New Clinic Caters to Homeless Women

This is great news - I work with alot of people on the street and we need more direct care for women and families!

Big Congratulations! The first paragraph clearly explains what is minimized about SB, and most communities.
Santa Barbara Street Medicine, Planned Parenthood, and Transition House should be nominated for their works on Oprah! Yes we can!

I remember, working the beat in Downtown and comming across homeless women who had been raped or were selling themselves to other homeless males for protection from rapists. I once responded to a break-in along one of the retailers who our Security Company had an account with. This homeless woman and her daughter had be gang-raped by the local Latino East-side gang and the Mother was thrown through the store front window while trying to fight them (7-9 Latino Males) off. The police said that the best they could do was to take them to the County Hospital for a few days for treatment. They were turned-out three days later and back on the streets as fresh sex-targets for the evil. This new site could have been a life savior for these two back then (80's).

I spent several years as a homeless woman in Santa Barbara, courtesy of the economy and skyrocketing rents. Moved here as a kid in '73 with my family.

In the early/mid 80's, I had 7 evictions in 8 years thanks to condo-mania and developers buying up and tearing down all the reasonably-priced rentals in town, and kicking out their tenants.

Saw the handwriting on the wall, gave up and bought a truck and camper and lived in it, while continuing to work two jobs, 6 days a week. Lived like that for about 10 years.

I didn't drink, smoke, or use drugs. I lived a quiet lifestyle; working 6 days, 2 jobs doesn't leave much room for anything but work, sleep, and hide from angry neighbors who hate homeless people, and vengeful cops on the prowl. Most cops were quietly sympathetic, but there were a handful who were well-known to us all who took sadistic delight in hassling homeless residents of SB.

I'm female. I was single and had no kids, which meant I qualified for nothing from anyone. I just sucked it up and lived my life, often waking up to nasty notes on my windshield from neighbors telling me not to park on their block. I had a spotless, late-model truck and camper unit, but it was not hard to figure out that I lived in it, and that's enough for notes like: "Quit living in front of our house or we'll take legal action!", to quote a milder one, which I still have to remind me of where I never want to be again.

We don't need more "special programs for special people". We're ALL special. Everyone deserves recognition, housing, a job, medical care and a safe, peaceful life. Not just those who garner the most sympathetic press or are the stars of the moment.

Everyone.

Homeless people are no longer the stereotypical alcoholics/addicts or families. They are working, clean, sober, law-abiding residents of YOUR city who can't dance fast enough to keep up with the cost of living.

Even more are elderly and/or disabled and on fixed incomes.

When are we all going to wake up and see that this is an issue that affects EVERYONE?

Stop this divide and conquer nonsense. Wake up and smell the coffee (the real kind, not the 5 dollar a cup foo-foo junk), get a grip, read the employment and housing ads and do the math.

The old stereotypes and "special" designations don't work...they never have. Time to change models for one that works.

Kudos to Holly for rasing a politically incorrect point.

Why is it that none of our elected officials on any level are willing to discuss *why* it is that a few decades ago one could afford to buy in to the American Dream but now economic darwinism has made it impossible for all but the very strongest to do so?..at least in Southern California if not other places? As Holly says, do the math.

Could it be that those politicians who flaunt their "progressive" credentials, or their "free market" credentials are actually contributing to the problem?

Just as the masses sheepishly accept and whine about the exploding gang problem but don't want to address the underlying causes, they also take this same approach to the problem of people losing their shelter security.

Are we going to end up all being warehoused or will our society finally start asking how we ended up in this situation in the first place?

Oh yes, one more thing: What about the young single man who finds himself homeless because his mom's live-in boyfriend wants him out of the house? This is just one hypothetical but plausible situation. Who speaks for such demographics?

To those who would put me down for raising these points: No, I'm *not* against the good that comes out of this project, but I'm trying to raise awareness to the fact that nothing is being done to address the underlying cause(s) of homelessness, and that while it's very left-wing P.C./S.B. to promote women's causes, homelessness affects *everybody*.

Regardless of age or family status, homelessness, hunger, and fear hurt.