Merced Mysteries & Minutiae: Merced County plan focuses on demographics of homeless population

A Jan. 15 editorial in the Merced Sun-Star struck a note for many Merced County residents.

The editorial praised a $2 billion housing plan proposed by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, at the beginning of the year.

The plan’s main objective: fighting homelessness in California.

“It would direct resources to communities with the most impacted. The hard part will be determining those communities, since homelessness is an issue in every California city from Atwater to Yreka,” the editorial read.

One reader’s thoughts immediately went to Merced and the homeless population here. And she thought of Merced’s newly appointed city manager, Steve Carrigan, whose first day on the job is today.

Carrigan also happens to be the chairman of the Merced County Continuum of Care, a coalition of homeless advocates and service providers.

Q: What is the 10-year plan to address homelessness in Merced County?

A: First things first, the plan was adopted in May 2011 by the Merced County Association of Governments board.

The plan has eight goals: Increasing access to housing with services; enhancing employment readiness and resources; preventing homelessness; implementing rapid rehousing; improving community outreach and engagement; evaluating effectiveness; conducting a cost benefit analysis; and increasing leadership, collaboration and civic engagement.

A big part of the plan includes the annual homeless count, which Continuum of Care will conduct this week.

This is a key step in the plan because it will help categorize people by the services they require.

Last year about 900 people were identified as homeless countywide. Carrigan believes that number wasn’t as accurate as it could be and predicts the number will be lower this year.

“In a couple zones the numbers came in very high,” Carrigan said. “In those zones with high numbers, we’re going to throw more volunteers there to try to get the best count.”

During the count, volunteers will interview homeless and ask them 20 questions on a survey that will help verify whether that person is a veteran, is unemployed and what services they need.

Continuum of Care will target categories of the homeless one at a time rather than try to help the entire population at one time. First on the list – veterans.

Other categories include families with children, those with mental health needs, domestic violence victims and more.

Marion Helton, 58, said she would benefit from services that simply provide safety.

“I’d love a little place to call home,” she said. “I’d block the door and stay there with my dogs.”

Helton has been homeless in Merced for about four years and was included in the homeless count last year.

She was nearly finished paying off her house when she dropped everything to help her daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia. Within a three-month span, Helton said she lost her daughter, her husband, her mother and her granddaughter.

The deaths, especially her daughter’s, broke her.

“I checked out after I buried my daughter,” she said. “I was lost, and three years later I woke up in Applegate Park.”

Before her daughter was diagnosed, Helton worked for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation handling budgets. Now, she has trouble gathering her thoughts and “periodically checks out.” Doctors say it’s from stress. She is considered disabled, making it tough for her to get a job.

“I want to work. A lot of people out here want to work,” she said. “But it takes so much energy and work just to survive. It’s against the law for us to survive in this town.”

She’d like a job, but “I don’t know of a boss who would come wake you up and tell you to go to work today.”

Helton does appreciate services such as the Merced County Rescue Mission. But she struggles moving her belongings from place to place without being ticketed by police. Her dogs, she says, provide security and are the only reason she’s alive.

Gloria Sandoval, president of the California Central Valley Journey for Justice, said a big part of fighting homelessness is preventing it. That means preventing the loss of jobs, providing sufficient income and affordable rent, and coordinating service efforts such as substance abuse intervention and mental health services.

Carrigan said he is planning a homeless summit for next month that will include city and county elected officials, city and county departments, churches, schools, businesses and the public.

“The goal is to get all of the people around the table at the same time,” he said.

Sandoval said she hopes a person or group emerges that will make homelessness a more urgent matter, applying pressure to “get things done in Merced.”

“I don’t think we’ve got time to delay,” she said. “It could mean someone’s life. And I think a homeless person’s life is just as important as any other person’s life.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2016 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Merced Mysteries & Minutiae: Merced County plan focuses on demographics of homeless population."