A couple of Saturdays ago, a man and a woman lay on the grass beside each other in the deep shade of the First United Methodist Church in downtown Modesto. A shopping cart filled with their belongings was parked on the sidewalk nearby. I saw them as I was walking to the library that afternoon, under dusty sunlight slanting across I Street.
They both seemed to be asleep, even with the temperature still in the mid-90s and only an occasional light breeze stirring the branches of the old oak that offered a bit of canopy. It was a gentle scene, a momentary respite for this couple, whose unhoused existence is undoubtedly usually fraught with fear and uncertainty.
Later that same day, as I sat on a bench by the old Southern Pacific Depot building at the Regional Transit Center, the elderly woman sitting next to me began fidgeting with her long wooden walking stick. Then she turned to me and told me that she was paying $35 more at Walmart than she used to, and she was on Social Security, and she didn’t know what she was going to do. She became emotional as she talked about her grocery bill and some of her other financial woes. I commiserated with her as best I could but I’m afraid I wasn’t much help.
Real life spills out like this all the time on the buses and on the streets. Facades fall away, fakes are ferreted out and dismissed out of hand — there just isn’t time or patience for anything that’s less than real — and what’s very real these days is that many, many people in Modesto are hurting.
I’ve just learned that one of my neighbors is being evicted from the unit he has lived in for the past fifteen years. In his case, he’ll be able to move in with a friend, but a lot of folks faced by the same situation aren’t as fortunate.
Another acquaintance of mine has recently been told by her boss that she should start looking for other work because his business has been falling off. Of course, as she tries to regroup, my friend worries about paying the rent and other bills.
One need only log on to the Facebook group Renters in Stanislaus to see how desperate many of our neighbors are in their quest to find affordable housing in our County. One elderly woman writes that she is looking for a room but “cannot afford more than a $1000 a month.” A single mom writes that she has one child and can pay $900 for a room. A family of three is looking to find a place for $1250 a month. Another mom posts that she’s homeless with three kids and is in dire need of a safe place.
These are real people — our neighbors — some of them are young families, just starting out in life and already forced to climb a steep hill just to have a simple rented room or two over their heads. A few seem to be as old as I am (74), and probably more than a little unsettled as they watch rising rents and inflation in general swallow up their fixed incomes.
Indeed, the California Housing Partnership reports that, in 2023, “77% of extremely low-income households in Stanislaus County are paying more than half of their income on housing costs.” With at least fifty-one cents out of every dollar being handed over to a landlord, where does a family come up with the money to put food in the hungry mouths of their kids, keep them clothed as they go through growth spurts, or do anything but live on a meagre subsistence level? Surely, this is a recipe for more homelessness, ever more suffering than we are currently seeing on our streets.
The 2023 American Community Survey reports that 14.1 percent of Stanislaus County’s residents live in poverty, which means that the one in seven of us may now be living not just from paycheck to paycheck but from day to day, which would be frightening for anyone . Modesto’s motto of Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health must ring hollow for a growing number of its residents these days.
For so many, the anguish and uncertainty are ever-present now, but no one — no one — is suffering more than those of our neighbors who live unhoused and starving on our city’s streets.
I recently glanced at the 2023 Homeless Point in Time (PIT) Count for Stanislaus County, which reveals that almost two-thirds (62%) of the unhoused who took part in the biennial survey this year have been homeless in our county for three or more years. Consider what that may mean — being homeless year after year, season after season — the hunger knifing into you; the hot summer sun or cold winter rains hounding your every movement as you seek refuge from the elements; the threat of sudden violence ever present so you become fearful to sleep during the night; the scorn and verbal abuse tossed out at you by random strangers; the fear of soiling yourself if you can’t find an appropriate place in time just to relieve yourself; or of becoming desperately ill one night on a lonely street corner.
And as Lynelle Loeb Solomon can attest, this summer of triple digit heat domes has heightened the humanitarian crisis she sees every day among “my people” as they try to escape the scorching sun any way they can.
As a volunteer for SHARE (a nonprofit dedicated to supplying resources such as temporary housing and transportation for the homeless in Modesto and nearby.) Ms. Solomon packs up her car every week and heroically provides care to “her people” — the unhoused she has met and come to know over several years now, supplying them with hot food, donated clothes, and toiletries — and a plethora of other needs, including hugs. The other day, Ms. Solomon even tended to the superficial wounds of a man who had been stabbed. But in addition to ministering to their physical needs, she also lets each of her people know that she sees them as individuals, as people having dignity and worth — and deserving of love like everyone else.
