It’s a rainy Friday morning, but the bright yellows and oranges of the Multiple Assistance Center, tucked into the north end of Eureka next to the Pepsi distributor and Target, shine like beacons under the grey sky. Casey Crabb, deputy director of Redwood Coast Action Agency’s adult services and families in transition program, waits in […]
Homeless
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County and City of Eureka Meet Tomorrow to Discuss Long-Awaited Report
It has taken months for the respective orbits of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Eureka City Council to align, but tomorrow they will finally sit down to discuss the estimated 844 people who sleep unsheltered in Humboldt County. The majority of those people are in Eureka, which has borne the brunt of […]
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Little Detail in State Homeless Housing Proposal
North Coast State Sen. Mike McGuire joined several of his colleagues in Los Angeles last week to unveil a proposed budget package that would throw more than $2 billion at housing California’s homeless population, the largest in the country. “Whether it’s downtown L.A. on Skid Row, or downtown Eureka, local communities are lacking the funding […]
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Albuquerque or Auburn? Eureka City Council Considers Different Models to Address Panhandling
At the Dec. 15 Eureka City Council meeting, City Manager Greg Sparks presented research on an idea from Albuquerque, New Mexico: employing panhandlers to participate in city beautification projects. In 2015, Albuquerque put $50,000 toward providing panhandlers with transportation to and from work and a midday meal before then connecting them with services such as […]
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City Revisits Plan for Sanctioned Homeless Camp
The Eureka City Council agenda for Tues. Dec. 15 went out yesterday replete with a vintage item: discussing the feasibility of a temporary sanctioned homeless camp. Within an hour, it was yoinked back via an emailed retraction, with the note that the item would be back on the table at the Jan. 5 meeting, when […]
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PalCo Marsh Update
Two nights of battering storms had given way to a clear Wednesday morning when Erin Powers-Taylor and Kim Bergel met in the north parking lot of the Bayshore Mall. Powers-Taylor, a volunteer with the Friends of the Marsh Group, which serves a free meal for the marsh homeless every Friday, handed Bergel, a Eureka City […]
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Eureka City Council Approves Controversial Open Space Property Management Plan
The Eureka City Council approved a plan aimed at reducing the size and number of illegal encampments within city limits last night after hours of passionate public comments. Councilmembers Linda Atkins, Melinda Ciarabellini and Marian Brady all voted in favor of the Open Space Property Management Plan, with Kim Bergel abstaining and Natalie Arroyo offering […]
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City Council to Revisit Open Space Property Management Ordinance; Housing Analysis Timetable Still Unclear
The Eureka Police Department, Humboldt County County Sheriff’s Office and City of Eureka visited the PalCo Marsh area behind the Bayshore Mall yesterday to remove traces of homeless camps. EPD recently announced officers would do less enforcement on a specific area of the marsh, just north of the Bayshore Mall. Campers were told that they must […]
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Scenes from the ‘Right to Sleep’ Protest
If you drove by the Humboldt County Courthouse on Saturday and had flashbacks of Occupy, it’s understandable. A few dozen people turned out Saturday for World Homeless Day, an international day of demonstration aimed at highlighting the needs of those living without homes, with some protesters pitching tents and hammocks to help make their point. […]
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Big Turnout for Tiny Homes
The parking lot of the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Bayside was full within an an hour of the Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives (AHHA) Tiny House Expo, held Saturday. Cars parked on the narrow shoulder of Jacoby Creek Road as people walked onto the church grounds to take in music, eat a free meal, attend […]
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Arcata Bay Crossing Opens
Humboldt County’s newest and shiniest low income housing project is open for business, and it’s already full. The Arcata Bay Crossing, tucked between the freeway and South G Street, is a collaborative project by the Humboldt Bay Housing Development Corporation, the Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation and several local governmental and non-profit organizations. A robust […]
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Homeless in Humboldt Update: Death, Drones and Rallies
A drone video of the PalCo Marsh, known to some as “The Devil’s Playground,” shows camps still firmly entrenched in the wooded area just behind the mall, an area where the Eureka Police Department is preparing to cite and arrest campers. EPD is encouraging people to move north, to the flat area adjacent to the […]