Originally published as a six part series in
March 2008 on Petaluma
360
Frank Simpson
Background

In the course of my travels around Petaluma gathering photos and stories for Petaluma 360 blogs, I have noted the presence of homeless camps and, of course, the "Homeless." For the most part, I paid little attention to them except for the occasional photograph.

Last December, I happened upon a scene that captured my attention and motivated me to pursue the subject further. My background research included spending time with John Records, Executive Director of COTS (Committee on the Shelterless) and visiting the COTS Mary Isaak Center as well as the COTS Family Shelter. In addition, I talked with a representative from the Petaluma Police Department to gain an understanding of their role.

Photos used in this series were taken in January or February 2008. In addition, COTS provided photos of some of their program participants to lend a "human face" to this effort. Based on my visits to COTS facilities, the photos are truly representative of the people served by COTS.

The individuals in the COTS photos have given their permission to COTS for publication. COTS photos will be identified as such when they appear.

Introduction

The stereotypical image of the "Homeless" is the bum on the corner or sidewalk begging for money...Or the woman pushing a shopping cart full of mysterious possessions...Or a group of people living under a bridge or by a creek...

Or a man sleeping on a cardboard mattress...

It is easy to dismiss them as...

• Lowlifes or "just so much human garbage"
• People who don't want to work
• A bunch of drunks and drug addicts
• People who came here from elsewhere because the weather better suits their outdoor lifestyle

To be sure, there is truth in the stereotypes; however, they do not tell the entire story.

The purpose of this series is to expand the reader's perspective and perception of the Homeless.

The Homeless are with us.

They are part of the community. They are our neighbors.
We sit next to them in fast food restaurants.
We even see them at play...

Cots Photo

"They're human beings. They deserve acknowledgment" —Lynn Blodgett, CEO of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) "An Avedon For The Poor" Forbes Magazine, February 25, 2008 (1)

"The fact is that children and families are the fastest growing category of homeless. There are (also) people on the streets who are drunk and mentally ill. If what happened to them had happened to you, you might well be in the same situation." —John Records

Cots Photo

(1) Finding Grace: The Face of America's Homeless: Amazon Description—An amateur photographer from the age of 10, Lynn Blodgett studied under Andrew Eccles, a renowned photographer who was selected by The New York Times to shoot the cover of their millennium issue. Blodgett is also a businessman with a social conscience who travels the country as head of the nation’s largest provider of computer-based services to state and local governments. He does extensive fundraising across the country, with the funds going to benefit local homeless shelters and projects. During his travels over the last few years, he began keeping a photographic journal of the homeless people he met, along with their stories, in every city he visited. (Source: Amazon.Com)

The Numbers

Obtaining a true census of the homeless population is difficult but there seems to be a consensus that roughly 1% of the population in any urban area is "homeless" at one time or the other

According to the Sonoma County 2007 Task Force for the Homeless Census Report...

• Over 90% of the homeless population had lived in California prior to becoming homeless.

• Over 77% of them lived in Sonoma County before becoming homeless.

I think the best "numbers" for Petaluma are the ones from COTS. According to John Records, "On average, COTS serves about 1500 individuals per year. For the 2006–2007 program year, we served 1,854 individuals."

Home & Home-Less

As a structure, a home is conventionally thought of as a house, an apartment, or a condominium.

Most of us live in one of these.

The "Homeless" do not...

• As defined by the Sonoma Country 2007 Census Report, "… a homeless person (is) anyone without a place to live to which they have a legal right. It includes people staying temporarily in a motel, or with friends, relative, or co-workers, who tend to move in and out of housing over time, but generally report they were without a home."

"Home" is also an emotional concept...

"It all depends on what you mean by home...Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”--Robert Frost, "The Death Of The Hired Man"

The process of sorting through the definitions, statutory provisions and regulations can be overwhelming, not to mention distracting. As an aside, I find the category of "precariously housed" to be quite amusing as in another context it includes all of us living in earthquake country.