Ms. Solomon is also a fierce advocate for her people, for all the unhoused and unheard in our community, and so she is in good company as a member of the Modesto Citizens Action Group (MoCag), whose teamwork in advocacy of the homeless in our community is unflinching and deeply focused on its mission.
“Our streets are bleeding, our streets are hemorrhaging, and all you can do is let them bleed out,” Ms. Solomon chastised the Modesto City Council recently, in the wake of more inaction and studying of plans by local elected officials as she and the other MoCag members continue to fight doggedly for a safe sleeping site and transitional housing for “a specific group of people who are homeless: the people who are camping in the parks, streets, and doorways.” The shocking death of Christine Chavez in July gave further, tragic impetus to the MoCag mission.
Whether meeting with and educating elected officials about the urgency and scale of the suffering currently being experienced by so many on our streets or offering a helping hand to the unhoused, the Modesto Citizens Action Group has been leading the way for some time now. But they need your help.
“Momentum is building to get something done, but we need community support to pressure our elected officials to act,” MoCag member James Costello urged. “Other Valley cities are trying to address this issue, but Modesto is lagging in helping this particular homeless population. Much has been done to help the homeless in our cities and county but much more can and must be done. The community must keep the pressure on.”
Dear Tom Portwood,
YES, Modesto’s motto of Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health certainly does “ring hollow for a growing number of its residents.”
Just as hearing how much money, Modesto allegedly does not have.
YET, City Council and MAYOR Zwahlen were willing and intent on trading a perfectly beautiful Beards Brook Park for other land tucked down behind the Airport District’s slums with all it’s notorious mayhem.
WHY, none only but to spend a fortune of money, Modesto allegedly does not have.
To erect some sort of another park, where PEOPLE WITHOUT HOUSES will NOT be WANTED at, certainly does “ring hollow for a growing number of it’s residents,” both with and without houses.
What kind of sham is this being played out on Modesto citizens. Anyone familiar with that area along the Tuolumne River would know it is, or was, the most serene peaceful part of Modesto. BUT now it will be ruined with some sort of a theme park drawing undue traffic, too numerous foot and vehicle, to it’s original graceful calm.
MEANWHILE, this city of Modesto’s elected City Council members and MAYOR think they can leave our city speckled all over with essentially dying, undernourished, human beings dragging themselves and their few belongings, in tow. MAKE NO MISTAKE, just because people have girth or look fit DOES NOT MEAN they are properly nourished. Fast food and convenient store garbage is NOT nutrient dense. Nor does Salvation Army, Gospel Mission, or Sally’s (if it still exists) serve nutrient dense meals, truth be known. Only starving people would eat anything off those menus. YET, day after day citizens are led to believe people who live at shelters have their NEEDS met.
AND so, as City Council members, and MAYOR dream instead of some Tuolumne River THEME Park, primarily for the children, with SELECTIVE AMNESIA, they push the HOUSELESS out of their minds, thinking of GOODWILL, merely towards those that already HAVE, and, DISPARATE TREATMENT merely towards those who already HAVE NOT.
VICE MAYOR, Ricci, we heard you say “NOW!” with emphasis, when speaking of SAFE GROUND at a City Council meeting. WHAT EVER CAME OF THAT, “NOW!”? Were you tag teamed by other members and MAYOR? You, members, and MAYOR have to set other matters aside for a while. “NOW!” means “NOW!” And, I caution you, do NOT allow what other cities are doing, to the contrary, effect what Modesto does for OUR HOUSELESS citizens. When you think of Safe Ground think 24 hour encampments. No one wants to wander around Modesto with nowhere else to go. The Salvation Army on the corner of 9th and 10th cannot possibly make room enough for ALL during the daytime. Try as they may. And people without houses do not want to drag their belongings everywhere they go hence give them a Safe place to rest and call home for longer than one (1) year and longer than overnight. Do NOT defeat the purpose of Safe Ground before you begin. K?
And maybe try thinking of putting programs in place to help people before they become homeless. I know of multiple people who are on the verge of being homeless, when seeking help to avoid it they were told no they”had to be homeless already or have an active eviction”
Adding more hurdles to have to overcome to climb out of this pit called Modesto.
