Homeless Fire Evacuees In California Face Further Displacement

Enlarge this image


Carmen Almejo, 63, and Mitch Sinnett, 75, stand outside their trailer at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. They were evacuated after the Glass Fire destroyed their transitional housing.





Vanessa Rancaño/KQED



hide caption



toggle caption


Vanessa Rancaño/KQED



The Coronavirus Crisis
Homeless Families Struggle With Impossible Choices As School Closures Continue

That made for some tense moments, Grabill says. «What I had to say to one woman who was really panicking and really struggles with mental illness was ‘If you don’t go, I have to stay and my little daughter will not have a father anymore.’ And she immediately was like ‘OK OK just give me 20 minutes.’ I was like ‘We don’t have 20 minutes!'

«We barely got out of there, Grabill says, but he and St. Vincent de Paul Executive Director Jack Tibbetts successfully evacuated all residents and staff that night.

Because so many Los Guilicos residents are elderly or have conditions like diabetes or lung disease, communal evacuation shelters presented too much risk of COVID-19 exposure. Instead, most of them ended up at the Sonoma County fairgrounds in tents and trailers.

A new temporary home

Carmen Almejo and her little dog Carmencita are adjusting to life in a trailer shared with two men who’ve been there since the spring, when California Governor Gavin Newsom provided the trailers as part of a statewide effort to tackle homelessness.

For 63-year-old Almejo, the running water, air conditioning and appliances still feel like luxuries. «I used to live underneath the bridge on 6th Street, she says.

She was on the streets for almost a decade and had only been living in her tiny home at Los Guilicos Village for two weeks when the fire came through. It destroyed four of the tiny houses and damaged another two.





Enlarge this image


The Glass Fire destroyed four tiny homes at Los Guilicos Village and damaged another two.





Chris Grabill/Courtesy Chris Grabill



hide caption



toggle caption


Chris Grabill/Courtesy Chris Grabill








Transcript



Almejo was just starting to work with a case manager. That’s now stalled due to the fire and displacement, but Tibbetts and Grabill are promising to get things back on track as soon as possible.

«These folks have voluntarily moved into this program because they want to have a better life, Tibbetts says. «It’s incumbent upon us to make sure that in our policymaking process we don’t abandon them.

In the short term, he and Grabill are working to bring in more trailers and get people sleeping in tents out of the heat and smoky air. They’re hopeful everyone in the trailers will be able to stay put until a better option is available.

Still, Almejo worries the fire and her evacuation will endanger the progress she’s made toward finding a permanent home. «Without having a place to rest your head or go to the bathroom, basic things, what do you have? I don’t want to be there again, she says, and does her best to reassure herself, «It’s gonna be OK.

For Almejo and many of the others, another displacement would just compound the recent trauma, Grabill says. «I will fight like hell for these people to be able to stay here as long as they need to after what they’ve been through, he says. «I hope we have the resources to follow through with that promise.