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Homeless? Gavin Newsom Passes the Buck

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions hinge as much on appearances as they do realities, and the unsightly presence of homeless people throughout California is a reality he can’t make disappear. Born of desperation fostered by the futility of his own efforts to eliminate homelessness, Newsom has decided to blame California’s mayors for his own […]

Beloved Homeless Man Shot in Modesto

By Thursday, news that Richard “Channon” Myers had been murdered on the mean streets of Modesto had swept through the local homeless community. Known for his long “trains” of scavenged treasures — some would say “junk” — Channon was beloved among the homeless for his good nature. “Channon was a beautiful person,” said Kim, a […]

Homelessness has Closed our Minds and Curdled our Hearts

“Despite enormous funding for homeless programs, and despite the fact that there are many individual successes, overall the system to date has not reduced homelessness.” Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury, June 2022 Voluminous evidence shows that most people experiencing homelessness suffer from forces beyond their control. Despite this evidence, far too little has been done […]

Homeless: The Accountability Papers #3

“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: 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]