Local volunteers and a social service agency are working to
ensure that this will be the last Christmas that 20 homeless
families, including approximately 50 children, will be without a
place to live.
Local volunteers and a social service agency are working to ensure that this will be the last Christmas that 20 homeless families, including approximately 50 children, will be without a place to live.
The Community Services and Workforce Development agency is providing a winter shelter at the migrant labor camp on Southside Road for families now through March, with a goal of helping them transition to permanent accommodations by springtime.
“Last year we had 150 families on the waiting list and we had 100 this year, said Enrique Arreola, deputy director of the agency.
Though there are 67 available units at the migrant center, there is only enough funding to providing shelter for the 20 families. Last year, 24 families were given a place to stay, up from 15 in 2008.
“It’s important to remember that there’s a segment in our community that’s really impacted by the economy,” Arreola said. “Everybody is, but some have lost everything and don’t have a place to live. We need to continue to search for resources and assist them in ultimately becoming self-sufficient, which requires a coordination of services.”
The families are provided housing support, rather than a straight handout, Arreola said.
“We ask for a $300 deposit, then $300 a month rent,” he said, noting that the rent money is saved in an account for each family so that by the end of the winter they will have money available for a down payment to get into a place of their own.
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
