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Spring 2023 Newsletter - Dorothy's Place
Spring 2023 Newsletter
What we ignore can cripple
Jill Allen, Executive Director, Dorothy’s Place
Post-pandemic, there are many more homeless
people visible to us. We see ‘them’ everywhere,
camping along highways, in parking lots, and up
against fences where we conduct business. For
those of us who are sheltered, seeing those who are
not can be heart wrenching and very frustrating,
and we want to help in some way, but there comes
a point where we have to ask, why does this
continue to get worse?
The state has offered billions of dollars to fix
it, but there is little evidence yet of fixes, just
more expense as we try to control the disaster
of people living without safety, toileting without
sanitation, and creating tons of trash without
waste management.
We call it a tragically failed socio-economic
system; a system that left unaddressed can
cripple us.
• Chronically unsheltered single adults, even
those working, cannot find even a room
for rent that they can afford, forcing them into
encampment living.
• Continual trauma of encampment life (theft,
assault, rape, verbal and emotional abuse)
mounds on top of childhood traumas and
multiple chronic diseases and debilitates to
the point where unsheltered single
adults cannot function because they cannot
trust anyone. They don’t trust their doctors,
their police, or their neighbors.
There is no respect for sanitation. No respect
for other’s property or concerns. Trash piles
up. Outdoor toileting is common. Passing
pathogens to others is common. Sickness
and death are common. The person in this
situation lives in the moment — no thought of
the past or future.
Unfortunately, our system of care responds
like this:
• As unsheltered people are dispersed without
a destination, they are not only further
traumatized and debilitated, but left
without their support systems.
Without access to public restrooms, personal
hygiene suffers and health deteriorates.
Toileting where human waste is not captured
and processed creates new health challenges
for everyone.
• The conditions in which these people
are forced to live cost ag producers and
processing facilities the expense for clean ups
and facility repair, not to mention the
threat of unsanitary conditions in fields, food
processing facilities and irrigation waterways
• Municipalities pay huge amounts for “health
and safety” clean-ups, but the root
problem is this: everyone pays for the damage
homelessness causes, and we do so without
argument, and without an end to problem
in sight. In fact, we are all so used to shelling
out our tax money for so little result, we do it
without a single thought.
We need to take this failed system, where
everyone loses, and change it into winning
solutions. We already know what doesn’t work:
displacement without safe shelter available,
penalties cited for illegal camping, illegal drugs
bought and sold to numb the pain of cold, hard
nights, theft and vandalism to pay for food, drugs
and protection, untreated human waste and
garbage piling up. What is the solution?
Not enough people in our county know that
there is a community plan to end this failed system
Encampment Sweeps
Amy Narlock, Development Officer I, Dorothy’s Place
This year we have experienced an increase in
the frequency of encampment sweeps.
Local entities have chosen to literally sweep
encampment residents off the streets, and
although safety clean-ups are necessary, let’s be
clear, encampment sweeps do nothing to resolve
the issue of people being unsheltered. In fact,
encampment sweeps are costly and undermine
pathways to better health and housing outcomes
in our community. Displaced residents are forced
from their proximity to services and are pushed
areas that leave them unreachable by service
providers.
As housing and healthcare costs continue
to rise, many find themselves one financial
setback away from becoming houseless. In our
community, if a person becomes houseless,
shelters aren’t always an option. Shelters often
have restrictions on the number of personal
belongs, companion animals, enforced curfews
making maintaining employment difficult, and
can be unsafe for vulnerable populations. For
these and numerous other reasons people may
choose to live in an encampment. Encampments
allow people to keep their belongings, keep their
pets, and in some cases keep their family united.
In 2022, The Journal of General Internal
Medicine published a survey that identified
negative impacts of sweeps to both encampment
residents and healthcare systems. The loss of
medications that treat chronic conditions such
as hypertension, diabetes, seizure disorder, and
mental illness can lead to acute symptoms that
require ER visits and hospitalization. The loss of
vital documents during sweeps thwarts efforts to
obtain housing or employment and can take 6-8
months to replace. Displacement causes residents
to be in a constant state of crisis, increasing
feelings of hopelessness and decreasing trust
in service providers who have sometimes spent
months building relationships. Residents who are
displaced by sweeps rarely reconnect with service
providers.
