Unhoused Fresnans showed up at City Hall asking for shelter. ‘There has to be a better way’
Shelley Forest was among a group of unhoused Fresnans who spoke during public comment at the Fresno City Council meeting last week seeking shelter, telling city officials, “It’s really hard out there.”
During the meeting, Councilmember Esmeralda Soria asked Mayor Jerry Dyer’s administration to find housing for the folks who needed it.
That didn’t happen. The reasons why demonstrate the complexity of the homeless problem and finding solutions.
Forest wasn’t housed until Tuesday when she joined advocate Dez Martinez and others on the lawn at City Hall and set up a tent in protest. Forest sat on the lawn in a wheelchair and sprayed herself with water from a bottle to keep cool on a day when temperatures were predicted to reach 102 degrees.
A team from the Poverello House met with the group and found a room for Forest and one other woman at another shelter.
“This is what we have to do,” Martinez said. “Unfortunately, we have to go to the extreme. I do this to draw attention just to get these two ladies sheltered.”
Soria said it was “troubling” the women weren’t able to obtain shelter the day of the council meeting.
“The last thing you want to do to an unhoused person is reject them once more or make them feel rejected,” she said. “It’s sad these individuals have to take the extra measure to protest or show up just to get some help.”
H Spees, Dyer’s director of housing and social services, said outreach workers didn’t respond to the protest. Rather, they responded to people with needs — and met them.
“What we have to be careful about is that we not be in a situation where we are responding to the most vocal voice and missing the most desperate need,” Spees said.
Project Off-Ramp
Martinez said she didn’t give a list of people needing help to Spees at the council meeting because they wouldn’t be housed that same day. Plus, she didn’t want to break up married couples. Spees said that prevented outreach workers from meeting with those who needed shelter, and service providers find shelter for couples “all the time.”
Forest said the heat compounds her struggle with various illnesses, and if it wasn’t for Martinez she’d likely be dead.
“I’m surviving with the help of Dez. She’s my angel,” Forest said. “Without her, I’d be nowhere. “
Martinez said she calls the Poverello House every morning to check if bed space is available. There’s rarely, if ever, availability.
Crystal Willis, an outreach worker with Poverello, said one bed was available Tuesday morning.
Dyer has touted the success of his Project Off-Ramp, which houses people living near freeways by taking them to motels converted into shelter. So far this year, the program has housed 423 people, Communications Director Sontaya Rose confirmed.
Soria commended that work, but she said she was upset by the city manager’s comments last week when she asked staff to help the group who showed up to the council meeting. City Manager Thomas Esqueda explained to the council that people near the freeways are prioritized.
“It’s ridiculous to tell someone to go to the freeway and be there in order to be prioritized to get shelter,” she said. “There has to be a better way to do it.”
Martinez also said Project Off-Ramp misses others in need. She joked that the front of City Hall will be the new sign-up place for shelter since her tactic worked on Tuesday.
Spees defended Off-Ramp’s strategy, saying people near the freeway are most vulnerable.
Project Offramp is about 90% complete, he said. Soon, Dyer’s administration will launch the HART initiative, or Homeless Assistance Response Team, to tackle other homeless populations in the city.
Martinez is hopeful for the people staying at her safe camp after Dyer committed at the council meeting to helping them.
“They’re excited,” she said. “They want to come back here and tell him thank you.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.