Slipping through the cracks: Accusations of systemic failure at tiny home community

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - It's supposed to offer temporary housing for the homeless, while helping them find a more permanent place. But now some residents of this tiny home community in Mountain View say they're being forced out without a plan of where to go next.

Both women we spoke to have serious health problems and fear a return to the streets.

They were hoping through hard work they could prove they deserved to stay a little longer.

Charlie, who declined to give her last name, should be packing up her tiny home right now.

"10 a.m. this morning is my move out time," she says.

She has been told she's reached her 120-day limit at this LifeMoves facility for the homeless in Mountain View. However, she has no exit plan, no place to go next.

"But so far I haven't met my case manager yet. So I'm in a limbo state," Charlie says.

This will be her third case manager. Alicia Spencer is on her second, though there was a few weeks gap where she had none at all. And she too has received a move out notice.

"Oh I'm extremely frustrated. I got the job. I kept the job, exactly what they asked me to do. And now I've come to this. And I don't know what I'm going to do if I end up outside on the ground I'm not going to be able to keep working," says Alicia Spencer, another LifeMoves resident.

Homeless advocates say they're worried that people who are trying to better their situation are slipping through the cracks.

"You have people who went weeks, even months without meeting a case manager. this is a systemic failure. And the clients are not the ones who should pay the price by being put back out on the streets," says Shaunn Cartwright of the Unhoused Response Group.

Lifemoves admits the pandemic has caused staff turnover.

And while administrators decline to address specific cases, they say if residents meet a basic threshold like engaging in programs, meeting with a case manager, they can extend their stay indefinitely.

"Our only goal is to help people exit homelessness. So it's certainly not what we would consider a success when people stop engaging in services," says Brian Greenberg, VP of Programs and Services at LifeMoves.

Alicia and Charlie both say they've been working hard at the facility, plus they have outside jobs: one doing data entry, the other as a concierge.

Alicia says she's not sure what else to do, but start searching for a motel.

"This is a pandemic within itself the homelessness out here. So I get it. But have the energy to go the extra mile. I just don't think they're doing that. They're doing the bare minimum and it's not helping most of us," says Alicia.

And late today there was good news for Charlie. She introduced herself to the new case manager who granted her a 30-day extension to her stay. Alicia is still waiting. Her last day is supposed to be Monday.