Homelessness
Lia Cortes paused as she walked past a group of girls admiring the trendy clothes displayed on mannequins leaning against a pink wall in a small clothing store. The streetscape at 22nd Street and Nevin Avenue has changed dramatically in the 23 years Cortes has lived in the neighborhood. “It is a main street. I used to drive through here but not walk because it used to be pretty sketchy,” Cortes said. Cortes lives in Terraces at Nevin, one of…
What does it take to move one person off the street and into housing? In Richmond, officials estimate it’s something like $75,000 in support services. Last month, the city received that when the City Council voted to accept $8.6 million from the state to move 115 people into housing from encampment hot spots along the Interstate 580 and 80 corridors. The infusion of cash, combined with a commitment of close to $4 million from the city and Contra Costa County,…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: Do you agree that Richmond should be building more tiny homes for people now living in encampments? “Yes. We need to look for every possible solution for homeless people, regardless whether it is tiny homes or other buildings as well.” (Alison Moreno, librarian, pictured above) “Yes. I work in youth development and…
Unhoused young people in Richmond will soon have a new housing option — the Richmond Tiny House Village Garden and Farm, the city’s response to the growing number of youth who lack secure housing. Richmond City Council this month approved a lease for the land with the Richmond Police Activities League, allowing the planned Richmond Tiny House Village Garden and Farm to continue moving forward. Groundbreaking is set for Saturday, with completion in July. The village will provide emergency transitional…
Gray skies emptied streams of rain onto an encampment at Castro and Hensley Streets on a cold January night. Untarred paths turned muddy and flooded fast, but the rain didn’t stay on the streets. It seeped into immobile recreational vehicles from all sides, splattering through frames where glass windows once were. While it rained, 43-year-old O’Neill Fernandez was busy lending a hand to those with leaking RVs. Fernandez, who works with the nonprofit Safe Organized Spaces, tried to drape tarpaulins…
Jazmine Perkins and her family were busy last weekend, collecting loads of sweaters, coats, shoes, blankets, socks, hats, scarves and gloves. Every year since 2019, Perkins has done something to honor her brother, Jamarrea “JMac” Frazier, an aspiring artist and basketball player at De Anza High School who was fatally shot Nov. 26, 2019, in North Richmond. “Last year I fed the homeless. I set up out here and I had turkey, all type of food. And what I had…
Kevin Canamore wants answers. He wants his community to get the services it was promised. But more than anything, he just wants to live in a real house. Canamore was living on Rydin Road, one of the largest homeless encampments in Richmond until it was cleared last weekend. According to Contra Costa County’s Homeless Point-In-Time Count for 2022, Richmond is home to 632 unsheltered people. That number is 90% higher than the 2019 figure. While the city is in the…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: Should Richmond create an RV parking area for people who live in vehicles? And if so, where? “Absolutely, there should be designated areas for people that have no choice but to live in their vehicles due to housing crises and the unavailability of places for people to rent, and the high cost…
By Saturday, the last 28 people living in vehicles on Rydin Road were relocated by Richmond’s Public Works and Police departments. Non-functioning vehicles and the remaining recreational vehicles were moved to Safe Organized Spaces, under Interstate 580. Residents are temporarily being housed in motels in the surrounding area including in Pinole, Pittsburg, and Brookside Shelter in Richmond. Former Rydin Road residents can work on their vehicles from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily at SOS. “I have been informed by…