to get into an emergency shelter in New York City.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/NYC-homeless-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Homeless families try to keep their belongings dry while waiting for housing placement outside of the emergency overnight shelter intake center Oct. 11, 2007 in the Bronx borough of New York City. \u003ccite>(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I call it an industry because there are dozens and dozens of nonprofits that get millions of dollars a year in contracts to run shelters,” she said. “And so you have thousands and thousands of people whose jobs depend on homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New York City spends \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-citys-spending-on-homeless-hits-3-2-billion-this-year-11558562997#:~:text=Spending%20on%20homelessness%20in%20New,Wednesday%20by%20Comptroller%20Scott%20Stringer.\">more than $3 billion a year on homelessness\u003c/a>, but Padgett said moving from the shelter system into permanent, affordable housing is “almost a dream that never comes true.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People spend years in shelters,” she said. “There’s this huge bottleneck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem is that New York is legally obligated to spend all of this money on shelters to comply with the right to shelter mandate. That leaves them with fewer resources to spend on housing, and like in the Bay Area, it’s incredibly expensive to build.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Solving homelessness by giving people a home\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>here is a place an ocean away that has done the opposite of New York City and is now considered \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness\">a model for reducing homelessness\u003c/a>. In Finland, housing authorities tore down the country’s once vast shelter system and replaced it with affordable apartments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You could say that we stole the idea from the U.S.,” said Freek Spinnewijn, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.feantsa.org/en\">European Federation of National Organizations Working With the Homeless\u003c/a>, or FEANTSA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early 1990s, Sam Tsemberis, a homeless services provider in New York City, came up with a radically new concept when it came to addressing homelessness. He called it “Housing First.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea was really simple: The solution to homelessness is housing. And in order for people to address the root causes of their homelessness — whether that’s getting sober, accessing mental health treatment, getting medical care or getting a job — they had to have a place to live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1980s, Finland looked a lot like New York City: The shelter system was a revolving door for the country’s 20,000 homeless people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So in 2008, a four-person working group — a politician, an activist, a sociologist and a bishop — got in a room together and devised a new plan to tackle homelessness. They also called it Housing First, and policymakers adopted it as Finland’s national policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not rocket science at all,” said Juha Kaakinen, CEO of the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://ysaatio.fi/en/home\">Y-Foundation\u003c/a> and one of the original architects of Finland’s Housing First approach. “In Finnish society, we have this thinking that housing should be a basic human right, that society has to take care of its members.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/oecd/47846161552/in/photolist-25n1gT4-2fU16iE-2fU164S-2fU16Ys-2eLRS1W-25n1gEi-2ezEbRn-2fU17es-2ezEb4k-2fU15SE-2eLRRHG-25n1gXx-2ezEbsg-2eLRRLh-2ezEbbK-2fU15LN-2fU167N-2fU16MA-2ezEbVv-2fU15TS-2ezEc6a-2ezEcgv-2ezEc8e-2eLRRYw-2fU15Q5\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11870667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen.jpg\" alt=\"Juha Kaakinen\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/JuhaKaakinen-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juha Kaakinen speaking at 2019 OECD Housing Forum: Your Investment, My Home \u003ccite>(Andrew Wheeler / OECD/\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/oecd/47846161552/in/photolist-25n1gT4-2fU16iE-2fU164S-2fU16Ys-2eLRS1W-25n1gEi-2ezEbRn-2fU17es-2ezEb4k-2fU15SE-2eLRRHG-25n1gXx-2ezEbsg-2eLRRLh-2ezEbbK-2fU15LN-2fU167N-2fU16MA-2ezEbVv-2fU15TS-2ezEc6a-2ezEcgv-2ezEc8e-2eLRRYw-2fU15Q5\">Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, Finland has 5,400 homeless people, a 40% reduction in homelessness since the Housing First policy was adopted. Street homelessness is almost nonexistent and only one 50-bed emergency shelter in the country remains. Finnish officials say the country is on track to end homelessness by 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spinnewijn attributed the country’s success to long-term commitment from political leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Finland, there is a consensus that Housing First is the way to go,” Spinnewijn said. “So they’re not afraid of the elections. Whatever political coalition comes into power, Housing First will continue. And so it allowed them to have a longer-term perspective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finland has invested heavily in supportive housing and permanently affordable apartments, also called social housing. Kaakinen’s Y-Foundation is the fourth-largest landlord in Finland, with 17,300 social housing units meant for low-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are very good quality. That’s the special thing with social housing. If you go around in the housing area in Helsinki, you can’t make the difference which one is private housing and which one is social housing,” Kaakinen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But building new, permanently affordable housing isn’t cheap. Finland has spent about 350 million euros on Housing First since the policy began more than a decade ago. The bulk of that money is spent on building new affordable housing and buying rental units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Finnish officials argue the policy saves taxpayers around 15,000 euros a year, from fewer emergency room visits, encounters with police and other social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By comparison, San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/about/budget/\">proposed budget\u003c/a> for its Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for the upcoming year is a little more than $567 million. More than half, or about 54%, is dedicated to providing rent subsidies, operating permanent, supportive housing and building new housing. About 12% funds the city’s shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Could San Francisco Follow Finland’s Lead?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>here is a movement in San Francisco to build more permanently affordable housing as a long-term solution to homelessness. In 2018, voters approved Proposition C, a new tax that has so far \u003ca href=\"https://sfcontroller.org/sites/default/files/Our%20City%2C%20Our%20Home/OCOH%20Comm.%20Meeting%20One%20Final%20Presentation.pdf\">raised nearly $600 million, with another $300 million expected to come in this year\u003c/a>, and is primarily dedicated to creating new, affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11870668\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Tents are spaced for social distancing at Bay View Park K.C. Jones Playground on May 5, 2020.