“Given the significant dollars spent to address homelessness, this lack of accountability is problematic and can undermine the public’s confidence in our public agencies.” Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury, June, 2022 It was only last year that Stanislaus County added “accountability” to its plan for reducing regional homelessness. The new measure was intended to hold homeless people more accountable for being homeless. Released this June, in yet another of too […]
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Homeless: Sweep? We’ll be back
Kristin knows the drill. After 12 years living outside, she should. There’s a little confusion this time because she wasn’t around when Caltrans posted. Some people think the dozers will show up on the sixth, others think it won’t be until the seventh or eighth. Kristin is thinking it will be the eighth, but she isn’t sure. Posted notices get torn down quickly and word of mouth is seldom reliable. […]
Homeless: Word from the Camps
Word from the camps is you can’t get the black* anywhere. It’s fentanyl or nothing. People are dropping almost every day. “You lookin’ for Cash Money? Cash is dead. He overdosed last year. Fentanyl. Yeah, don’t believe Cash was much over 40 years old, maybe younger. People are dropping. Dropping everywhere.” “Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than […]
Valley Heat Batters Homeless People
Frank Ploof didn’t know it at the time, but while he was offloading cases of water at a homeless camp in triple digit heat, Little Sherry Lopez was half a mile away, slowly growing more disoriented as she tried to escape the battering rays of the sun. Ploof, who’s known Sherry since she began camping in Beard Brook Park almost four years ago, had finished distributing cases of bottled water […]
Homeless: Doubling Down on Double Standards
Tim Byrd’s response to our last essay deserves a more prominent position than in “Comments,” so we’re posting it below, along with our reply. For those who don’t know, Mr. Byrd is Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow’s campaign manager. He is also a resident of Wood Colony and a graduate of Berkeley’s Boalt School of Law. To get a better understanding of the context of our remarks, please read our previous […]
Homeless: The Cruel Realities of People in Need
When Steve Finch and Frank Ploof founded Stanislaus Homeless Advocacy and Resource Enterprise* (SHARE) early last year, Ploof had already had almost ten years’ experience working to help people experiencing homelessness. Finch was new to the task, but thought his experience with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), an organization that assists abused and needy children, would provide a model he and Ploof could apply to needy homeless people. The CASA […]
Homeless: When False Narratives Fail
For decades, there were a few stock responses to homelessness: “They don’t want help — it’s the drugs — they’re bums” were among the most popular. “They made bad choices” wasn’t far behind. Though none of these explanations holds up to thoughtful reflection, they comprised the largest part of the conventional wisdom about homeless precisely for that reason — they enabled most of us to avoid thinking about a problem […]
Homeless: The Accountability Papers Number 2
In a city struggling to permit parking for 25 vehicles serving as homes for people priced out of the local housing market, Modesto City Councilmembers managed in January to approve funding for 14 units of “affordable” housing costing out at over $271,000 per unit. Funding for the project will come from California’s Home Key program and is subject to state approval. Costs will include purchase of a building owned by […]
Homeless: The Accountability Papers No. 1
Early last year, Stanislaus County officials added accountability to their list of tactics for managing rising numbers of people with nowhere to go. Puzzled by the new standard, volunteer and homeless advocate Frank Ploof asked county management and staff members repeatedly, “Accountable for what?” None ever offered an answer that made sense to people with no means to be accountable. Despite repetitious memes about people “choosing” homelessness and the widespread […]
New Home Projects Add to Homeless Problem
Logically, new home construction should help reduce homelessness in Stanislaus County. This is not what is happening. With few exceptions, lower income people in Stanislaus County have been priced out of housing and rental markets. When new single-family homes sell for over $400,000 and apartments are not being built, the majority of new home buyers in Stanislaus County most likely will come from the Bay Area. Given higher housing prices there, Modesto’s new […]