{"id":787,"date":"2013-02-27T07:05:08","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T07:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=787"},"modified":"2013-02-27T07:05:08","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T07:05:08","slug":"bigot-criticism-groundless-but-real-concerns-remain-at-homeless-lack-of-services-center-in-santa-cruz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/bigot-criticism-groundless-but-real-concerns-remain-at-homeless-lack-of-services-center-in-santa-cruz\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigot Criticism Groundless But Real Concerns Remain at Homeless (Lack of) Services Center in Santa Cruz"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Note by Norse:\u00a0 The story below is <\/span>followed by an afterword from John Cohen, who edits the local Homeless Persons (Disabled) Advocacy Site at http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/325916790824852\/permalink\/431317143618149\/<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a>.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Cohen has advocated for several disabled people thrown out of the local shelter<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The local Homeless Services Center is run by Executive Director Monica Martinez a Board of Directors headed by City Council member Don Lane.\u00a0 I call it the Homeless (Lack of ) Services Center (HLOSC) because of their failure provide real shelter for more than a fraction of the homeless community, their collusion with law enforcement authorities, and their refusal to advocate for the restoration of civil rights for homeless people.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Our criticisms of the shelter management are many:\u00a0 that it has destroyed and not replaced locker space, that its workers got to court against homeless advocates and homeless people challenging the local anti-homeless laws (such as the Sleeping Ban in the PeaceCamp2010 protests), that it refuses to provide documentation of those on its waiting lists (which might deter Sleeping Ban harassment of\u00a0 folks), that it enforces its own anti-loitering policies during the day–destroying the original purpose of the shelter as a sanctuary,\u00a0 It also has hired First Alarm Security guards to threaten homeless people “hanging out” in public spaces nearby–mirroring the attacks on human rights being done downtown by “Hosts”, police, and other uniformed thugs.<\/p>\n

However, recent criticism from fanatics and homeless-haters on the right that it is a “Drug Den”, that it pollutes the neighborhood with trash, that it is a source of discarded needles, is simply part of a nasty Not-in-Our-Backyard agenda by NIMBYs in groups like Take Back Santa Cruz[TBSC], the Santa Cruz Neighbors, and the SCPD to enforce their own anti-homeless agenda as well as promote a new Drug Prohibition War..<\/p>\n

HUFF’s criticisms of the HLOSC should not be confused with those of TBSC.\u00a0\u00a0 If you’ve had concerns about the HLOSC, plese post them at the HUFF blog at http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/<\/wbr><\/a> .<\/p>\n

I Went Undercover at a Homeless Shelter — You Wouldn’t Believe the Shocking Abuses I Found There<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
Renee Miller was sexually propositioned by a staff member immediately upon arrival, and that was just the beginning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
February 18, 2013<\/em> \u00a0|<\/div>\n


\n<\/em>
\nEditor’s note: This post originally appeared on Tallahassee Grapevi<\/a>ne. An investigation has been launchedinto allegations of abuse at the shelter.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I work with the homeless every day at City Walk (and I mean Every\u00a0Day, on Sundays when we are closed, my husband and I take a group\u00a0of them to church.) One of my biggest goals is to show them God’s\u00a0love for them, that there is hope, that they have value\u00a0and they can overcome this\u00a0trial in their life and get back on their feet.<\/p>\n

We have a group of guys that stay at The\u00a0Shelter\u00a0that come every\u00a0day to escape the drama of that area of town. They love to come\u00a0help and pass the time blessing other people. We help them apply\u00a0for jobs online or in person, counsel them and figure out where\u00a0they need to be (sometimes this involves letting them work off a\u00a0bus ticket back to family.)<\/p>\n

Whenever I first heard complaints about The\u00a0Shelter, I\u00a0shrugged\u00a0it off. I figuredof course\u00a0they are going to complain about it.\u00a0It is not supposed to be Club Med, but a place to sleep outside\u00a0of the elements. If it was too comfortable, people would not be\u00a0motivated enough to leave.<\/p>\n

But as time went on, the complaints started coming from different\u00a0sources about the same things. We give out backpacks, clothes and\u00a0blankets at City Walk. I kept seeing the same faces come back for\u00a0blankets or backpacks. When I ask them what happened to their\u00a0other blanket or backpack, they tell me that staff at The\u00a0Shelter\u00a0threw them away.<\/p>\n

After getting this “excuse” 10 times a week for several weeks, I\u00a0decided to inquire with my daily volunteers. They told me that\u00a0they won’t let you bring your own blanket. I figured it must be\u00a0so people can’t sneak in any drugs, alcohol or weapons.<\/p>\n

Many of the guys sleep outside under the polebarn, which is\u00a0fenced in onShelter\u00a0property. They told me that they are not\u00a0allowed to bring their backpacks inside when they go eat. When\u00a0they come back out to the polebarn their backpacks were collected\u00a0by staff and thrown in the dumpster.<\/p>\n

