It is almost Christmas day, the day of charity, the day of the gift. And it is almost the new year, in which change is newly possible.
In that convergence, the only topic this week and this minute can be homelessness and what we will do for them because 3,000 of our unsheltered neighbors will be out there this Christmas day, in the cold and the wet and the dark.
For facts and humanity to guide our action, inquiries were made to Adrienne Lauby, director of SAVS. This stands for “Sonoma Applied Village Services.” In addition to tireless outreach, SAVS organizes and agitates to replace temporary encampments with permanent tiny home villages and RV parks.
CH: Adrienne, for our full-length interview, you gave me the 2024 “Point in Time” assessment, a once-a-year count mandated by the federal government. The report is filled with myth-exploding findings. One is that 77% of homeless people are former rent-paying residents. They’re not “drifters”—they’re ours. What is another finding that most people don’t realize?
AD: I think we would all be shocked—I’ve been shocked—at the number of people with disabilities and chronic health issues: people in wheelchairs that can’t walk, people in chemotherapy treatment.
CH: And having to deal with that while homeless… Per the report, 47% of homeless people have a substance abuse disorder, 43% have a psychiatric or emotional disorder, 41% have PTSD, 32% have a chronic health condition, 37% have a disability and 17% have a traumatic brain injury. Those percentages or odds mean that most homeless have two or three of these health conditions simultaneously.
It’s almost a formula—if you are poor and you have two or more serious medical conditions and one piece of bad luck, you will be homeless. It’s a failure of our broken medical system and, you say, government policy?
AD: Ah, yes—the cause. The cause of why we have so much homelessness now is Ronald Regan. As president, he cut H.U.D., and H.U.D. used to build low-income housing. And the Democrats and the Republicans never put that money back. If you look at a graph, there is an almost one-to-one correspondence between housing for poor people and homelessness. And despite year-to-year variation, the number of homeless people remains largely flat.
Take action. Lauby advises writing to elected officials on the issue and making at least one homeless friend through volunteering. Donations help, too. Follow this link for reports and opportunities: linktr.ee/SAVSlinktree.