There are far simpler, and thus more useful, definitions.
A "Home" is a formal structure...

"Home-Less" is...

My definitions have clarity...
If you live in a box or sleep on cardboard...you are Home-Less.

The Public Homeless

Perhaps the most common image we have of the Homeless is the panhandler. *

We have no idea where they come from or where they spend the night. We only know that they somehow appear out of nowhere to stand on corners or in other public places with their signs. Some will openly ask for "spare change" as you pass them.

Our second most common image of the Homeless may be to observe them drinking in our parks or on our trails or to find evidence they are using public areas as bathrooms.

In the alternative, we may note their discarded beer and liquor bottles, their litter, or the detritus of their camps...

All of this behavior (with one exception) is prohibited by local ordinance. Panhandling or begging is not "illegal" unless it becomes aggressive or is conducted in such a way as to be in violation of an ordinance or law. You can't be arrested or fined for simply being poor or without a home.

In short, the Homeless must obey the laws governing all of us or be subject to fines or arrest--they have no greater or lesser standing under the law. In many instances, arrest or citation may require a citizen's arrest or report after the police arrive if the officer has not seen the infraction or violation.

I must also point out that the behavior discussed here is not universally representative of the Homeless; however, it needs to be addressed. In this regard...

• The Police Department is increasing its efforts to ensure compliance with park rules and the Petaluma Municipal Code.

• The Police also refer people to COTS and offer rides to the Mary Isaak Center.
  

This is as it should be. However, we need more than ordinances and enforcement. Consider these comments of John Records, Executive Director of COTS...

"I'll refer back to the policy established by Kiyo Okasaki, who was at that time the head librarian for the Petaluma Library. Kiyo's view was that the library was open to everybody who wants to use it as a library. I think that's a good view of our use of public facilities---a library is meant to be used as a library and, of course, homeless people should be able to use it as a library. Likewise with using a park or a bench. You use it the way it's offered and everybody should have the opportunity to use it.

People who are not using public facilities the way they are meant to be used…they're being unreasonably offensive to other people…then something is wrong there. If you have a person sleeping on the street in front of a store that's not the way that space is meant to be used.

Something needs to be done about that. The compassionate response is to find out what the person needs and offer them a better place to sleep. That both addresses the community need to have that space available for its intended use and in a compassionate way, helps out the person who is misusing that resource."

This, of course sets the stage for a discussion of COTS—Committee on the Shelterless and its role in our community in assisting the Homeless to get off the streets and to rejoin "mainstream" society.

_________

* As an aside, it is up to the individual whether or not to give money to panhandlers. John Records suggests that it is better to give them a "COTS Card" instead of money.

The Committee on the Shelterless or COTS is a non-profit organization created in 1988 by Petalumans, Mary Isaak and Laurie Reichek. Since its creation, it has grown into a major community service organization with a challenging mission...

"...to provide help and hope to homeless persons in Sonoma County by providing safe shelter and housing, helping people develop steady incomes, and assisting them to get back under a roof of their own. We assist homeless families become stable and break the cycle of homelessness. We teach homeless parents to make their children's needs a high priority and to provide a safe, loving and secure home for their children."

To fulfill its mission, COTS does much more than provide food and shelter.

COTS employs an integrated approach that includes training, counseling at many levels, job search assistance, and medical services. Participants are required to comply with a strict zero tolerance policy regarding drugs and alcohol. In addition, they must be actively involved in the COTS programs. Each individual has goals and target dates with progress monitoring.

The approach is clearly compassionate but it is based on a solid...

"...Structure to go with the compassion..."

"A lot of our folks come to us with no realistic hope in their lives for something better than what they have... They've been beaten down, fallen down or made bad decisions, so they're essentially hopeless. Part of our job is to foster hope and the flames of hope in people.

