- Video shows the October Bakersfield Housing & Homelessness Committee meeting, various homelessness community partners, and homeless individuals.
- Homelessness is our signature issue and while there are many services available, those on the ground say its difficult to keep up with the influx of those needing their services.
While homeless prevention is costly, it costs less than a keeping someone in an emergency shelter. That's according to members of Bakersfield's Housing and Homelessness Committee.
Homelessness is our signature issue and while there are many services available, those on the ground say its difficult to keep up with the influx of those needed their services. The Open Door Network, Flood Ministries, Community Action Partnership of Kern, and several other city and county organizations all agree that when it comes to the homeless rates in Kern, the numbers are going up.
“It’s an upward trend as a lot of us are probably aware of,” said Rick Ramos, director of the Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative during Tuesdays Housing & Homelessness Committee meeting. “When we take a look at the increase of those households entering homeless, we have to consider that our total household pool is also increasing.
Despite the city and county putting millions of dollars towards addressing homeless issues, Ramos says they’re seeing higher rates of households entering homelessness. While they also see and upward trend of those leaving homelessness, it’s not as significant.
Flood Ministries shared that during the month of September, out of the over 500 shelter referrals they made contact with 45% refused services. Program Manager Scott McArdle said these numbers highlight the need to help those struggling before they reach flood’s doorstep.
“We get a lot of calls from people who are on their last dime in motels and such and we are doing our best to help them so they don’t transition to shelter or even worse on the street,” he said.
When City Council members Eric Arias and Andrae Gonzalez asked where funding is needed most, preventative measures and longterm case management were the two priorities.
“You might need life skills support, you might need budgeting and financial support, you might need childcare guidance, you might need a whole host of issues resolved on top of a case manager and right now we just don’t have the funding, the services to provide that,” said Lauren Skidmore with the Open Door Network
Skidmore highlighting that not only are funding and resources difficult to come by for longterm case management, but maintaining case workers long enough to follow a case through to the end can be tough.
“We find a lot of people after they’ve done it a while they feel burnt out, compassion fatigue is a real thing,” she said.
Those in the committee say while homeless prevention is costly, it costs less than having someone in emergency shelter.
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