{"id":4445,"date":"2017-03-18T21:28:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-19T04:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=4445"},"modified":"2017-03-18T21:39:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-19T04:39:04","slug":"berkeley-sees-s-f-efforts-guide-fighting-homelessness-kevin-fagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/03\/18\/berkeley-sees-s-f-efforts-guide-fighting-homelessness-kevin-fagan\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Berkeley sees S.F. efforts as guide to fighting homelessness&#8221; by Kevin Fagan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"asset_photo asset-photo \" data-config-asset-position=\"1\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"premiumsfgate-photo-12561722\" src=\"http:\/\/ww3.hdnux.com\/photos\/57\/72\/64\/12561722\/3\/920x1240.jpg\" alt=\"Brett Schnaper cleans up his campsite at a 35-person encampment on Adeline Street in Berkeley. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"asset_info_container asset-info-container\">\n<p><em><span class=\"credit\">Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle. \u00a0<\/span>Brett Schnaper cleans up his campsite at a 35-person encampment on Adeline Street in Berkeley.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>March 16, 2017 (sfchronicle.com)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An ambitious plan to pull Berkeley\u2019s burgeoning homeless population off the streets, first into sheltering mini-villages and then into permanent housing, got a big rollout by the city\u2019s mayor Thursday \u2014 but one big question loomed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sync-inline-overlay\">\n<p>How will the city pay for it, especially when President Trump and the Republican Congress are trying to cut funding to social welfare ventures all over the country?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to look at everything we can,\u201d from foundations, private donations and nonprofits to ballot-box funding,\u201d Mayor Jesse Arreguin said at a press briefing on the Pathways Project, which he crafted with City Councilwoman Sophie Hahn. \u201cThis is a growing humanitarian crisis, and I think the people want their government to take strong action.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"asset_media asset-media\">\n<div class=\"hearstPlayer playerEmbed0\" data-player-id=\"63b5b9c8-7fc2-479d-9818-3acb092cde51\" data-player-host=\"player.hearst.io\">\n<div data-reactroot=\"\" data-component-id=\"componentPlayerEmbed0\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"63b5b9c8-7fc2-479d-9818-3acb092cde51\" src=\"http:\/\/player.hearst.io\/?id=63b5b9c8-7fc2-479d-9818-3acb092cde51&amp;hdsDebug=false&amp;icrossingId=1887&amp;urlHash=40d51fc9d119737afca82809fc73331b&amp;fullUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfchronicle.com%2Fbayarea%2Farticle%2FBerkeley-sees-S-F-efforts-as-guide-to-fighting-11008075.php&amp;bu=HNP\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-component-id=\"componentPlayerEmbed0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>Homeless camper Brett Schnaper responds. Media: Kevin Fagan \/ San Francisco Chronicle<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For now, the costs are penciled in only as \u201csignificant,\u201d and what Arreguin and Hahn have in mind before the plan goes to the City Council on April 4 is a lot of community discussion \u2014 and fishing around for buy-in from potential funders. The money required would probably crest into the millions, considering one element of it alone, a Navigation Center-style shelter, cost San Francisco $2 million to start up in 2015.\u201cThis is a unique time in the crisis to capture the goodwill of the people,\u201d Hahn said. \u201cWe\u2019re a small town with a big voice and a big heart, and we can\u2019t live with the status quo. It\u2019s not acceptable for anyone. It\u2019s time to act.\u201dWith tent cities sprouting in Berkeley\u2019s empty lots and freeway exchanges in the same alarming, high-profile way they have in Oakland and San Francisco, homelessness is being called Berkeley\u2019s number one problem by the mayor and other leaders.<\/p>\n<p>The last published street count in Berkeley, conducted in 2015, tallied 834 homeless people, up 23 percent over the previous count taken in 2009. Numbers from a January count are expected this summer \u2014 but regardless of that tally, which most expect to be higher than 2015\u2019s, most city officials estimate there are as many as 1,200 people living outside now. The city has 135 shelter beds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"asset_gallery\" data-config-asset-position=\"6\">\n<div class=\"hst-resgallery-container \">\n<div class=\"hst-resgallery-wedge\">\n<ul class=\"hst-resgallery\">\n<li class=\"hst-resgalleryitem\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap landscape\">\n<div class=\"nav right clearfix\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"landscape\" src=\"http:\/\/ww4.hdnux.com\/photos\/57\/72\/64\/12561727\/3\/920x920.jpg\" alt=\"A pregnant woman who identified herself as \u201cMusic\u201d makes a prenatal doctor's appointment at her present home at a homeless encampment on Adeline Street in Berkeley. