Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2017-2018 | Page 61

who don’t realize how tight the housing
market is, it’s kind of extreme.”
Sacramento is the fastest-growing
rental market in the country, with rent
prices rising 11.4 percent last year and
vacancy rates plummeting to 2.6 per-
cent. Add in the homelessness crisis
and sluggish developments on new af-
fordable housing, and options become
increasingly limited.
Still, the team at SSHH, like Home-
less Outreach Navigator Lauren Juskelis,
are regularly out in the streets, creeks
and parks, working — and succeeding
— in housing homeless residents.
“Some days I’m not in an office at
all,” Juskelis says. “I’m driving clients
to their meetings, and connecting them
with other resources.” She’s had partic-
ular luck this winter helping folks find
temporary warming shelters. Accord-
ing to Foley, the resources people may
need before finding housing will vary:
Can they update their resumes and
find work? Do they qualify for disabili-
ty benefits or other streams of income?
The organization will cobble together
what they can to connect clients with
affordable housing. And if they still can’t
afford it, clients will look at renting a
room instead.
While working with Sacramento
Steps Forward in their Common Cents
program, Foley recalls connecting one
vulnerable veteran — a man barely
able to function — with the Veteran’s
Affairs department after sustained and
dedicated contact with him. “There’s
no question, he would have died if we
hadn’t done that,” Foley says.
Sometimes homeless clients will
do everything asked of them — work
on their credit scores, find jobs, etc. —
but at the end of the process there are
still no housing options in the region
for them. These losses hurt the most,
Foley and Juskelis say. But they keep at
it, and Foley views the Common Cents
program as a possible template for the
future once the region sorts out the
housing crisis.
Until then, SSHH continues to works
tirelessly to connect Sacramento’s most
vulnerable citizens with the housing
they desperately need.” n
Dave Kempa is a freelance reporter and
adjunct journalism professor at American
River College.
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