People who need help should be helped. But the people should also do for themselves what they can do for themselves. We have a rule that says NO chore no bed. We have limited resources here. So if someone is not willing to come in and do the best they can and make the most of what they've got then we say you are not really ready for what we have to offer. As good stewards we need to ask you to move on to make room for someone who will realize the opportunity." --John Records

The goal at COTS is to get people out of the homeless cycle and to make the "transition into the mainstream."

In some instances, they may even counsel people to look to other locations if, in spite of their best efforts, they cannot generate enough income to secure housing in the area.

A measure of the effectiveness of COTS is the fact that up to 90% of transitional housing participants move into independent housing.

COTS FACTS & FIGURES

Facilities

• Mary Isaak Center (Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing)
• Family Shelter (Center for Homeless Children and Their Families)
• 12* Transitional Shared Housing Homes (Petaluma & Rohnert Park)
• The Petaluma Kitchen

Staff

COTS employs about 30 full-time and 15-20 part-time staff (varies with season)

COTS logs over 50,000 volunteer hours per year, the equivalent to 24 full-time staff members.

FOOD BOX PROGRAM

COTS also administers the Food Box Program as a homeless prevention program. It distributes food to qualifying families (seniors and low income) in southern Sonoma County.

Over 500,000 pounds of supplemental groceries are distributed annually.

The program uses purchased and donated food, as well as food provided through the Emergency Food Assistance Program administered by the Redwood Empire Food Bank. Boxes of groceries are delivered weekly to program participants who qualify by meeting the Emergency Food Assistance Program maximum income guideline ($1,225/month for a single individual).

_________

* A new COTS facility, Vida Nueva will open later this year in Rohnert Park. It will provide affordable rental housing and supportive services to 24 families in Rohnert Park. COTS broke ground for Vida Nueva this past October and expects the facility to be open in winter of 2008.

Vida Nueva is the result of a collaborative effort with several institutions including Burbank Housing, the Community Housing Development Corporation of Santa Rosa, the City of Rohnert Park, the Sonoma County Community Development Commission and Wells Fargo Middle Market Real Estate Group.

A look inside the Family Shelter and "Mary's House"
The COTS Family Shelter

The Family Shelter is a clean, well-maintained facility on a secluded portion of Petaluma Boulevard South. It is "...the first step for families getting off the street."

Cots Photo

The Family Shelter contains a day care center, outdoor play area and residential quarters...

Cots Photo

Family Shelter outdoor play area...

The children sometimes play "eviction"...

The Mary Isaak Center ("Mary's House")

The Mary Isaak Center is located at 900 Hopper Street--a branch street off Lakeville...part asphalt, part dirt, and part memory.
Driving down Hopper to the Center gives you a quick view of their neighbors, the largest number being City of Petaluma properties…

• The Corporation Yard
• The Maintenance Shop
• The Animal Shelter
• The Wastewater Treatment Plant.

In addition, there is a large commercial aggregate transfer operation producing a fair amount of truck traffic.

The view on the opposite side of the street is of several ancient railway cars covered with several layers of equally ancient graffiti.

Like most industrial streets, Hopper is the place where we put things we don't want to see...potentially a perfect stage setting for a grim, punitive, if not Dickensian, workhouse.

Pulling into the parking lot at Mary Issak however, I was immediately presented with a modern, clean, attractive facility...

Stepping inside the front door, a visitor finds a bright, open, and spacious lobby and reception area. The reception desk is staffed by program participants. Program participants do all the cleaning in the Center.

In addition, there is a modern medical clinic with equipment donated by the Petaluma Health Care District. It is staffed by volunteers, including local nursing students…

Computer room and classes...

During a walking tour with John Records, I kept thinking I was in a very modern building not quite like any other I had ever experienced. Yet, it was somehow familiar based on my life experiences—an administrative office, a residential facility, recreational facilities, a medical clinic, a junior college. In this instance, however, they were all under one roof...a self-contained village or community.

The people I observed during my visits were going about their affairs with an almost "palpable" sense of pride and purpose--living proof that COTS does more than provide food and a bed. They also work to provide people with the tools, skills and motivation to move forward out of homelessness.