Many of these backpacks contained all the men had to their name,\u00a0including important documents like their Birth Certificate, and\u00a0photos and letters from loved ones.<\/p>\n

The last straw was Sunday morning when we picked up 4 of the guys\u00a0for church. I asked them how they slept and they all said lousy.\u00a0Their blankets were taken away and staff would not issue any of\u00a0the 42 men that slept outside a blanket at check-in.<\/p>\n

When one of the men went back up to tell staff that they all\u00a0needed blankets, the staff member yelled at all the guys, “You\u00a0are not getting blankets tonight and I don’t care if you all\u00a0freeze to death!”<\/p>\n

This irritated me, but I know there are two sides to every story.\u00a0As I inquired with others, the stories matched up too well. I\u00a0also know that many good citizens of\u00a0Tallahassee\u00a0go out of their\u00a0way to donate blankets to City Walk or directly to The\u00a0Shelter,\u00a0so to deny the men a blanket is spiteful to the rest of us whodonate. It’s funny they don’t have any problem collecting their paycheck paid for from our donations and tax dollars.<\/p>\n

So I decided to go\u00a0undercover\u00a0and see for myself what it was like\u00a0for a women to check herself into the\u00a0Tallahassee\u00a0Shelter.<\/p>\n

Since many of the staff has seen me around there giving out\u00a0blankets and Bibles, I knew I had to disguise myself. I put on an\u00a0auburn wig that made my hair shorter and a baseball cap.
\nSunday night, as I entered the area to check-in, an older black\u00a0woman entered right behind me. The male staff member behind the\u00a0counter yelled at the woman,”You’re late for check-in, you have\u00a0to sleep outside tonight!”<\/p>\n

The woman walked out. I wondered why\u00a0he let me in as she walked in right behind me.<\/p>\n

He asked me if I had been there before. I told him no. He asked\u00a0for my name. I made one up. He asked me for my phone number. I\u00a0thought that was odd so I made one up. He told me to wait\u00a0outside.<\/p>\n

I went out with the other ladies and children and a few minutes\u00a0later he came out. He told me that the phone number I gave him\u00a0did not work.<\/p>\n

I told him it was dead and I needed to charge it.<\/p>\n

He said, “Okay, well here is my number. Call me and we can hook\u00a0up later tonight.”<\/p>\n

Did I just get propositioned by a staff member? I was infuriated but did not want to break my cover.<\/p>\n

I answered, “Nah, man, I just need some food and some sleep.”<\/p>\n

“You don’t want to sleep in there. It’s dangerous. You can come\u00a0sleep at my place. We can stop at McDonald’s.”<\/p>\n

Seriously, a staff member – a person with some authority – was\u00a0propositioning me – no, better yet, PREYING on a woman he KNOWS\u00a0is in a vulnerable situation. A woman comes to<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Shelter\u00a0to\u00a0escape the insecurity of the streets, not to be thrown to the\u00a0wolves. Now I know why he let me stay and kicked the older woman\u00a0out. He didn’t want to get in her pants.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0wanted to stall him so I asked for a drink of water. He came\u00a0back with his own half-drank bottled water for me.<\/p>\n

He propositioned me again. He said,\u00a0“It’s not safe in there for\u00a0women. You are better off coming home with me. I get off at\u00a011:45. Just meet me in that parking lot over there.”<\/p>\n

I wanted him to leave me alone so I told him I would go with him\u00a0later.<\/p>\n

He asked me to be discreet and don’t tell anyone I was going.<\/p>\n

Inside, as I was waiting for a bed number a different staff\u00a0member needed to get to the dryer. As he passed me, he shoved me\u00a0out of the way and I fell to the floor.<\/p>\n

The man came back to remind me I was leaving with him at 11:45\u00a0and to be discreet.<\/p>\n

I noticed a woman playing solitaire on her bed. I asked if she\u00a0wanted to play a card game. She told me that they would get\u00a0kicked out if they were caught playing cards with others.<\/p>\n

The looks on the faces of the women were despondent. I felt\u00a0depressed and I knew I could leave at any time and go home. These\u00a0women and children had no where else to go.<\/p>\n

Dinner was half an hour late as we got herded outside like cattle\u00a0into what I call “The Cage.” The Cage is a chainlink fenced-in\u00a0area adjacent to the building. There is only one way in or out,\u00a0and that door could only be opened from the inside of the\u00a0building.<\/p>\n

As the women were told to come back in, the staff member that\u00a0kept asking me for sex told me to “Wait here.” In. The.\u00a0Cage…Alone.<\/p>\n

My mind was racing. I\u2019m never scared in Frenchtown. I\u2019m around\u00a0prostitutes, addicts, dealers, and mentally ill people all the\u00a0time and NEVER scared. I never think twice. I\u2019m usually armed\u00a0with a Bible and known for preaching but tonight I\u2019m just a\u00a0homeless person. How could I explain to my husband that I was\u00a0raped tonight at The\u00a0Shelter. I immediately put my foot in the\u00a0door just before he shut it.<\/p>\n

