A new crisis for local homeless, a new solution
COTS residents Jacqueline Minnear, 11, and her sister Isabella, 2, joke around as they eat lunch at the Petaluma Kitchen in the Mary Isaak Center in Petaluma, California on Wednesday, November 14, 2012. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)
BY MIKE JOHNSON on November 13, 2014, published in The Press Democrat
At this time of year as the days are shorter and the weather gets colder, I think of the long, cold, wet winter ahead for Sonoma County's 4,000 homeless adults, children and veterans.
Rents are at an all-time high, and there are hundreds of people cycling through the county's homeless services system because they can't afford to live in this incredibly expensive housing market. The worst part is that so many have simply given up hope of ever having a permanent roof over their heads again.
I know what it feels like to lose all hope, to feel despair, to lose the will to fight for my life. I know what it is like for so many people out there.
When I was homeless in Petaluma back in 1991, there were no programs to help single adults like me. I was isolated and desperate. Hope for a way out of homelessness was just not rational for me — I couldn't see a clear path to a better life. So, I resigned myself to survival and stayed homeless for the next eight years.
It was not until the Committee on the Shelterless (COTS) began programs to help people like me that I began to have hope again. For me, knowing there was a path out was critical, and when my hope was restored, I worked like hell to build a new life.
Our vision at COTS is to end homelessness for families and veterans, and in so doing, have a sweeping effect on homelessness in Sonoma County.
This is an audacious goal, but we know we can do it. How? Through collaborative problem-solving and adopting best practices systemically.
At COTS, we spent the past decade mastering the science and implementation of homeless services. Last year alone, we helped hundreds of families and adults transform their lives and get back under a roof of their own. We've also prevented homelessness for hundreds of families, seniors and veterans in our community.
Our success rates continue to be twice the national average. But, to get more people to engage with the system we need to offer them a clear and rational path to a betterlife.
We need a system that works better and makes sense. We need to think and act differently. We need — as a group of organizations and communities — to start working together to solve big problems.
We have been busy over the past year building large-scale collaborations and have made great progress. We are pursuing a large grant to end veterans' homelessness in Sonoma County. COTS, Catholic Charities, Interfaith Shelter Network and Community and the Family Support Agency are teaming up with the Department of Veterans Affairs to make this goal a reality.
We're tackling homelessness in the Russian River area by teaming up with the Community Development Commission, Community and Family Support Agency and the West County Health Centers.
We're helping families in Sonoma County get off public assistance by collaborating with SonomaWORKS and Catholic Charities to teach them financial literacy, using the COTS Rent Right program as a model.
And COTS and Catholic Charities are beginning discussions about an initiative to end family homelessness, including a plan to reopen our family shelter next year.
For me, this is all very personal. I feel so lucky that I am alive today to do this important work. It is my personal mission to help thousands of homeless people out there find the same hope that I found. This is our vision for Sonoma County.