Viewpoints: Affordable housing is long-term solution
Submitted by Sister Libby Fernandez is executive director and Joan Burke is advocacy director at Loaves & Fishes, which provides meals and various homeless services in Sacramento.
The Sacramento Bee - Sunday, March 22, 2009
The daily work we do at Loaves & Fishes goes largely unnoticed other than by our guests – the hundreds of homeless men, women and children who come for hot meals, showers, shelter and the welcoming embrace of community. Cars zip by on 12th Street, but rarely does anyone other than a dedicated volunteer drive far enough up North C Street to see the cluster of greenery and buildings where our work is done.
Over the past couple of weeks, however, we've hardly been able to accommodate the media trucks pulling into our lot. Reporters from as far away as Great Britain, the Philippines, Australia and Germany have arrived to cover Sacramento's "tent city," an unsanctioned sprawl of makeshift shelters that has grown to accommodate some 200 homeless adults. An additional thousand people sleep outside elsewhere in Sacramento.
The storyline of this media frenzy is that right here in the U.S.A., in the capital of the most celebrated state in the nation, once-middle-class people have been driven to homelessness because of the economic downturn. Photographers and reporters from all over the world have told the story of the former construction worker, the foreclosed-upon couple, the once-proud auto salesman whose only shelter is now a tent, pitched illegally in a field along with hundreds of others brought down by the recession.
The truth is that most of the tent-dwellers are not like Favor, the mom recently profiled on Oprah. Many are more like Deidre, whose schizophrenia is the underlying reason for her homelessness.
As advocates for the homeless, we've welcomed the spotlight illuminating a problem that for too long has been swept under the rug. We applaud the true leadership of Mayor Johnson and City Councilman Rob Fong, who've pushed for immediate, short-term solutions to the dilemma of tent city: keeping the winter overflow shelter open for an additional three months; increasing its capacity to 200 people; finding room for 90 more people in year-round shelters; creating a spot at Cal Expo for a more flexible approach to sheltering; and, most significantly, renting apartments so that a very lucky 40 people can have a home of their own, albeit one shared with numerous roommates.
But it does beg the question for all of us, including the media and political leaders in our city, state and nation: Why are we now so riveted by and concerned about people suffering from the economic downturn for the past several months when we have not ensured – even in better times – that all of our fellow citizens have shelter that is safe, sanitary and secure? And, once the media have moved on to another story, will we continue to care? It is time for Sacramento, for California and this nation to recognize and address the shocking unmet need for affordable apartments and homes – a need that is growing rapidly, even as thousands of bank-owned houses sit empty throughout our state.
In Sacramento, the numbers are stark. Our emergency shelters are overflowing. Every night, St. John's Shelter must turn away more than 200 women and children. More than 1,200 people sleep outdoors Page 1 of 2 every night – not just in the much-discussed "tent city" but in corners and doorways, alongside the river, in cars, under benches – anywhere they can.
The current tent city, sandwiched between the American River and railroad tracks on toxic land, is unsafe. We should, instead, create sanctioned, safe and sanitary campgrounds where people who cannot find housing or even shelter may sleep in safety. We certainly know how: We already provide campgrounds in our state parks for people camping for recreational reasons. Why not do so for people camping out of necessity? Such "Safe Ground" should be established not just in Sacramento but all over California.
But the real solution to this tragedy is not a tent city, nor is it funding shelters where families are separated, privacy is nonexistent and dignity is lost. The real solution to homelessness is to substantially increase the stock of apartments available at rents that poor people can afford.
To truly meet the need in good times and bad will take political will and leadership at every level of government. It will take a continuation of the compassion we've seen during this economic downturn, and a commitment to stop turning our heads and hoping this problem will go away. By strengthening funding for the construction of affordable homes, communities throughout our nation can put people to work building safe, decent apartments for those in need.
As President Barack Obama has said, this crisis provides us with the opportunity to create the kind of society we want to be. Don't we all want a society where everyone has a home, not a tent?
For more information about Loaves & Fishes or how you can help, please contact us.
