Tag: Safe Space

Deaths of unsheltered people continue in 2024

Safe Space opens winter sheltering
by Yucheng Tang and Leslie Layton | Posted December 16, 2024

photo by Yucheng Tang
The mural on Park Avenue commemorates Chico-area residents who are usually homeless and have died on the streets or in other public spaces.

A march to commemorate the unhoused who have passed away in a public space will begin at Children’s Park at 4:40 p.m. Dec 21 and conclude at the Our Hands sculpture where a memorial will take place. And Safe Space, the nonprofit that operates seasonal nighttime sheltering, restarted its winter program Dec. 15.

Dec. 21 — the day that has the longest night in a year — is nationwide Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. The first Annual Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day was commemorated in 1990, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, in order to remember those who have died while experiencing homelessness. There have been between 10 and 18 such deaths in Chico in 2024. read more

Safe Space works to overcome hurdles to intake

Unhoused people may be stranded during storm
by Leslie Layton and Natalie Hanson | Posted November 20, 2024

photo by Karen Laslo
Safe Space volunteers checked in people who needed shelter during an intake held near the municipal center last winter.

The nonprofit organization Safe Space is working to get emergency night-time sheltering available by Christmas Day as unhoused people struggle with this week’s downpour.

Forecasts were indicating that up to 10 inches of rain were possible in Chico between today and the end of the week, as well as localized flooding. Safe Space Executive Director Hilary Crosby said outreach teams were on the streets handing out tarps and making sure homeless community members “knew about the storm coming through.”

“I don’t have anything [at this point] to provide people so they can get warm or dry off,” Crosby said early today. “We’re checking on people to make sure they have what they need.” read more

Emergency meeting violates Brown Act

"Urgency" and "emergency" different things, attorney says
by Leslie Layton | Posted January 11, 2024

Emergency meeting agenda

A Jan. 6 emergency meeting held by Chico City Council appears to have been illegal – in other words, a violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act that governs meeting access in California.

The Saturday meeting was called on short notice to consider matters “involving the disruption or threatened disruption of public facilities” after the winter sheltering program, Safe Space, held intake at The Hands sculpture near the Municipal Center on Jan. 5.

An attorney consulted by ChicoSol indicated he doesn’t think the nature of the disruption justified an emergency meeting under state law. “The bottom line is, I don’t think this rises to the level of emergency under the Brown Act,” said David Loy, legal director for the San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition (FAC) that works to defend open-government laws. read more

Safe Space leadership plans to meet with City officials

City threat to shut down intake threatens winter sheltering program
by Leslie Layton | Posted January 4, 2024

photo by Leslie Layton
Safe Space’s shuttle takes clients to a local church where they can sleep for the night.

Jan. 6 update: Chico City Council held an emergency meeting today after Safe Space was forced to move intake from the downtown building. (Intake today will be held at 5:30 p.m. at 285 East 5th St.) A meeting will be held Tuesday between City and Safe Space managements, and Council members Sean Morgan and Addison Winslow.

Safe Space Executive Director Hilary Crosby was encouraged today by City officials who she said have agreed to meet to discuss the intake center problem that has threatened to shut down Chico’s emergency winter sheltering program.

In a Dec. 21 letter from Community Development Director Brandon Vieg, the City denies the request from Safe Space for a zoning verification that would allow it to continue operating intake at 101 Main St., the site of the former 7-Eleven store. read more

Grass-roots activism rescues some Comanche residents

Homeless encampments flooded; many have nowhere to go
by Leslie Layton | Posted October 25, 2021

photo by Chris Nelson
Activist Chris Nelson found Teichert’s rising pond water seeping into tents and the path out flooded.

The winter sheltering organization Safe Space jumped into high gear today as a ferocious early storm flooded homeless encampments. But Safe Space said it was only able to shelter 35 of the hundreds of unhoused people living in encampments.

Siana Sonoquie, a Safe Space board member, said she was contacted early today by an unhoused resident of the Comanche Creek encampment who reported that the area was flooding, tree limbs were falling down and one person was missing. “We started looking for a church,” Sonoquie said. “We’re used to doing this now and have a pretty quick system, with protocols in place and a lot of practice.” read more