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS43035_008_KQED_SanFrancisco_TentEncampments_05052020-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tents are spaced for social distancing at Bay View Park K.C. Jones Playground on April 5, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Proposition C nearly doubles the amount of money available annually to address homelessness, and represents a sea change in the city’s approach to solving homelessness, said Christin Evans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Prop. C funds are a game changer for the city,” said Evans, a local book store owner and one of the proponents of Proposition C. “It’s giving a significant amount of resources to service providers who have a proven track record in helping people exit homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But San Francisco is only one of 101 cities across the Bay Area. And, it won’t be able to solve homelessness on its own. Many of the most impactful financial resources for housing programs come from state and federal governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Gov. Gavin Newsom allocated over \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/12/29/governor-newsom-announces-major-homekey-milestone-all-94-sites-closing-escrow-ahead-of-deadline/\">$800 million in funding last year\u003c/a> to create some 6,000 new units of permanent housing through a program called \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11838323/heres-how-california-is-turning-hotels-into-housing-for-formerly-homeless-people\">Project Homekey\u003c/a>. And, he’s proposing doubling down on that program this year, with another $750 million. The 6,000 new units won’t be nearly enough to house everyone experiencing homelessness in California, but even so, it represents one of the largest expansions of affordable housing for formerly homeless residents in the state’s recent history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the federal level, President Biden has \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/biden-administration-will-bring-new-focus-on-housing-and-possibly-new-funding-as-well/\">declared housing a human right\u003c/a> — becoming the first president to do so since\u003cbr>\nFranklin D. Roosevelt. And, he has proposed vastly expanding the federal rental voucher program to prevent more people from becoming homeless, as well as doubling the amount of new funding for affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in order for these policies to be truly effective — and to put a significant dent in the Bay Area’s homeless population — they will need to outlive Newsom’s and Biden’s terms in office. The U.S. will have to learn from Finland’s example and commit to a policy that doesn’t change course with every election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Too many countries try to solve homelessness or radically reduce it within one political mandate,” said FEANSTA’s Freek Spinnewijn. “And that’s not possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "How One Woman's Cycle of Incarceration and Mental Illness Helped Heal a Rural System",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is excerpted from the preview episode of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.artsandmedia.net/cause/november-in-my-soul/\">\u003cem>November In My Soul\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a forthcoming podcast about mental Illness, confinement and liberty in California. It is co-produced and co-hosted by Lee Romney and Jenny Johnson. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Marlene Baker’s untreated mental illness kept her on the streets, hustling to stay warm and stay fed. Local law enforcement would pick her up for minor offenses — drinking in public or hitchhiking — then book her into the overcrowded jail and release her right back to the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes your mind plays tricks on you and you do things,” Baker, now 58, said in a 2019 interview at her tiny studio apartment in the Siskiyou County town of Weed. “I didn’t trust my mind for a long time. Still, I’ll wake up sometimes in the middle of the night screaming, like, is there a ghost in here or something? And then I just take my medicine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stories of our colliding criminal justice and mental health systems play out across the country. That crisis is most visible, and most commonly reported, in urban areas. But Baker’s is a rural story, full of profound rural challenges. Siskiyou County, which abuts the Oregon border, spans 6,000 square miles and is home to just shy of 44,000 people. Community mental health resources are thin. Public transportation is almost nonexistent, housing is scarce and recruiting mental health clinicians nearly impossible. [aside tag=\"mental-health,criminal-justice\" label=\"more coverage\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marlene Baker was too ill to voluntarily seek help for her condition. If she committed a more serious crime, she could receive the mental health treatment she needed. That’s because a felony charge would finally compel her to accept care provided through the criminal justice system. Recent data from Siskiyou County indicate the jail is often the landing place for people with serious mental illness: About half the inmates are \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20514156-jail_mentalhealth_jpsreport_02-03-2020#document/p8/a2022750\">prescribed psychiatric meds\u003c/a>, more than double the state median.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mental illness plays a role in a high number of criminal cases here. What to do once those people enter the system, said Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus, is a vexing question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got a community that wants to be protected,” he said. “But you also have a person who needs intervention and not necessarily the kind of intervention that we have to offer. It’s a massive problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Baker’s case, though, despite those rural challenges — in some ways because of them — a number of key people took some risks and bent some rules to help her heal in the community, with her freedom intact. And her success is helping to bring about some bold changes in the way Siskiyou County confronts its mental health crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11865504\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11865504\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marlene Baker, now 58, fills her small studio apartment with tapestries and artwork to make it homey. \u003ccite>(Lee Romney)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘I grew up normal’ \u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Baker is petite with a penchant for fashion and perfect dusky eye makeup. Her apartment, separated from Interstate 5 by a flimsy chain-link fence, can be loud. But Baker has spruced it up inside “to make it homey” with tapestries and artwork.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her journey began in a “you-blink-you-miss-it” Central Valley town where, Baker said, “I grew up normal. We had a nice house. We had money. I went to school, graduated.”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had two kids, got divorced and headed to her parents’ vacation home in Mount Shasta, where she landed a job in the front office of a local eye doctor. Then: an accident. Baker stepped out of her car onto black ice, taking her “whole spine out from the neck down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Marlene Baker']‘I’d get hysterical and not know what’s really going around and verbally say stuff that didn’t make sense’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple surgeries followed, and Baker gave her kids to their dad to raise as her bones healed. There was a complication, though: A surgical tear in her spinal covering had left her brain stem dry for four days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d get hysterical and not know what’s really going around,” she said, “and verbally say stuff that didn’t make sense.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marlene had yet to get her diagnosis — schizoaffective disorder. She didn’t know about the underlying brain injury that likely caused her illness. She didn’t know she was ill, but her life was falling apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker wound up homeless in and around Mount Shasta, where winters are cold and bears and mountain lions wander through town at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the guys would watch over me while I slept at night,” she said, “and I’ve lost about four or five of them right now. The other ones, they’re still going in and out of mental hospitals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker’s parents had now moved to Mount Shasta, too, and they’d see her panhandling. They didn’t understand her angry outbursts and erratic behavior any better than she did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were embarrassed,” Baker said. “They didn’t know what to do with me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This went on for more than 15 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘Not a single crisis bed’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Even in big cities, where services are not as hard to come by, people often slip through the cracks of the voluntary mental health