GILROY
– They are homeless in Gilroy with a place to sleep but no place
to go.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – They are homeless in Gilroy with a place to sleep but no place to go.
Kathleen Carrington and her mother, Dora, are two people making do with what they have – a broken-down station wagon and an assortment of personal possessions ranging from clothing to a baby stroller.
The Carringtons lost the house they were renting in October 2002, when Kathleen says her landlord falsely accused her of not making rent payments. Kathleen was laid off last June and was short money to rent a new apartment.
The Carringtons are just two of the untold numbers in Gilroy who live in their cars, parked in lots and on streets around town. They can be an eyesore for residents and business owners alike, but are often left with no other choice.
For most of the past two months, the Carringtons have made their home in the parking lot behind Denny’s 8425 San Ysidro Ave. restaurant.
“We keep an eye on the place, and they keep an eye on us,” Kathleen said.
The Denny’s staff know Kathleen and Dora, greeting them every day with a smile. The Carringtons have built a rapport with the staff.
“If I could, I would give everyone who works here a big award from the main (Denny’s) office,” Kathleen said.
The Carringtons eat almost every meal at Denny’s, usually buying a meal once during mid-morning and again late in the day, which is enough to keep them from going hungry. Hot tea with the works – lemon, honey, sugar – is a common treat before bed. If money is particularly tight, Kathleen goes without food so that her mother, 82, can eat.
“You learn how to survive,” Kathleen said.
She says that, together, they receive less than $1,100 each month in Social Security and her deceased father’s veteran’s pension. That is not enough for rent, food and $3,000 in unpaid cell phone and storage bills, she says.
Their medical bills, including those from the heart attack Kathleen suffered in June, are covered by Medi-Cal. Since then, she was briefly employed by a Gilroy pet store for two months this spring but has been unable to find steady work.
Denny’s lends a hand
Most homeless people living in their cars aren’t so fortunate as to have a warm place to welcome them each day.
Recently, the Carringtons received a helping hand from some of the Denny’s staff. Thanks to a couple calls placed to a social services agency by a Denny’s employee, the mother and daughter are getting help from the system and could have an apartment in as soon as a week. Denny’s employees did not want to have their names used because they are not seeking credit for helping the Carringtons and are unable to assist every needy family.
“It’s so neat that someone went out of their way to help these women find a place to live instead of calling the police or trying to get rid of them, which would be the easy thing to do,” said Lori Adolph, a waitress at the restaurant.
Denny’s representatives said the restaurant has not received any complaints from customers about the station wagon. The Super 8 Motel located next door to the restaurant has complained to GPD several times, as recently as Wednesday morning.
Being homeless isn’t illegal
Gilroy Police say what the Carringtons have been doing is not illegal, although the decision to allow people to park cars in a business parking lot overnight is usually left up to the business owner. A vehicle is allowed to park on public property if it is parked legally and moved at least once every 72 hours, said Sgt. Noel Provost of the Gilroy Police Department. The cars begin to pose a problem for businesses or the city if the owners are dumping trash. If a car is parked in one place for an extended period of time, customers often call the business to complain, Provost said.
When officers receive complaints from residents about unsafe cars or recreational vehicles, they usually let business owners try to clear up the problem on their own before officers issue citations to the homeless. If the cars continue to pose a health or safety threat, officers will step in to help.
“It’s not something we go looking for; it’s something that’s brought to our attention,” Provost said.
The Wal-Mart parking lot, located at 7900 Arroyo Circle, until July was attracting several families either homeless or camping in RVs. While those living out of their cars would park for the night and leave each morning, the RVs would remain in one spot for months on end, said Assistant Manager Chris Stevenson. Some of the vehicles had carpets laid out around them, dogs tied up outside, possessions scattered about the parking lot and trash in piles, Stevenson said.
“They were not respecting our wishes (to keep the area clean), and they were not respecting our property,” he said. “Once the customers got involved, then we decided that they had to go.”
Wal-Mart posted signs in the parking lot six months ago stating that people are not allowed to remain parked for extended periods of time or dump trash in the lot. The signs list the appropriate city codes. Stevenson followed up one or two months later, personally telling each of the remaining RVs they would not be allowed to stay in the lot. Word spread, Stevenson said, and most of the families left. Gilroy Police visited the lot in July to clear out the remaining vehicles, citing a few of them.
The Carringtons said they often used to sleep in Wal-Mart’s parking lot and left for good in late July. They were able to drive their car as far as Denny’s before the engine stopped running.
The situation at Wal-Mart actually attracted people to the parking lot from outside Gilroy, but the number of homeless living in their cars has remained the same over the years, Provost said. He could not provide an estimate of how many families in Gilroy live in their cars, but said the number of complaints to GPD has held steady.
Food tailored to car dwellers
St. Joseph’s Family Center, however, has seen a great increase in those families in the past three years, and has tailored its food offerings accordingly.
“It used to be very occasional. In fact, we didn’t have a real concrete list (of supplies to offer families living out of their cars) because it was so infrequent we just used what we had available that day,” said Jacqui Merriman, food distribution coordinator for St. Joseph’s. “It became more frequent, so I created a list with a minimum of food items that they get.”
St. Joseph’s now services individuals and a few families – totaling about 36 people – with “car food” each month. The list of appropriate car food contains mostly canned goods that can either be eaten directly from the can or served without being heated, as well as some that are refrigerated or heated, depending on what amenities the family has. Foods like beef stew, canned vegetables, tuna, cereal, peanut butter and jam are car food staples, along with fresh fruits and vegetables. Families also receive fresh or powdered milk, and hot dogs, hamburgers or eggs if they are able to cook them, Merriman said.
The car food packages are designed to last about five days, after which time the families can come back again, Merriman said, while those families participating in the regular program can use St. Joseph’s services once every 16 days.
Warm place to sleep
Gilroy’s National Guard Armory is another service widely used by the homeless. The Emergency Housing Consortium runs a cold-weather shelter out of the armory during the winter months. Kathleen and Dora Carrington frequented the armory last winter. Larger numbers of homeless people come to Gilroy during the four months in which the shelter operates, Provost said.
The armory provides housing and services to 125 people each night, said Katrina Thielman, communications manager for EHC. It will open Dec. 1 and close at the end of March.
The EHC, along with South County Housing, will provide even more services and bed space for homeless individuals and families with the opening of the Sobrato Family Transitional Center at 9345 Monterey Road in about three years. The center will replace the armory by providing 140 beds in its emergency shelter – 75 open year-round – and 65 transitional housing units for singles and families.
The center will help people transition from homelessness to affordable housing as staff works with residents to create a plan for becoming self-sufficient, Thielman said. The center is expected to provide housing and services to 2,200 individuals each year. Construction on the transitional housing units will begin late spring and construction on the emergency shelter will begin sometime in 2005. Both projects will take about 18 months each to complete.
This winter, the Carringtons hope to be in an apartment of their own thanks to county assistance and some rent money from other family members. Kathleen is eager to put homelessness behind her.
“Some people don’t care if they’re homeless. I do care,” she said. “I want to get out of this situation and into a better situation.”
The Carringtons said they will receive assistance from a county social service program. Santa Clara County’s Adult Protective Services, which could not confirm or deny that they are working on the Carrington’s case, is one county agency that helps older adults who lose their homes.
Those in need of emergency housing can call EHC at 294-2100. Adult abuse can be reported to Adult Protective Services at (800) 414-2002.
