The local problem of homeless people in Inyo County came up when the temperature went down. Local groups confirmed that they do what they can for the homeless with food, temporary motel rooms and camping supplies. Many of these same groups formed what’s called a state-sanctioned Consortium of Care. When they met this week, the Inyo Supervisors okayed the COC filing for a grant.
The Supervisors also shared that a recent conference clued them in on the growing homeless problem. So did Health and Human Services Director Jean Turner. She said that currently her department is helping four homeless families with seven children. They have received motel vouchers.
Turner said her programs normally see single adults. They have cared for 49 single homeless men between the ages of 21 and 64 and 15 single women of the same age group. Turner said many know each other. Some have RVs and stay together. Turner confirmed that there is a hole in community services to adequately care for the homeless. She said she welcomes the opportunity to dovetail services with the COC.
County Administrator Kevin Carunchio added that Inyo doesn’t want to build up services and attract the homeless from colder areas like Mono and Alpine Counties. He suggested a workshop. Supervisor Jeff Griffiths said he asked Larry Emerson of IMACA to come to the Board of Supervisors in January for an overview of the Consortium of Care. Carunchio also said that the COC funding could “free up County resources.”
The grant proposed by Wild Iris and IMACA on behalf of the COC amounts to $168,000. Apparently more funds will become available in the future. Supervisor Rick Pucci said this is extremely important. At a recent conference, he said he listened to the story of a girl who had been homeless for nine years. He said, “We need to address the issue better than we do now.”
Supervisor Matt Kingsley admitted that he did not know homelessness was a problem in Inyo County. He said the numbers presented by Jean Turner were “striking.” He said the idea of agencies working together on this “is not an option. It’s a responsibility.”
The state needs to re-establish a system for caring for those with mental health problems. Ronnie closed the state hospitals and threw everyone out on the street, where they remain today. It should not be left to counties or individual cities to deal with the problem in an ad-hoc way.… Read more »
Awesome to see this a issue they’re talking about, we know the ability to have shelter for those who would want or in need of the help is possible.
I’m real concerned about the old-timer who sleeps in front of Subway in Independence.
I have a hair on shearling waistcoat I would give him if I thought he would keep it.
You could give it a try.
BK
It turns out that my “boat people” grandparents were U.S. Citizens before Native Americans. What a slimey comment although I expect nothing less from you under any fake name you use. And for all you Constitutional Scholars — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthright_citizenship_in_the_United_States The most recent judge to weigh in on the issue as… Read more »
Judge Posner Is a US Circuit Judge – which is far from being a member of the SCOTUS. I’m willing to bet you a coke that Judge Posner will NEVER have the opportunity to actually weigh legally on this or any other Constitutional decision. And you can find a wide… Read more »
CJ, I can’t help how you perceive the world around you. Mark December 13, 2013 It is a hec of a way to take over a country though.. illegally immigrate then start having babies that can vote. Isn’t that the way all immigrants from decades past managed things? We are… Read more »
Ken, You do know that Italians at that time were allowed to become naturalized citizens because they were white. Then there was a backlash against eastern and southern Europeans with arguments that they weren’t white enough. Native Americans could not use the same paths available to your grandparents even if… Read more »
Native Americans want to be members of independent nations and yet have full rights as US citizens. No immigrant group has this expectation. The situation wrt native Americans is very different than it is for immigrant groups.
Some Native Americans HAVE (not “want”) dual citizenship, yes. The USA relation with Native nations is very different as you say, and immigrants from other nations should have no expectation whatsoever of the same rights. Still, these rights of Tribal citizens came much later than those established for white immigrants.… Read more »
“CJ, I can’t help how you perceive the world around you.’
And vice-versa my friend.
FWIW, I am quite happy with the world around me. But if these message boards are any indication, you seem to be far from happy with the one you live in.
So boat people did prefer boat people over foot people then too.
Oh my…
I’d bet money most of the illegals in California are from Mexico due to the easy access. and why should I obey our laws when the illegals don’t and law enforcement does nothing about it. If law enforcment is going to chose which laws they will enforce, I’m going to… Read more »
Terribly mature response, Mark.
