As the winter trudges on, the new members of the City Council
and County Board of Supervisors are preparing to take on the
county’s homeless problem with new vigor.
Hollister – As the winter trudges on, the new members of the City Council and County Board of Supervisors are preparing to take on the county’s homeless problem with new vigor.
“With the new members, from what I’ve heard they all have indicated an interest in doing something abut our homeless problem,” said Marle Holte, founder of Marle Holte Dinners. “What I’m trying to do now is make them more aware of what can be done by getting them over to (the homeless shelter in) Gilroy so they can see how it works.”
Holte hopes to take a small group of current and soon-to-be-seated council and board members to Gilroy winter shelter at the National Guard Armory some time next week to learn the ins and outs of the operation and investigate what can be done to get a shelter in San Benito County. Around Thanksgiving, Holte said, there were at least 14 homeless people in the area that he knew of.
Dist. 4 City Councilman Doug Emerson said he toured the Gilroy shelter two weeks ago, and was very impressed with what he saw. Emerson said he’d like to see a similar operation in Hollister.
“What I saw in Gilroy was a very organized, well-run program. There was nobody outside doing drugs or anything like that, and even though it was in a residential area I heard that they have had no complaints from neighbors,” he said. “I think we have a responsibility to provide that kind of help for our homeless.”
But before Holte can receive grant money to operate a shelter in San Benito County, he said, he and the city have to agree on a location. Holte had previously looked into using the armory by the Hollister Airport as a possible location, but met with resistance from the city. Now, he said, he’s thinking about trying for the old Fremont School or the old Southside Hospital.
“It’s a matter of (the homeless) finding a place they can stay for more than a few days,” Holte said. “My main idea right now is to get (Council and Board members) over there to Gilroy and from there we’ll have to formulate a plan.”
Brad Pike, Dist. 1 representative on the City Council, said he has heard only off-the-cuff discussions of possible sites. Still, he is looking forward to working with the other council members and the County Supervisors to get the ball rolling, he said.
“(The homeless problem) is definitely something that needs to be addressed; we can’t just let that go,” Pike said. “We need to take care of each other.”
Dist. 5 Councilwoman Monica Johnson, a nurse, said a homeless shelter in San Benito County also made sense from a financial standpoint.
“Working in an ER, I’m very aware of the homeless problem. I’m also married to a social worker, so I’m very familiar with how homeless shelters function,” she said. “The homeless problem impacts our already strapped health services, and I bet you if you call the ER in the winter months they’re going to have a lot of homeless people who were out in the cold. We talk about our health care impacts in our county, but if we alleviate some of our homeless problem, it’s going to alleviate our health care problems.”
The three-newly elected county supervisors also said they are ready to tackle the area’s homeless problem and that it will be high on their to-do list in the coming year. Dist. 2 Supervisor-elect Anthony Botelho said helping the homeless is without question one of his top priorities.
“We have to meet the needs of all our citizens, and those who need a little helping hand, we need to do what we can to give it to them,” Botelho said.
Dist. 1 Supervisor Don Marcus said he was also interested in helping the homeless population and would like to see some of the area’s vacant buildings modified to become shelters.
“We certainly are seeing it as a priority and are going to try to work with the city,” Marcus said.
One new supervisor who has already started working on the problem is Dist. 5’s Jaime De La Cruz. De La Cruz said he had been part of a group called the San Benito County Homeless Coalition that was involved in trying to get the armory approved for a shelter site. He has also met with Assemblyman Simon Salinas and Congressman Sam Farr to discuss the area’s homeless population, he said.
“The homeless situation is a critical need because it’s going to have a big demand in the future,” De La Cruz said. “The city and the county have talked for a long time about working together on this, but for some reason nothing has happened. For a long time, every time they get together, all they do is talk about it; they never allocate resources. So I’ll definitely be pushing for something to happen when I’m seated.”
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at
jq*****@fr***********.com
.
