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Tag: Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

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 […]

California Fails on Homelessness says Statewide Audit

It came as no surprise to people who’ve watched state and local authorities fail to manage homelessness that those same authorities don’t know where the money goes. Recent reports from a statewide audit of homeless programs and expenses concluded that, “the State must do more to assess the cost-effectiveness of its homelessness programs.” Reviews of […]

Former Councilman Explains Anger over Tiny Homes for Homeless

Former Modesto City Councilmember Bruce Frohman lives in the Woodland West neighborhood where the City of Modesto has proposed locating a tiny home community for homeless people transitioning to traditional housing. Below, he explains the anger and confusion that arose when he and his neighbors learned about the proposal. ed.  Before notifying the potentially affected […]

Angry Neighbors Protest Proposed Tiny Homes for Homeless

“This is the democratic process,” said Modesto City Councilmember Chris Ricci to a restive crowd of well over a hundred people at Modesto’s Church of the Brethren near the conclusion of a March 29 community meeting to discuss a proposal to locate a tiny home village on church grounds. Located in a west Modesto neighborhood […]

The Moral Dilemma of Homelessness

As more and more studies reveal that homelessness is a result of material factors unrelated to cultural issues like family values, it’s become increasingly evident that the majority of homeless people are victims of forces beyond their control. If this is truly the case, state and local management policies for homelessness need to be reevaluated. […]

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 […]

What the Armchair Experts get Wrong about Homelessness

Rachel Sheffield’s widely published OP/ED piece on homelessness earlier this month offers a prime example of misunderstanding the problem. A research fellow for Heritage Foundation, Sheffield recycles the old “treatment first” tactic that has impeded efforts to manage homelessness for decades. Sheffield is correct when she argues that current versions of  “housing first” tactics have […]

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 […]

Frank Ploof: Practicing Humanity among the Homeless

Four people, two wheelchairs — back-to-back atmospheric rivers on the way — those were just some of Frank Ploof’s concerns Saturday, January 20, as he piloted his 2001 Chevy truck through and around the potholes dotting the road that took him to people he sometimes refers to as the “deep homeless” — individuals and couples […]

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 […]