Progress announced on River homeless issues

GUERNEVILLE — A group that has been meeting privately trying to
solve the Russian River’s homeless problems reported progress this
week and announced a public meeting in August to present possible
solutions. 
“I actually think we’re going to have something to report to the
community at that meeting,” said Susan Upchurch, aide to 5th
District Supervisor Efren Carrillo and one of the nearly two dozen
appointed members of the River Area Shelter and Downtown (RASAD)
task group.
The group has been meeting privately twice a month in
Guerneville since March to talk about lower Russian River homeless
issues and what may be done, such as offering shelter, counseling,
food, clothing and showers and how to pay for it.
“We’re hoping to come to the community with a suggested model
for what the service deliveries should be,” said Upchurch. “That’s
the goal.”
The Aug. 1 meeting in the Guerneville Veterans Auditorium will
mark the public’s first opportunity to hear what the permanent
local homeless program might look like.
The RASAD task group comprises homeless advocates, downtown
business owners, sheriff’s deputies and other representatives of
county agencies who agreed in March they wanted to meet privately
as a means to encourage a  candid, open and honest discussion.
Some members of the group operated the winter homeless shelter
programs that have opened in Guerneville for the past five years
and have drawn flack for attracting homeless people from other
areas.
The “behavior-based” shelter in Guerneville’s St. Hubert’s Hall
this winter, which took in people who had been drinking or using
drugs as long as they weren’t disruptive, drew loud criticism for
attracting people from all over Northern California who wouldn’t be
allowed in other shelters.
Why Guerneville has more issues associated with homelessness
than other West County towns is also one of the subjects under
discussion in the River task group.
A county-wide homeless count conducted this year tallied more
than 100 homeless people in Guerneville and another 100 in the
Monte Rio and Cazadero area.
Sonoma County Community Development Commission Executive
Director Kathleen Kane appointed the RASAD task group last year in
response to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors (which is also
the Community Development Commission board of directors) to find a
permanent solution that would “address the needs of homeless people
in the lower Russian River area.”
The RASAD group hopes to find a consensus by this fall on what
homeless services are needed by next winter including a possible
permanent River-area shelter.
 The Aug. 1 meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. in the Guerneville
Veterans Hall, “will present our preliminary ideas on possible
options for homeless services, possible shelter sites, and
suggested standards for downtown behavior. We will ask you for your
feedback,” said a media release announcing the meeting.
The RASAD group, which has been holding four-hour meetings led
by a paid facilitator on the average of twice a month, has been
going “better than I expected,” said one RASAD group member. “I
think we are getting to a place where people are listening and
accepting that a problem exists.”
Frank Robertson can be reached at ne**@so********.com.