They are the people society turns a blind eye to. In San Benito
County they live in parks or alley ways or cars, because there is
nothing here to help them and they have no where to go.
n By Erin Musgrave Staff Writer
Hollister – They are the people society turns a blind eye to. In San Benito County they live in parks or alley ways or cars, because there is nothing here to help them and they have no where to go.
“I’m living this life I don’t want to live and I feel this is the saddest community because no one will help,” homeless resident Gail Baraby said to Congressman Sam Farr at a town hall meeting two weeks ago. “People judge you, you go around dirty… I just want a job.”
San Benito County Supervisor Ruth Kesler felt obliged to find some type of reprieve for the homeless population after listening to Baraby’s plea for help, she said.
Kesler has been calling different churches around Hollister, trying to find a place where some of the homeless can take showers, she said.
So far she’s had no luck, but she’s still trying, she said.
“I know how I would feel if I went three weeks without a shower,” Kesler said. “I just don’t like to see people going hungry.”
The homeless population in the county varies between 20 to 30 people, said Marle Holte, founder of the nonprofit organization Marle Holte’s Community Assistance Program, Inc.
Holte has been trying to start up a homeless shelter for over two years and continually runs into obstacles, he said. He tried to get approval to start a shelter at the old Southside hospital, but said that “no one wanted to talk about it.”
He’s also been trying to convert the armory at the Hollister Municipal Airport into a shelter, but hasn’t been able to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, he said.
“I don’t know why anyone hasn’t done anything before,” Holte said. “It’s kind of criminal that nothing has been done for these people – some of them it’s through no fault of their own – either from bad luck or misfortune.”
Baraby became homeless about three years ago after she was laid off from her job at a learning services business, said her adult son, David Baraby.
When she wasn’t able to find a job after that, the family lived in a trailer for some time and eventually ended up living on the street, he said.
David Baraby moved in with his grandparents, who he’s been staying with for almost a year, because being homeless wasn’t “something I wanted to be in,” he said.
While he says his mom’s a very capable person, she hasn’t been able to get back on her feet and she doesn’t want to go to a different county that has services for homeless people because she loves it here, he said.
“Why would she leave just because she’s in that situation?” her son said.
After witnessing his mother’s struggle, David Baraby isn’t optimistic anything will change about the homeless plight in the county, he said.
“There are a lot of homeless in this town,” he said. “But it’s been going on for so long, why would they do something now?”
Holte is waiting on receiving confirmation on whether using the armory as a shelter is possible or not. If he does get approval from the FAA, the shelter’s fate would be in the city council’s hands, said City Manager Clint Quilter.
Whether it would make it past that stage is another story.
“The people at the airport don’t want it… and the Airport Commission doesn’t want it because they don’t want non-airport activities to ensue,” he said.
Mayor Tony Bruscia said the airport isn’t an ideal location for a homeless shelter because it isn’t close to public services, but if the FAA allowed it as an option it should definitely be looked at.
While many people have the best of intentions for having a homeless shelter and trying to solve a growing problem, finding an available building and community support will be tough wherever it is, he said.
“The problem is that nobody wants a homeless shelter in their part of the city,” Bruscia said. “They say, ‘Let’s start a homeless shelter,’ but then when it comes to where are we gonna put it, well not in my backyard.”
If Holte can’t use the armory as a shelter, he hopes that someone will come forward with another suggestion or option before the weather turns cold again, he said.
“Right now it would take a miracle for it to happen,” he said. “Someone would either have to come up with a lot of money or another facility.”
Anyone who would like to help can call Ruth Kesler at (831) 623-2284, or Marle Holte at (831) 623-4313.
