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MyspaceIt was freezing cold in Santa Barbara last night, Monday, November 29, and that’s never good news for a homeless person. Casa Esperanza and the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission had emergency shelter beds for those who didn’t want to risk illness or getting an illegal lodging ticket. But the shelters many homeless prefer, because they’re less crowded and have fewer rules, are the Freedom Warming Centers. They won’t begin operating until December 1. That’s tomorrow.
Beginning that day, when bad weather triggers are present, Lynne Jahnke, M.D., yhe Freedom Warming Centers coordinator in the South County, will decide whether or not to mobilize her staff and the staff of a handful of churches downtown and in Isla Vista, to become temporary cold weather refuges for the homeless.
They’ll operate a lot like last year’s Freedom Warming Centers, with a couple of differences. Last year, the centers were volunteer-run until February, when the County Board of Supervisors kicked in $40,000 for staff and supplies. This year, the county kicked in $51,000 right off the bat, during summertime budget hearings, so the Department of Public Health and the Department of Emergency Services could work with advocates to create a more structured system. To read more, see homelessinsb.org.
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Comments
Is there a reason it costs so much money to shelter people in need? How much further would this money go (27 DAYS?? You're KIDDING!) if some of the bloated salaries were cut out and the money put towards actual sheltering and care instead?
Makes too much sense, I know..
Kinda like the schools, who endlessly have their hands out grubbing for more taxes & bond measures from a weary, broke public who really would love to know why Johnny still can't read and Juan still can't speak English.
Where is all that money going? Six figure exec salaries, anyone?
Enough already. The very fact that we are so willing to accept the fact that Americans are sleeping on the streets, in the richest, most technologically advanced nation on earth, is cause for profound shame. Yes I know, shame is out of style...which may be part of why we are in the mess we are in to begin with. It is NOT acceptable that people are homeless, period.
Shameful!
Holly (anonymous profile)
December 1, 2010 at 12:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why weren't the Warming Centers open during the recent cold freeze? Why isn't the State treating this as an emergency?
local (anonymous profile)
December 1, 2010 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is horrible! SB will spend $51,000 to help out the homeless who do nothing to better themselves. When instead the SB high school kitchen is such a mess and the school board has to wait to see about possible funding. Why not spend the $51,000 on the school that needs it a lot more than the homeless. The students are actually doing something to better themselves and get an education. They deserve a working, clean school kitchen way more then the homeless need anything. Reward the people who are bettering themselves instead of the people who are wasting their lives away.
http://www.thedailysound.com/News/090...
Affiliate137 (anonymous profile)
December 2, 2010 at 11:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I see your logic, Affiliate137:
Instead of spending $51,000 to save people from dying in the cold (these are hardly people, of course, because they "do nothing to better themselves"), you would rather take that money and improve the school kitchen for high school kids (who can avoid the cold weather in their homes).
Got it.
http://www.independent.com/news/2010/...
Chester_Arthur_Burnett (anonymous profile)
December 2, 2010 at 12:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)