Tag: California homelessness
Why Homeless People don’t Want Help: Part I
The first thing to understand about help for homeless people is that, for the vast majority, there isn’t any. This is a reality easily established. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, “As of the January 2023 point-in-time count, the total number of people experiencing homelessness was estimated to be 181,399, and the state had […]
A Filmmaker’s Fight to Prioritize Homelessness: Vote for Political Change in the San Joaquin Valley
Eric Protein Moseley is a social impact documentary filmmaker working on the film “Understanding the Spectrum: Exploring the Classes of Homelessness.” I am a social impact documentary filmmaker from Detroit, now living in Richmond, California. My journey is deeply personal and profoundly shaped by nearly two decades of battling chemical dependency and homelessness, mostly while raising […]
More Problems for Gavin Newsom’s Homeless Orders
Other than the legal cover provided by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass vs Johnson, there’s nothing new about Gavin Newsom’s statewide orders to clear homeless camp. Sweeping homeless camps has been California’s default tactic for managing homelessness for years. By now, most anyone even remotely familiar with the state’s severe housing shortage […]
Why Gavin Newsom’s Homeless Orders won’t Work
Whereas some local authorities have rejoiced at Gavin Newsom’s orders to clear homeless camps, others have seen the California Governor’s edict for what it is: A cynical passing of the buck to cities and counties with far too few beds and services to meet the needs of the state’s 180,000 homeless people. Newsom ordered state […]
What if Homeless People aren’t who we Think they are?
The name “Larry” below is a pseudonym. He’s still on the streets, last we knew. ed. I walked into the camp thinking I’d done as much as I could to be safe. Still, I felt twinges of fear. A few years ago, before the systematic sweeps of camps throughout the city and county, I’d usually […]
Modesto Councilmember Kicks Hornets’ Nest on Homelessness
Modesto City Councilmember Nick Bavaro raised a lot of hackles during the May 7 meeting of the Modesto City Council. The item in question was what appeared to be a routine funding approval for the Salvation Army to continue operating a day center at the Berberian Shelter, which includes a traditional Salvation Army shelter and […]
Homeless in Modesto: A Tale of Two Cities
The last week of April in Modesto featured two of the city’s biggest public events, the State of the County report and, “Love Modesto,” the annual rite where volunteers display their civic pride with a citywide cleanup of trash and grafitti, while planting gardens, handing out hygiene kits and donating food packages, among other charitable […]
How Homelessness has Enabled Cruelty
We’re no longer stunned or dismayed. We’ve become so habituated to California’s vast sprawl of homelessness that encampments along the freeways, bodies on the sidewalks. and human debris everywhere arouse no more concern than a speed bump or fire hydrant. The objectification of human beings in distress has become a norm for almost all of […]
Homeless: Cave Dwellers in Modesto
Based on widespread news reports, the entire nation seems enthralled by the recent news of homeless people living in caves along the Tuolumne River near Modesto. In fact, insiders have known about the caves for years. One nearby resident said of the homeless people living in caves near his own home that, “he sees them […]
SHARE: Making a Difference for People in Need
Bleak, dark, and piercing cold, it was a night for the well-housed and fed to draw round the bright fire, and thank God they were at home; and for the homeless starving wretch to lay him down and die. Many hunger-worn outcasts close their eyes in our bare streets at such times, who, let their […]