Gilroy’s only overnight homeless shelter closed on March 31 and is slated to reopen in December. Now, the hundreds who used the shelter each day this year may have no other legal—or secure—place to sleep in town.
The shelter, operated at the National Guard Armory and supported by San Jose-based EHC Life Builders—now known as HomeFirst—provided 100 beds, two meals and hot showers to the homeless between December and March.
Without the option of staying the night indoors, many of the homeless turn to living in hidden encampments, under foliage and try to stay out of sight—and out of trouble.
Diana Clinton, a Gilroy resident of 15 years who has been homeless for the last seven, stays in the Armory at night during the four months it’s open as much as possible. The line to enter the emergency shelter backs out to the street hours even before the doors actually open, she said.
But without that resource, Clinton is worried about how she can shield herself from the cold weather and the off-and-on rains.
“When you don’t know where you’re going to go or if you’re going to get housing any time soon, it’s so exhausting mentally, physically and emotionally,” she said. “It’s hard to wake up knowing you’re going to go through it all over again. You’ve got to keep faith because it’s the only thing that keeps you going.”
According to leaders at local nonprofits that serve the homeless, instability among the population is caused by insecurity about not having somewhere to sleep. Knowing you have a roof over your head to sleep beneath can, overtime, stabilizes the needy and allows them to search for jobs much more effectively.
“People are very nervous about (the Armory closing). It’s going to be wet and create hardship,” said Jan Bernstein-Chargin, board chair for the Gilroy Compassion Center — a nonprofit that provides daytime outreach services for South County’s needy. “It’s hard to show up at work on time if you slept outside or slept in your car. It’s hard to think about long-term planning if you’re spending all day thinking where to sleep at night without getting in trouble.”
The latest data shows the homeless population in Gilroy and across Santa Clara County is growing.
The 2013 Santa Clara County Homeless Census and Survey, the most recent countywide effort to track the population, revealed that 7,631 county residents are homeless on any given night and 74 percent of those homeless are out in the cold, living on the streets, in cars or in encampments.
The 2013 “point in time count” found approximately 400 Gilroyans without shelter.
Additionally, close to four out of every 1,000 Santa Clara County residents are homeless, recent estimates show. But since the last survey was conducted in 2011, the number of homeless individuals in the county also increased by 8 percent, with an 18 percent jump in San Jose.
“Once people become homeless, it’s very hard to get back to a life of stability because of everything that happens when people get arrested or ticketed for trespassing,” Bernstein-Chargin said, noting that those who camp on the streets or sleep in vehicles ultimately risk getting arrested because they’re often unable to pay the cost of a ticket.
Daleen Pearce, program manager at the Compassion Center, said the number of tickets issued to Gilroy’s homeless have been increasing recently, for offenses ranging from illegal lodging to loitering.
“They are criminalized in so many different ways and are being shuffled from one location to another,” Pearce said. “They have no stability in their lives and without any stability, they’re not able to focus on any problems they might have. All that just sits on the backburner, and they’re in survival mode just to through the next day.”
According to GPD Chief Denise Turner, the police force is response-based, and unless a citizen calls to complain, officers “don’t go looking for campers,” she said.
“However, should the camp pose a public safety concern, we will take action,” Turner added, explaining that officers will distribute resource brochures to the homeless.
“It’s a cat and mouse game,” said David, who has been homeless in Gilroy for more than six months and can usually be found at the Compassion Center. “You don’t have a whole lot of options.”
Fundraising for overnight shelter
The Compassion Center is focusing efforts on raising funds to build the Garlic Capital’s first year-round overnight shelter, and as of press time garnered 77 percent of the funds necessary toward a $200,000 down payment on a facility to house the shelter.
“We’re closer than we’ve ever been,” Bernstein-Chargin said.
The philanthropic Sobrato Family Foundation donated $25,000 grant and pledged to match up to $25,000 in additional donations this year, she added. The proposed facility will also offer hot showers to its guests.
Emphasis should be on permanent housing, leaders say
HomeFirst, the agency responsible for operating the Armory in the winter and other overnight shelters in Santa Clara County, has done so for 25 years.
“The program was there for homeless individuals who had nowhere else to turn, particularly in the beginning of winter when we were facing freezing cold temperatures,” HomeFirst CEO Jenny Niklaus said. “Cold weather shelters can save lives, but the reality is we have to do more to get people into permanent housing.”
Bernstein-Chargin and Pearce agree. For everything from low-income housing programs through the federal government to transitional housing programs, and even senior complexes like Gilroy’s Wheeler Manor, the waiting lists are years long, they say.
“The low-income housing crisis is where we really need to be focusing on at every level,” Bernstein-Chargin said. “Plenty of people are on waiting lists, but where do you go to wait?”
–7,631 county residents are homeless on any given night and 74 percent of those homeless are out in the cold, living on the streets, in cars or in encampments, according to the 2013 Santa Clara County Homeless Census and Survey.
-Close to four out of every 1,000 Santa Clara County residents are homeless, recent estimates show. But since the last survey was conducted in 2011, the number of homeless individuals in the county also increased by 8 percent, with an 18 percent jump in San Jose.
-The 2013 “point in time count” found approximately 400 Gilroyans without shelter.