Benett Kessler
The largest current immigrant group are Asians and Pacific Islanders.
Benett- When and where is the January Meeting: “Supervisor Jeff Griffiths said he asked Larry Emerson of IMACA to come to the Board of Supervisors in January for an overview of the Consortium of Care.” This is an important issue and I think as many of us as possible should… Read more »
The Board did not say when this might happen, but we will watch for it and do a story in advance of the Board meeting.
BK
The homeless have arrived down this path from many directions and due to any number of internal and external situations which I’m not in a position to Judge. Many years ago, I was a legal emigrant to the United States, served in the USMC, in Viet Nam, Honorably discharged, became… Read more »
Once again the personal greed that is typical of many today makes those who believe they are the ultimate Americans makes a disgusting mockery of the Statue of Liberty’s : “Give me your tired, your poor, …”
These conservatives are no different than the 3rd Reich.
Time’s have changed.
Human population is creating new social and invironmental issues. I think NASA needs more money because we’re going to need some more living space in the way of another planet soon.
A little birth control would slow the process down.
Mark, the idea that human kind will some day migrate to another planet is just a lie that is being fed to us by those most responsible for the destruction of our own planet. “Hey, don’t bother to clean up — we’ve got another one right over there.” The amount… Read more »
Let’s face it…..For a LOT of reasons,this planet won’t be sustaining life for a long period of time,from here on out…none of us will see it happen….not our kids,or even grand kids…about three generations from now things will be over,or close to it.The population will be TOTALLY out of hand,with… Read more »
I just watched “Soylent Green” again. The movie’s time frame is 2020. I think that’s a little premature. But by 2120??? There’s going to be a lot of people then. What are they going to eat — besides each other?
The sun is in it’s main sequence now, but it won’t remain so indefinitely. It is slowly but surely consuming hydrogen, fusing six hydrogen atoms into a helium atom to sustain it’s fire, but as the proportion of hydrogen and helium changes over time, the sun will gradually expand and… Read more »
Whoa, DT. As a retired astronomer, I can’t help myself here. It takes FOUR hydrogen atoms to make helium. The sun is already a little past the main sequence, although it’s going slow. It’ll gradually (very gradually) speed up. As it gets larger, it actually cools, although the luminosity increases.… Read more »
Wikipedia thinks hominids are about 6-7 million years old. Homo Sapiens are about 300,000 to 400,000 years old. Given the ferver and commitment we attack the planet and each other, the idea that we — as a species — may live another million years seems optimistic to me. But who… Read more »
Ken, you need to watch more Star Trek. Why let current realities limit our imagination for the future. On the other hand, it probably is not good planning to expect to move the population of the earth to a new planet to avoid being responsible for the messes we’ve made… Read more »
You can blame the catholic church for the lack of birth control, especially in countries that can least afford over popluation. Of course, in our country, republicans are a close second….not only trying to outlaw abortion but even coming out against birth control that blocks implantation of the egg. Those… Read more »
Mosquito transmitted AIDS is one of my favorites. Or air born ebola or other hemorrhagic fever. And then there’s the good old stand by smallpox. As the population grows and population centers get more crowded, a pandemic of something can spread like fire through dry brush. And re-read Orwell’s 1984.… Read more »
Oddly enough, 1984 was not on my high school reading list. You’d think it would’ve been, as I graduated in 1984! I’ve never read it. Sounds like an interesting read though.
Most income support programs effectively permit businesses to pay their employees less than a living wage. The middile income taxpayer ends up picking up the difference. The net effect is that taxpayers end up subsidizing employers by supplementing their meager wages with our own tax money. Nice, isn’t it. We… Read more »
ooooh….theres the Nazi comparison. When you cant make a point or win an argument…call the other guy a Nazi…..its a tired and failed tactic bro.
“doesn’t want to build up services , because it may attract homeless from other areas”
California’s the place we should be, so we loaded up the truck and moved to Bishop
There are just too many people. When I was born, there was about 2 billion people in the whole World. Now there are over 7 billion people. At the same time, technology and progress has made it easier for one person to produce more goods and services than ever before.… Read more »
Kevin Carunchio should team up with Dan Paranick.
