San Rafael Homeless Not Faceless

Would you be compelled to do anything if I told you someone from your past, probably a friend or at least an acquaintance you respected and maybe even relied on at one time was homeless in San Rafael? Or if I told you a former co-worker, someone who worked in your office for years and was dependable and competent spent last night in the back of their truck, because that’s where he’s been sleeping for several years? Or your former boss didn’t have even a room or much less a rented apartment to call his own because social security only went so far.

I’m referring to people from my past, and they are presently homeless. If you grew up in Marin the chances are you know one of the [1]933 homeless in the County. And if you don’t personally know one of them you doubtless know one of the 4300+ precariously housed population: those people surfing on couches, facing eviction or living in homes that are too small with too many people. The precariously housed don’t exactly advertise their plights, and aren’t quite as visible as the [2]chronically homeless who we see in the San Rafael streets every day.

What separates the precariously housed, homeless and chronically homeless? Like stepping stones descending an unimaginable slope into abyss of hopelessness one leads to the other. Once a person becomes chronically homeless the odds of them reversing course and coming indoors become worse with each night, season and year spent outdoors. The more time outdoors the more likely a person is to succumb to physical and mental illnesses as well as drug abuse and addictions.

Substance abuse among our San Rafael homeless seems rampant. It’s not just the alcohol which is ruinous in and of itself, but the methamphetamine epidemic that is decimating our homeless. If you were living in the streets would you have the strength to not drink alcohol or use drugs, to try to pull yourself out of the abyss? How long could you hold back the rising tide of hopelessness?

The good news is that none of this happens overnight. We can help people we know from becoming homeless. Last year I did. Drowning in debt a plan was hatched to live outdoors until my (sober) friend could regain financial footing. Living out of the back of a car, showering at the Ritter House and eating at Saint Vincent’s in San Rafael were all part of the plan. That rebound strategy definitely works for some people, but the way I saw it for this particular friend, if that step was taken chronic homelessness was more likely than returning indoors.

In the Marin Swim League we like to say ‘it takes a village’. I helped the friend. Somebody else pitched in too. There were months of struggle but now the friend is financially solvent and has a new job! The friend didn’t need to live outside to get to this point. Because we cared and had the courage to intervene we held the number at 933, which would have been 935 because it was not just one person but a couple contemplating homelessness.

This month I helped my friend Steve. He was homeless, sleeping at the Mill Street shelter and in the emergency winter [3]REST program, getting picked up in the San Rafael streets in the evening and given a warm meal and bedding for the night at one of more than forty rotating local congregations then returned to the streets in the morning. After three years of waiting, a spot opened up in a Section 8 sober living house while I was stepping up for Steve. Another San Rafael Patch reader stepped in too, and before the spot opened up she actually took Steve in for almost a week and treated him like family the one time foster child never had bouncing in and out of ten homes. She got him a cell phone, helped him in a myriad of tangible ways, and most importantly she was there with the unconditional love and compassion he so desperately needed. 933 became 932. It takes a village.

What can we do to stop homelessness before it happens? I believe it’s important to be aware of who is at risk. If you know someone who is going through a hard time, in their careers, with their finances, with drug or alcohol addiction please try to help them. Be a good friend to them, or a mentor. If you can’t help them try to find someone who can. You just might help save their life, and as a village we’ll be able to bring our numbers down one human being at a time.   

[1] http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_24243744/biennial-homeless-census-counts-933-homeless-people-marin

 Count taken 1/24/13. New count data not yet available.

[2] http://canatx.org/homeless/documents/DefinitionOfChronicHomelessness.pdf Part of the definition is people sleeping in places that was not meant for human habitation or in a shelter for more than a year, or has been homeless four times in the past three years

[3] https://www.marinhhs.org/sites/default/files/files/servicepages/2013_12/brochure_rest.pdf Details available on the Marin County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (REST) program