Good News, Bad News for Homeless COVID-19 Response
Santa Maria High School Shelter Off to Rocky Start; Showers of Blessings Now Working Five Days a Week
The good news with the County of Santa Barbara’s response to homelessness in the time of coronavirus is that the emergency shelter at Santa Maria High School housed 71 people Monday night, about twice the number from last week. In addition, Showers of Blessing — the portable shower service targeting people on the streets — opened for business this Monday five days a week on the South Coast: two days at Pershing Park and one day at the Girls Inc. near Ortega Park on the city’s Eastside.
The bad news, however, is that county homeless planners have yet to identify a likely site for an emergency homeless shelter on the South Coast, where the number of chronically homeless people has been most obvious and acute. Operational hiccups at the Santa Maria High School shelter have reportedly slowed down progress in pursuing a suitable South Coast shelter, let alone securing one.
The new Santa Maria shelter — which provides beds, showers, and charging stations for devices — encountered initial turbulence. The population of people being served is among the more rowdy and rule-resistant, while the county staff doing the actual serving, who hail from a smorgasbord of different departments, have little direct experience working with homeless people in shelter settings. Combined, these factors have made for a bumpy start.