“You’re still leaving with me, right?”<\/p>\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n

“You didn’t tell anyone, right?”<\/p>\n

I said no.<\/p>\n

I decided the stories I had been hearing are true. I\u00a0experienced the abuse first hand.<\/p>\n

I had two babies and a husband\u00a0at home and it was late and I better get going.But to sign out, I had to get past the solicitor. I got scared.<\/p>\n

I went into the bathroom and called the police. I told them what\u00a0I was doing and to ask for my fake name at the front desk\u00a0and have me come outside.<\/p>\n

They arrived and my stalker wanted to come with me to talk to the\u00a0police. I told the police I wanted to talk to them alone.<\/p>\n

We went outside and I told them the story. They informed me there\u00a0was no crime. A staff member can solicit a guest for sex if they\u00a0want to. They agreed it was unethical, inappropriate and just\u00a0plain wrong, but there was nothing they could do. So they gave me\u00a0a ride back to my car.<\/p>\n

As I was inside, I was able to talk to many of the women that\u00a0stayed there, some with children.
\nI found out some pretty disheartening stories. I found out that\u00a0in order to get your laundry done, you had to perform sexual\u00a0favors to the staff or you would get put at the end of the list.<\/p>\n

I found out that “the rules” depended on who was working at that\u00a0time and it is common to be yelled at and berated right in front\u00a0of your own children. Nicknames given to the women by staff are\u00a0things like “Fat Ass” and “Heifer.”<\/p>\n

If a woman decides to stick up for herself she is threatened with\u00a0a call to DCF to have her children taken away. If she further\u00a0complains, she is threatened with being banned from The\u00a0Shelter,\u00a0then a call to DCF because she has her children sleeping in the\u00a0street. She just has to sit there and take the insults and\u00a0cursewords as they are spewed out at her.<\/p>\n

One women told me, \u201cHe knows we\u2019re powerless here and he can\u00a0treat us however he wants. I can\u2019t go to anyone because I don\u2019t\u00a0want to risk having nowhere to go and losing my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

A lot of the guys told me they choose to sleep outside because there is a Bed Bug infestation in The\u00a0Shelter. At first I did not\u00a0truly believe it, but everyday, our volunteers and their kids show up with bites all over them.<\/p>\n

One woman told me, “We just learn to live with it. It’s better than having your kids sleep outside.”<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nI don’t believe in coddling people. It should not be “easy” to be homeless or that takes away the incentive of finding a way out. However, for many, finding themself homeless takes away much of their dignity. They don’t need to be verbally abused, assaulted or treated with such disrepect, especially from the staff that is hired to care for them – especially with your tax dollars and donations.<\/p>\n

Don’t take away whatever dignity they have left.<\/p>\n

That night, word got around at The\u00a0Shelter\u00a0about what I did. Monday morning, as we were opening City Walk, George (a homeless volunteer that stays at TheShelter) excitedly came to get me.<\/p>\n

“Renee, come outside, hurry.”<\/p>\n

I go out front and look up at 7th Avenue – a large group of\u00a0women, men and kids were walking towards City Walk – some with no\u00a0shoes, some pushing baby strollers, some I had never seen before.<\/p>\n

George said, “They know what you did last night and are here to\u00a0see you.”<\/p>\n

I was already bawling my eyes out when they finally crossed\u00a0Thomasville Road.<\/p>\n

One of the women hugged me so long I thought she was not going to\u00a0let go. She said,<\/p>\n

“Someone willing to do what yu dd last night shows you\u00a0really truly care about what happens to us. We want to\u00a0volunteer here today.”<\/p>\n

JOHN COHEN OF SANTA CRUZ COMMENTS:<\/p>\n

We need some brave souls to go undercover at the Homeless Services Center (HSC) in Santa Cruz. From stories related to me by homeless people I advocated for, you might be shocked.<\/p>\n

The social service workers and their supervisors who run the HSC shelters insist that homeless beneficiaries have no due process rights \u2014 in other words homeless people can be evicted immediately from the shelters without written notice or opportunity for appeal. This is illegal because the HSC shelters receive federal grant money to operate: they are providing federal benefits. It shocked me to hear social service supervisors echo the refrain that homeless beneficiaries have no rights.<\/p>\n

I have asked federal agencies to look into these abuses at the HSC.<\/p>\n

THE ORIGINAL STORY APPEARED AT http:\/\/www.alternet.org\/i-went-undercover-homeless-shelter-you-wouldnt-believe-shocking-abuses-i-found-there?page=0%2C0<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a><\/p>\n

John Cohen’s facebook site can be found at<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/325916790824852\/permalink\/431317143618149\/<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a> .\u00a0 <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note by Norse:\u00a0 The story below is followed by an afterword from John Cohen, who edits the local Homeless Persons (Disabled) Advocacy Site at http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/325916790824852\/permalink\/431317143618149\/. Cohen has advocated for several disabled people thrown out of the local shelter The local … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57],"tags":[62,4],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":788,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions\/788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}