It’s almost impossible to discuss homelessness without a chorus of loud and insistent voices shouting, “It’s the drugs!” While drug use is indeed common among homeless people, reliable data confirm it’s rarely the cause of homelessness. If drug use were the cause of homelessness, you would expect to see a correlation among states with high numbers of drug usage and high numbers of homelessness. There is no such correlation. Hawaii […]
California homelessness
Homeless — where your money goes Part V: The high costs of extravagant cruelty
As California politicians declare their commitment to dealing with homelessness, they should also acknowledge that it originates in the state’s chronic shortage of housing that shows no signs of abating. Dan Walters, 23 January, 2023 According to Lauren Lowry, Director for Housing and Community Development at the National League of Cities, “chronic homelessness costs the public roughly $30,000 to $50,000 per unhoused individual each year.” In 2019, when the City […]
Homeless: Overdoses at the Recovery Center?
Rumors among homeless people are like rumors anywhere else — as often unfounded or overblown as not. Nonetheless, persistent rumors that drug use and overdoses have occurred with increasing frequency at the Stanislaus Recovery Center (SRC) in Ceres seemed worth an inquiry, so on December 8 we asked about them via an email to Stanislaus County CEO Jody Hayes and Supervisor Mani Grewal. As yet, we’ve had no answers. SRC […]
Homeless: “Right now, we aren’t managing anything”
Frank Ploof has served on several committees in Stanislaus County dedicated to homeless and housing issues, and has spent thousands of hours in direct contact with homeless people, trying to help in tangible ways with problems local authorities can’t address. He and Modesto resident Steven Finch are partners in the Stanislaus Homeless Advocacy and Resource Enterprise (SHARE) nonprofit, which is dedicated to serving the urgent needs of people in dire […]
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 failure to understand the fundamental nature of a humanitarian emergency that grows worse by the […]
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 to alleviate their plight. The vast majority of American citizens help people in need whenever […]
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 […]
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: Taking Back the Parks
Little Sherry Lopez can’t go to the park. Everyone calls her “Little Sherry” because she’s the smallest Sherry they know. Little Sherry is well short of five feet tall. She’s closer to four feet tall. She’s a few years past forty years old. Little Sherry is developmentally and physically disabled. She walks haltingly and often has difficulty with simple concepts. Other than “little,” the most common word people use to […]