system. So, California’s \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC§ionNum=5150\">Welfare and Institutions Code 5150\u003c/a> serves as an important tool to help people like Baker, who don’t know that they’re sick. Under that civil statute, anyone deemed a danger to themselves or others, or gravely disabled, can be temporarily committed to a locked psychiatric facility for treatment. There’s just one problem — there \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20515636-cha-psych-bed-data-report-sept-2018#document/p12/a2022952\">are no facilities like that in Siskiyou County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If someone has a psychotic break, they go to a hospital that is hours and hours away,” said Siskiyou County Public Defender Lael Kayfetz. “You have to leave your family. You have to leave your support system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker was hospitalized just once under a 5150 hold: A case worker drove her 260 miles south to Sacramento. Mostly, though, Baker cycled in and out of the jail and back to the streets. Until 2013. [ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘I’m going to kill you’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Baker’s family rarely invited her over, but as a gesture of good will, they welcomed her to stay the night after a Thanksgiving meal. They woke up to her screams. She was in a psychosis — delusional and hallucinating. She thought an intruder had sliced her chest with a knife. She didn’t recognize her own family. And, in the chaos, she told her mom, “I’m going to kill you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her mom was scared,” said Kayfetz, who would represent Baker in connection with the incident. “So, they called law enforcement not understanding what they were setting in motion. There was no putting the brakes on that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district attorney charged Baker with Penal Code Section 422: making criminal threats. When it’s charged as a felony, as it was in Baker’s case, “it’s a strike under the three strikes law,” Kayfetz said. “It changes everything about how you’re treated in the system, how you’re treated by law enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A felony conviction can also make it difficult — or impossible — to get government-subsidized housing, for life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Siskiyou County Public Defender Lael Kayfetz']‘By some miracle she made it to her next court appearance and that is the thing that saved her’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker was still psychotic. And she was clearly “incompetent to stand trial” — that means you can’t follow the proceedings, understand the charges or help your attorney. The process of regaining competency usually involves a trip to a state mental hospital, often after long waits in a jail cell. But for Baker, there was a hitch: Siskiyou County’s jail has so few beds for women that even those charged with felonies are often quickly set free. Baker was already out, with instructions in court for her first hearing in the case. If she failed to show up, the judge would likely issue a warrant for her arrest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By some miracle she made it to her next court appearance,” Kayfetz said, “and that is the thing that saved her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Bending the Rules\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, it takes an exception to create a new rule, and Baker became a test case. The judge, the public defender, county mental health officials and even the prosecutor, came to an agreement. Instead of returning her to jail or sending her to a state hospital hundreds of miles away, they’d try to help Baker on the outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two psychologists who had to evaluate her competency arranged to do it at Kayfetz’s office, “something,” she said, “that had never been done before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, how Baker was going to keep complying with court demands — given her lack of housing and the county’s spotty public transportation — was not at all clear. If she had an address, county behavioral health workers could fetch her for her appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lael told me, ‘You need [to get] off the street,’ ” Baker recalled. “Getting off the street was key to my healing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker’s case worker began to search, placing her first in a series of motels before, finally, a permanent home. It was small and noisy, but with four walls and a door with a lock. On her first night, Baker said, “I had a backpack for a pillow” and a comforter her case worker grabbed from the office. Still, she missed the outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You breathe all the fresh air all night long, you’re under God’s heavens. It’s hard to stop being homeless,” she said. “You’re free.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11865581\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11865581\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marlene Baker’s tiny studio apartment, in a rundown former motel, is separated from Interstate 5 by a chain-link fence. On this day in September 2019, she shows off the old-fashioned pantaloons she’s hung there to dry. \u003ccite>(Lee Romney)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Freedom \u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Baker had gained a different kind of freedom. But she was still facing a felony charge. To retain her liberty, she’d have to engage fully with treatment — something she had resisted for years. Now though, thanks to Siskiyou County’s only practicing psychiatrist, she built a bond and began to trust. They spoke about medicinal plants and healthy foods, and Baker agreed to long-acting injections of an anti-psychotic medication that cleared her mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was time to enter a plea. Kayfetz knew a guilty plea would jeopardize Baker’s housing — and her stability. But there was another option — she could plead \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1026.&lawCode=PEN\">not guilty by reason of insanity.\u003c/a> That plea almost always means you go to a state mental hospital for a minimum of six months and often much longer. Baker had to stand up in court and say she understood she might spend the rest of her life there. Because Kayfetz had a plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her client was thriving. Sending her hundreds of miles away to a state hospital, she argued, wasn’t necessary or humane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirk Andrus, the district attorney, balked. But the judge agreed with Kayfetz. If Baker complied with her treatment, the felony charge would eventually be dismissed. For years, though, she’d have to check in regularly with the judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her progress exceeded expectations. Four years after that fateful Thanksgiving, Baker received training to work as a peer facilitator for a weekly mental health support group. Dipping into her meager disability checks, she prepped healthy stews and soups for the group in her tiny kitchen and brought in Bingo prizes she bought at the Dollar General.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11865582\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11865582\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marlene Baker prepares lentil stew in September 2019 in the tiny kitchen of her studio apartment. \u003ccite>(Lee Romney)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her relationship with her family healed, too, especially with her mom and sister.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, on a sweltering August day in 2019, her case came up on the Siskiyou County Superior Court calendar for the very last time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marlene Baker got to the courthouse in a crushed velvet spaghetti-strap dress and lavender eye makeup. She hadn’t slept. She was too nervous. The judge congratulated her and declared her “restored” — as in restored to sanity. Within minutes, her long ordeal in the criminal justice system was over.