By Tony Hicks – A homeless advocacy group will ask the Martinez City Council on Wednesday to declare a shelter crisis, to make a waterfront encampment legal and start the process of moving residents into housing.
Former Martinez councilwoman Norelea Gipner is scheduled to tell the council what she accomplished the past year with the Homeless Action Coalition, the nonprofit group she heads as part of a joint effort with the city to connect homeless residents with services. The group was formed in 2019 as an outgrowth of the Martinez Homelessness Task Force.
In a letter to the council, Gipner wrote about the situation a year ago, when the area’s homeless population began moving into the John Muir Amphitheater on Tarantino Drive, near the waterfront.
“I knew if I didn’t do something to organize the area, it would turn into a disaster,” Gipner wrote.
The Homeless Action Coalition, of which Gipner is president and CEO, refers to the encampment as Camp Hope. The coalition went to work with the 30 or so residents, helping them transition into housing, employment, and to find medical resources and other services.
“In the encampment, our folks get a chance to learn responsibilities, work as a team, and relearn the necessary skills to live in a home (versus) the streets,” she wrote.
Gipner said it was a win, not only for the homeless people, but local merchants.
“We’ve also been able to help our downtown merchants by sheltering 30 people at the encampment that would otherwise be living in their store fronts,” Gipner wrote. “These same 30 people are no longer panhandling, or harassing people in the downtown. Instead, they have formed work parties to pick up litter and help beautify our town and marina.”
Asking the council to officially declare a shelter crisis would bring the camp into compliance with the California building code section applying to emergency housing. Gipner wrote that doing so would ensure the city against liability concerning people “without the ability to obtain shelter, and that the situation has resulted in a threat to the health and safety of those persons.”
The move would also help the city qualify for emergency housing funds and allow plans for transitioning camp residents to permanent housing. Estimates say there are about 150 homeless people in the Martinez area.
The Martinez City Council meets virtually at 7 p.m. Wednesday. To watch or participate, go to http://bit.ly/38KV4Js.
