Baby’s prospect: Life on the streets
Church shelter leaders say they don’t have resources to care for children
SAN JOSE » In two weeks, Bernadette Ortiz expects to give birth to a baby girl — Serenity Michelle, named after her late sister. It should be the happiest day of her life. But, instead, thinking about that day fills Ortiz with anxiety, fear and uncertainty.
That’s because once the child is born, Ortiz and her baby’s father— both homeless and staying overnight at a temporary church shelter — may be forced to sleep out on the streets.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Ortiz, 39, stroking her stomach as the baby’s father, Ricardo Lopez, 47, tightly gripped her hand. “I don’t
want to raise the baby in a tent where police can sweep us. My biggest fear is that I’m going to lose her. That they’re going to take her away from me.”
Despite Silicon Valley’s preposterous wealth fueled by a booming tech industry, shelters for families are scarce. The leaders at Grace Baptist Church where Ortiz and Lopez have been staying overnight say they don’t have the resources to accommodate children.
“There’s no one at the church who could watch the children during the time parents have to take care of themselves,” said Phil Mastrocola, the homeless ministry coordinator at Grace Baptist Church. “It is a safety concern.”
Family Supportive Housing runs a shelter with 35 units for families on North King Road, but there are 60 families on the waiting list ahead of Ortiz. Life Moves operates two family shelters in San Jose— the Georgia Travis House and Villa — 27 total units for families, which also are full.
Homeless families with children are hidden in the shadows in San Jose. The city’s most recent homeless count found 104 unhoused “families”— about 340 individuals. It’s a small fraction of the more than 4,000 individuals who are homeless.
“It’s so hard to be homeless,” said Ray Bramson, the city’s housing deputy director. “And then you’re dealing with a pregnancy too.”
Ortiz ended up homeless five years ago following a dispute with her ex. She met Lopez — homeless for six years since leaving a soil inspector job — while they both lived in the Jungle, a homeless encampment that housed up to 300 people before authorities broke it up in 2015.
Lopez said they started as friends before their romance grew. After the Jungle was disbanded, she stayed in his tent near McLaughlin Avenue and Highway 280. They hope to marry once her divorce is finalized. They couldn’t afford birth control and the pregnancy was unplanned — he said he never imagined she’d one day be carrying his child.
“She took the pregnancy test and it was positive,” Lopez said. “I was happy, but at the same time I was scared. The realization set in — we’re homeless and now we’re having a baby.”
Ortiz and Lopez said they have no family who can take themin. Ortiz said her sister— after whom her baby will be named — died this month froman inflammatory disease and two strokes. She’s afraid to ask her parents for help — they live in Los Banos and she hasn’t spoken with them for years. Lopez said his parents live in San Jose, but told him they have no room in their house for him.
Lopez has a daughter, now 27, but has lost touch with her since becoming homeless. He sees baby Serenity as a chance for redemption.
“I failed as a father when I was young,” Lopez said, breaking down in tears. “I didn’t want her to fail as a mother.”
Bramson recommends Ortiz work with the county to receive supportive hous- ing services, including access to medical care, though most of those programs have waiting lists. Advocates for the homeless have helped her with medi- cal appointments.
Sachin Radhakrishnan, co-founder of an advocacy group called In Their Shoes, first met the couple in May after they said their encampment near McLaughlin Avenue was swept by the city. They lost their tent, a gift card and baby clothes.
Radhakrishnan, who also works as a policy aide to Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco, said there’s not much the city can do.
“All you can do is point them toward resources and have them call,” Radhakrishnan said. “There’s no extra leverage I really have other than my knowledge.”
He’s hoping for improvements in the shelter system so that couples aren’t broken up. Though the local family shelters do not explicitly exclude unmarried men, they face added scrutiny to ensure they are not a threat to the women and children. Often women in shelters have suffered domestic abuse and feel uncomfortable having men there they don’t know.
Lopez understands he might have to leave Ortiz’s side tomake it easier for her to have a roof over her head.
“I know living outside is not a place for a child,” Lopez said. “I don’t want to leave her, but I have to do what’s best for the baby. And if I have to sleep in a tent outside — so be it.”