Santa Cruz Free Guide

Made to help people living outside in Santa Cruz find meals and more!

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Santa Cruz Free Guide

River Street Shelter 115C   Coral   St.   (831­) 459­-6644
Second Harvest Food Bank free grocery hotline (831) ­662-­0991 
Homeless Persons Health Project emergency medical   (831) ­454-­2080 
Pets of the Homeless.org   free   emergency   vet   care   &  pet   food    (775) ­841-­7463 
Suicide Prevention Hotline  877­ONE­LIFE     Crisis Text 741­741

Meals
- Mon- Fri 12-1pm St. Francis Catholic Church 205 Mora St.
- Mon 5-7pm (first attend service) Calvary Episcopal Church 532 Center St.
- Thur (not the 1st Thurs/month) 4:30-5:15 pm Calvary Episcopal Church
- Thur-Fri volunteer to garden 10am-2pm, lunch at noon (clean, peaceful, sober)
- Wed 7-8am (first attend service) 117 Elm St. Mission
- Fri-Sun 4:30-6:45pm (first attend service) 117 Elm St. Mission
- Sun 10:30-1pm (first attend service) 117 Elm St. Mission
- Sun 11am-1:30pm (first attend service) Garfield Park Church 111 Errett Cir.
- Sat-Sun 4-6pm Food Not Bombs corner Front St. & Water St.

Food Pantry
- Mon-Thurs 9-11:30am Salvation Army 721 Laurel St.
- 2nd & 4th Wed/month 10-11am Calvary Episcopal Church 532 Center St.

Showers
- Mon- Fri 11am-1pm St. Francis Catholic Church 205 Mora St.

Toilets
- Mon-Thur 11am-10pm Fri-Sun 10am-10pm Cafe Gratitude 103 Lincoln Ave.
- Sun-Thur 9am-10pm Fri- Sat 9am-11pm Bookshop Santa Cruz 1520 - Pacific
- Sun-Thurs 11am-12am Fri-Sat 11am-2am Pizza My Heart 1116 Pacific Ave.
- Sun-Sat 8am-11pm Locust-Cedar Garage 124 Locust St.
- Sun-Sat 8am-11pm Soquel-Front Garage 601 Front St.
- Mon-Fri 8am-5pm (closed holidays) City Hall 809 Center St.
- Mon-Thur 10a-7pm Fri-Sat 10a-5pm Sun 1-5pm Library 224 Church St.

211 Community Help Directory

831-662-0991 Food & Referral Hotline Mon-Fri 7:45am-4:30pm

888-421-8080 Human Services Center 24/7

Friends Outside Resource Guide www2.santacruzpl.org/cid/public/index.php

The new poor: over 50 and homeless

One third of the homeless are over 50.

Nobody ever tells you about the sleep deprivation.

At around 4:30 am, while the rest of the world is still asleep, I wake up and get moving under cover of darkness. Quiet spots with some degree of tree cover, or the occasional hospital or church parking lot, are typically where I sleep for the night. Still, there’s always the risk that someone will spot me and I’ll wake up with police blaring a flashlight into my eyes.

Every night and every morning, I wonder how it got to be like this. If I’m lucky, I’ll get maybe six hours of shuteye, but usually it’s a lot less. The fear of police or someone else finding me makes me nervous. After a while, the lack of sleep sets in. I feel groggy, low energy, and my legs and feet get swollen and stiff. Sleep deprivation is a torture technique the military uses, and it works just as effectively on an old person like me.

Not having a home is hard. Now imagine not having a home at the age of 66.

Elderly homelessness is on the rise. A combination of slow economic recovery from the recession and an aging baby boomer population has contributed to the rise of the 51 and older homeless population. The percentage has spiked by almost 10 points since 2007 — in 2014, the 51-and-older group represented nearly a third of the national homeless population.

I never thought I’d be living in my car at age 66

When I was younger, I never thought I’d spend my golden retirement years living out of my car. For most of my life I had a roof over my head, food on my table, and steady work as a journalist and writer. I grew up living a middle-class life. I was able to live and travel to many places close and far from my native state of New York. Most of my adult life has been in California and Nevada, but I also traveled around the world to Europe and India after graduating college.

Then in my mid-40s, my life slowly started to unravel. I divorced, and three remaining family members who were very dear to me all passed away, shrinking my safety net. I got rear-ended by a car and developed fibromyalgia. For years, every morning when I woke up, it felt like I had been run over by a Mack truck. Later, in my 50s, I went through extensive therapy to heal my fibromyalgia symptoms — but then developed osteoarthritis in my knees.

