Homelessness is one of Sonoma County’s most intractable problems. Despite the efforts of local activists, nonprofits, and government agencies, the number of people living on the streets, in vehicles, and in improvised shelters remains largely unchanged from year to year.
The problem has been going on for decades and the situation has only grown worse as housing prices continue to rise.
An annual federal report on homelessness found that Sonoma County had the third largest homeless population – 2,657 in 2018 - and third highest number of unsheltered youth – 715 – of any “largely suburban” county in the country.
There was also a significant increase in the number of chronically homeless individuals in the county over the past ear – from 598 in 2017 to 747 in 2018 – according to the county’s point-in-time homeless count last year.
So why, if the situation rarely changes, do people continue to advocate for and support the hundreds of people living on the streets and how do they stay involved despite a lack of notable progress?
The Gazette set out to find the answer by interviewing a few local advocates for the homeless.
Personal Connections
For Keary and Sally Sorenson, the issue is personal. The couple lived on the streets and in shelters of and on for decades beginning in the 1980s.
In 1995, they began cleaning local beaches and, six years ago, they volunteered for the first meeting of the Clean River Alliance, a local nonprofit founded in 2014 with the grand goal of cleaning the shores of the Russian River from its source, in Mendocino County, to its mouth on the Sonoma Coast.
To read the full article, written by Will Carruthers click HERE
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