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Loss and Hope\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Sanity cannot stave off hardship. Within months of her court victory, Baker’s longtime case worker died unexpectedly. Then came COVID-19 and deep isolation. Baker’s peer group has technically been allowed to meet. But “nobody wants to go because it’s 6 feet apart and you can’t eat in there,” she said, “and that’s why they always came. I would bring them good food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker’s visits with her psychiatrist are no longer in person, just phone calls. So the long-acting injections are out, too. She has to remember to take her pills each morning. And last fall, more loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom died, and two months later, my dad died,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given all that, Kayfetz said, the fact that Baker is still housed and plugged in to mental health services is a victory. Beyond that, Baker’s success has helped bring about broader change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not long after her six-year fight to shed her felony charge came to an end, Siskiyou County launched what’s known as a behavioral health court. It wipes the criminal charges off the records of participants who complete treatment. Every inmate who arrives at the jail now takes an iPad questionnaire to determine if they need mental health services or would be good candidates for the new court. If they are, they get that treatment right here in the community, with their liberty intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is excerpted from the preview episode of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.artsandmedia.net/cause/november-in-my-soul/\">\u003cem>November In My Soul\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a forthcoming podcast about mental Illness, confinement and liberty in California. It is co-produced and co-hosted by Lee Romney and Jenny Johnson. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Marlene Baker’s untreated mental illness kept her on the streets, hustling to stay warm and stay fed. Local law enforcement would pick her up for minor offenses — drinking in public or hitchhiking — then book her into the overcrowded jail and release her right back to the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes your mind plays tricks on you and you do things,” Baker, now 58, said in a 2019 interview at her tiny studio apartment in the Siskiyou County town of Weed. “I didn’t trust my mind for a long time. Still, I’ll wake up sometimes in the middle of the night screaming, like, is there a ghost in here or something? And then I just take my medicine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stories of our colliding criminal justice and mental health systems play out across the country. That crisis is most visible, and most commonly reported, in urban areas. But Baker’s is a rural story, full of profound rural challenges. Siskiyou County, which abuts the Oregon border, spans 6,000 square miles and is home to just shy of 44,000 people. Community mental health resources are thin. Public transportation is almost nonexistent, housing is scarce and recruiting mental health clinicians nearly impossible. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marlene Baker was too ill to voluntarily seek help for her condition. If she committed a more serious crime, she could receive the mental health treatment she needed. That’s because a felony charge would finally compel her to accept care provided through the criminal justice system. Recent data from Siskiyou County indicate the jail is often the landing place for people with serious mental illness: About half the inmates are \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20514156-jail_mentalhealth_jpsreport_02-03-2020#document/p8/a2022750\">prescribed psychiatric meds\u003c/a>, more than double the state median.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mental illness plays a role in a high number of criminal cases here. What to do once those people enter the system, said Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus, is a vexing question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got a community that wants to be protected,” he said. “But you also have a person who needs intervention and not necessarily the kind of intervention that we have to offer. It’s a massive problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Baker’s case, though, despite those rural challenges — in some ways because of them — a number of key people took some risks and bent some rules to help her heal in the community, with her freedom intact. And her success is helping to bring about some bold changes in the way Siskiyou County confronts its mental health crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11865504\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11865504\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47876_MarleneWithElephant-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marlene Baker, now 58, fills her small studio apartment with tapestries and artwork to make it homey. \u003ccite>(Lee Romney)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘I grew up normal’ \u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Baker is petite with a penchant for fashion and perfect dusky eye makeup. Her apartment, separated from Interstate 5 by a flimsy chain-link fence, can be loud. But Baker has spruced it up inside “to make it homey” with tapestries and artwork.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her journey began in a “you-blink-you-miss-it” Central Valley town where, Baker said, “I grew up normal. We had a nice house. We had money. I went to school, graduated.”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had two kids, got divorced and headed to her parents’ vacation home in Mount Shasta, where she landed a job in the front office of a local eye doctor. Then: an accident. Baker stepped out of her car onto black ice, taking her “whole spine out from the neck down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple surgeries followed, and Baker gave her kids to their dad to raise as her bones healed. There was a complication, though: A surgical tear in her spinal covering had left her brain stem dry for four days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d get hysterical and not know what’s really going around,” she said, “and verbally say stuff that didn’t make sense.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marlene had yet to get her diagnosis — schizoaffective disorder. She didn’t know about the underlying brain injury that likely caused her illness. She didn’t know she was ill, but her life was falling apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker wound up homeless in and around Mount Shasta, where winters are cold and bears and mountain lions wander through town at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the guys would watch over me while I slept at night,” she said, “and I’ve lost about four or five of them right now. The other ones, they’re still going in and out of mental hospitals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker’s parents had now moved to Mount Shasta, too, and they’d see her panhandling. They didn’t understand her angry outbursts and erratic behavior any better than she did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were embarrassed,” Baker said. “They didn’t know what to do with me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This went on for more than 15 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘Not a single crisis bed’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Even in big cities, where services are not as hard to come by, people often slip through the cracks of the voluntary mental health system. So, California’s \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC§ionNum=5150\">Welfare and Institutions Code 5150\u003c/a> serves as an important tool to help people like Baker, who don’t know that they’re sick. Under that civil statute, anyone deemed a danger to themselves or others, or gravely disabled, can be temporarily committed to a locked psychiatric facility for treatment. There’s just one problem — there \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20515636-cha-psych-bed-data-report-sept-2018#document/p12/a2022952\">are no facilities like that in Siskiyou County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If someone has a psychotic break, they go to a hospital that is hours and hours away,” said Siskiyou County Public Defender Lael Kayfetz. “You have to leave your family. You have to leave your support system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker was hospitalized just once under a 5150 hold: A case worker drove her 260 miles south to Sacramento. Mostly, though, Baker cycled in and out of the jail and back to the streets. Until 2013. