Homeless more visible amid pandemic
Rio Dell is seeing a spike in homeless residents seeking resources amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The city’s community resource center staff said there’s been about a 30% rise in local homeless residents seeking food and hygiene supplies during the statewide stay-at-home order, which mandated most businesses to close in order to slow the spread of the virus.
“Last month, we were only open for nine days to the public due to closures,” said Sara Faught, a coordinator at the center. “We had almost as many services in a month as when we’re open regular hours.”
At a Rio Dell City Council meeting on Wednesday, city manager Kyle Knopp said city staff had internally discussed an “increase in the level of visible homelessness, particularly along Wildwood Avenue.”
Residents have journeyed over to the city’s side of the Eel River to access resources after multiple fires and state “cleanup” of homeless encampments on the other side, Knopp said.
Rio Dell police chief Jeff Conner said Thursday that local law enforcement haven’t engaged much with an influx of new homeless residents — which the chief anecdotally agreed exists
— besides moving camps away from the city’s water infrastructure.
“There are definitely a number of homeless people who are more visible in Rio Dell than in the past, but it’s unclear if this is related to COVID,” Conner said, referring to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Faught said staff at the resource center has helped residents to apply for unemployment benefits and tax resources made available by the federal government during the stay- athome order.
Because of the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, many homeless residents have come to the resource center for food, unsure if they were allowed to enter grocery stores — or if they should avoid businesses altogether, Faught said.
Danielle Johnson, 31, lives near the Eel River in Rio Dell.
A self- described homeless resident, Johnson said life during the pandemic has largely carried on as normal during the pandemic, though she, like city officials, has noticed an uptick in the local homeless population.
“There has been a lot more traffic; one of our friends has been here for 35 years said this is the most homeless people he’s ever seen in Rio Dell,” Johnson said. “But life’s not too difficult — everyone’s wearing their mask, doing what they need to do.”
Johnson credited the resource center and local law enforcement for being helpful to the homeless population during the crisis.