December 1, 2006 Friday
As night temperatures plunged into the 30s and high 20s this week, the homeless of Contra Costa are feeling the sting.
Those without shelter and those who advocate for them say services also have plummeted, forcing many to sleep outdoors or in cars.
A fist of cold, dry air punched into the area, coating shrubs and the hard-packed ground, where many huddle in sleeping bags, with frost.
In response to the cold spell, Contra Costa County has made an extra 20 beds available, securing cots from the Red Cross, in addition to 250 beds designated for single adults. But with some 5,000 homeless on Contra Costa's streets, many are left to tough it out in the cold weather.
"Clearly, there are not enough beds to accommodate all the folks," said Lavonna Martin, assistant director of homeless services for Contra Costa County. "We're just making a dent."
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors earlier this year declined to bail out two privately funded family shelters, citing a crippling funding shortfall. The supervisors called on cities to help shoulder the burden.
A 2005 survey by county Health Services showed more than 14,000 in Contra Costa were without a place to stay at some point during the year. Last year, homeless hotlines took about 18,000 calls from people seeking housing, according to Cynthia Belon, county director of homeless programs.
A new, 75-bed family shelter has opened in Richmond. And from November to April the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa runs Winter Nights, a program that beds, feeds and provides services to homeless families with children and ambulatory elders. It rotates among churches and synagogues. Their maximum occupancy is 30 people a night.
The 2005 survey found more than 900 parents and their children have no place to sleep nightly.
"In this kind of weather, people should be able to go inside and be warm and safe," said Susan Prather, director of Fresh Start, a Walnut Creek day program for the homeless. "Things are much worse now than they were when I started doing this work about 25 years ago. The county has willfully cut back on services for the homeless year after year after year."
In fact, the county, through support services, has moved more than 1,500 homeless people into permanent housing, said Public Health Director Wendel Brunner.
"We're not looking at shelters as the way to handle homelessness," he said. "This is not only more humane, it's more cost-effective. We're actually making progress."
But it looks to Desiree Harding that human kindness is in increasingly short supply.
Like many people without shelter who use Fresh Start's services, Harding, 38, works full-time. She also sleeps in her car.
"Maybe it's the war," she mused. Either way, she says, people seem more contemptuous of the homelessness this year than last.
"The shelters are all full," she said. "A hotel voucher sure would be nice, just to warm up all the way through."
Another woman said her payroll job went to India and she has not been able to find another. She has found a trick for staying warm: She wraps foil blankets around her legs inside her sleeping bag.
The cold can crush the spirit, said Chris Ericks, 36, who spent eight months on the streets. He has found work and a place to live.
"The truth is you never warm up," he said Thursday.
"Your fingers are always numb. Your nose is always running. You wake up around 4 a.m. with ice on your (sleeping) bag and you just shiver. All you can do is stomp your feet until they get warm and hope the sun comes out."
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