Santa Maria City Rangers Report Latest Homelessness Trends
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - Santa Maria city leaders received an update on the challenges facing the city's homeless population.
Many individuals are refusing help and choosing to remain homeless.
This underscores the challenges facing Santa Maria when dealing with the homeless.
“We haven't identified why, but we are seeing a lot of new faces in the community,” said Ruben Ramirez, senior park services officer for Santa Maria Recreation and Parks department.
A new report shows more homeless are coming to the Santa Maria Valley from places as far away as Los Angeles and Bakersfield.
Many live along freeway exits, in the riverbed and city parks.
“Wherever they could find a location, that's what is referred to as out of sight out of mind, somewhere away from the general public view,” says Ramirez.
Measurable impacts to the community include vandalism, the overnight closure of park facilities like this one four days out of each week, and an increase in shopping cart thefts.
“Most grocery stores, don't have a way to clean or sanitize their grocery carts, so they're not interested in getting them back,” says Dennis Smitherman, director of Santa Maria Recreation and Parks. “It's a cost to them, but it’s, it's less expensive than the alternative at this point.”
City rangers try to help the homeless, and family members who want to help a loved one on the streets.
“There's a lot of families that come out looking for their, family members that are experiencing homelessness,” says Ramirez. “And I think it's incentive to them to see how much their family cares for them. And hopefully they can seek those assistance.”
Rangers try to connect homeless people with social service resources.
“And, our city rangers and our city staff, they also care for these individuals, and would like to see them back up on their feet,” says Ramirez.
But many refuse, often because of a lack of trust.
Rangers frequently find illegal drugs when clearing homeless camps, and believe high drug addiction rates are a major barrier to getting help.
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