I USED TO BE MIDDLE CLASS. NOW I’M NOUVEAU POOR.

Then the recession arrived. I had been working primarily as a freelance writer, editor, and PR manager, but well-paying gigs rapidly slowed down. I was running out of money fast and needed steady work. Day after day was spent sending out hundreds of résumés and applications, but I rarely heard back and only landed one or two interviews. Unemployment shot up 5 percentage points in 2009, peaking at 10 percent the next year.

Eventually, I couldn’t scrape together enough money from savings and the occasional gig. I needed money badly, and when I turned 62 I applied for early retirement to activate my Social Security checks. At $672 a month, it wasn’t enough then, and it’s still not enough now.

The breaking point: a terrible, dangerous roommate situation

The breaking point came after I moved in with my roommate, Jack. Unable to afford skyrocketing living costs, I had moved into a home in Monterey, California, with a virtual stranger under the promise of cheap rent and a cordial living environment. But Jack turned out to be a struggling alcoholic and a hoarder. He exhibited increasingly worse abusive behavior.

Every day, the lewd and threatening comments chipped away at my sense of safety and peace of mind. The space, crowded with an ever-growing pile of his junk and trash, began to close in on me. He would threaten me, call me names, and physically block me from going to the bathroom late at night to intimidate me in his drunken state.

When I could no longer take his threats, I started calling the police on him at least once a week. Finally, I hit a point where I just couldn’t take it anymore. I used some money collected from friends, put my faith into a world where I had always been able to land on my own two feet, and moved out with no solid living plans. Sadly, my story is not uncommon. Domestic abuse is cited as the main reason for immediate homelessness for 50 percent of women without homes.

Two years later, and I’m living out of my car in search of a home. Finding a permanent roof over my head is increasingly becoming a dream out of reach. Rent is much too high to be covered by my monthly Social Security checks, and living out of a motel is a luxury I just can’t afford. Even campsites or trailer parks, where I could pitch my tent and make a temporary home for myself, can cost up to $1,000 a month. And it feels like time is running out — my dog and I need a home as soon as possible.

Across America, affordable housing is hard to come by

The first time the police found me, I had fallen asleep in a school parking lot. I knew it wasn’t the ideal place to park my car for the night, but I had gotten lost driving around town and couldn’t find a better spot before exhaustion set in. I fell asleep and woke up with a flashlight in my eyes and a police officer demanding that I leave. I burst into tears. The policeman, sympathetic and, I think, surprised that the ‘96 Subaru Legacy parked in the middle of an empty lot contained an elderly woman with no place else to go, gently escorted me to a new location.

Everywhere in our country, people are having a hard time finding affordable places to live. The housing crash and its chilling effect on mortgage lending have hit the poor the hardest. Affordable housing rates, defined as a unit that costs less than $800 a month, dropped by 12 percent in the past few years. Homeowners are being replaced by renters, as the American dream of owning your own property is becoming increasingly a luxury for the rich and upper middle class.

I used to be middle class. Now I’m nouveau poor.

Health is the biggest risk when you’re homeless

There are many common and outdated myths that portray homeless people as drug addicts, lazy, or mentally ill, or that they have chosen to live like this. But that certainly doesn’t describe me or most of the people that I’ve met. We do not choose to live like this. We have lost our jobs and homes in poor economic times and are struggling to get by on Social Security checks and savings.

Yet we face so much discrimination, even by law. In most cities, it isillegal to sleep in cars, in tents, and in most public places. For this reason, I call myself “unhoused” instead of homeless, as the term is loaded with derisive connotations.

The toll the lifestyle takes on your health is truly taxing. Lack of sleep and poor nutrition are the biggest issues. I’m reliant on food stamps to feed myself, which only last about a week out of the month. I’ll occasionally go to a food bank, which are stocked with donations of tuna, cookies, soups, and peanut butter and jelly. I’m also limited by not having a home — without a refrigerator, the food won’t last a day or so. Without a stove, I cannot cook anything.

I WAKE UP EACH DAY AND WONDER IF I’LL BE ABLE TO SURVIVE THE NEXT CRISIS

As someone who is elderly, these problems are exacerbated. I have less flexibility, mobility, and energy than younger people. I end up having more hospital visits, which are necessary to treat the blood clots in my lungs and edema, or swelling in my legs, that has formed from prolonged periods of sitting in my car. I was in and out of the hospital 13 times this year alone, and last year I had surgery for breast cancer.

