OUR County - October 2011
Shelter for the Homeless
If you’ve been following the homeless
issue in Guerneville, you probably know that 16 people have been meeting since
February to come up with a permanent solution to the problem of housing
shelterless people each Winter.
For decades, there have been “emergency”
shelters put together most years by dedicated volunteers and non-profit groups
to address the needs of local unsheltered residents without a place to get out
of the elements. The people
appointed to the River Area Shelter and Downtown Task Group (RASAD), have
been meeting in 4-hour blocks every two weeks to work through the issues, agree
on priorities, and find an agreed upon long term model for the future.
At a well attended
meeting in August, community members heard a presentation about potential
service delivery methods and other topics and research related to serving the
unsheltered. The task group also
presented 3 potential sites for a future permanent service center which would
also act as the emergency shelter.
The input given at this meeting was evaluated and incorporated into the
task group’s work.
On November 3rd from 6:30-9pm, the RASAD Task Group
will host a second community meeting at the Guerneville Veterans Hall and share
its recommendations for the delivery of homeless services to the lower Russian
River area. Prior to this meeting,
the task group will release its recommendations so that the public will have an
opportunity for review prior to the public meeting.
You will be able to find
the task group recommendations after October 31st at the Guerneville Chamber of Commerce, Guerneville Public Library and online
at http://www.sonoma-county.org/cddc/rd_rr_tg_rasad.htm The task
group looks forward to an open and productive discussion and your
feedback. If you are a lower
Russian River resident, I hope that you will be able to join us at the public
meeting and contribute to the discussion.
Ours to Protect
During August, Don McEnhill, the Russian
Riverkeeper, Riverkeeper volunteers, and Sonoma County Regional Parks staff led
by Steve Rickabough installed signage along Russian River beaches from
Cloverdale River Park to the lower Russian River. These “Ours to Protect” signs notify recreational river users of restrooms, trash disposal
sites, and other services available along the River. The signs feature a heron and a stream and convey the
message that we are all responsible for protecting the valuable natural
resourcer.
There will also be a
new map and brochure which can be used by recreational visitors as they travel
down the river. Thanks go to
Riverkeeper Park steward Victoria Wikle, who raised this concern at a public
meeting last year, The City of Santa Rosa,
Sonoma County Water Agency, Regional
Parks, and to all of the people
who worked on this project to protect our River.
Keep Your Home
Have you heard about Keep Your Home California?
Keep Your Home California’s program is one slice of a $2 billion effort
to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. While this program is long overdue to help people who have
lost their homes during the last few years, it is designed to address one or
more aspects of the current housing crisis by doing the following:
• Helping low and moderate income homeowners
retain their homes if they either have suffered a financial hardship such as
unemployment, have experienced a change in household circumstance such as
death, illness or disability, or are subject to a recent or upcoming increase
in their monthly mortgage payment and are at risk of default because of this
economic hardship when coupled with a severe decline in their home’s value.
• Creating a simple, effective way to get
available federal funds to assist low and moderate income homeowners who meet
one or all of the objective criteria described above.
Qualified homeowners
could be eligible for up to $50,000 in assistance from one Keep Your Home
California program, which requires the mortgage investor to match dollar-for-dollar
the amount provided by the program.
For instance, if the program agrees to reduce the principal by $50,000,
then the mortgage investor must match that $50,000 reduction, resulting in a
total $100,000 reduction
