This isn’t a dig at the charming burg of Mill Valley, the bicycle-centric Fairfax or even Ross’s moneyed estates, but San Rafael is the only real city in Marin. The Mission City is a jumble of languages, skin colors and income levels. The sidewalks don’t disappear when the sun does—and neither do the homeless, though City Hall and the chamber of commerce would be fine with that.
Understand, the city fathers and the chamber don’t wish anything untoward to happen to the least fortunate among us. They just don’t want them downtown where they frustrate commerce, make some visitors and residents uncomfortable and, in general, screw up the perception of Main Street.
“We’re very supportive of the organizations that aid the homeless in our community, Ritter Center and St. Vincent’s [Free Dining Room]. What they do for those who are the most vulnerable is so important,” says Joanne Webster, CEO of the San Rafael Chamber. “With that said, we want to eliminate the negative impacts the homeless have on the downtown area.”
San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips says the biggest challenge facing the city is finding a balance so that the homeless can receive services, downtown businesses thrive and residents and visitors are comfortable: “No one single change or addition will completely address the issue.” But Phillips thinks moving Ritter Center from its present home at 16 Ritter Street in downtown would certainly be a start.
Cia Byrnes, Ritter’s executive director, doesn’t disagree with Webster and Phillips that the center needs a new home. Her reasons for moving are different, however. “We’ve outgrown our facility and would like to find another location that would better serve the people who need our services.” Then she adds, candidly, that her nonprofit has grown tired of being the scapegoat for the problems caused by a small group of ‘the unhoused’
In April, at a city council meeting, whether intentional or not, the city painted a target on the back of Ritter and allowed Ritter Center to be blamed for the societal issue of homeless in San Rafael. Ritter Center has helped improve the lives of low-income Marin County residents for more than 35 years. Ritter currently assists Marin’s low-income and homeless population with primary health care, integrated mental health and substance use counseling, comprehensive case management, emergency financial aid and supplementary food, and other basic needs. The center also has shower and laundry facilities as well as public restrooms, which are open 5 days a week until 5pm. All services are offered free of charge by its 34-person staff.
For years, the issue of how to handle those living on the street has alternately boiled over and cooled as two sides that were discernable (but not always easily identified) debated the issue in the city council chambers as well as the editorial pages of the Pacific Sun and the Marin Independent Journal. One squad seems to be made up of residents from San Rafael and elsewhere who believe that not enough is being done to help those who need the most help. They’re the folks who crowd the chambers, hold signs and have no trouble finding the council podium to share their support for the less fortunate with the elected officials, talking about social contracts and human dignity.
The other team is thought to be made up of bottom line merchants, hard-hearted residents and those who’ve pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and believe others should do the same. They’re not generally found in large numbers at city council hearings but rather populate the letters to the editor pages, as it’s more comfortable to appear on the printed page opposing those less fortunate than in a room full of their supporters.
Of course, the players in the debate aren’t nearly that easily identified—nor understood. Plenty of business folk are supportive of the plight of the homeless, and there are a fair number of residents almost as mad at the city as they are at the homeless.
In the late 1990s, the debate centered on the possibility that the dining room at St. Vincent’s on B Street might be moved two miles away, to Anderson Drive underneath Highway 101. At the time, the dining room was considered a significant problem, its patrons were accused of using drugs, committing crimes and aggressive panhandling. The plan was to use redevelopment funds to accomplish the move, but the change touted by the city council never took place. Over time, the St. Vincent issue faded from the debate. Today, St. Vincent’s owns the B Street building it occupies and the city no longer has a redevelopment agency nor the funds that went with it. It helps that “Vinnie’s,” as it’s known to those who use its services, employs its own security team and has established a code of behavior for its patrons in an effort to be better neighbors.
Today, St. Vincent’s is held in high regard by both the city and merchants—or at least as high as an organization where the homeless congregate can be held.
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By the numbers
A federally mandated census of the homeless is required every two years and the latest data, from January 2015, shows 1,309 people in Marin are homeless, a 40 percent increase from 2013. This doesn’t include those who are precariously housed, staying in temporary digs or on the brink of losing the roof over their heads. San Rafael City Manager Jim Schutz clarifies, “My understanding is that the counting methodology changed, and that included counting people who’ve been here all along but weren’t counted in the past. When the latest Point in Time Count was released, the (then) staffperson at the county wrote me that, ‘While the numbers have gone up from the last PIT Count, we feel that most of the increase is due to improved methodology for capturing the data.’”