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"control-panel\">\n<p><em><span class=\"credit\">Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle. \u00a0<\/span>A pregnant woman who identified herself as \u201cMusic\u201d makes a prenatal doctor&#8217;s appointment at her present home at a homeless encampment on Adeline Street in Berkeley.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"control-panel-inner\">\n<div class=\"control-bar\">\n<div class=\"control-bar-left\">\n<div class=\"control-bar-credit\">\n<p>Key elements of the Pathways Project are drawn from widely praised techniques conceived in San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p>The first of those is the creation of a navigation center, which Arreguin and Hahn are calling a STAIR Center. It\u2019s basically a homeless shelter, but with services aimed at quickly housing people or reuniting them with family, and with so few restrictions that campers can bring in pets, partners and all their belongings. Also on site would be meals, counseling, storage, security, bathrooms and more \u2014 everything needed to help people stay stable for a couple of months while they are routed into a better situation.<\/p>\n<p>Encouragingly for Berkeley, the $2 million startup funds for San Francisco\u2019s version were donated, and Berkeley\u2019s probably would be cheaper because it is conceived with the idea of using sturdy tents instead of all hard-walled structures, as in San Francisco. Arreguin said he would like the center up and running within six months, though he said the timeline for the entire project will have to be fleshed out by city planners.<\/p>\n<p>The other technique lifted from San Francisco would be an outreach team to relocate tent campers into housing or shelter, taking several weeks with each camp. Like San Francisco\u2019s Encampment Resolution Team, Berkeley\u2019s crew would bring in portable toilets, trash cans and offers of everything from drug rehabilitation to bus rides home as they clear out each colony. They would then work with police and city officials to make sure another camp doesn\u2019t regenerate in the same spot.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most innovative elements of the plan is the intention to create a mini-village called a Bridge Living Community, based on \u201ctiny home\u201d models being pioneered in a few cities around the country \u2014 including Santa Rosa. It would consist of sturdy tents grouped together, with counselors on site, to function as transitional homes while people take as many as four months to settle into more permanent solutions. No other Bay Area community has tried using tents in this fashion, or used so many \u201ctiny home\u201d structures.<\/p>\n<p>The last elements of the Pathways Project are \u201cThe 1,000 Person Plan,\u201d aimed at preventing people from becoming homeless and creating or identifying permanent housing, and a \u201cCommunity Engagement\u201d program to enlist the public to volunteer labor, material and funds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder the current president and national administration, it is unlikely that the needs of the homeless will be meaningfully addressed,\u201d Arreguin and Hahn wrote in their plan. \u201cWe further acknowledge that even with Berkeley\u2019s best efforts, through adoption and implementation of The Pathways Project, we are unlikely to fully resolve homelessness in our community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite these challenges, we believe it is a moral imperative for our community to do everything in our power to work towards resolving this crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"asset_relatedlinks\">\n<div class=\"article-related\">\n<ul class=\"rel-links\">\n<li class=\"rel-item \">\n<div class=\"rel-thumb\"><a class=\"without_u hdn-analytics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/SF-hauls-tons-of-trash-thousands-of-needles-from-11001989.php\" data-hdn-analytics=\"related_stories|article-11001989|article-11008075|1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ww3.hdnux.com\/photos\/57\/67\/32\/12547758\/5\/premium_landscape.jpg\" alt=\"Markael Rayvon gathers his belongings after the homeless encampment he was living in was taken down at 14th and Mission streets before a Public Works Hot Spots crew can clean up and disinfect the sidewalk in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday, March 14, 2017.\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><a class=\"hdn-analytics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/SF-hauls-tons-of-trash-thousands-of-needles-from-11001989.php\" data-hdn-analytics=\"related_stories|article-11001989|article-11008075|1\">SF hauls tons of trash, thousands of needles from homeless camps<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"rel-item \">\n<div class=\"rel-thumb\"><a class=\"without_u hdn-analytics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/style\/article\/Where-poverty-promise-intersect-SF-s-10992989.php\" data-hdn-analytics=\"related_stories|article-10992989|article-11008075|2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ww3.hdnux.com\/photos\/57\/52\/71\/12496486\/9\/premium_landscape.jpg\" alt=\"Ellis Street is reflected in the windows of Modernism gallery where paintings can be seen hung up on the walls in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017.