I tire easily, and it can be hard to walk due to my swollen legs and feet. Often, I’ll go to Whole Foods, Home Depot, or Target and borrow one of their motorized scooters. That way I can give my dog, Cici, a little exercise, letting her walk alongside me as I weave through the aisles of the store.

Homelessness is really lonely

It can be really tough to maintain a community. People I meet are often coming and going, dying, getting arrested, hospitalized, or leaving town. I have a few friends I have known for decades who are a godsend, helping to keep me sane by lending an ear via phone or email when I’m feeling down. But they live far away and have their own busy lives with families, jobs, and responsibilities. I don’t want to ask them for too much. A year ago, the most important person in my life passed away — my best friend, mentor, and teacher who encouraged me to write, travel, lead seminars, complete college, and more. Losses like these feel, and are, truly catastrophic.

It’s been easier to maintain a social life online. Wifi connections are cheap and easy to access by bringing my laptop to the library or by holing up at Starbucks for the small cost of an herbal tea. There, I blog, chat and keep in touch with a like-minded community of dog lovers. It’s a true moment of normalcy in my everyday life. My dog mamas and papas network has occasionally helped me out financially so that I can spend a few nights at a pet-friendly motel.

My dog is the most important living thing in my life right now

Unhoused people often prioritize feeding their pets over even themselves. It’s not that surprising — dogs are vital and necessary for providing comfort, protection, and companionship for people without homes, especially during this dangerous and isolated period of their lives.

My dog, Cici, a spotted Dalmatian mix, gives me a reason to wake up in the morning. She helps me meet kind strangers who come up to pet or feed her and strike up a conversation. I keep myself going day after day to make sure that she’s walked, fed, and given affection. Whenever I start feeling depressed or suicidal, she is the reason I choose to live. The idea of her having no one to care for her is too much to bear. And she makes me laugh every single day, which is a true lifesaver.

The crises are difficult, but so is the everyday loss of privacy and dignity

Some days, it feels like the problems pile onto each other, building an insurmountable mountain in front of me. A car breakdown, a lost phone, or not being able to secure food starts a chain of events that all add to my financial problems. I wake up each day and wonder if I’ll be able to survive the next crisis.

Other days, it’s the little things. The bureaucracy of social services, where a church social worker will spend three hours on the phone trying to find temporary shelter for me. The lack of privacy, where having to eat and use restrooms in public spaces feels like living in a fishbowl. I wander all over town, wondering where my dignity, privacy, and stability went. The empty days stretch out in front of me. How can I live my life with no job, no money, and no place to go home to?

IT FEELS LIKE TIME IS RUNNING OUT — MY DOG AND I NEED A HOME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

I spend much of my time writing articles and researching housing solutions for myself and for others. I go to Lowe’s to find materials needed to build a tiny mobile home. I’m looking into creating a nonprofit where people can donate RVs, campers, and trailers for elderly women who need homes. I’m still sending out résumés all the time, trying to find work.

On some days, I’ll drive to the beach. I’ll walk my dog in the parking lot, then sit in my car and watch the waves and listen to the birds. The sounds of the ocean are calming and soothing. The sun on my face warms me.

I try to remember what’s important in life. I try to remember that there’s beauty everywhere and good people in the world. I try to remember my previous life, filled with interesting characters, connections, wondrous places I have lived and visited.

If I’m lucky, I’ll fall asleep and dream about living in a home again during a short, heavenly nap.

—as told to Karen Turner

CeliaSue Hecht’s writing work has been featured in more than 40 local and national newspapers and magazines, on her dog travel blog, in newsletters, and in five romantic travel guides. She has traveled around the world and has written and led seminars and workshops in the US and Europe. Her travels have included about 245 cities. She can be contacted by email atprmatchmaker@yahoo.com or on her website celiasue.com.

We know how to end poverty, so why don't we?

San Francisco needs help with the homeless.

San Francisco needs help with the homeless.

It should be no surprise that San Francisco is struggling with the problem of chronic homelessness. It is a problem all over California.

I should know. I am one of them. I am a 60 year old tech worker that has struggled to find permanent, long term employment and affordable housing in Eureka, Los Angeles, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and now in San Francisco. I know how hard it is. I have done it several times in my 32 years of living in California.

