The Homeless versus the City of Albany

When I was on Shattuck this week, 4/20-4/26, I got the opportunity to get a hold of a copy of Street Spirit. During that short exchange, the guy told me a bit about himself and of Street Spirit because I had asked. I really appreciated his company and his insights on religion because outside of all the hardships he had something that inspired him and kept him going. The Street Spirit newspaper is a newspaper that addresses issues of homelessness, poverty, human rights, etc. in the Bay Area. The copy I obtained was from March.

The next day, my friend posted a news article from NBC news about the Albany Bulb and the homeless population there. The Albany Bulb is about a 10-15 minute drive from Berkeley and the city officials are in the process of making that area a state park. The only problem is that there is a community of homeless people that utilize that space as refuge and to stay away from the streets. The recent article shows that officials are now paying the residents to leave the space. However, Albany does not have a permanent homeless shelter, so where are these residents to go? In addition, is $3000 really enough?

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Albany-Paying-Homeless-3000-to-Vacate-Area-for-State-Park-256473221.html

Looking back at the copy of Street Spirit, I was able to find some news on this evacuation of the homeless from the Bulb and on the temporary shelter that was created to shelter these residents. And I think it's very interesting to see what happened in March has led to the point where the city is paying these residents to leave.

http://www.thestreetspirit.org/albany-officials-ignore-the-needs-of-disabled-people-at-the-bulb/

http://www.thestreetspirit.org/albanys-shelter-program-is-a-dismal-failure/

In my opinion, if city officials in Albany utilize the resources carefully, both the development of a state park and providing shelter for the current residents can be accomplished. This can be an opportunity to fix a broken system where officials can give these homeless people a place to live or something to satisfy their needs. If the shelter program did not work, they can think of a way to refine it.