The fed number includes the 44 percent of the homeless who call San Rafael their place, by far the largest slice of this population in the county. That survey also showed that 71 percent of the homeless lived in Marin before they lost their shelter, debunking the long held belief that the homeless flock to Marin as if it’s paradise.
In 2012, the Marin Economic Forum, at the behest of Ritter Center, put a report together that tried to quantify the cost of the homeless issue in Marin County. That data reported the cost in business revenues not generated in San Rafael, Novato and Sausalito because of the impact of the homeless on local business as $30 million. That same report claimed that, if the issue could be solved, 216 more jobs could be bankrolled and $3.9 million in new taxes would be generated.
The report, called “Room to Live,” also showed how local businesses responded to questions about how the issue of homelessness impacted them. For instance, 33 percent of those who responded were not sure of the perceived loss in business attributable to the homeless. But 20 percent of the merchants said that figure could be as high as 37 percent.
Another portion of the report said that 36 percent of those surveyed said they’d be willing to pay more for their business location if it weren’t located where the homeless congregated, seemingly good news for those in the commercial leasing business. On the flip side of that, commercial real estate folks reported that leasing space was more difficult in areas where homeless congregated and rental rates were also impacted.
While the homeless issue impacts the entire county, it’s felt most deeply in San Rafael. In recent years, the struggle has centered on the city versus Ritter Center, with that tortured drama playing out on battlefields like the hills of San Rafael, Albert Park, the Elk’s Club, Boyd Park and, of course, downtown, as well as in city council chambers. The issue is complex, involving economics, societal expectations, emotions and politics, making the fix difficult and the spectacle messy.
A 2015 report by the Marin County Grand Jury faulted the county for failing to aid San Rafael enough in dealing with the homeless. One nameless San Rafael official told the grand jury that “San Rafael has the homeless and the county has the $14 million,” alluding to the resources available to the county that, at least in part, could be used to aid the homeless. The report calls on the county board of supervisors to get more widely involved in the issue, creation of a new position at the county level with sufficient authority to deal specifically with the issue and a focused budget to deal with factors tied to the homeless. The city spends $1 million per year on the homeless according to the report, and that was before the creation of the director of homeless outreach position, which earns more than $100,000 per year.
The dance taking place between the city and the county is no passionate tango, where the partners look deeply into each other’s eyes, but rather a polite waltz, where the dancers are careful not to get to close nor step on the other’s toes.
“City and county staff work together everyday to assist those in need and eliminate the negative impacts of homelessness,” says Schutz. “The city’s relationship with the county is absolutely essential on this topic, because the county has so many resources it provides on a daily basis that can make a difference in our community and throughout Marin. The county’s toolbox to address these issues is larger and more precise than the city’s, so we work together to have a bigger impact.”
“There’s a delicate balance,” says Andrew Hening, the newly appointed director of homeless planning and outreach in San Rafael. “The city has an existing relationship with the county, and this isn’t the only issue the city needs county help with.”
Hening was hired in March to honcho the homeless issue. The city brought the Downtown Street Teams program to San Rafael almost three years ago, and Hening headed that program. Street Teams takes members of the homeless community as volunteers, puts them to work picking up trash and working to make the city more orderly, and they’re rewarded with vouchers and gift cards as well as employment aid.
Mayor Phillips was equally diplomatic: “We’re looking at the role the county could play, and we are making some inroads where health and human services are concerned. We now have the attention of the board of supervisors.” He also said gaining more support from the county was slower than he’d prefer.
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The city flexes its muscle
San Rafael has tried some creative and colorful ways to lessen the impact of the homeless on the general population as well as on downtown commerce. In 2013, the city sought to steer the homeless away from certain areas on a volunteer basis by distributing a map of “hot zones” at St. Vincent’s. Created by the police department, the map sought to have the homeless avoid Fourth Street at both A and B street intersections, as well as Lincoln Avenue by the Hospice by the Bay thrift store, among other locations. Additionally, the flyers asked those eating at St. Vincent’s not to pick through dumpsters, camp out in the hills or at the Elk’s Club, and not to store individual belongings in city flowerbeds. It also asked diners to avail themselves of public restrooms.
