Category: Homeless Initiatives

A Day at Homeward Bound

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

28% Reduction in Chronic Homelessness

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

2nd Annual Marin Community Job Fair

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

Renter Protections

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

2019 Point-in-Time Count

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

Emergency Shelter in Marin

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

Mental Health & Homelessness – Part 3

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

Mental Health & Homelessness – Part 2

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

Mental Health & Homelessness – Part 1

One of the public’s biggest frustrations related to homelessness is encountering clearly mentally ill individuals living on the street.  44 million Americans – housed and unhoused – experience mental  illness every year.  Many are medicated or otherwise not outwardly symptomatic, but at times some can sadly display strange, unsettling, or disruptive behavior.  This is particularly evident when people are homeless.   … Continued

How to Address Panhandling

Our community is making significant progress towards ending chronic homelessness.  In the last four months alone, we have housed 24 more people, bringing our total to 71.  Beyond our work with the HOT Team and Coordinated Entry, the City recently renewed its contract with Downtown Streets Team, which has now helped 100+ people experiencing homelessness … Continued

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