San Jose homeless shelter to shut its doors

By Gina Belmonte

Four years after the initiation of a plan to rid the county of homelessness, a local shelter announced that it will close in the next few months.

But the shelter's closure is not due to the success of the county's plan. This shelter's funding was cut.

The Community Homeless Alliance Ministry shelter, to which the Santa Clara Community Action Program regularly sends volunteers, is located at San Jose's First Christian Church and Deliverance Ministry and has been open for more than a decade.

"It was just a question of the two congregations struggling. There were some confusions and they didn't have the resources to continue, especially staff wise," said Outreach Minister of CHAM Deliverance Ministry Sandy Perry. First Christian Church Pastor Dana Bainbridge was juggling the maintenance and development of the church with running the shelter and it just wasn't working, said Perry.

The decision to close the shelter was made in mid-January. No new residents have been accepted since then, and the actual closure will take place when the last family has moved out, estimated to be around March 1, said Perry.

The CHAM shelter is a site that SCCAP has regularly visited since 2001. SCCAP volunteers would provide tutoring and activities for the children housed at the shelter and interact with adults, said CHAM Program Coordinator Annie Rovzar.

Since its founding in 1997, the shelter has undergone various reorganizations, including a cutback on the number of guests from 50 to 20 and the length of time guests could receive lodging. Prior to 2007, there was no limit on a resident's length of stay, and although the average length was about three to four months, some residents stayed for a year or longer.

After some reorganization, a three-month limit was created, which could be extended to six months if residents were working hard toward acquiring permanent housing. But even with less residents, the shelter couldn't sustain its operations.

The shelter also did not receive any outside financial help from the city. Since its start, CHAM was involved in a battle with the city of San Jose and received multiple threats of being fined up to $2,500 a day for taking in people off the streets, said Perry.

But according to Vivian Frelix-Hart, head of special projects in the housing department of the city of San Jose, such threats to execute a fine never took place. Frelix-Hart, former homeless coordinator for the city, said there were some "code enforcement issues" with the church housing so many people.

Since 2001, there has been an increase in the amount of city resources allocated to alleviate homelessness, said Perry. The increase in resources dedicated to services for the homeless and extremely low-income residents resulted from years of working to coordinate more than 100 organizations to fight homelessness.

But the county hopes to reform its allocation of affordable housing resources, shifting from shelter services to a more permanent housing solution, said Marjorie Matthews, director of Santa Clara County's Office of Affordable Housing.

"What happens is shelters are being used as a permanent way of life, and we don't think that's acceptable," said Matthews.

The county launched a campaign called "The Santa Clara County 10 year Plan to End Homelessness" in 2005 to help map out some of the issues perpetuating homelessness and to create potential solutions. The plan was reformed and renamed "Destination: Home" for the actual implementation.

With the plan entering its fourth year, the county has been forming partnerships with county housing and mental health departments as well as different city departments to subsidize living units for low-income residents.

Part of the plan also includes providing support services for individuals once they have moved into a permanent housing situation, and redesigning facility spaces, such as the Bacardo shelter in San Jose, which has been made into a medical respite center, said Matthews.

"Only when a person has a permanent support of housing can he begin to address other issues that make him homeless," said Matthews.

The most common causes of homelessness, according to a 2007 Countywide Homeless Census, include mental health conditions, substance abuse, generational poverty, domestic abuse and unemployment.

According to this census, there were 7,202 homeless persons in Santa Clara County, a decrease since 2005, when the count was at 7,646. The count took place at a given time between 5 and 9 a.m. on a weekday. It included people found on the street, in cars, vans or recreational vehicles and in shelters at the time.

While the number of homeless people decreased overall since 2005, the number of unsheltered individuals and families grew from 4,868 in 2005 to a reported 5,101 in 2007.

CHAM and SCCAP are working to gather the testimonies of the homeless and petition for greater government help, said Rovzar.

Perry said CHAM, along with other advocates, will be sending letters to President Barack Obama demanding the establishment of a national housing trust fund, more public housing, section aid vouchers and greater housing subsidies.

"Homelessness is an act of government, not an act of God," said Perry. "We're trying to correct that at a federal level."

Contact Gina Belmonte at gbelmonte@scu.edu.