\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><a class=\"hdn-analytics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/style\/article\/Where-poverty-promise-intersect-SF-s-10992989.php\" data-hdn-analytics=\"related_stories|article-10992989|article-11008075|2\">Where poverty, promise intersect: SF\u2019s Tenderloin reinvents<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"rel-item last\">\n<div class=\"rel-thumb\"><a class=\"without_u hdn-analytics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/UC-Berkeley-ponders-People-s-Park-for-housing-10993869.php\" data-hdn-analytics=\"related_stories|article-10993869|article-11008075|3\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ww3.hdnux.com\/photos\/57\/57\/36\/12515214\/5\/premium_landscape.jpg\" alt=\"Vickie Wiggins of Richmond listens to music on her phone while relaxing at People's Park before her work shift at a local cafeteria, in Berkeley, CA, on Tuesday March 7, 2017,\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><a class=\"hdn-analytics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/UC-Berkeley-ponders-People-s-Park-for-housing-10993869.php\" data-hdn-analytics=\"related_stories|article-10993869|article-11008075|3\">UC Berkeley ponders People\u2019s Park for housing in controversial<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Said Hahn on Thursday: \u201cWe have to be realistic. This is a very big undertaking for a city this size.\u201d Berkeley\u2019s population is 117,000.<\/p>\n<p>Sally Hindman, a longtime homeless advocate who runs Youth Spirit Artworks for disadvantaged kids, said the plan holds a lot of promise. She and other advocates were consulted in its creation, and while she finds the souped-up shelter and tiny-home plans encouraging, she said she remains wary of the project\u2019s intention to enforce anti-camping laws once a tent city has been cleared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t want more anti-homeless laws being passed here, because it\u2019s clear that just sweeping the camps and putting up fencing not only doesn\u2019t work, it\u2019s stupid,\u201d said Hindman, who also helps oversee the Street Spirit homelessness newspaper. \u201cBut that having been said, there need to be multiple approaches to these problems on our streets, and Jesse\u2019s team is starting to get at that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re not there yet, but there\u2019s been a focused approach to creating this plan that involves a lot of listening, and that is very good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many homeless campers said they also liked some elements of the project. But cynicism ran thick, born of being chased nearly weekly from one camp site to another by street cleaners and police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they get a good site for this village they\u2019re talking about and let us proceed in a rational manner, it could be fine,\u201d said Brett Schnaper, 55, who sleeps in Berkeley\u2019s biggest tent city, 35 people who call their Adeline Street camp the \u201cSnubbed by the Hub Poor People\u2019s Tour.\u201d The Hub is the city\u2019s referral system for homeless services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem is if they want to do something heavy-handed, I\u2019m not interested,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m afraid that\u2019s what it will be.\u201d Schnaper said his camp has had to move 17 times since September.<\/p>\n<p>At the western foot of University Avenue, Seabreeze food stand cashier Maly Choeun said she was eager for any plan that could end the procession of tent cities that have popped up across the street for years. The current encampment is a dirt-lot bike-repair operation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is always a camp over there, always, and sometimes they\u2019re good, sometimes they\u2019re not,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s no trouble so far with this current group, but sometimes the people camping there have stolen food. I feel sorry for them, but I don\u2019t need the trouble.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what the solution is. I just know somebody has to find one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: <a title=\"kfagan@sfchronicle.com\" href=\"mailto:kfagan@sfchronicle.com\">kfagan@sfchronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Twitter: <a title=\"@KevinChron\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/KevinChron\">@KevinChron<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle. \u00a0Brett Schnaper cleans up his campsite at a 35-person encampment on Adeline Street in Berkeley. March 16, 2017 (sfchronicle.com) An ambitious plan to pull Berkeley\u2019s burgeoning homeless population off the streets, first into sheltering mini-villages and then into permanent housing, got a big rollout by&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/03\/18\/berkeley-sees-s-f-efforts-guide-fighting-homelessness-kevin-fagan\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4445"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4453,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4445\/revisions\/4453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}