HomeMy WebLinkAboutE-mail - Cold Weather ER Shelter Plan Sweeney, Kathleen
From. Sweeney, Kathleen
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2.014 8A9 AM
To: BOS
Cc: Hahn, Paul
Subject: FW: Cold weather emergency shelter plan follow up
Board members—
Please seethe einafl below from Andy Holcombe.
Kathleen Sweeney
Assistant Clerk of the Board
Butte County Administration
25 County Center Drive, Suite 200
Oroville, CA 95965
530-538-7643
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From. Andy Holcombe [!1y0flto:ay.id I@V cbq�J[&(t
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Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 8:14 PIVI
To, Sweeney, Kathleen
Cc: revdrths d)sbcgIQh3q ngt
Subject: Cold weather emergency shelter plan follow up
Dear Ms. Sweeney:
Please forward the e-mail communication below to the full Board.
Thank you for your assistance.
Andy Holcombe
Dear Chair Teeter and Supervisors:
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you at the December 9 Board meeting.
It was a moving experience for me to listen throughout the morning to the range of issues you face. Often conceptual
resolution of them is not easy. Funding and implementation of solutions all too often is even harder.
My concern, and the concern of the Greater Chico Homeless Task Force who
asked Reverend Sandberg and me to address the Board, is that the County's cold weather emergency plan fails to
address the readily apparent needs of the County in a meaningful, solution oriented way. Aside from legal
requirements that may not be met, the plan functionally does not provide a warm safe place to those facing a cold weather
emergency.
The cold weather emergency plan triggers, a 25 degree temperature at 6:00 pm and existing homeless shelters at
capacity, doom the plan to failure. Failure in this case means those most at risk, and most vulnerable, almost assuredly
won't get the life saving warm safe place they need.
The County has not contacted local shelters in Chico to let them know they are part of the plan, and there is no known or
publicized list of shelters and sites under consideration county wide. Furthermore, the Torres Shelter in Chico typically is
not open for intake after 6:00 pm. Also, it is a homeless shelter, not an emergency warming center. Its intake involves
meeting with a social worker and developing a case management plan.
If the triggers are actually met, it is unclear how those in need get notified, or how they are to access services through the
emergency plan.
There are many community volunteers who want to help, but they need a real partnership with the County to do so.
We are asking that substantive modification of the plan and of its implementation be agendized for consideration. This is a
public plan. The public should have an opportunity to be heard, and to be involved. It is not a matter to be left to an in
house ad hoc working group.
There could be a full on public meeting at the Supervisorial level. Staff could be directed to hold a series of community
meetings. There could be meetings with non-profit networks, local homeless coalitions, and with Butte County Continuum
of Care. There are many ways to meet and get public input on how to better address this issue, and to then move forward
with funding and implementation.
I don't pretend that any of the above will be easy to reach consensus on, let alone fund. But it can be done, and a public
meeting and input is a place to start to do it.
Doing nothing under the guise of"we have a plan already"simply is not acceptable.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation and help in moving forward.
Andy Holcombe
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