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
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
Two years ago the City of San Rafael – in partnership with St. Vincent de Paul, Homeward Bound, the County of Marin, Buckelew, the Marin Housing Authority, and the Ritter Center – launched the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT Team) to house long-term, chronically homeless individuals in our community. Fast forward to earlier this year, and the … Continued
Last Thursday, the City of San Rafael – in partnership with the County of Marin, Downtown Streets Team, the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, and Homeward Bound of Marin – hosted Marin’s 1st Annual Community Job Fair. The results are in – it was a huge success! According to Job Seekers …. … Continued
As we’ve seen, over the last 20 years a huge number of Americans have stopped participating in the labor force. We’ve also seen that for the average worker, wage growth has stagnated for over 40 years. The final piece to the puzzle of how employment affects homelessness is the way these trends impact personal savings/wealth. … Continued
Read Part 1 Here Housing “affordability” is often discussed in the context of housing prices, but it is equally dependent on how much we have to spend. For most of us, how much we have to spend is dependent on the wages we earn at our jobs. The Department of Housing & Urban … Continued
If there are now 12 million fewer people working in the United States, Downtown Streets Team is a local solution that is reversing that trend. DST provides a “work experience” program for people experiencing homelessness. Whether someone has challenges with addiction, mental health, involvement with the criminal justice, or simply long-term unemployment, Team Members volunteer … Continued
The unemployment rate in Marin County is 2.5%. Despite such a strong economy, of the 1,100 people experiencing homelessness in Marin, 85% are unemployed even though only 23% report being unable to work. What explains this disconnect? Labor Participation When it comes to measuring the health of our economy, we often focus on the … Continued
According to the 2017 Homeless Point-in-Time Count, of the 1,100 people experiencing homelessness in Marin, only 15% were employed. Despite this very low rate of employment, of the people who were unemployed, only 23% reported being unable to work. Therefore, there is a tremendous opportunity to help people experiencing homelessness in Marin reenter the workforce. … Continued
For almost three years the City of San Rafael’s Police Department has had a dedicated “Downtown Foot Patrol” made up of three sworn officers, one civilian homeless outreach provider, and a supervisor. The Downtown Foot Patrol’s primary mission is to work with the community to improve quality of life issues. Sergeant Scott Eberle currently supervises … Continued
