Blog

What a year 2017 has been! It is going to be history soon, and as we approach the holidays and the New Year, I am reflecting a little bit on the year that was.  For CSAC, it was truly an exceptional year—in some very good ways, and also some very difficult ways as more than a dozen California counties suffered devastating losses this year due the unprecedented wildfires.

What we know: homelessness is complex, homelessness is personal, and homeless solutions must be individualized.

Of the nearly 118,142 men, women and children struggling with homelessness in California (nearly half of all unsheltered people in the country in 2016), it’s obvious that the causes of homelessness and poverty span more than one particular issue. Loss of employment, mental health, limited affordable housing, substance abuse and system gaps, all play a role and are at times, co-occurring, which only adds to the complexity.    

This has been an incredibly difficult year for a lot of people. From hurricanes in The Gulf to the wildfires here in California, natural disasters have taken dozens of lives and tens of thousands of people have lost their homes, possessions and their way of life. I would be remiss in not mentioning the human tragedies of the recent shootings in Texas and Las Vegas as well. There is no way words can explain those events—or the impact they have on the victims and their families, but, that is precisely why they weigh so heavy on the human experience.

How do you define “success?” Here at CSAC, 2017 has been a very successful year for some obvious reasons — and some that may be less so. Perhaps the most important and hardest to quantify is the incredible success we achieved this year while fostering relationships with legislators, the Administration and our stakeholders on all sides of the tough issues.

The days are getting shorter, students are back in school and the California legislative session is over. That means it is time to plan to attend the CSAC Annual Meeting. Our theme this year is “Sharing the Vision” and the Annual Meeting is both a chance to reflect on the past year for our association, and to point us to new goals and new directions for the future.

Although the deadline for more amendments has now passed, AB 1250 remains active and could be voted on in the waning days of this legislative session or held for possible action next year. CSAC and a coalition of nearly 500 organizations remain vehemently opposed to AB 1250.

There’s an old adage in politics that you don’t amend a bad bill. If ever that was the case, it’s true with AB1250. The bill would institute a de facto ban on counties’ abilities to contract with nonprofits, community businesses and others to provide essential services to the public locally, including many services provided on behalf of the state. Despite numerous rounds of amendments to AB 1250 the bill continues to be unworkable and opposed by hundreds of respected organizations throughout the state.

In an effort to change tactics in the “war on crime,” California has undertaken numerous strategies to amend the broken criminal justice system. Like many others, I have found it appalling to witness so many individuals fall into a perpetual cycle of recidivism that impacts the entire family and community. But in a relatively short period of time, we have witnessed changes in the criminal justice system as a result of 2011 Public Safety Realignment, Proposition 47 and Proposition 57.