Recommendations for solutions from National
Healthcare for the Homeless Council, HUD,
The National Law Center on Homelessness
and Poverty, and more agree that solutions
to encampments need to focus on housing
and supportive services. Without housing,
encampment residents will improvise new shelter
in a different location. Supportive services such
as those provided by our Streets To Homes
Encampment Outreach and the Drop-In Center
serve to coordinate healthcare, create plans
for sustainable housing, and provide traumainformed
intensive case management with the
goal of better health and housing outcomes.
During the most recent encampment sweep our
programs worked together permanently house
nine encampment residents with House of Peace.
We believe it is possible to end homelessness and
we will continue to serve our consumers with the
compassion and respect they deserve.
Success Snapshot
A Great Spring for Tony!
• Unsheltered and in case management for 8 months with Streets To Homes
• Retired with no income and unable to find housing
• Social worker was assisted in obtaining social security benefits and helped secure housing
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New Ways to Give!
To thank you for supporting our future, we
want to make it easier to support yours. We’re
sharing a free estate planning resource with our
community to make this important task simple,
legal, and at no cost to you. We believe that
increasing access to estate planning breaks down
expensive and inequitable barriers that surround
this important task.
FreeWill allows you to create
a legally binding will, for free,
in as little as 20 minutes.
We have also added tools to make it easier
for you to give through qualified charitable
distribution or donor advised funds, donate stock
or even cryptocurrency!
Check out our new Planned Giving page at
dorothysplace.org/planned-giving
Success Snapshot
Congratulations to Yasmin!
• 24 weeks of case management with
House of Peace
• Single mother of 5 with multiple
medical issues
• Housing navigator helped prevent eviction
by clearing past debt and educating landlord
on housing vouchers
What we ignore can cripple
(continued from page 1)
of institutionalized acceptance of homelessness.
The “Lead Me Home” Plan embraces innovative
systems change and it has been approved by the
Monterey County Continuum of Care Leadership
Council. The Plan is embedded with dignity
and respect. It is informed by people with lived
experience with homelessness, and it is housingfocused.
While new homes and apartments
are being built in traditional ways, California’s
state-funded “Project Homekey” developments
are converting motels and other housing into
modest, very low-income housing for people
that are homeless, but for every 100 new studio
apartments filled, there are four times that many
that need an apartment. DignityMoves (a recent
successful start-up) helps communities with fastbuilt
units that fill the gap while more traditional
housing takes years to develop, and fills the needs
of chronically unsheltered people for health
improvement and a supportive community.
We’ll speak more on this in our next newsletter.
It’s time to divert financial resources into
strategies that work. The pilot programs developed
in the last few years, continuing through the
pandemic, do actually work. Dorothy’s Place is
one of many homeless services providers and
collaborators that invite you to be part of common
sense solutions. If you are interested in being
part of the solution, please email me, jill.allen@
dorothysplace.org.
2022 Donors
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Check out the Get Involved Section on our website for easy donation information!
https://www.dorothysplace.org/get-involved/
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Success Snapshot
Congratulations Olivia!
• One year of case management with Streets To Homes.
• Two years of unstable housing living with various friends. Bedridden due to
underlying medical conditions including heart problems and collapsed lung.
• With assistance from the housing navigator to secure a housing voucher and
daily health aide, Olivia signed a lease in May!
Franciscan Workers Core Values
- We value the dignity of every person with respect for individual worth and human potential.
- We promote collaboration in moving toward common goals.
- We commit to becoming culturally competent by respecting
differences, freedoms and equity. - We serve with integrity, professional excellence, accountability, and responsible stewardship, because we are committed to maintaining the trust of those who support or utilize our services.
- We respect each person’s agency, self-determination, and timing.
- We are committed to social justice, advocating for individual
opportunities and systemic change. - As an innovative organization, we are receptive to new ideas.
- We believe in the power of mutual healing, recovery, and restoration of self.
- We are grateful.
Heartfelt Thanks to the generous food donors who allow us to provide nutritious meals to our Consumers!
