Latest news with #Dues
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
More cowbell, fewer unhoused: Point-in-time homeless count brings goal slightly more into focus
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – They have a tradition at the Brundage Lane Navigation Center: Graduates get a parade. Not the traditional kind. No baton twirlers, no trombones. It's more like a gauntlet of joy, with employees and fellow navigation center residents sending off a fellow homeless center resident to the world of the housed with hoots and cheers. The closest thing to a musical instrument? Cowbell. Mosquito sample tests positive for West Nile virus in Kern County And Navigation Center manager Theo Dues wants more cowbell. 'We're gonna continue to do this work until we see this crisis resolved,' Dues told KGET on a recent tour of the Brundage Lane facility, managed by Mercy House in collaboration with the City of Bakersfield. 'We truly believe that homelessness is a problem that we can solve. Now just manage. That we can actually solve.' What's the holdup? Primarily this: The availability of affordable housing. California has a shortage. There are signs things are improving. Then there's this positive trend. The Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative's new point-in-time homeless count reveals a decline in the number of unhoused in Kern County. Not a huge decline – just 2.3 percent from last year's count – but a decline nonetheless. The annual count is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The collected data is used by state and federal governments to determine funding for counties, cities, and local continuums of care, so it's important – important to know not just how many, but who and from what backgrounds. 'Now, within this count and every count, every demographic is represented,' said Lauren Skidmore of the Open Door Network, which runs the Bakersfield Homeless Center. 'There is a very diverse population of homeless individuals.' Never miss a story: Make your homepage The 2025 Count revealed 2,606 people experiencing homelessness, including 1,393 who are unsheltered and 1,213 individuals who have utilized shelters. This is not an exact science, but it's one of the few tools we have. Counting the number of people living in shelters is one thing, but counting those on the street is quite another. And officials with the collaborative say their ability to gather data that can be trusted is at an all-time high – not just because they continue to tweak their techniques, but because they continue to see buy-in from the broader community. 358 volunteers participated in the three-day count, the third straight year of high volunteer participation. That, combined with a more sophisticated counting process and progress in the creation of affordable housing means the likelihood of more navigation center graduation parades. Because we got to have more cowbell. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Shelter demand remains high as city builds hundreds of affordable units
The city of Bakersfield has hundreds of affordable housing units in the works with some of them opening their doors in the coming months as demand remains high. There are 291 units currently under construction and another 509 in pre-development, according to an update presented to the Homelessness Committee on Tuesday, with the units under construction expected to be completed by the end of the year. Officials are planning to celebrate the opening of 85 units at the Renaissance at Baker next month and a 60-unit development on Auburn Street hopes to start housing people in November. Yet demand at local homeless shelters remains high, and the length of stay at the city's Brundage Lane Navigation Center has grown since the facility opened its doors, according to Theo Dues, program manager with Mercy House, the organization that operates the center. "When we opened our doors four and a half years ago the average length of residency was 90 days. It's now closer to 190 days," Dues said. "And that's just a reflection of the available housing options for these folks." The center is averaging 289 people a week with a capacity of 299, according to city data, with most people staying between eight and 30 days. The center has about 30 people who have stayed at the shelter for more than a year, Dues said, with those being the most difficult people to place into housing. City Councilmen Andrae Gonzales and Larry Koman asked if there are additional measures that could be taken to place those people, or other transitional housing they could be moved to. "I don't know how to abbreviate that time in some cases. It's just that there are some barriers with some individuals that make it really really tough," Dues said. "The real problem isn't on the shelter and it's on that, it's on the housing, and we just don't have sufficient placement outcomes for the folks." Gonzales said he'd like to have additional conversations about how to reduce the number of long-term stays at the shelter. "I don't think it's an appropriate place for people to be beyond, I mean, beyond even six months," Gonzales said. "But I know as a practical matter, that's a reality." The hundreds of units of affordable housing the city has in the works are only possible through a combination of funding sources — namely state and federal grants — and the city had to shelve a 51-unit project that failed to secure state funding. "City staff applied for a grant for local housing trust funds through the state of California and we just received word this past week that we were not awarded those funds," said Jennifer Byers, the city's economic and community development director, referring to a project on Niles Street. "Without that funding, housing authority doesn't feel they can move forward with that project and is releasing it for now," Byers said. Also currently in flux is $7 million for a new Senior Center on 4th Street, one of the project's in the city's Southeast Strong initiative. That money was allocated as a community project funding grant — formerly known as an earmark — but those projects were not included in the continuing resolution passed by Congress earlier this month. "They were hoping to start construction of the Senior Center project within the next couple months as well," Byers said. "Without that earmark, it's a struggle." The project is likely still eligible for funding, Bakersfield City Manager Christian Clegg said, but officials may have to reapply. "The funding is probably there," Clegg said. "It just is a hurdle because it was approved and now has to get reapproved." The current senior center building on 4th Street has a number of structural problems, so many that Executive Director Lili Parker has told the city not to make certain repairs, anticipating the building's demolition. Parker told The Californian on Tuesday she hadn't been notified of any changes to the construction schedule, and still anticipated to be out of the building by the end of the year. "I'm still looking at being out of here no later than October, construction is set to begin in January and demolition will probably take place in December," Parker said. "At this point I have not been advised of any changes to our timeline."
