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April
3, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 7Oakland,
CA
Homeless families at greater risk as shelters close in Contra Costa
Homeless and
transitional shelter providers in Contra Costa County are nervously eyeing
the ticking clock as it speeds towards June 30, the end of the fiscal
year.
That’s the date when the Mountain View House in Martinez, a county
family emergency shelter funded by two private organizations since 2004,
is scheduled to officially close. North Concord, its sister shelter, shut
down March 1.
The Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County (ICCC), a consortium of
95 congregations and religious organizations, and Shelter Inc., an organization
which provides community-based emergency and temporary housing, have been
supporting the two shelters to the tune of $700,000 annually since 2004,
the year Contra Costa County said it no longer had the funds to keep the
shelters open.
Earlier this year, ICCC and Shelter Inc. asked the county to begin supporting
the shelters once again, so that they could return to their original mission
of providing services to homeless families instead of expending time-consuming
energy on writing grants and raising money.
But the county refused, saying it is facing a $20-$50 million budget shortfall
for the next fiscal year. Supervisors say they cannot afford to fund either
shelter without help from Contra Costa’s 19 cities. But those municipalities
say that they don’t have the money either.
Gwen Watson, pro-bono coordinator of Winter Nights, a revolving shelter
sponsored by ICCC and hosted by 22 churches, is seriously worried about
the closure of North Concord and the eminent shut-down of Mountain View.
So is ICCC’s executive director, the Rev. Brian Stein-Webber, a
Lutheran minister. Both shelters have served as the “next step up”
from Winter Nights’ emergency arrangement, giving families a steadier
transitional setting, which in turn can help adults get jobs and move
into permanent housing.
Winter Nights is the first link in this process, supplying a temporary
holding space for families while they begin to tap into social services.
Watson, a member of Christ the King Parish in Pleasant Hill, emphasized
the importance of “the continuum of services not being broken.”
Mountain View staff is already scrambling to find other places for its
resident families so that no one ends up back out on the streets June
30, said Watson.
In the meantime, Winter Nights and its 22 volunteer churches will each
continue to take turns providing sleeping space and hot meals for families
for one or two weeks.
But what will happen to those families on May 1 when Winter Nights closes
for the year, and Mountain View continues to move into shut-down mode
and no longer accepts new clients?
“Things are up in the air," said Stein-Webber.
However, he stressed that the ICCC and Shelter, Inc. are remaining in
discussions with county supervisors, city officials, nonprofits and faith-based
groups in efforts to come up with a fail-safe source of annual funding
so that the two family shelters could reopen. One possible solution could
be a new property tax, he said.
Stein-Webber hopes that the “current crisis will lead to better
cooperation between all the groups.”
“Realistically, until the reign of God happens, we are going to
need homeless shelters,” he predicted.
The minister praised the seven Catholic parishes that participate in Winter
Nights by hosting families overnight in church buildings, providing hot
home-cooked meals, and transporting the families to social service agencies.
“They are some of the very best supporters or these services. It’s
amazing. Maybe it’s because of the Catholic emphasis on social justice,”
he said.
