San Rafael's innovative attempt to solve the homeless crises
San Rafael's innovative attempt to solve the homeless crises
The City of San Rafael, with lots of help from Marin County and the state, have acquired a property which they say will go from a truly decent temporary shelter to truly affordable permanent housing.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - The City of San Rafael, with lots of help from Marin County and the state, have acquired a property which they say will go from a truly decent temporary shelter to truly affordable permanent housing. This could be a model for the nation if neighbors accept it.
One success story
"Today I am housed and living in my own apartment in San Rafael," said Alicia Owens, a once broken person, who used to live in squalor along San Rafael Mahon Creek; an encampment now removed. "I was very fragile and I did not trust anybody. I was hurt, I was experiencing trauma," said Owens,
But, with relentless concern, Lynn Murphy of the San Rafael Police Department and with the city's homeless service team, Owens is well on the path to a real future. "Eventually, I accepted the help," said Owens.
Owens now helps other unhoused people and is deeply involved in creating a new village.
"This mission has two parts here. The ultimate goal is long-term affordable housing and while that goal is being realized, there will be an interim shelter project," said San Rafael Mayor Kate Colin.
The Merrydale Interim Shelter Project will have 65 private, lockable cabins with on-site human services.
Path to stability
After a couple of years, the cabins will be replaced with 80 permanently affordable small home units.
"The budget is our value statement. If we value new beginnings in one's life, if we value the human, then we gotta invest in them," said California Senate Pro Tem Senator Mike McGuire, (D) North Bay.
"Taking people permanently out of encampments and on a pathway to stability; not just moving them from one area to another," Assemblyman Damon Connelly, (D) San Rafael.
What the city and county want is to remove its sanctioned camp and make it into what it is over here on the other side. And, that is, the park that it once was before they cleaned homeless folks out of here.
In their own words, this is their vision. "These people who will live on this site are already part of their cities. They're mothers, brothers, sisters, and cousins," said San Rafael Community Services Director Daniel Cooperman.
"Together, we're investing in a shared belief that everybody deserves stability, and a home," said Supervisor Mary Sackett, President of the Marin County Board of Supervisors. "With on-site case management, behavioral health connections and access to medical care, residents will no longer have to navigate a fragmented system.
"The system will meet them where they are," said Dr. Lisa Warvuus, Marin County Health and Human Services Director.
The proposal still has to pass the neighborhood test, which essentially begins now.