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Demonstrators Demand Santa Cruz Provide Hotel Vouchers for the Homeless
Community members in Santa Cruz organized a "physical distancing" protest today to demand the City and County of Santa Cruz provide hotel vouchers for the homeless during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The demonstration was organized following California Governor Gavin Newsom's statements made during a press conference on April 18 that cities and municipalities that are blocking the State's effort to provide hotels for the homeless will be "judged" by history.
Newsom declined to name the specific cities that were not accepting funds, but he had strong words for them. “I just want to encourage those cities that are blocking efforts like this to consider themselves in the context of others…to consider their actions in the context and annals of history," Newsom said. “They’ll judge themselves, not just be judged by others, by the extent they help the least among us.”
Demonstrators in Santa Cruz, some with fixed housing and some without, spaced themselves out along Ocean Street at the "Welcome to Santa Cruz" sign. They held signs that read: "Newsom, Look at Santa Cruz," "Our City is is refusing to give motel rooms to the homeless," "Santa Cruz Supervisors, City Council, Stop Blocking Project Roomkey," "Motel Rooms Now to Stop Covid-19," "San Jose is Doing it," "Renters & Homeless Unite for Justice," "Everyone Needs Housing No Matter What," "Provide Motel Rooms Not Just for the Sick," "Where Did the Money Go?" "I Need A Safe Place, Where are the Motel Vouchers?" and "Where are Governor Newsom's Promised Buildings and Camps?"
Organizers of the demonstration included members of Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs, the Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Homeless Union, and Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF).
All photos are Copyright 2020 by Alex Darocy, and are available for non-commercial use by permission.
Demonstrators in Santa Cruz, some with fixed housing and some without, spaced themselves out along Ocean Street at the "Welcome to Santa Cruz" sign. They held signs that read: "Newsom, Look at Santa Cruz," "Our City is is refusing to give motel rooms to the homeless," "Santa Cruz Supervisors, City Council, Stop Blocking Project Roomkey," "Motel Rooms Now to Stop Covid-19," "San Jose is Doing it," "Renters & Homeless Unite for Justice," "Everyone Needs Housing No Matter What," "Provide Motel Rooms Not Just for the Sick," "Where Did the Money Go?" "I Need A Safe Place, Where are the Motel Vouchers?" and "Where are Governor Newsom's Promised Buildings and Camps?"
Organizers of the demonstration included members of Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs, the Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Homeless Union, and Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF).
All photos are Copyright 2020 by Alex Darocy, and are available for non-commercial use by permission.
For more information:
http://alexdarocy.blogspot.com/
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For my earlier posts on the same issue, see also:
Tiny But Tough-Love Tour of Shame to Demand Opening Up Motel Rooms for Shelter Now ! at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/10/18832269.php?show_comments=1#18832275
and
Questions That Demand Answers: Picket Noon Monday April 20th
at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/19/18832493.php
Also check out https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Homeless-tents-sprout-in-Haight-Ashbury-during-15211763.php?
Tiny But Tough-Love Tour of Shame to Demand Opening Up Motel Rooms for Shelter Now ! at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/10/18832269.php?show_comments=1#18832275
and
Questions That Demand Answers: Picket Noon Monday April 20th
at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/19/18832493.php
Also check out https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Homeless-tents-sprout-in-Haight-Ashbury-during-15211763.php?
For more information:
http://www.huffsantacruz.org
http://homelessperspective.com/2020/04/17/decoded-ocs-plan-for-protecting-homeless-persons-from-covid-19/?
Hopefully someone here will outline our own sad timeline.
A lot of the same dodges.
These include
(1) only two motels selected for shelter--even for the sick, the recovering, the COVID-19 positive, and the most vulnerable;
(2) "Priorities" that separate the sick from the "vulnerable" but deny the overwhelming majority of the homeless safe shelter; (3) Misdirecting or withholding of Newsom and FEMA funds;
(4) Lack of specific information about extent of illness, testing--or non-testing--in the toxic shelters;
(5) Big tents proposed, planned, talked about, but not yet provided (and ultimately not safe) for the larger number of those outside.
Hopefully someone here will outline our own sad timeline.
A lot of the same dodges.
These include
(1) only two motels selected for shelter--even for the sick, the recovering, the COVID-19 positive, and the most vulnerable;
(2) "Priorities" that separate the sick from the "vulnerable" but deny the overwhelming majority of the homeless safe shelter; (3) Misdirecting or withholding of Newsom and FEMA funds;
(4) Lack of specific information about extent of illness, testing--or non-testing--in the toxic shelters;
(5) Big tents proposed, planned, talked about, but not yet provided (and ultimately not safe) for the larger number of those outside.
For more information:
http://huffsantacruz.org
A clearer look at some of the signs left behind:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3261683170530777&set=gm.634585244065058&type=3&theater&ifg=1
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3261683170530777&set=gm.634585244065058&type=3&theater&ifg=1
San Jose is NOT providing hotel rooms for its 6000 homeless. A few hundred of the most vulnerable have been allowed to move into rooms, but the rest are empty, as are the FEMA trailers. People are planning to take action this week.
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