Over the past year and a half, a court case called Martin v. Boise has been significantly impacting cities’ ability to respond to street homelessness. In a nutshell, the 9th Circuit Court ruling essentially says that imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain … Continued
The City of San Rafael will be hosting a first of its kind “roommate networking lunch” to assist individuals looking for affordable housing. With such expensive rents in our community, one creative strategy for increasing housing placements is to help people find potential roommates. We are also encouraging landlords or homeowners looking for renters to … Continued
In the early days of the City’s homelessness blog, we posted a series of interviews with local stakeholders to help the public meet the various people involved with this important issue. Those interviews included: the City of San Rafael’s Mental Health Outreach Liaison Lynn Murphy, the Ritter Center’s Director of Case Management Colin McDonnell, and … Continued
On Wednesday the County of Marin hosted a press conference (watch it here) to announce preliminary results from the 2019 Homeless Point-in-Time Count. While there is still work to be done, these results suggest that our strategy to end chronic homelessness is working! In San Rafael we’ve seen a … … Continued
In June of 2018 the City of San Rafael helped co-host the 1st Annual Marin County Community Job Fair. The inaugural event was a huge success – 310 job seekers had the chance to connect with 74 employers. This year we’ve teamed up with the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, the County of Marin, CareerPoint … Continued
On Monday, February 4th, the San Rafael City Council held an informational discussion (watch the video here) about the potential adoption of renter protection policies in San Rafael – specifically, Mandatory Mediation and Just Cause eviction. San Rafael’s Rental Market According to the City of San Rafael’s 2015-2023 Housing Element, in 2010 San … Continued
The Homeless Point-in-Time Count (PIT) is one of the most important opportunities we have to determine whether or not we’re making progress to end homelessness. The PIT only happens once every two years. The next one is coming up on Monday, January 28th. No experience is required. We need your help! VOLUNTEER What Is the … Continued
Reasons for Hope Robert was chronically homeless in Downtown San Rafael for 30 years. He is now one of the 100+ people who have been housed through our community’s new strategy for ending chronic homelessness. Check out his story. Challenges Remain While stories like Robert’s are proof that our new strategy to … Continued
70% of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Marin report having some type of psychiatric or emotional challenge. In Part 1 of this three-part series, we looked at what Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is. In Part 2, we looked at how the state hospital system was created. In this final part, we’ll look at what happened after … Continued
70% of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Marin report having some type of psychiatric or emotional challenge. In Part 1 of this three-part series, we looked at what Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is. In Part 2, we’ll look at how SMI has been treated over time. Supernatural Origins For thousands of years mental illness … Continued