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘I’m going to kill you’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Baker’s family rarely invited her over, but as a gesture of good will, they welcomed her to stay the night after a Thanksgiving meal. They woke up to her screams. She was in a psychosis — delusional and hallucinating. She thought an intruder had sliced her chest with a knife. She didn’t recognize her own family. And, in the chaos, she told her mom, “I’m going to kill you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her mom was scared,” said Kayfetz, who would represent Baker in connection with the incident. “So, they called law enforcement not understanding what they were setting in motion. There was no putting the brakes on that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district attorney charged Baker with Penal Code Section 422: making criminal threats. When it’s charged as a felony, as it was in Baker’s case, “it’s a strike under the three strikes law,” Kayfetz said. “It changes everything about how you’re treated in the system, how you’re treated by law enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A felony conviction can also make it difficult — or impossible — to get government-subsidized housing, for life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘By some miracle she made it to her next court appearance and that is the thing that saved her’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker was still psychotic. And she was clearly “incompetent to stand trial” — that means you can’t follow the proceedings, understand the charges or help your attorney. The process of regaining competency usually involves a trip to a state mental hospital, often after long waits in a jail cell. But for Baker, there was a hitch: Siskiyou County’s jail has so few beds for women that even those charged with felonies are often quickly set free. Baker was already out, with instructions in court for her first hearing in the case. If she failed to show up, the judge would likely issue a warrant for her arrest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By some miracle she made it to her next court appearance,” Kayfetz said, “and that is the thing that saved her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Bending the Rules\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, it takes an exception to create a new rule, and Baker became a test case. The judge, the public defender, county mental health officials and even the prosecutor, came to an agreement. Instead of returning her to jail or sending her to a state hospital hundreds of miles away, they’d try to help Baker on the outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two psychologists who had to evaluate her competency arranged to do it at Kayfetz’s office, “something,” she said, “that had never been done before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, how Baker was going to keep complying with court demands — given her lack of housing and the county’s spotty public transportation — was not at all clear. If she had an address, county behavioral health workers could fetch her for her appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lael told me, ‘You need [to get] off the street,’ ” Baker recalled. “Getting off the street was key to my healing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker’s case worker began to search, placing her first in a series of motels before, finally, a permanent home. It was small and noisy, but with four walls and a door with a lock. On her first night, Baker said, “I had a backpack for a pillow” and a comforter her case worker grabbed from the office. Still, she missed the outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You breathe all the fresh air all night long, you’re under God’s heavens. It’s hard to stop being homeless,” she said. “You’re free.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11865581\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11865581\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47870_MarleneChainlinkFencePantaloons-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marlene Baker’s tiny studio apartment, in a rundown former motel, is separated from Interstate 5 by a chain-link fence. On this day in September 2019, she shows off the old-fashioned pantaloons she’s hung there to dry. \u003ccite>(Lee Romney)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Freedom \u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Baker had gained a different kind of freedom. But she was still facing a felony charge. To retain her liberty, she’d have to engage fully with treatment — something she had resisted for years. Now though, thanks to Siskiyou County’s only practicing psychiatrist, she built a bond and began to trust. They spoke about medicinal plants and healthy foods, and Baker agreed to long-acting injections of an anti-psychotic medication that cleared her mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was time to enter a plea. Kayfetz knew a guilty plea would jeopardize Baker’s housing — and her stability. But there was another option — she could plead \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1026.&lawCode=PEN\">not guilty by reason of insanity.\u003c/a> That plea almost always means you go to a state mental hospital for a minimum of six months and often much longer. Baker had to stand up in court and say she understood she might spend the rest of her life there. Because Kayfetz had a plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her client was thriving. Sending her hundreds of miles away to a state hospital, she argued, wasn’t necessary or humane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirk Andrus, the district attorney, balked. But the judge agreed with Kayfetz. If Baker complied with her treatment, the felony charge would eventually be dismissed. For years, though, she’d have to check in regularly with the judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her progress exceeded expectations. Four years after that fateful Thanksgiving, Baker received training to work as a peer facilitator for a weekly mental health support group. Dipping into her meager disability checks, she prepped healthy stews and soups for the group in her tiny kitchen and brought in Bingo prizes she bought at the Dollar General.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11865582\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11865582\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/03/RS47871_MarleneLentilStew-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marlene Baker prepares lentil stew in September 2019 in the tiny kitchen of her studio apartment. \u003ccite>(Lee Romney)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her relationship with her family healed, too, especially with her mom and sister.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, on a sweltering August day in 2019, her case came up on the Siskiyou County Superior Court calendar for the very last time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marlene Baker got to the courthouse in a crushed velvet spaghetti-strap dress and lavender eye makeup. She hadn’t slept. She was too nervous. The judge congratulated her and declared her “restored” — as in restored to sanity. Within minutes, her long ordeal in the criminal justice system was over.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Loss and Hope\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Sanity cannot stave off hardship. Within months of her court victory, Baker’s longtime case worker died unexpectedly. Then came COVID-19 and deep isolation. Baker’s peer group has technically been allowed to meet. But “nobody wants to go because it’s 6 feet apart and you can’t eat in there,” she said, “and that’s why they always came. I would bring them good food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker’s visits with her psychiatrist are no longer in person, just phone calls. So the long-acting injections are out, too. She has to remember to take her pills each morning. And last fall, more loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom died, and two months later, my dad died,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given all that, Kayfetz said, the fact that Baker is still housed and plugged in to mental health services is a victory. Beyond that, Baker’s success has helped bring about broader change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not long after her six-year fight to shed her felony charge came to an end, Siskiyou County launched what’s known as a behavioral health court. It wipes the criminal charges off the records of participants who complete treatment. Every inmate who arrives at the jail now takes an iPad questionnaire