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Safe Ground Sacramento's
Community Bulletin First Edition, March 2011 |
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Greetings!
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Steve Watters, Executive Director
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Hello and Welcome,
Hello and welcome to the first edition of SafeGround Sacramento's Community Bulletin. We plan to send our electronic newsletter out often enough to help keep you apprised of our progress toward the goal of acquiring a parcel of land upon which to build the Safe Ground emergency transitional housing community. Our village will have 40-60 sleeping cabins and a community center with full facilities including restrooms, showers, laundry, kitchens, a community dining area and meeting rooms to house outreach services. Our village will be able to house between 60 and 100 people at a time, and we are striving to make this a successful model of a low cost solution to combat homelessness that can be replicated around our region and beyond. The village plans call for community gardens and a place for our residents' dogs.
Future editions of SafeGround Sacramento's Community Bulletin will introduce you to many of our members, volunteers and board members. Each brings a unique expertise to our effort and will broaden your understanding of our objectives. You also will find links to other resources, local press articles and any Safe Ground Sacramento press releases. If you wish to join our effort you will be able to click on a donation button and be taken to our website at www.SafeGroundSac.org where you can donate via PayPal, to directly support the SafeGround Sacramento, Inc. efforts, as well as find out more about SafeGround. SafeGround, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. I will offer updates on our efforts and progress in each edition. Welcome to SafeGround Sacramento's Community Bulletin.
Steve Watters
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 | Ron Javor, Lawyer & Safe Ground Volunteer
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Finding a Safe Ground Community
By Ron Javor
A number of SafeGround volunteers, elders, campers, and other community members have been working for over a year to identify sites for a SafeGround community and to design the residential structures that will house homeless residents. Due to the costs of developing infrastructure such as utilities, a general use building housing kitchen and sanitary facilities, and the cabins themselves, the focus has been on identifying land currently owned by public agencies but not anticipated for use for at least ten years.
SafeGround's goal is to lease this land at a very low cost so that donated funds and services can be focused on predevelopment costs (such as planning and permits), actual construction, and future operating costs.
Members of the SafeGround Board and Steering Committee have met during the year with City and County elected officials and representatives of various City and County agencies to identify potential land. As sites have been identified, they have driven to see them to assess their potential use, including access to public transportation and local services, compatibility with surrounding uses, zoning, and potential costs of development.
Recently, a committee of advocates met with City staff to present initial recommendations and to develop a "road map" for final selection, resource development (such as donations of funding and labor, as well as local fee waivers), and land use approvals by City planning, health, fire, and other related agencies. Further progress in identifying the potential sites, as well as design of the cabins, will be reported in future issues.
(Ron volunteers with SafeGround and is an affordable housing and homeless advocate on the boards of several Sacramento area nonprofit agencies, including the Sacramento Housing Alliance)
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John Kraintz,
Board President
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Interview with Our Board President and Founding Member of SafeGround,
John Kraintz
Recorded By Suzie Bowler
February 24, 2011:
Suzie: John, you have been in the homeless community for many years, what do you see as the causes of homelessness?
John: The causes of homelessness are as varied as the homeless. Having no money, no family, no friends. no place to go. When you are not able to communicate with family, you are basically cut off, isolated, and no one can help you if you have no way of reaching out for help, no support group. Loss of employment, medical coverage and housing can exacerbate the effects of physical and mental disorders that might be manageable when those resources are available.
Suzie: What has been done to combat homelessness in Sacramento previously?
John: The traditional approach has been to have law enforcement, police and rangers, shuffle the homeless from place to place, under threat of arrest. It costs $170 per night to put someone in jail. When people get out of jail, they still don't have a place to live. Adding incarceration to their record makes it even more difficult for people to solve the issues that made them homeless in the first place.
I think real solutions would include an integrated approach of services, jobs, and affordable housing. But those are not available at this time, and there are people that need shelter and help now, not years from now. Last year it cost the taxpayer $16 per night to put someone in a motel. Currently, lack of funding makes traditional solutions impossible. There needs to be a brand new solution, and SafeGround has a proposed model solution.
