Category: Homeless Initiatives

Emergency Shelter in Marin

Reasons for Hope   Robert was chronically homeless in Downtown San Rafael for 30 years.  He is now one of the 100+ people who have been housed through our community’s new strategy for ending chronic homelessness.  Check out his story.     Challenges Remain   While stories like Robert’s are proof that our new strategy to … Continued

Mental Health & Homelessness – Part 3

70% of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Marin report having some type of psychiatric or emotional challenge.  In Part 1 of this three-part series, we looked at what Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is.  In Part 2, we looked at how the state hospital system was created.  In this final part, we’ll look at what happened after … Continued

Mental Health & Homelessness – Part 2

70% of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Marin report having some type of psychiatric or emotional challenge.  In Part 1 of this three-part series, we looked at what Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is.  In Part 2, we’ll look at how SMI has been treated over time.   Supernatural Origins    For thousands of years mental illness … Continued

Mental Health & Homelessness – Part 1

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

How to Address Panhandling

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

24 More People Housed!

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

310 Job Seekers!!!

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

Employment & Homelessness – Pt 3

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

Employment & Homelessness – Pt 2

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

Downtown Streets Team – Getting People Back to Work

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

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