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Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County

Modesto City Manager Errs on Homelessness

June 2, 2023 By Eric Caine 7 Comments

Sue Zwahlen Joe Lopez with MoCag members 24 May 23

Modesto City Manager Joe Lopez might have second thoughts after citing Chico as an example of cities that have tried safe sleeping sites for homeless people and then found they “didn’t work.” Lopez made the remark in a May 24 meeting with members of the Modesto Citizens Action Group (MoCag). He may not have realized that MoCag members are well versed in matters of homelessness throughout California. Consisting of a […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Still no Homeless Management Plan for City of Modesto

May 16, 2023 By Eric Caine 6 Comments

Modesto City Council, May 9, 2023

As homeless numbers continue to grow throughout California, the disconnect between people on the ground and state and local leaders also continues to grow. That widening gap between those who work almost daily with homeless people and those who set policy was starkly evident during a meeting of the Modesto City Council on May 9. With a progress report on the city’s efforts to abate homelessness on the agenda, the […]

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: California homelessness, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Can’t Solve Homelessness? Follow the Money

May 5, 2023 By Eric Caine 20 Comments

Travelers Motel Modesto May 2023

For people on the ground among the homeless in California, there’s no mystery why homeless numbers continue to increase despite the expenditure of billions of dollars. The problem is a complete lack of comprehension among federal, state, and local leaders about the true nature of homelessness. Rather than a case of widespread drug abuse, epidemic malingering or a sudden rejection of traditional family values, homelessness is the predictable result of […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley, Homelessness Stanislaus County

Modesto May Make Newsom Right about Cities and Homelessness

May 1, 2023 By Eric Caine 10 Comments

10th Street Modesto, March, 2023

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been justly criticized for his policies on homelessness, especially his reliance on sweeps as the chief tactic for managing California’s growing homeless population. Many of the sweeps chase homeless people from freeway margins and underpasses into cities, with the result that Newsom has continued to blame the state’s mayors for failing on homelessness — a form of blame-shifting that fails to recognize realities like housing […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Caltrans homeless sweeps, Gavin Newsom homelessness, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Homeless: The False Promise of “Affordable” Housing

April 17, 2023 By Eric Caine 19 Comments

Pallet Shelter

California needs affordable housing now, but no one should be led into thinking affordable housing will bring a solution to the state’s widespread homelessness. We need affordable housing because even working people with good jobs have been priced out of California’s housing market. A great many homeless people, on the other hand, can’t work due to disability, mental or physical illness, or because they’re elderly and their retirement incomes are […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: California homelessness, Gavin Newsom homelessness, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Homeless: Where there’s Law without Order

April 9, 2023 By Eric Caine 10 Comments

Mono Park Modesto April 2023

One simple fact — homeless people have nowhere to go — continues to befuddle public officials everywhere and has led to the wasteful expenditure of billions of dollars. Thus it is that while homeless camps may appear to disappear after government-ordered sweeps, the presence of small groups and individual homeless people continues to increase. Sweeps don’t make them go away; they just force them to another location. One day here, […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: California homelessness, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Homeless: It’s (not) the Drugs

March 18, 2023 By Eric Caine 82 Comments

Jim Pack and Sherry Lopez Modesto

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 […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: California homelessness, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

No Drugs, Good Job — Still no Housing

March 15, 2023 By Eric Caine 11 Comments

Dennis Lewis at Modesto Gospel Mission 15 March 2023

California’s housing crisis shows no signs of ending soon as more and more people find themselves unable to rent or buy housing of any kind, even when they have work and good incomes. Dennis Lewis is only one of thousands of people who turned their lives around, went to work, then suffered a sudden reversal of fortune that led to months of homelessness. Drug free and awaiting a return to […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Modesto Attorney Rips Local Authorities on Failures to Manage Homelessness

March 14, 2023 By Eric Caine 23 Comments

Al Swofford 9th Street Bridge Modesto Dec 22

“The citizens of Modesto are infinitely weary of our seemingly intractable homeless problems and the apparent inability or unwillingness of our leaders to do much about it. The enormous amounts of money being thrown at homelessness have created interest groups who are seemingly more adept at grant writing than finding real solutions, and whose self-interest is inimical to those solutions.” David M Jamieson Last Sunday, in an OP/ED column in […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County

Homeless — where your money goes Part V: The high costs of extravagant cruelty

March 7, 2023 By Eric Caine 22 Comments

Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter (MOES) 2019

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 […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Affordable Housing Modesto, California homelessness, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

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Off The Wire

In California?s Heartland, a New Resistance Movement Is Taking Root
In California’s Heartland, a New Resistance Movement Is Taking Root
How do you change a place as polluted and desperately unequal as the San Joaquin Valley?
www.nytimes.com
America?s Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails
America’s Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails
In a time of fentanyl and meth, we need to use law enforcement differently and more often.
www.theatlantic.com
Plastic Pollution Is So Pervasive That It?s Causing a New Disease in Seabirds
Plastic Pollution Is So Pervasive That It’s Causing a New Disease in Seabirds
Researchers coined the term “plasticosis” to describe stomach damage related to ingesting trash.
www.audubon.org
'Greedflation,' Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy
‘Greedflation,’ Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM?s home for opinion and news…
talkingpointsmemo.com
White House plan to fight antisemitism takes on centuries of hatred in America
White House plan to fight antisemitism takes on centuries of hatred in America
Recommended steps include raising awareness of antisemitism now and in the past, expanding knowledge of Jewish heritage in the US
www.timesofisrael.com
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes faces a prison sentence up to 25 years in the first punishments for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
www.washingtonpost.com
Opinion | America?s Poverty Is Built by Design
Opinion | America’s Poverty Is Built by Design
How did the U.S. become a land of economic extremes with the rich getting richer while the working poor grind it out? Deliberately.
www.politico.com
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer's Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has 'No Place' In Congress
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer’s Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has ‘No Place’ In Congress
The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) following a  TPM…
talkingpointsmemo.com
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
After widespread, bipartisan criticism, the governor revised his budget to include $40 million to restore San Joaquin Valley floodplains.
calmatters.org
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
Conventional wisdom had long suggested the opposite.
nymag.com
Spiraling in San Francisco?s Doom Loop
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop
What it’s like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed.
www.curbed.com
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
The two lots could accommodate about 500 tents and would be an alternative to congregate shelters
www.sandiegouniontribune.com

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Modesto, CA 95354

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Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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