Homeless have a place to call home
– until spring
This year in San Benito County two homeless individuals have
been hospitalized for pneumonia they developed as a result of
exposure to extreme cold temperatures and last year another person
suffered from brain damage brought on by extreme cold exposure.
Coats and warm meals only go so far, but soon San Benito
County’s homeless will have shelter available to protect them from
the cold as well as access to resources that weren’t there
before.
Homeless have a place to call home – until spring
This year in San Benito County two homeless individuals have been hospitalized for pneumonia they developed as a result of exposure to extreme cold temperatures and last year another person suffered from brain damage brought on by extreme cold exposure.
Coats and warm meals only go so far, but soon San Benito County’s homeless will have shelter available to protect them from the cold as well as access to resources that weren’t there before.
Homeless men and women in San Benito County haven’t had shelter in the past, but a local group, the Homeless Task Force, is hoping that a new shelter will provide more for these people than just a warm bed and a hot meal.
The Homeless Task Force of San Benito County was supposed to have a six-room shelter – capable of housing up to 32 people – located at the migrant workers camp off Southside Road near Hollister, open back in September, but a number of setbacks have caused them to miss finish dates and now the group is adamant that the facility will be open before Christmas.
“The new opening date is Dec. 19, I’ll go to jail before I let them miss another deadline. We’re opening on Dec. 19,” said Leigh Dietz, shelter manager.
Meeting the deadline will be a challenge. As late as Monday, Dec. 12, there was still unfinished flooring and exposed wiring where light fixtures are supposed to be.
Problems have plagued the project, from missed deadlines, to shortages of supplies. Sept. 30 was the first missed deadline. There had been problems with the contractors and architects as well, according to David Huboi. Since the beginning there have been bonding issues, and supply problems – apparently, at one point, supplies weren’t readily available because of Hurricane Katrina. Since then, the contractors have committed to buying supplies locally, which have helped speed things up somewhat.
The shelter will open this coming week, even if it’s not completely finished. Task Force members say they’ll get initial approval and then keep working on the smaller details once they have people inside.
The Homeless Task Force actually started trying to find a location last year. That was the hard part.
Starting at the beginning, the Homeless Task Force started as the Peace and Justice Organization one year ago at Sacred Heart Church but expanded so much that the group decided that it could accomplish more working with other churches and formed the taskforce.
They were assisted financially by the county through a California Development Block Grant issued by the state of California. The shelter has $139,500 spread over two years to help with funding the facility.
When the group began looking at possible locations to house a shelter several sites were evaluated, including the old armory, but that wasn’t available from the state. The county worked with the group and through the Community Services and Workforce Development division, they suggested subleasing space from the Farm Labor Association since the shelter will only operate in colder months, when the housing was not used for migrant families.
This is the first such shelter San Benito County has ever had, though there have been similar shelters in nearby communities including Gilroy. In fact, Gilroy’s shelter provided some inspiration for Hollister’s.
“We’ve worked with the shelter in Gilroy, since they operate a fairly successful shelter and have for some time. A lot of the information for how we actually put this together came from the Emergency Housing Consortium in San Jose,” said Kathy Ruiz, volunteer.
The facility will feature a kitchen where meals will be prepared, security to make sure that everyone is safe at all times showers and other resources.
A shuttle will run from Fourth and San Benito streets at 6 p.m. daily to to transport homeless to the shelter. Laundry service will be provided by the county jail and local schools are collecting toiletries.
A hot dinner is prepared nightly and served by community churches and organizations. Mary Zanger, a volunteer with Fishes and Loaves – operated through Sacred Heart/St. Benedict’s Catholic Parish – is facilitating with the local churches to coordinate meals.
Additional services will include mental health, substance abuse, veterans’ services, medical advice, job/employment training, housing advice and even free legal advice donated by local attorney Art Cantu.
In the morning, guests will have access to hot showers and breakfast.
The organizers said they’d even like to be able to make it so that the homeless can have mail delivered to the shelter, though that’s harder, since they’re only open for four months.
San Benito County has based much of its shelter on Gilroy’s, in fact; recently county supervisors and city council members toured Gilroy’s facility to see how a successful shelter can look.
Both boards have been very supportive of the project, according to Ruiz.
In fact, Hollister Councilman Doug Emerson and county Supervisor Pat Loe have been especially helpful in looking for donations to assist the facility and cutting through some of the red tape holding up the project.
Eventually everyone would like to see a permanent facility established, but for now a winter shelter is better than no shelter at all.
By the time the migrant workers return to the facility in March the shelter will be closed for the season.
Dietz has been hired as the full-time manager of the shelter and there will be four part-time supervisors present in the evenings to check in guests and make sure that everything runs smoothly.
“Our hope is that we create a welcoming and friendly place,” said Ruiz. There will be an open house for the public to come and see the new facility on January 21, 2006, at noon.
