Category: Housing & homelessness

State will help California cities prepare for heat

Cities like Chico are under pressure to protect the unhoused
by Natalie Hanson | Posted September 12, 2023

photo courtesy of City of Chico
Chico’s tree canopy provides relief on hot days.

Cities like Chico are under growing pressure to protect people from harm and death as waves of extreme heat become more commonplace — and after California faced its hottest month on record.

The state, meanwhile, says it is launching a new program to help vulnerable communities — particularly the unhoused and aging populations — face increasingly hot seasons. Several experts on a recent Ethnic Media Services panel said cities must look for ways to manage extreme heat waves that will last longer and pose more risk than ever before.

In Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, the state is launching a grant-based community resilience program to help counties and nonprofits across the state face this new reality, said program manager Braden Kay. read more

How City sidelined the “quickest and simplest option” for unhoused people

Winslow: "the government owes safety and security to everyone"
by Addison Winslow | Posted September 3, 2023

photo by Karen Laslo
City staff cleared Depot Park Aug. 31, evicting people from what had become the last large encampment.

The Warren v Chico settlement forced Chico into a reckoning with homelessness; such a reckoning that city policy now has the effect of a boulder rolling down a hill. Not once since I was sworn into office last December has the City Council been asked for or given direction on homelessness.

Taking the settlement forced on us by a federal court as the entirety of our City’s policy to address homelessness puts Chico in a rut. Because the court decided that a shelter bed only qualifies as a token for eviction if it is indoors, we have sidelined the quickest and simplest option to improve conditions of people camping in public spaces: managed camping in an environmentally responsible location. The biggest absurdity of this is that, as part of the settlement agreement, we have sanctioned campgrounds (three of them, technically, though all at the same intersection), and regulation is just piecemeal or nonexistent. read more

Cities advised to prepare for extreme heat, climate crisis

With no plan in place, heat waves become another threat to Chico's homeless
by Natalie Hanson | Posted July 24, 2023

photo by Karen Laslo
On a recent 100-degree day, residents of the City-sanctioned encampment were sweating it out.

With no city-wide plan for extreme heat in place, Chicoans have few resources to fall back on during dangerous heat waves like the one last week. Like much of California, the City now often faces stretches of days with high temperatures topping 100 or even 110 degrees.

Extreme heat threatens vulnerable residents across the state — including thousands of farm workers toiling in the heat, low-income residents in poor-quality housing and thousands of unhoused people with few options for safe shelter. But Chico does not have a long term plan for managing extreme temperatures.

Panel experts at a recent Ethnic Media Services briefing said that cities need to be prepared to face extreme heat, both in city planning and with emergency public health measures. read more

State sends Chico back to the drawing board – again

Revisions underway on City's eight-year housing plan
by Natalie Hanson | Posted June 21, 2023

photo by Karen Laslo
Creekside Place Apartments are opening to senior citizens who need affordable housing.

Chico city officials say that after nearly a year, the City’s plan for building new housing under state law — the Housing Element — could be approved this summer. But the process is already far behind schedule, as the state just slapped the latest draft with demands for more revisions for the second time in one year.

The City’s Housing Element has been under scrutiny since almost a year ago when it went before the public and City Council in August. A Housing Element, required of each city in California, must cover the eight-year period from 2022 to June 2030 to ensure that the City complies with state legislation, creating a comprehensive strategy to promote safe, decent and affordable housing. It assesses current and projected housing needs, constraints to housing production, and resources. It then establishes housing goals, policies and actions to meet housing needs over the Housing Element planning period. read more

An open letter to Chico City Council

Eileen Robinson comments on City's new campsites for unhoused people
by ChicoSol staff | Posted March 15, 2023

photo by Karen Laslo
The City is marking 20×20-foot spaces for each unhoused individual who occupies this site.

Editor’s note: Chico resident Eileen Robinson shared a March 13 letter she sent to the Chico City Council regarding the City’s newly-designated campsites at Eaton and Cohasset roads. The city has set up two new sites for unhoused people to comply with a judge’s order.

Honorable Council Members and Mr. Sorenson,
I saw the televised account of Target Team members visiting designated campsite one and issuing citations because some folks didn’t have permission to be there.

The news report said two additional campsites were being prepared across Cohasset Road for the people being cited to move to. Saturday morning I drove out to take a look at sites 2-3. There are two areas with green fencing that is difficult to see through around them. What I was able to see were flagged stakes that appear to have designated the 20/20 foot area each person will be allowed to occupy. read more

City must open more alternate camping space prior to evicting

Pallet shelter admittance procedures cause confusion
by Natalie Hanson and Leslie Layton | Posted February 24, 2023

photo by Manuel Ortiz, EMS
The Eaton-Cohasset encampment where some 45 people are camped.

The City has been halted from evicting nearly 40 people living unhoused at the encampment it opened in north Chico until it can create two new additional campsites.

The City announced plans to open the sites quickly following a Feb. 22 meeting with Magistrate Judge Kendall Newman regarding terms of the settlement agreement in the lawsuit filed by Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC).

Meanwhile, some unhoused people and their advocates say it’s a struggle to access the city’s new pallet shelters, erected as part of the settlement agreement.

The campsite at the corner of Eaton and Cohasset roads in north Chico was also opened last year in response to the settlement. It was designated by the City as the alternative location where unhoused people who aren’t eligible to enter the pallet shelters or the Torres Community Shelter can camp for a limited time with a referral. read more