On the other hand, John says, "You don't want it to be too comfortable. You want people to feel the need to leave." To that end, John again stresses the COTS message, "You don't have to be homeless. You can have something better. This place works!"

Petaluma's Homeless Neighbors—A Few Final Musings

At the start of this series, I said that my objective was to "...expand the reader's perspective and perception of the Homeless."

I hope I have succeeded at some level in meeting that objective.

Note, however, that I did not say that I would--or could--come up with a solution.
The Poor shall always be with us?

At the end of the day, homelessness is just another form of poverty.

There is a long-standing belief traceable back to and before the origins of our country, that poverty is a permanent condition.

The underlying elements of this belief in the Western World come from two sources...

1. The Bible

• Many rely (perhaps without knowing the source) upon variations of a sentence from the Bible, in particular Matthew 26:11 or Mark 14:3-9: "The poor you will always have with you."
• In short, poverty is permanent. The Bible says so. It is futile to do anything about it

  
  2. Social Darwinism

• In the alternative or in conjunction with the fatalistic biblical outlook, elements of Social Darwinism are brought forth to justify the permanency of poverty.

• Quite simply, the argument is that the poor are simply unfit and need to be weeded out.

• Poverty is part of the natural social order. People are poor and homeless because they are unfit. (1)

Poverty and its necessary partners, power and wealth, are integral components of our culture. In fact, their interaction forms the basis of most of the plot and story lines in literature, opera, music, movies, TV shows and other art forms. The interaction even plays out in popular culture...

• "Might Makes Right"

• "He who dies with the most toys wins."

Today, some maintain that we are once again living in a Gilded Age. They decry what they perceive as the concentration of wealth and power at the top. Warren Buffett recently recognized (and condemned) the situation, "There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” (2)

Working toward a solution…

I, for one, do not think that poverty or homelessness can be eliminated.
The question for me is what we do as a society to minimize the consequences.
We could simply do nothing and accept the situation as it is...

"They don’t have a garden. They don’t have a driveway. They don’t have a choice..."
-- Homeless Voices by Suzanne Maggio-Hucek

In other words, we could simply Let Them Eat Cake...

However, those with a sense of history know that the "Cake" approach was not a good long-term solution for its advocates. They lost their heads...

There is a better approach based on compassion, secular humanism, or religious traditions..."For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore, I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.' (Deuteronomy 15:11)

COTS (Committee On The Shelterless) has developed and provided several excellent programs and services to help those who are willing to be helped. In that regard, they have had tremendous success--doing the right thing, for the right reason. (3)

"Homeless people can be helped and we know how to do it." —John Records (4)

True enough, but it is going to be harder than ever for COTS to help people back on the bottom rung of the ladder given current economic conditions and the expectation that there will be even further deterioration in the economy.

In addition to the current economic downturn, there is a hidden structural component of the economy operating in the background. It has been "baked in the cake" since the end of World War II and was addressed in 1953. The words still resonate today...

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone.

It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children..." *

*Dwight David Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

• West Point Graduate
• Supreme Commander Allied Forces Europe
• General of the Army
• President, Columbia University
• Thirty-Fourth President of The United States

NOTES

(1) Social Darwinism also led to eugenics and sterilization programs in the United States in the 1900's and Nazi Germany in the 1930's.

(2) "Your Money" Ben Stein, November 23, 2006, New York Times

(3) Granted, there are those who for various reasons do not seek assistance from COTS and there have been times when COTS simply could not help. There are also people on the streets or in camps who are a potential danger to themselves or to others. This latter group is likely to grow as mental health facilities close in Sonoma County. Certainly, there will be added strains on the Police Department. It remains to be seen what impact the ongoing economic downturn will have on COTS.

(4) "We never know when we’re going to struggle. Not the minute nor the hour nor the day. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that there was someone out there in the darkness helping us find our way?" Suzanne Maggio-Hucek February, 2008