to determine if they need mental health services or would be good candidates for the new court. If they are, they get that treatment right here in the community, with their liberty intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Is That a Ghost Freeway on the Peninsula? And Are Our Highways Filthier Than Ever?",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ur Bay Curious audience is a reliable source of questions about transportation, whether we’re talking about walking, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11708992/10-things-to-know-about-bike-theft-in-san-francisco-2\">bicycling\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11030282/why-are-bart-trains-so-loud\">riding on public transit\u003c/a> or driving on local highways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, we’ve got two questions — both voted up by you, the people — that come from the world of Bay Area freeways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, Herb Masters, a San Carlos resident, asked what was up with what we’ll call for now “a ghost freeway” that appears to have been started, but never finished, on the Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And second, we have a question from Daniel Huertas of San Francisco, who wants to know: Why is there so much trash on our freeways? And is it just him, or are Bay Area freeways really getting dirtier?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herb’s question first. His specific query was: “I’d like to hear about the unused on and off ramps from the freeways. In particular the ones at the intersection of Interstate 280 and Interstate 380. I suspect they were planning on a freeway to the coast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the uninitiated, Interstate 280 is the freeway that runs from San Francisco’s South of Market on the north end to the outskirts of downtown San Jose on the south. The highway, routed through the Peninsula hills and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11805469/why-arent-any-billboards-on-280\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">devoid of billboards\u003c/a>, has long been called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/03/14/roadshow-is-i-280-truly-the-worlds-most-beautiful-freeway/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the world’s most beautiful freeway\u003c/a>.” (Yes — some people think a freeway \u003cem>can\u003c/em> be beautiful.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interstate 380, by contrast, is a simple 1.7-mile connector that links I-280 to U.S. 101 adjacent to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11526958/where-do-airport-codes-come-from\">San Francisco International Airport\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out Masters’ “suspicion” about I-380 is spot on. The freeway was conceived of as something much more than it is today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in the formative years of Bay Area freeways, highway planners envisioned the freeway continuing west beyond I-280, across San Bruno’s Crestmoor Canyon, up over Sweeney Ridge, descending to meet Highway 1 somewhere in Pacifica, perhaps in the Sharp Park neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans confirms that history. The best single account of the plan, though a brief one, appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal in 2014. Titled \u003ca href=\"https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/the-interstate-380-controversy/article_8507a35c-f4a6-5d33-a5f1-a6a189b9799e.html\">“The Interstate 380 Controversy,”\u003c/a> the Journal’s piece characterized opposition to the freeway among San Bruno and Pacifica residents this way: “The public was outraged. The pristine watershed would be violated with gas-belching cars and smoke diesel 16-wheelers. No way would they allow this to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This piece of Interstate 380 is just one of several freeways that planners dreamed up for the Bay Area just before and after World War II that did not get built. An extensive freeway system was envisioned for San Francisco, for instance, that was famously derailed by what’s remembered now as “\u003ca href=\"https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Freeway_Revolt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Freeway Revolt\u003c/a>” of the late 1950s and early ’60s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What prompted Herb Masters to ask about I-380 is a visible remnant of the original “freeway-to-Pacifica” plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always seen where it was clearly designed for 380 to continue west,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easy to miss the clue he’s talking about because you can see it best from the freeway, and if you’re driving you have only seconds to ponder what you’re seeing as you approach the 280 interchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But here’s what to look for: As you head west on I-380 from 101, you’ll pass an exit for El Camino Real. After that exit, you’ll see signs for the highway splitting ahead: right lanes for northbound I-280 to San Francisco, left lanes for southbound I-280 to San Jose. As you approach the split, the median widens dramatically and is fenced in. That part of the road — straight ahead — marks the spot where I-380 was intended to carry through to the west. On the west side of I-280, there’s a large, apparently excavated area that’s been used as a golf driving range in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o much for our Peninsula ghost road. Now let’s talk freeway garbage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Huertas’ specific question, which got a solid plurality from Bay Curious voters, was this: “Why has there been an accumulation of garbage along Bay Area highways in recent years?” He expanded on that when we called him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems like in general, there’s just trash all over the roadside,” Huertas says. “As I drive, I think, ‘Is this related to a homeless encampment, or is this just months and years of people throwing fast-food wrappers out of the door?’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He thinks things have gotten worse over time. “I grew up in the Bay Area, and it used to be quite clean,” Huertas says. “I honestly don’t know why they’re not cleaning up our roads anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the answer to Huertas’ query is pretty easy to answer. Caltrans, the agency responsible for the rights of way along freeways and state highways, says there’s no doubt that there’s more debris and trash along the roads these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://dot.ca.gov/programs/public-affairs/mile-marker/fall-2020/litter-removal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a report last summer\u003c/a>, the agency said that Caltrans workers, volunteers and crews from a program to aid parolees and veterans had picked up about 359,000 cubic yards of garbage from the state’s roadways in the most recent year for which data is available, fiscal 2018-19. Caltrans workers were responsible for cleaning up about 186,000 cubic yards of that amount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How much is 186,000 cubic yards?” the Caltrans report asks. “Enough that if stacked one yard high and one yard wide, the line of garbage would extend for approximately 105 miles — from, for example, Santa Ana to Tijuana, or Roseville (north of Sacramento) to San Francisco. It is the approximate equivalent of 1,302,000 bags of trash.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Caltrans says the cost to pick up all that trash is staggering: $102 million in 2018-19. Also staggering: How quickly the volume of garbage and associated cleanup costs have grown. The agency says in 2016-17, the highway trash total was about 330,000 cubic yards, swept up at a cost of $65 million. That means the overall cost of cleaning up roadsides went up nearly 60% in just two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One factor driving the cost higher, Caltrans says, is that it’s more expensive to deal with litter associated with the encampments of unsheltered people — camps that have sprung up with greater frequency as the state’s housing affordability crisis has intensified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll get to the issue of what role the encampments play in the litter issue in a minute, because the camps certainly are not the only factor or even necessarily the most important factor in California’s highway trash problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of us play a part in fouling the roadside. To prove it, Caltrans produced a time-lapse video showing a freshly cleaned up freeway in Sacramento and how little time it took — just a few days — for the area to become strewn with cast-off wrappers, paper, boxes and other junk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQnCoZqT5b4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sources of the trash appear to be the tens of thousands of people passing by this spot. Some of the stuff that winds up on the roadside may come from loads that aren’t securely tied down; some of it may come from people who are done with their to-go food containers and pitch them out the window. (Which raises the eternal question, when you throw something away, where is “away?” But we’re only going to tackle one existential trash issue at a time.