Kate offered her view of homeless people being very unfortunate in the county of Sonoma due to a few reasons. One is that the economy is so rigid around this area, with so many jobs but not enough housing to support the workers. She says that there is only about a one-percent chance of open rentals in Sonoma County. People are even working full-time at places such as Coldwell Banker while nearby homeless are living under bridges.
There is a lack of vacancies of affordable housing in this county. Kate does her best to assist these people from day to day by issuing clothes so that they may look halfway decent as they try to adjust and be productive at work. We asked Kate if there's other places for the homeless? She replied, .
"You might be thinking, well, what about homeless shelters? Well, there are a few here in Sonoma County, including a couple family shelters, one women's shelter, one mental health shelter and one safe house for domestic violence victims. There are not a tremendous amount of places where people can go, and even then getting in is very slim".
While Kate even provides homeless subjects housing certificates that will assist the people with the down payment it takes to rent a house or an apartment, and are still faced with the housing market being so competitive. .
With the multitude of various causes of homelessness here in Sonoma County, substance abuse and mental illness only to name a few. Kate states that the department of health services use the Band-Aid approach to face these issues. She describes the start to finish model to cure the homeless problem and stresses it has to start with an educational process for both the at risk people and the future victims. What we learned most from this interview is that homelessness has a multitude of complex causes that defy solving. Although there is a strong economy here in Sonoma County, people become addicted to drugs more due to the lack of self-esteem and the inability to deal with it all, with simply finding a job.
