Homeless Coalition uses temporary site while search continues
for permanent location
As members of the Homeless Coalition of San Benito County
continue to work toward a permanent, year-round location, the
temporary shelter on Southside Road opened Nov. 2, nearly four
weeks earlier than in years past.
Though the shelter generally runs from the day after
Thanksgiving through mid-March, the board of directors of the
Homeless Coalition of San Benito County (formerly the San Benito
County Homeless Task Force) voted to open the shelter doors ahead
of schedule.
Homeless Coalition uses temporary site while search continues for permanent location
As members of the Homeless Coalition of San Benito County continue to work toward a permanent, year-round location, the temporary shelter on Southside Road opened Nov. 2, nearly four weeks earlier than in years past.
Though the shelter generally runs from the day after Thanksgiving through mid-March, the board of directors of the Homeless Coalition of San Benito County (formerly the San Benito County Homeless Task Force) voted to open the shelter doors ahead of schedule.
The early opening has to do with the timing of the Community Development Block Grants from the state.
“Last year, they were very, very late so we have carry-over money from last year,” said Doug Emerson, a member of the Coalition and a Hollister city councilman.
He added that the board dipped into private donations to cover the cost of operating the shelter in the early months of the 2008-09 season. “We were supposed to hear about the new [grant] in October, but due to state furloughs we won’t find out until November.”
Emerson said the dilemma is that they have enough to get through the beginning of the season, “but if we don’t get the new funding, we will be in trouble.
“The board decided to take a chance and hope that we will get it,” Emerson said.
The shelter has beds for 24 adults, and has a contract with the Migrant Labor Camp for four additional beds if it exceeds capacity. In past years, the shelter staff members have not had to turn anyone away.
Last year, 51 people came as new intakes who stayed at the shelter for the first time, and 26 as returning clients.
“One concern we talked about is in January we suspect we will be very full,” Emerson said.
The shelter reached its capacity of 24 on eight or nine nights last season, but accommodations were made at the migrant camp for up to four extra clients.
“We have a policy that if we go over that, it is on a first come, first served basis, but we’ve always been able to make it,” Emerson said. “The economy hasn’t got any better. I am sure we will be very, very full in those cold, winter months.”
Cindy Parr, the shelter manager, agreed.
“We have so many more people in town,” Parr said in the days before the opening of the shelter. “We have a whole new demographic. Yesterday, up at the shelter I had a Spanish-speaking woman asking, what is the criteria to get into the shelter? I think we are going to have a busy year, but I think we are going to have a really good year.”
In addition to leaving homeless residents without a place to stay for half the year, the temporary site comes with its own logistical issues. For the second year, the shelter is without kitchen facilities. The kitchen facilities were set to be renovated last year, but due to a lack of state funding the project was delayed an additional year.
Parr has organized a group of volunteers who will cook meals at the Community Center in Hollister, and then transport the food up to the shelter. Some of the new businesses to get involved in the cooking rotation include Teknova and Ace Hardware. The volunteers gather at the Community Center at 4:30 p.m. on the days they are scheduled to cook, and the food is driven up to the shelter for the 7 p.m. check-in of the clients.
“Everyone is struggling right now, but they are doing their part,” Parr said, of the volunteers. “If they just give a little bit, the whole community could benefit.”
One of the greatest needs is paper products since there are not kitchen facilities to do dishes on site.
“We have one serving room and one seating room,” Parr said. “We will be doing the same thing [as last year.]”
Another need is a van or vehicle that can be used to shuttle laundry, since the facility does not have a washer or dryer, or to move clients up to the shelter on days when the county bus service does not run.
Emerson also noted that he believes there is something lost in having most of the volunteers work at the Community Center, instead of at the shelter.
“There is a great benefit to having the volunteers up there, actually being with the clients and working with them,” Emerson said. “We miss that interaction.”
For Emerson and other board members of the coalition, the goal has always been to open a year-round shelter.
“My thoughts are long term,” Emerson said. “We are hoping to have our own facility and to have that in two years.”
Most recently the board had been looking at the old convalescent hospital building on Southside Road as a possible site.
“I think it’s a possibility, but maybe not a strong one,” Emerson said. “In order to use that and make it appropriate, we would have to take out some walls and deal with asbestos.”
The coalition would need to put a proposal together for the county, but Emerson said the members are still considering other options as well.
“Do we want to undertake that with the problems we might have, or do we want to start out fresh with a rehab closer to the city or a fresh plot of land?” he asked.
For Parr, the extra few weeks the shelter is set to be open this season is a small step in the right direction.
“If we can do a little bit each year, eventually we will be 365 days,” Parr said. “Maybe next year we can open on Oct. 15.”
To find out more about donating or volunteering at the San Benito County Homeless Shelter, call Cindy Parr at 801-9531.