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the ongoing challenges of highway trash, Caltrans said cleanups were complicated in the past year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following guidance from public health authorities, the agency pulled crews off the roads when stay-at-home orders were imposed a year ago. Work began again in early June, but the agency says it’s still working to catch up with accumulated debris in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, we did ask Caltrans about the challenges it faces dealing with trash and debris at encampments for the unhoused, and the agency emailed us a response. Here’s the key piece of the message:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Regarding the volume of trash coming from encampments:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consistent with CDC guidance to prevent community spread of COVID-19, Caltrans is proceeding with encampment cleanups if there is an immediate safety concern or threat to critical infrastructure. We will continue to work with cities and other partners to move people into safer situations as available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immediate hazards may include severe fire risk that poses a threat to the encampment, the community and the infrastructure. It also may include the potential for loss of life due to its proximity to traffic or by blocking access to Caltrans and CHP personnel attempting to protect and maintain critical infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since June, when state guidance permitted Caltrans to resume trash combatting efforts, we have been working to clear trash from the perimeter of encampments and throughout the entire transportation system. Trash accumulated rapidly during the stay at home order, but crews and partners are making every effort to make headway.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>One important note to keep in mind about Caltrans encampment cleanups: The agency is walking a fine legal line in dealing with this issue. That’s the result of \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/10/20/hundreds-seek-payouts-in-lawsuit-over-caltrans-homeless-camp-sweeps/\">a lawsuit brought against the agency\u003c/a> on behalf of camp residents who lost property, including medicine, food, clothing and other belongings, during past Caltrans camp sweeps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the terms of a settlement announced a little over a year ago, Caltrans is paying out a total of $1.3 million to those whose property was destroyed in the sweeps. A reported 1,300 people have sought compensation so far, according to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the ACLU of Northern California, which brought the suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as part of the settlement agreement, Caltrans agreed to take steps to avoid destroying camp residents’ property in the future. Those measures include giving 48 hours’ advance notice before clearing camps and storing seized belongings for at least 60 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Two questions from the Bay Curious audience: What's the story with what looks like the beginning of an unbuilt freeway in San Bruno? And there's a lot of trash on the highways — where does it come from and why is there so much of it? ",
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"title": "Is That a Ghost Freeway on the Peninsula? And Are Our Highways Filthier Than Ever? | KQED",
"description": "Two questions from the Bay Curious audience: What's the story with what looks like the beginning of an unbuilt freeway in San Bruno? And there's a lot of trash on the highways — where does it come from and why is there so much of it? ",
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"headline": "Is That a Ghost Freeway on the Peninsula? And Are Our Highways Filthier Than Ever?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">O\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>ur Bay Curious audience is a reliable source of questions about transportation, whether we’re talking about walking, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11708992/10-things-to-know-about-bike-theft-in-san-francisco-2\">bicycling\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11030282/why-are-bart-trains-so-loud\">riding on public transit\u003c/a> or driving on local highways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, we’ve got two questions — both voted up by you, the people — that come from the world of Bay Area freeways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, Herb Masters, a San Carlos resident, asked what was up with what we’ll call for now “a ghost freeway” that appears to have been started, but never finished, on the Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And second, we have a question from Daniel Huertas of San Francisco, who wants to know: Why is there so much trash on our freeways? And is it just him, or are Bay Area freeways really getting dirtier?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herb’s question first. His specific query was: “I’d like to hear about the unused on and off ramps from the freeways. In particular the ones at the intersection of Interstate 280 and Interstate 380. I suspect they were planning on a freeway to the coast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the uninitiated, Interstate 280 is the freeway that runs from San Francisco’s South of Market on the north end to the outskirts of downtown San Jose on the south. The highway, routed through the Peninsula hills and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11805469/why-arent-any-billboards-on-280\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">devoid of billboards\u003c/a>, has long been called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/03/14/roadshow-is-i-280-truly-the-worlds-most-beautiful-freeway/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the world’s most beautiful freeway\u003c/a>.” (Yes — some people think a freeway \u003cem>can\u003c/em> be beautiful.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interstate 380, by contrast, is a simple 1.7-mile connector that links I-280 to U.S. 101 adjacent to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11526958/where-do-airport-codes-come-from\">San Francisco International Airport\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out Masters’ “suspicion” about I-380 is spot on. The freeway was conceived of as something much more than it is today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in the formative years of Bay Area freeways, highway planners envisioned the freeway continuing west beyond I-280, across San Bruno’s Crestmoor Canyon, up over Sweeney Ridge, descending to meet Highway 1 somewhere in Pacifica, perhaps in the Sharp Park neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans confirms that history. The best single account of the plan, though a brief one, appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal in 2014. Titled \u003ca href=\"https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/the-interstate-380-controversy/article_8507a35c-f4a6-5d33-a5f1-a6a189b9799e.html\">“The Interstate 380 Controversy,”\u003c/a> the Journal’s piece characterized opposition to the freeway among San Bruno and Pacifica residents this way: “The public was outraged. The pristine watershed would be violated with gas-belching cars and smoke diesel 16-wheelers. No way would they allow this to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This piece of Interstate 380 is just one of several freeways that planners dreamed up for the Bay Area just before and after World War II that did not get built. An extensive freeway system was envisioned for San Francisco, for instance, that was famously derailed by