One of the main problems trying to escape homelessness is getting stable, long term employment. Just getting enough money saved to afford even a minimal housing solution is almost impossible, but it can be done. Most of the solutions proposed require massive government funding to remove "tent cities" and to ultimately permanently house the homeless. I propose a private / public partnership that uses unoccupied urban land (vacant / parking lots) to grow Urban Aquaponic Gardens, employ homeless people, and give them a stable, safe place to sleep in a clean, sober, and productive environment.

Help me change the world one block at a time.

My concept is simple and elegant: Grow food that's 100% organic with no pesticides, no fertilizers, and no GMOs. I have been a backyard aquaponic designer / grower for over 2 years and have invested my money in equipment, products and building materials. My goal is to design zero-net energy, organic, aquaponic greenhouses that will be built on parking lots and unused land in urban environments. This system allows for the production of a variety of fruits and vegeatables as well as fresh fish and shellfish.  My hope is that these greenhouses will be able to convert city blocks from barren land to year-round food production plants.  A significant number of these greenhouses could also reduce CO2 emissions in the city.  I am located on the beautiful California Central Coast with a climate ideal for plant production. I plan to have approximately 300,000 sq. ft. dedicated to growing  vegetables. I am building a state-of-the-art production facility, ensuring consistent and superior quality. The facility includes IBT containers, gravity irrigation , environmental controls, solar powered pump and fan system and solar water heating. The ability to develop this project would be an amazing opportunity.  The possibility of making  fresh, healthy foods more available to urban citizens while reducing greenhouse gasses.  Your donations could be the beginning of the success of a project intent to make the world a better, healthier place for all.

You are invited to become a sponsor of this ambitious project at my donations page here:

This produce will also be sold locally, giving our community access to healthy produce. It is important for people everywhere to produce their own, healthy food. Our system provides fresh organic food and fish. No chemical pesticides go into the environment to produce it and no fossil fuels are used to transport our food across highways or oceans. We produce enough food ourselves so that we have a surplus available for sale at our local farmers market. Aquaponics truly is farming of the future.

Aquaponics is a closed-loop system in which plants are fertilized by fish tanks, and the plants filter the water that will be returned to the fish tanks. Captured rain water allows us to grow produce using aquaponics, an aquaculture system where this water is used to grow plants hydroponically. While using water eight times more efficiently than traditional farming and with up to three times the production capability. I anticipate we could have as many as 4,000 plants growing at one time and can expect to grow about 40,000 heads of lettuce per year. 

This is important to the community because there are still hungry people who go to bed with out eating. Also there is a growing concern for water management during a California drought. Lastly, this is important to the community because many people don't know what products at the store are truly organic and wholesome. Vegetables such as kale, tomatoes, basil, lettuce and spinach can be grown in the middle of winter and sold locally. Over half the costs of fresh produce is transportation and spoilage. By growing all the produce locally, we eliminate the expense of shipping cost. This lowers the carbon footprint on a massive level when perishable items need to be shipped long distances.  Also, there is a growing concern for water management during the ongoing California drought. 

San Francisco spends $241 million per year on funding homeless services, and that is a low estimate, because it does not include all city services frequently used by the homeless. San Francisco currently has more than 7,500 homeless. Over one-third of the nation’s chronically homeless individuals were in California. California has the highest overall homeless population in the United States. San Francisco’s last homeless count, performed in January 2015, showed a very aging population. Twenty-two percent of homeless people were between the ages of 51 and 60. 8 percent were 61 or older.

Dr. Margot Kushel is a professor of medicine at UCSF. She’s also an author of a new study that found homeless people in their 50s have more trouble with the basics of life than 80-year-olds who have homes.“It’s not a San Francisco-only problem, it’s true across the country,” Kushel said. “They’re old, vulnerable and very frail.” The homeless population is aging, and aging rapidly. Not only are those on the streets getting older, but their health deteriorates so rapidly that their bodies and minds are about 25 years older than they are.

Mayor Ed Lee tours the newly opened Pier 80 tent shelter on Feb. 26 2016.

San Francisco has some one of the best available resources on the west coast:

• Glide: Meals provided daily, shelter referrals
• MSc south: Showers and shelter referrals
• Next door: 350 bed shelter for men and women, Meals provided daily
• Capp St: Showers and shelter referrals
• Curry senior center: Health care clinic for seniors, Meals provided daily
• Mother Jones: Meals provided daily
• Providence: 100 bed shelter for men