Petaluma has help ready for homeless

The homeless and transient camps throughout Petaluma appear to be filled with people who can’t find a way to escape poverty. That, however, is not the case.

“They have access to help. If our officers come in contact with the homeless, we absolutely give them information they need to seek the resources to get assistance,” said Petaluma Police Department Lt. Dan Fish. “Our officers run into the same people a lot. They’ve been made aware they can get housing, food and other help.”

Meg, a 32-year-old transient from southern California, has spent time living along the river in Petaluma. She lost her job, then couldn’t find work. When she couldn’t pay rent and lost her apartment, she sent her two children to live with her parents in Oregon. “I couldn’t afford a big enough place for them,” she said. “I couldn’t afford doctor visits . . . stopped taking medicine for depression.”

Suffering from a mental health disorder, Meg says she’d get help if she could.

“If she has come in contact with our officers,” Lt. Fish said, “she has received information about how to get the help she needs.”

Mike Johnson, the chief executive officer of Petaluma’s Committee On The Shelterless, agrees with Fish. COTS is one agency that could help a transient in need of medical assistance.

“We absolutely can take a person who is homeless right now and comes to us seeking help and get them shelter, food and a bed,” Johnson said. “We offer short-term and long-term assistance. People who are living outside are our top priority. The main thing is getting them to be willing to engage with us.”

Johnson can understand how a transient like Meg could feel like all hope is lost.

“Some of these people cycle through the system two and three times without being able to land permanent housing and a job,” Johnson said. “Can you imagine how, after a certain number of cycles, they start to feel like there’s just no reason to try to get help or to believe help isn’t available?”

Nate, 38, has been living outside in and around Petaluma for weeks. “Nobody in their right mind wants to live like this,” he said. “I was living paycheck to paycheck in construction. Then work dried up. I lost my car, so I paid for a bus to get to the San Francisco area to look for work. With no transportation, living out of a motel, it’s tough to get hired.”

He motioned toward his sleeping bag and makeshift shelter in the brush. “This is what happened when I couldn’t find work. You lose yourself out here. I know the police have a job to do. It doesn’t make it easier to have to move around like I do.”

The Petaluma police say that there’s an increase in the number of homeless encampments, making the problem more serious than they’ve seen it in 20 years. They continue to take a positive approach.

“We don’t just sweep in and start arresting people living out there,” Fish said. “Typically, we’ll post signs warning folks living in a camp that they need to move and that, if we come out a second time, they will be cited for trespassing.

“For someone with no warrants out on them, it would require just egregious action on their part to result in their being arrested during one of our sweeps of a homeless camp,”

Johnson said that the homeless don’t even need identification to get shelter and food immediately. “Our short-term program allows for six months of permanent shelter and food,” Fish said. “They don’t need to have any documentation. We’ll get them off the street.”

COTS does require that those taking advantage of their program not use alcohol or drugs.

“Over the long term, we do help them get identification. We’ll give them a check and drive them to the Department of Motor Vehicles,” Johnson said. “If they make the decision to work their way back, we’ll help them in every way. They work around the shelter. They don’t just get a hand out. We’re here to help them get back on their feet and get permanent housing and a job.”

Johnson admits that there’s one problem.

“The best case scenario,” he said, “would be that we can tell people that if they come here and work hard, they’ll have a place to live and get a job. But, we just can’t make the promise that they’ll get a job in the current Petaluma economic climate. There just aren’t jobs for everybody available.”

Regardless, the Petaluma police will continue to monitor the homeless and transient population with the hope that they can steer those in need to COTS or other agencies.

“Our officers get to know the people by name,” Fish said. “We want to help them in any way we can.”

(Contact Ted Sillanpaa at ted.sillanpaa@argus.couri er.com)