As Petaluma’s homeless population grows, city looks at new options

Only a trained eye, like that of long-time Petaluma Police Lt. Tim Lyons, can see the hidden spots. They are scattered throughout the city, behind a tangle of bushes lining a busy road, nestled neatly at the rear of a business and parked on an unassuming side street.

Lyons forces his gaze to notice their signs, the tent poles sticking out behind a tree or the bright blue corner of a tarp.

They are the places a growing number of homeless people live throughout Petaluma, largely unseen and sometimes out of reach of crucial services.

“A lot of homeless encampments are right along the river,” Lyons said, estimating up to 50 at any given day. “People probably don’t even know these are here as they drive down these main roads throughout town.”

As police notice an increase in the local homeless population, some fleeing Santa Rosa’s Joe Radota Trail encampment, the constraint of an under-staffed department and lack of available resources is feeling even tighter.

Roughly 34% of the calls that members of the Petaluma Police Department respond to relate to the homeless population, ranging from suspected crime to routine wellness checks.

One of those recent check-ins was with 63-year-old Karen Mahoney, a Southern California native who moved to Sonoma County nine years ago to be near her kids. She’s been in Petaluma for about three years, sometimes living outside after she said she was made to leave the Mary Isaak Center homeless shelter.

A friend recently gave her a small RV to live in, which she parks alongside the Wash 2 Go Express Car Wash off Lakeville Street a block from the Mary Isaak Center.

“It’s not fun being on the streets,” Mahoney said, “But being in the RV is better than being outside.”

As she spoke, the bustle of the car wash continued. A family of four wiped down their black Infiniti, and the owner of a red BMW methodically vacuumed his seats, a parallel reality humming along on the other side of a curb.

Mahoney said she’s struggling to get her RV registered with the DMV, a type of obstacle that many people experiencing homelessness encounter. Lyons said officers often see vehicles with expired registrations and talk with people who say they can’t operate their vehicle due to an expired or suspended driver’s license.

“What do you do, buy a car registration or buy food?” Lyons said. “These things just compound their dilemma.”

They also contribute to a cycle that is difficult to break out of.

It’s been more than a year since the department had the two-person Homeless Outreach Services Team devoted to assisting the homeless population in Petaluma. Since the department can no longer staff the team, officers now shoulder extra work in an attempt to fill the gap. They work with a handful of partners in the city, especially with the Committee on the Shelterless and its Mary Isaak Center.

“We’re trying to prevent what happened in Santa Rosa from happening here,” Lyons said. “So we want to connect people with resources like COTS and the Mary Isaak Center to get them off the streets.”

It’s difficult to understand just how many individuals in Petaluma are shelterless, especially when including people who are living in vehicles or are teetering on the edge. A 2019 Sonoma County point-in-time census found roughly 265 people in Petaluma are experiencing homelessness.

In the last month, Lyons said officers have been seeing more new faces. Up to 20 people have shared they came to Petaluma after their camp along the Joe Radota Trail, which at its height held more than 250 camps, was forcibly cleared.

This growing need for additional resources is recognized not only by law enforcement, health workers, business leaders and COTS, but also by City Manager Peggy Flynn.

“We are very blessed to have COTS in Petaluma, our housing first providers, which is definitely a big piece of the homeless solution picture,” Flynn said. “We are also seeing the need for more outreach to folks that are precariously housed or shelterless in Petaluma.”

Flynn is hoping a pilot program of Downtown Streets Team, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness in California will become another resource in the city’s toolbox in responding to and assisting the homeless population.

The program, currently operating in 13 Bay Area communities, gives homeless individuals an opportunity to join volunteer work crews that spend mornings cleaning up and beautifying the community. Volunteers then receive access to a variety of services and support, including housing and employment assistance.

City council’s approval of the program also included adding 12 beds to the Mary Isaak Center for homeless individuals in Petaluma.

Although the shelters are crucial resources that provide short-term shelter and connect people with further resources, there is also a need to meet people where they are.

Downtown Streets Team member Karen Strolia said many people choose to not enter shelters, so used to living outside that it becomes normalized.

Veteran Eddie Monroe has been homeless in Petaluma for at least 20 years. He says he prefers to live in his “little box,” a small constructed shack wedged along the exterior of a consenting business on Petaluma Boulevard North, instead of the Mary Isaak Center. He said he became homeless years ago after losing his job then amassing debt after experiencing a heart attack. He has been picking up small jobs for a handful of local businesses for years, allowing him to live somewhat independently.

“If someone says they’re not interested in shelter, that’s fine, there are other things we can work on with that person,” Strolia said. “Maybe they need help getting an I.D. card for the first time in years, or people who need specific healthcare.”

It’s these small steps that help break the cycle for many, giving people increased access, mobility and equally as important, a sense of community and acceptance.

Along with the work of the volunteer crews and the services provided by Downtown Streets Team, Strolia says the program helps to lift the curtain on what can sometimes be an invisible and ignored group of people. She hopes her organization’s outreach efforts will be able to connect to those living throughout the city, used to being well-hidden. Petalumans can expect to see Downtown Streets Team volunteers around town sporting matching yellow shirts early April, and Strolia encourages people to not simply walk by, but to stop and take the time to hear their stories.

“I think people have no idea how many people are out there, and where they are throughout Petaluma,” Lyons said. “I think people think it’s a much smaller issue here than it actually is.”

(Contact Kathryn Palmer at kathryn.palmer@arguscourier.com, on Twitter @KathrynPlmr.)