What!! Dan Paranick isn’t even a fixture anymore!
“…compassion has it’s limits” says it perfectly. I lived in Humboldt county for a few years where they catered to the homeless and as a result the community of Eureka is overrun with “homeless” draining the city’s resources. The citizens have woken up and seen the affect of their over-compassion… Read more »
it’s draining city resources all over the State. It’s also draining State resources. I just read somewhere this morning that the population of California has increased by some 330,0000 people. It made me immediately wonder how many of those babies were born and now being cared for at the taxpayers… Read more »
Isn’t that the way all immigrants from decades past managed things? We are a nation of immigrants.
BK
Benett,
No, not all immigrants. My Grandparents on my mothers side came from Italy — legally. They raised legal sons and daughters.
I’ve heard the “…we are a nation of immigrants…” dodge way too often. We are not a nation of illegal immigrants or didn’t used to be.
I don’t consider it a dodge, but this is my opinion. Not everyone has the same ability to “get legal.” In the 80s, our news service helped two Russian scientists to defect. Their struggle for legalization was surprising. I guess I prefer the attitude expressed by the Statue of Liberty.… Read more »
I come from a family of immigrants and my fiancee is an immigrant, all fo whom were legal immigrants btw. It can be done legally, lots of good Americans do this every day. We deeply resent those who elbow the honest immigrants out of the queue and come here without… Read more »
Like I said, let’s create a better system. If Congress would quit playing slap the other party in the face, we might get that done.
BK
We have a system. The keystone of that system is don’t enter the country illegally. And don’t hire people who are here illegally. That’s a perfectly good system. It’s just not being enforced. Here’s an interesting article. All illegal immigrants are not only from Mexico. They are from all over… Read more »
To DT’s point – highly unlikely anyone is going to arrest and deport 11.7 million people.
BK
So the boat people here are upset that the boat people from the south were less successful in attempted genocide and their mixed blood is walking north? Interesting!
@ Ken
According to our Constitution, the sons and daughters of your grandparents are no more “legal” than any other child born in this country.
Absolutely, but I also think times have changed. If we are opening our Southern Boarder to illegal immigration many (probably most) who come here are homeless and we had better be prepared to give them shelter. and Ken is correct “…we are a nation of immigrants…” is a dodge of… Read more »
I disagree. It is not a dodge. It is the truth. If we want a better path to citizenship, then create one.
BK
We have a fine path to legal citizenship and lots of honest hard working immigrants gain their legal residence and citizenship through it. We fail to punish those who refuse to obey the laws that govern the path to citizenship, in effect making fools of immigrants who play by the… Read more »
Not going to happen. We’re not talking sympathy. Practicality and the need for a system that does work.
Benett Kessler
Iraq/Afghanistan $ 1,000,000,000,000 to $6,000,000,000,000
You can’t vote for Kevin. Show me the ten year old and I’ll see they get help. This isn’t brain surgery, but sometimes compassion has it’s limits.
Drive up to the pit, I know of several families that have lived up there in the last year. I guess their landlords had their compassionate limits.
Dee- sorry, my last comment was to strong. Kevin’s comments just really irked me. I do know of two working families that did end up at the pits for months this year, after being evicted. They were able to save up and find homes. It is nice of you to… Read more »
Kevin Carunchio comment that he doesn’t want to build up services , because it may attract homeless from other areas makes me sick. Let’s see him tell that to some ten year old kid living at pit for the last 3 months. You lost my vote Bubba!
I’m with Trouble. Winter weather can KILL you here and Inyo doesn’t want to build up services to help keep current residents safe because someone else might come here to NOT DIE?! Before I say WTF!, maybe SW could ask Carunchio to clarify why we spend money to rescue tourists… Read more »
When the number of homeless is increasing daily, while at the same time the number of millionaires also grows – something has gone monstrously wrong. Give until it hurts. Nothing is trickling down.