Many out in the rain due to lack of communication,
bureaucracy
Gilroy – The homeless in Sunnyvale will find haven from the cold and rain this weekend while their counterparts in Gilroy sleep under bridges, their fates chosen by the slow grind of bureaucracy and a lack of communication by local officials.
“The community in Sunnyvale requested that we try to do something,” said Hilary Barroga, a spokeswoman for nonprofit shelter provider EHC Lifebuilders, in San Jose. “I don’t think that we really knew we could. It prompted us to look further into it.”
The nonprofit group, which operates winter homeless shelters at the National Guard Armories in both Gilroy and Sunnyvale, found a way to re-open at least one of them earlier this week.
In response to the Sunnyvale request, they asked county officials to continue paying out $50,000 left over on the nonprofit group’s contract to provide shelter services in both cities. County officials agreed, even though the $387,000 contract expired March 31.
The decision means that up to 125 homeless people will find rest this weekend in a Sunnyvale church before returning to the city’s armory for a month of shelter. South County’s homeless, meanwhile, will find the doors of the Gilroy armory still closed. A week ago, as record rainfalls continued across California, more than 100 homeless spent their last night at the facility.
And the decision to spend the money on Sunnyvale, rather than splitting it with South County?
“I think we were just interested in getting a facility open as quickly as possible,” Barroga said.
“We’re working with the South County cities to see if they can help re-open (their) facility,” she added. “We definitely would like to be able to run the armory there, but we need the financial resources to do it.”
On Thursday, Gilroy Housing Coordinator Marilyn Roaf spoke with an EHC representative about the possibility of the city financing half of the $30,000 shelter cost for April. But that plan has not bubbled up from the staff level because “we don’t have anyone that can make a decision around until next week,” Roaf said.
Both City Administrator Jay Baksa and Community Development Director Wendie Rooney were out of the office Friday.
“It seems like a worthy thing because of the terrible weather,” Roaf said, adding that “these are public funds so we need to go through the process.”
Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro and Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, who represents South County, said they have not received any requests from city staff or the nonprofit group to help secure funding for extended shelter operations.
“Nobody’s called me and said there’s a need,” Gage said Friday. “If EHC calls me and they want something done, I’ll make some calls.”
Meteorologists are predicting rain through Wednesday.