Melanie J. Mayfield:
Have you contacted Project Sentinel, here in Modesto? When I have advocated for a few tenants facing issues with landlords or rental management groups who refused to follow Landlord-Tenant laws, Project Sentinel phoned them back within a couple of days. In a situation as you find yourself in, generally a letter or a phone call to a landlord or rental management group from a group such as Project Sentinel, or any lawyer well versed in L-T law, is enough to clear things up. I believe I recognize more than one legal error in how your landlord has already chosen to proceed against you. Landlords have laws they must obey but they assume tenants do not know what those laws are.
I am not a lawyer, so I will not give you legal advise. I will say if all the dates and timing of receipt of documents you listed are accurate, likely none legally conform with CA State legislative legal statutes. But PLEASE consult with Project Sentinel, a lawyer, or Modesto’s Law Library on K Street, etc.
The Law Library has books that may bear this out. YET, do not expect the Law Library staff to answer any legal questions, but they will escort you to where the “Eviction Defense” and, the “Landlord-Tenant Law” binders are located. Bring paper and writing utencils with you for notes. They have a copy machine but costs add up. Doing research there is free to the public, last I knew.
Those binders will inform you of your legal rights and how landlords are to act toward tenants. My motto is “Don’t be a tenant and not know your legal rights!” Do not think landlords know your legal rights either. And, do not trust that they will obey the law when it comes to how they are to act.
If you do go without legal representation to court, you will have to fill out a form asking you to list your Eviction Defenses. You will learn more out of those binders than
Legal Aid will teach you. Last I knew, appointments with Legal Aid or the Court group on 11th Street, will typically only show you how to fill out the mere basics on the form you have to file with the Eviction court.
It has been my pet peeves that Legal Aid and the group on 11th Street DO NOT FULLY SHOW TENANTS WHAT THEIR OPTIONS ARE. The form they show tenants how to fill out, often is the very last document tenants may want to file given certain circumstances.
Another example of how taxpayer funds are wasted AND how far too many tenants are evicted when the CA legislature took the time to prepare legal books showing tenants their rights so as to protect themselves.
Your local Law Library exists to arm the public against adverse parties on most any subject.
There has to be something that we as a community could do for the homeless.?
I feel if each family took a good look at their siblings & cousins & saw homelessness or mental health needs. That they would take it upon themselves to find a way to incorporate them into their lives then a lot of this would fix itself. However, so many want to pick their family & let the brother or sister go who’s been struggling.
If not for Mayor Zwahlen, I would be dead! She has helped me numerous times and I see her as an advocate not an enemy. I’m still homeless, that’s true but at least I’m alive. I’d do anything for Mayor Zwahlen. I don’t think it’s fare to paint her in this light. We may not break bread together but I count her my friend.
🦋Olivia Lopez,
Homeless in Modesto
I would love to join your organization and be a voice. Please contact me with meeting Times
Thank you
Losing housing!
I’m 66, F, disabled. SSI, Section 8. I’ve lived here 12 years. New owner took over 4 years ago. I requested the rent to be raised gradually each year but he didn’t comply. Now he suddenly wants a 40% increase from $865 to $1,200. Received notice on June 22, effective Aug 1. But, on July 31, I received notice to vacate by Oct 19 because of “rent increase disagreement”. Section 8 won’t let me stay because the rent increase is illegal and the notice to vacate is invalid. But, if I don’t move out on time, he could give me an eviction notice, which would count against me. A 1 br voucher won’t allow more than about $1,150 for rent, and you can barely find a small studio for $1,250. I can’t find a similar pet-friendly small 1 br house and garage for less than $1,400. What can I do? Where can I go? I will not abandon my Cats.
Melanie J Mayfield:
I replied to your comment yet mistakenly replied to you under HRP’s comment above, addressed to your name.
I apologize to both HRP and yourself.
Having served on the Stanislaus County Homeless Council and having been the recognized advocate for the Homeless here in Modesto for almost 6 years back then, and still houseless myself, I’m sorry to have to agree with your commentary.I would like to join your group if possible.
Dear Ralph Carpenter,
I am very interested in hearing your comments on the Stanislaus County Homeless Council, as I am sure others would be.
You state you were “the recognized advocate for the Homeless here in Modesto for almost 6 years,” how many of those 6 years were you homeless?
In your opinion, what went right, if so, and what went wrong, if so? Do you think you were listened to?
I think you can locate MoCAG on the internet so that you can look into joining, or, previous Valley Citizen posts may list MoCag’s contact info.
Same goes for others who want to join. I believe Eric Caine does not give out contact info of those who comment or reply. So saying you want to join may not be enough to make the necessary connection with MoCAG.
I think all who want to join MoCAG will be most valued and valuable…