The map drew national media attention, mostly negative.
In January 2015, the city decided to be more proactive. After the city council received a number of emails complaining that the homeless were gathering in Boyd Park, drinking, using drugs and making families uncomfortable, Phillips elected to close 4-acre park on B Street for a month.
In March, the city hired a private firm to beef up security at Albert Park. It also initiated talks with the owners of the 7-11 store on B Street about removing flavored alcohol and malt liquor products (favored by some homeless seeking the most bang for their booze buck). The police department reported more calls at both Albert and 7-11 than in the past.
The city isn’t alone in its frustration with the homeless. Longtime San Rafael resident Hugo Landecker, who resides in the Gerstle Park neighborhood, wants change as well. Landecker champions an idea that would move the homeless from Marin County to the Sonoma Development Center, a state-owned property in Glen Ellen that’s set for closure in 2018.
His “San Rafael Group” is a network of likeminded individuals looking to change the homeless situation. Landecker communicates with them as well as city and state officials via daily emails. His concept calls for each city in Marin to have an office where the homeless could go and then be transported to Sonoma. The center would offer shelter, medical care, food, alcohol and drug counseling and job training.
Landecker professes to understand the plight of the homeless, who he sees as folks who include the needy, addicts and the handicapped who deserve help. But his empathy runs out quickly when it comes to St. Vincent and Ritter Center, which he sees as enablers because they’re not curing the problem of homelessness—at least that’s what he said in a published interview last year.
The here and now![]()
In March, the San Rafael city council voted to consider reducing the services that Ritter could deliver to its clients and directed the staff to come back with recommendations regarding amending its use permit and zoning permits. It stopped short of including language that would have prohibited Ritter from seeing clients in a downtown location.
A June letter from the law firm of Hanson Bridgett LLP to the council left no doubt that, while Ritter is tired of the continuing war of words between itself and the city, it felt the city was on shaky ground in questioning its use permit. “The city has no legal basis to force Ritter Center to move by revoking, modifying or restricting its rights to operate under its User Permit.” The 13-page letter requested the city negotiate a memorandum of understanding such that Ritter and the city could develop a “healthy partnership.”
A June compromise proposal from Ritter calls for it to relocate some of its services including showers, laundry, mail service and food pantry for people without access to indoor cooking facilities when equal and comparable services are established elsewhere. The city and Ritter are working on the MOU, and they’re also looking at a possible location for a Multi-Service Center that could potentially include a new homeless shelter in a north San Rafael industrial park.
According to Phillips, Ritter came to the city more than three years ago requesting help moving to another location. Phillips said he told members of the nonprofit’s board of directors that the city wasn’t in the business of helping businesses relocate and that the city was limited in how it could interact. He also stated the city has a vested interest in a relocation, “so we shall assist to the greatest extent possible and appropriate.
“We still have no plan for the services at any relocation site. It’s not possible for us to assess the impact of the revised operation at any location,” Phillips says.
Byrnes says her organization has been looking for a new location for more than two years and that, while it was serious about the search, until recently it had only found locations that were the wrong size, unaffordable or had neighborhood issues that were insurmountable.
Byrnes says Ritter’s reputation has suffered from what she termed the “perfect storm of systemic events (such as prison releases) that are affecting all communities and local conditions (late night liquor sales across the street from Ritter) which have worsened the impact on downtown businesses.” She agrees that, in the past, Ritter spent less time enforcing behavior standards around its facility. However Walgreen’s and a pawn shop opened in the neighborhood, giving some people using Ritter easier access to alcohol and cash.
She says the center has tried to improve its reputation with the city, it has its own security and its relationship with the police feels like a true partnership. She also acknowledges that homelessness has become a higher profile issue and a political hot button.
Phillips says from his perspective, two things have changed. “The number of homeless individuals is increasing both in San Rafael and Marin. And the character of some of the homeless has changed—a small percentage is causing 90 percent of the problems.”
“I’ve been in business in San Rafael for 30 years and the homeless have been a consistent issue the whole time,” one business owner told me. “The problem isn’t Ritter, but this is where the services are and there are more homeless now. These people need more help and they deserve more. But you can’t have the homeless downtown like they are.”