what’s remembered now as “\u003ca href=\"https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Freeway_Revolt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Freeway Revolt\u003c/a>” of the late 1950s and early ’60s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What prompted Herb Masters to ask about I-380 is a visible remnant of the original “freeway-to-Pacifica” plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always seen where it was clearly designed for 380 to continue west,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easy to miss the clue he’s talking about because you can see it best from the freeway, and if you’re driving you have only seconds to ponder what you’re seeing as you approach the 280 interchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But here’s what to look for: As you head west on I-380 from 101, you’ll pass an exit for El Camino Real. After that exit, you’ll see signs for the highway splitting ahead: right lanes for northbound I-280 to San Francisco, left lanes for southbound I-280 to San Jose. As you approach the split, the median widens dramatically and is fenced in. That part of the road — straight ahead — marks the spot where I-380 was intended to carry through to the west. On the west side of I-280, there’s a large, apparently excavated area that’s been used as a golf driving range in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>o much for our Peninsula ghost road. Now let’s talk freeway garbage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Huertas’ specific question, which got a solid plurality from Bay Curious voters, was this: “Why has there been an accumulation of garbage along Bay Area highways in recent years?” He expanded on that when we called him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems like in general, there’s just trash all over the roadside,” Huertas says. “As I drive, I think, ‘Is this related to a homeless encampment, or is this just months and years of people throwing fast-food wrappers out of the door?’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He thinks things have gotten worse over time. “I grew up in the Bay Area, and it used to be quite clean,” Huertas says. “I honestly don’t know why they’re not cleaning up our roads anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the answer to Huertas’ query is pretty easy to answer. Caltrans, the agency responsible for the rights of way along freeways and state highways, says there’s no doubt that there’s more debris and trash along the roads these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://dot.ca.gov/programs/public-affairs/mile-marker/fall-2020/litter-removal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a report last summer\u003c/a>, the agency said that Caltrans workers, volunteers and crews from a program to aid parolees and veterans had picked up about 359,000 cubic yards of garbage from the state’s roadways in the most recent year for which data is available, fiscal 2018-19. Caltrans workers were responsible for cleaning up about 186,000 cubic yards of that amount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How much is 186,000 cubic yards?” the Caltrans report asks. “Enough that if stacked one yard high and one yard wide, the line of garbage would extend for approximately 105 miles — from, for example, Santa Ana to Tijuana, or Roseville (north of Sacramento) to San Francisco. It is the approximate equivalent of 1,302,000 bags of trash.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Caltrans says the cost to pick up all that trash is staggering: $102 million in 2018-19. Also staggering: How quickly the volume of garbage and associated cleanup costs have grown. The agency says in 2016-17, the highway trash total was about 330,000 cubic yards, swept up at a cost of $65 million. That means the overall cost of cleaning up roadsides went up nearly 60% in just two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One factor driving the cost higher, Caltrans says, is that it’s more expensive to deal with litter associated with the encampments of unsheltered people — camps that have sprung up with greater frequency as the state’s housing affordability crisis has intensified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll get to the issue of what role the encampments play in the litter issue in a minute, because the camps certainly are not the only factor or even necessarily the most important factor in California’s highway trash problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of us play a part in fouling the roadside. To prove it, Caltrans produced a time-lapse video showing a freshly cleaned up freeway in Sacramento and how little time it took — just a few days — for the area to become strewn with cast-off wrappers, paper, boxes and other junk.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/OQnCoZqT5b4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/OQnCoZqT5b4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The sources of the trash appear to be the tens of thousands of people passing by this spot. Some of the stuff that winds up on the roadside may come from loads that aren’t securely tied down; some of it may come from people who are done with their to-go food containers and pitch them out the window. (Which raises the eternal question, when you throw something away, where is “away?” But we’re only going to tackle one existential trash issue at a time.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the ongoing challenges of highway trash, Caltrans said cleanups were complicated in the past year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following guidance from public health authorities, the agency pulled crews off the roads when stay-at-home orders were imposed a year ago. Work began again in early June, but the agency says it’s still working to catch up with accumulated debris in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, we did ask Caltrans about the challenges it faces dealing with trash and debris at encampments for the unhoused, and the agency emailed us a response. Here’s the key piece of the message:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Regarding the volume of trash coming from encampments:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consistent with CDC guidance to prevent community spread of COVID-19, Caltrans is proceeding with encampment cleanups if there is an immediate safety concern or threat to critical infrastructure. We will continue to work with cities and other partners to move people into safer situations as available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immediate hazards may include severe fire risk that poses a threat to the encampment, the community and the infrastructure. It also may include the potential for loss of life due to its proximity to traffic or by blocking access to Caltrans and CHP personnel attempting to protect and maintain critical infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since June, when state guidance permitted Caltrans to resume trash combatting efforts, we have been working to clear trash from the perimeter of encampments and throughout the entire transportation system. Trash accumulated rapidly during the stay at home order, but crews and partners are making every effort to make headway.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>One important note to keep in mind about Caltrans encampment cleanups: The agency is walking a fine legal line in dealing with this issue. That’s the result of \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/10/20/hundreds-seek-payouts-in-lawsuit-over-caltrans-homeless-camp-sweeps/\">a lawsuit brought against the agency\u003c/a> on behalf of camp residents who lost property, including medicine, food, clothing and other belongings, during past Caltrans camp sweeps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the terms of a settlement announced a little over a year ago, Caltrans is paying out a total of $1.3 million to those whose property was destroyed in the sweeps. A reported 1,300 people have sought compensation so far, according to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the ACLU of Northern California, which brought the suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as part of the settlement agreement, Caltrans agreed to take steps to avoid destroying camp residents’ property in the future. Those measures include giving 48 hours’ advance notice before clearing camps and storing seized belongings for at least 60 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Hidden-Brain-p787503/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
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