Homelessness: Fort Bragg taxes its limited options

Editor’s note: In our “State of Homelessness” project, reporters from the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Vacaville Reporter, Chico Enterprise-Record, Eureka Times-Standard, Vallejo Times-Herald, Woodland Daily Democrat, Lake County Record-Bee, Red Bluff Daily News and Southern California News Group — which publishes the Los Angeles Daily News — have teamed up to give you an overview on our collective state of homelessness. Stories can be found on each publication’s website.

With just 7,000 residents, Fort Bragg is the largest city on the Mendocino Coast. It’s a place where everyone knows their neighbor, and strangers tend to stick out like a sore thumb.

But, by virtue of its rural location and size, there simply aren’t many resources available for the homeless or for those experiencing mental health crises, said city officials — dual problems that often go hand-in-hand. The city by itself simply doesn’t have the ability to provide much care or comfort beyond a cup of coffee in the morning and a bed for the night.

Fort Bragg Mayor Bernie Norvell regularly drives through the town to seek out and find people living on the streets, and offer them a hand up — and a way out of town.

There is one shelter in town, the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, which has been in operation since 1986 and offers services for the homeless and mentally ill, including transitional housing projects, case management services, vocational services and more. It also operates a Winter Shelter out of several local churches, most years.

A recent $17,000 grant offered by the Mendocino County Continuum of Care has made it possible for the city to buy a Greyhound bus ticket for anyone who needs a ride home. Sometimes, hotels will put up someone for the night, and an officer will often buy the person a cup of coffee in the morning before they get on the bus.

But at the moment, those are pretty much the only, limited options available on the coast for the homeless. Norvell said the city buys at least one bus ticket for someone every few weeks, and they have sent people home to as far away as Alaska and the East Coast.

“It’s just a band-aid, moving them from one place to another,” Norvell said.

But buying them a bus ticket is only an option if, A) they’re willing to go, and B) they have the capacity to accept help. Often times that’s not the case, said Interim Police Chief John Naulty. He estimated at least 75 percent of the phone calls his department receives is to deal with a transient issue, which includes mental health calls. One person, in particular, has prompted more than 230 calls in a single month; and just last Monday, there were six calls about different transient issues to the police station — making up 90 percent of the station’s work for the day.

His staff simply isn’t trained to handle it, he said.

Not only that, but Naulty is well aware that a uniformed officer showing up can often worsen a tense situation — but the police are often the public’s first call.

To their credit, Fort Bragg Police officers will often call mental health professionals from Redwood Community Services when dealing with a crisis. RCS isn’t technically a mobile service — but by virtue of that special, smalltown connection — their staff have been able to help in certain situations. The officer will stay out of sight but provide backup if needed, and the situation often resolves itself without the need for an official intervention, Naulty said.

Again though, that small-town hospitality lends itself to a very oneon-one relationship with the homeless. not only do the police officers know many of the homeless by name, but so does most of the town. Say “Bob, the guy who walks with a cane” or “Jane, the woman with the baby stroller” and most people in Fort Bragg will know exactly who you mean. Naulty said he estimates the homeless population of Fort Bragg to be fully one-fifth to onefourth of the total population.

For all of the issues incumbent with hosting a homeless population — theft, public intoxication, arson, disorderly conduct, and often public urination and defecation — Norvell, Naulty and Fort Bragg City Manager Tabatha Miller agree that it’s not as bad here on the coast as nearby cities Eureka and Ukiah, or even Santa Rosa may have it.

That’s partially because of how rural Fort Bragg is — homelessness isn’t as in-your-face when there’s a dense and mostly-unregulated forest in every direction but west. The cooler temperatures off the ocean also attract some homeless people who find inland temperatures too hot in the summer, Norvell said. Still, wander down the train tracks or into the old commercial area of town, and you’ll find plenty of proof that Fort Bragg struggles with homelessness too.

There’s also a huge difference in addicts and alcoholics who find themselves homeless versus those who recently fell behind on their rent and may be living out of their car, Norvell said. Since each situation is so different and unique, it becomes a moral question of who to give money and support to — who will use it to get back on their feet and who is likely to relapse?

Naulty said the police department is currently trying to find a budget to hire an in-house mental health professional who can ride along on calls. The ideal solution, he said, would be a mental health response team that could be deployed to assist those in the middle of a crisis.

Additionally, the city is hopeful that a recent proposal to the county for a local Crisis Respite house will be approved; at a cost of about $240,000 per year. (Miller said the cost is likely to come out of Measure B funds.) There would be four beds, and residents could stay up to 30 days. It would serve the homeless population that are in the middle of a mental health crisis, but not at the level of being committed to the hospital.

“We’re making a little bit of progress,” Naulty said, “but it all comes down to the financials.”

A recent $17,000 grant offered by the Mendocino County Continuum of Care has made it possible for the city to buy a Greyhound bus ticket for anyone who needs a ride home.