That same businessman told me that one of his shoppers related traveling from Mill Valley to his Novato shop to avoid the downtown store because of the homeless. “It was for a $15 [item]. When he told me that, I couldn’t believe it.”
Chamber CEO Webster says the issue has become more intense within the business community. “I know of some businesses that have changed their hours because they don’t want their staff working late. They don’t feel it’s safe.”
Hening thinks the issue has caused compassion fatigue in San Rafael, with some residents and businesspeople growing tired of the bickering between the city and Ritter and insisting something must change.
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A Possible Move
That something might be 67 Mark Drive. It’s a two-story building with artful brick trim and a lawn that’s gone brown due to the drought and a long time sitting on the market. An empty flagpole acts as a lonely sentry, guarding the building as it sits between a car repair business and a low slung series of small offices with insurance agencies, medical offices and real estate firms in a light industrial area of north San Rafael. The neighborhood is a mix of professional office and industrial-based business south of Smith Ranch Road, a few blocks off a frontage road to northbound Highway 101.
Byrnes is hopeful this could be home to a new Multi-Service Center that includes Ritter. In the neighborhood of 19,000-square feet, the building is much too large for Ritter to go it alone. Byrnes thinks that St. Vincent’s may relocate some of its homeless prevention services to share some space, and another program might bring in a year-round shelter program.
She says an investor has been identified to buy the building, which has been on the market for some time. Byrnes says it may be the best possible outcome for Ritter, but the transportation piece must be explored. The location is not near downtown, which partially achieves the city’s goal in relocating Ritter Center and should make the city happy.
Not so fast.
The mayor says he was recently contacted by a friend who’s interested in buying a 7,000-square-foot building and would be willing to talk to Ritter about the space.
Hening said he believes the Mark Drive concept—putting more uses serving the poor and homeless under one roof—is a proven winner. “The location itself fits our relocation criteria, as it’s not downtown or in a residential area,” he says, while clarifying, “at this point, there hasn’t been a proposal submitted to the city regarding Mark Drive, so we don’t have an opinion one way or another.
“The concept of a multi-service center is a best practice around the country,” he continues, “and there are many great examples of high impact for clients, low impact for neighbors centers around the Bay Area.” He points to a similar center in Palo Alto where he previously worked with Street Teams, saying that the center was next door to a high traffic retail area but caused no challenges for merchants and was used widely by the homeless.
That could be a relief to some retailers, who’ve already expressed displeasure and opposition to Ritter’s relocation to Mark Drive. But probably not to Steven Lecon, the owner of English Garden Furniture Co. on Mitchell Boulevard, a long block from 67 Mark Drive. Lecon says he intends to shut his business down should the city let Ritter move to the location.
Lecon, a gentleman with a strong voice and knack for interruption, told me he’s not the only one of his neighbors who’ll relocate, shut down or go bankrupt if Ritter Center moves in. He says he’s met with city, county and Ritter officials, and nobody is giving him and his neighbors all the information they want, “There are so many different stories and everything is a secret,” he says. “This is scaring the hell out of businesses and property owners and tenants.”
When Lacon says he isn’t alone in worrying about the impact a Ritter Center move to Mark Drive could have, he isn’t kidding. A new group is being formed to fight the proposed location. Led by Carolyn Lenert, president of the Santa Margarita Neighborhood Association, the group has voiced concerns over the possibility of a rise in crime and the danger of fires due to possible homeless encampments.
Whether 67 Mark Drive comes to fruition or not, there are only a couple things that are certain. First, no matter whether Ritter moves to Mark Drive, moves someplace else or stays put, somebody will be unhappy. “Where ever they go, unless things change, someone will be upset, guaranteed,” says Webster.
The other certainty is that, even if Ritter moves, the homeless won’t disappear from downtown San Rafael. “The community has to understand that [poor and homeless people] aren’t going to go away. And as a community, we need to work together to find the best way to help people off the streets and provide services for them.” says Byrnes.
“You can never guarantee that everyone is going to suddenly relocate to a new multi-service center, but based on my time in Palo Alto, 80 to 90 percent of people moved out of downtown to access services,” says Hening. “That would be a game changer in San Rafael.”
The mayor would take those numbers: “We need to lessen the impact of the homeless downtown.”
Bill Meagher is a contributing editor at NorthBay biz and an associate editor in the west coast office of The Deal. He has lived in San Rafael for more than a decade.