3. What do you see as the SafeGround objectives and what are the components of your plan?
SafeGround would like to build a low-cost transitional housing model
community with services, on leased public land, and finance it with private funding. This would seem to be an offer that city and county government could not refuse considering the stressed economy. Until we can do that, I believe we should advocate for a high-tolerance zone where people can stay, managing the land and resources in a responsible manner.
4. How does SafeGround help the homeless while you wait for your project to be approved and get underway?
We are a community which attempts to triage various individuals so that they can be directed to places that can help them overcome the barriers to rejoining the mainstream society. SafeGround is very limited on funds but has been able to provide a tent and a sleeping bag so that people can have a decent level of safety, privacy and protection against the elements. SafeGround provides an area which can be secured and made safe. We have self-government and some very basic rules to try to mitigate community issues, including zero tolerance for drugs, alcohol, and violence. This helps to restore lost dignity.
Camping on the river is illegal, and SafeGround has identified 4 major
problems that campers incur: sanitation, garbage, drugs & alcohol, and unsupervised dogs. SafeGround has attempted to solve these issues. SafeGround believes that a community in a particular neighborhood could become an asset to that neighborhood, starting community gardens, neighborhood watch, and clean-up as well as being a gateway out of homelessness. We need to establish communication between the homeless and the housed community and erase some of the erroneous stereotypes that have been placed upon the homeless. Education begins with communication and could be the solution to many homeless people's problems.
Suzie: Thanks John, for your insights.
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 | | Suzie Bowler, Executive Assistant |
A Few Things I've Learned
By Suzie Bowler
Hi. My name is Suzie. I'm relatively new to SafeGround. I just want to share with you the things I've learned since I started volunteering in March of last year. It's possible that you are not aware of these things, just as I was not aware of them either.
Did you know that in Sacramento it's illegal to camp anywhere, even if you own the property and you've given your consent to the camper?
Did you know that when a homeless person tries to rest for a minute in the city, they get driven off by police and are told to go "somewhere else." Then when they get out of police jurisdiction and try to rest for a minute by the river, they are driven off by the rangers and are told again to go "somewhere else." So they are forced to keep moving, back and forth.
How can a person get a job if he or she has no address or phone number, can't get mail, can't sleep, can't do laundry, can't shower, can't use the restroom, can't get warm, can't get dry, and can't find a place to keep a set of nice, clean clothes?
These are the problems that I am aware of now, because of volunteering at SafeGround.
If you were in their situation, maybe you'd call your parents, or maybe you'd call your kids, or maybe you'd call a friend, and you'd get help.
But what if you didn't have any family? What if you had lost all your friends? What if you'd lost everything that was valuable to you? What if you'd lost hope?
Have you noticed that when you don't have hope, you get depressed and you lose the energy it takes to face the world and overcome whatever obstacles are in your way?
SafeGround offers hope, and a family to those who are alone and have nowhere to turn.
(If there is anything you'd like to learn more about, send suggested newsletter topics to safegroundsactown@gmail.com.)
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Contact SafeGround
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Location: 1321 North C. St. Sacramento, CA 95811 (Behind Loaves & Fishes) Mailing Address: PO Box 1644 Sacramento, CA 95812 Website: safegroundsac.comEmail Contact: safegroundsactown@gmail .com
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About Us
SafeGround needs churches, synagogues, congregations, union halls and business owners in the Midtown area to permit up to 100 SafeGround homeless persons to stay overnight on their property, from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next day. This would provide the SafeGround campers a sanctuary from arrest, and also give them a life-saving night free of the cold and the rain this winter. SafeGround provides its own staffing and cleanup. Many hosts also provide a dinner and/or breakfast, but this is not required. Those who sleep with us promise to be alcohol free, drug free and nonviolent. All we need is a large room and someone to open the doors. We provide the rest. We have been doing this for a year with four downtown churches and they may be contacted for reference at your request. Please contact David at 916-834-2228 for more information if you can help. |
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Save 25%!
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Come to Loaves & Fishes, 1321 North C St., Sacramento, CA 95811, 916-446-0874, (where SafeGround is located), and in the Administration Building, purchase a $20 long-sleeve T-Shirt at a discounted price of $15. (While supplies last: first come, first served.) Your shirt purchase price, and wearing it, support SafeGround.
| | Offer Expires: 4/31/11 |
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