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| San Bruno Catholic Worker |
SAN BRUNO, CA--A recent San Mateo County Human Services Agency report found that only 20 people were counted as homeless in San Bruno, a figure that has dropped by more than half since the last homeless survey in 2009.
Of those 20 homeless people, 14 were living in the streets, according to the report.
To Peter Stiehler, of San Bruno’s Catholic Worker Hospitality House, those figures don't seem right.
The number of hardcore homeless people—those sleeping on the street—has definitely gone down, Stiehler said. But the number of people seeking shelter and eating in the Catholic Worker's dining room has only increased as a result of the economic downturn.
“Some are sleeping in their cars or staying on someone’s couch and maybe recently lost their jobs or got evicted from their apartments," Stiehler said. "They typically don't have an educational background or a family support network. They’re living on the edge, but still trying to find work."
Some may have a place to live but still need assistance with food. "They're not so easy to count as people on the street are."
Stiehler said he’s seen a 25 percent increase in the number of people eating in the dining room since 2008 and that the nine-bed shelter is always full.
To get a sense of this not-so-visible homeless population, Patch recently talked to four people currently using the shelter’s services.
'You Can’t Just Sit There and Curl Up and Die'
Ken Clemo, 47, was driving a truck for a construction company when he was laid off from his job in December 2010. He’s been out of work ever since. But it’s not for lack of trying. Every day, the tall, lanky Clemo walks the streets in San Bruno, South San Francisco, Daly City and beyond looking for work.
“It’s slow in the trucking business, so I’ll take anything,” he said. “Every store I pass, I go in and ask, 'Are you hiring?' You can’t just sit there and curl up and die. You’ve got to keep going.”
Unable to pay the rent on his apartment, Clemo lived in his car for two months. Recently he’s been spending the night at the Catholic Worker shelter. He said that his unemployment check isn’t enough to secure an apartment, pay rent or buy groceries.
Clemo, who was born and raised in Pacifica, has been driving trucks for 15 years and has a clean commercial Class A license. “As long as I have a Class A license, I see a great future,” he said. “People need trucks to deliver good, so I’ll always have a job.”
In the meantime, he’s pounding the pavements looking for work. “I have two cats, which my sister is taking care of. I want to get to place where I can get them back,” he said.
'I’ve Been Floating for More Than 10 Years'
When Fred Peña, 50, had his driver’s license taken away in 2007, there went his job prospects. He was able to do occasional work as an installer for an alarm and communications company, but that ended when he lost his license.
It wasn’t the first time that Peña, a friendly man with an easy manner, found himself jobless. He worked for PG&E for 18 years, but he lost that job in 1996. He moved to San Diego in 2000 and had a succession of jobs, driving a bus, working for the Salvation Army and serving as a mess attendant at Camp Pendleton. But in between there were long dry spells. “I’ve been floating for more than 10 years,” he said.
A San Francisco native, Peña returned to the Bay Area several years ago. His aunt and cousin live in South San Francisco, and he stayed with them for a while. But now he's living in a shelter in East Palo Alto. During the week, Peña takes the bus to San Bruno, where he eats breakfast at the Catholic Worker shelter.
The morning Patch spoke to him, Peña told us he planned to do his laundry that day at a friend’s house in San Bruno. “I keep my clothes in a storage place behind Tanforan, so I have to go and get them first and then I’ll take them to my friend’s house," he said. "That will take me a bit of time. Afterwards, I’ll start the long trek back to Palo Alto."
“It’s been 10 years since I’ve lived some place," he added, "but I hope that will change when I get my license back and find a job.”
Tough Luck Finding a Job After In and Out of Jail
After being in and out of jail for 27 years, Raymond Garcia, 53, is looking to start a new life. But the going has been rough.
Since being released in 2005, Garcia, who has both hearing and speech disabilities, has lived in several halfway houses in San Francisco and held jobs as a dishwasher and a porter. Then last year, he entered a job-training program to become janitor.
“The training was on Treasure Island, and I used to clean the mayor’s office there,“ Garcia said. “Then I got a job at the St. Vincent de Paul shelter in the City, but I was laid off last year.”
Now collecting unemployment, Garcia has been temporarily living at the Catholic Worker shelter. He stopped paying rent on a tiny place he had in San Francisco because of a dispute with the landlord over a mold problem. "I had to throw all my clothes and furniture out," he said. "Now I’ve started legal proceedings.”
Garcia attended San Bruno schools and first got into trouble when he was just 15. “My father was a heroin addict and my mother was abusive,” he said.
His father died in 1988 and his mother and sister live in South Carolina. Garcia now has no family left in the Bay Area.
“I need to work,” he said, “and now that I’m a certified janitor, I hope to find something.”
'The Future for Me Seems Very Grim'
Shanen Way, 38, used to be a limousine driver but hasn’t worked for five years.
“I don’t have a GPS, or a suit or a computer, so it’s hard to find a job,” the soft-spoken Way said. But he said that he has been asking small-business owners for work.
Way was raised in Cupertino but has no family in the area. Currently, he’s staying at San Bruno’s Catholic Worker shelter. When not there, his home is a campsite at an undisclosed location in San Bruno.
“The future for me seems very grim,” he said, “and I don’t see it getting any better.”
Source:
Kate Chatfield and her husband Peter Stiehler opened the Catholic Worker Hospitality House in San Bruno in 1996.
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