How can SLO’s rising homeless population be helped? Social worker on streets has ideas
San Luis Obispo social worker John Klevins meets with homeless people every day, hearing horrifying stories.
On a recent Thursday, he spoke with a 34-year-old woman who needs dentures because she lost her teeth due to heavy methamphetamine use.
She became addicted to drugs at 17, after being abused for much of her childhood, and used to exchange sexual favors for drugs. Klevins helped her get help at RISE SLO County, a sexual assault treatment and recovery center.
The woman, who The Tribune is identifying only as Martha because she’s a victim of sexual assault, has been sober about a year. She’s now staying at the 40 Prado shelter in San Luis Obispo.
“Prado has been the best thing for me,” Martha said. “I stay out of trouble here. I get food. Dentists here are helping me with my teeth. I know I won’t be hurt because there are cameras all around. I’m going back to school, and I want a better life.”
Klevins is employed through the Transitions-Mental Health Association and works in collaboration with the San Luis Obispo Police Department.
As a part of the city’s Community Action Team (CAT), Klevins works closely with San Luis Obispo police Officer Tim Koznek. They regularly patrol areas such as Bob Jones City to the Sea Bike Trail, where several tents and camps have been set up by transient people.
San Luis Obispo has 482 homeless people documented as living in the city, according to the latest tally of San Luis Obispo County’s Homeless Census and Survey. Countywide, the homeless population is up 32% with more than 1,400 counted, the survey found.
City officials recently reported the transient population was up 26% as part of a recent city survey.
“I have about 500 members on my case load, and I think there are probably more in the city than the survey even shows,” Klevins said.
With homelessness ranking among the top concerns among residents in the city survey, a potential new sales tax could help provide more resources to address homelessness and creek cleanliness.
“About 75% of the people I see are homeless because of drugs or mental illness,” Klevins said. “If we can help them, and get them to believe there’s hope, we can change lives.”
Klevins said more resources could help address homelessness in a number of ways, from hiring more social workers to cleaning up public areas including creeks. He added that the key is helping people get jobs and assisting them with reunifying with family members.
Klevins said many have “broken elements but they aren’t broken people.”
“I love this job and I have seen some amazing success stories,” he said. “I have seen someone who’s flipping me off on the street, and cursing at me, get help and get off addiction, to the point where you wouldn’t know they were ever in that dark place.”
SLO Community Action Team visits camp sites
On a recent morning, Klevins and Koznek inspected a camp site littered with trash off Elks Lane near the Elks RV Storage area.
They said a robbery recently occurred at the storage area and the camper there, a disabled woman, was asked to leave.
“She’s someone we’ve talked to many times, and tried to help, but she repeatedly has declined help,” Klevins said. “She understood the situation about leaving the site, but look at all the trash.”
The site, located within 15 feet of San Luis Obispo Creek, was littered with garbage, plastic bags, items of clothing and cardboard boxes.
“One of the things I hope is that we can get areas like this cleaned up as soon as possible,” Koznek said. “That will help keep the creeks clean.”
Klevins said that needles are a concern at a homeless encampment where kids might play, and that some people defecate not far from the creek.
“More resources for clean-up definitely would help,” Klevins said. “I can understand why some parents are concerned.”
Along the Bob Jones bike trail, a patrol car passes camp after camp where the CAT team members regularly wave to people. They get to know names and faces, and make sure safety is maintained as much as they can.
“There are ordinances and laws we can enforce, but typically we’ll ask people to leave or issue warnings when we have to,” Koznek said. “The rain is coming and we’ve asked some people to move their things away from the creek.”
He said that even with citations, many people won’t go to court, or they’ll be in and out of jail.
Klevins said that the drug of choice of many of the homeless people he meets is methamphetamine because it’s a “cheap high.”
“They can get a high for about $5 using meth,” Klevins said.
SLO homeless people get ‘tough love’
After several interactions, Klevins gets to know people on the streets and his goal is help them through “tough love.”
“I’m not here just to hand out food or clothes, though I will, but I want to build trust,” Klevins said. “If I can build trust, I can get people to the help they need through county drug and alcohol counseling or job programs, or mental health.”
Job programs such as the state Department of Rehabilitation and America’s Job Center can help people find employment. He has seen people work as cashiers, waitresses, construction workers and dishwashers.
Some go back to school to get educational training. Martha wants to become a drug and alcohol counselor.
Greeting a young woman on Thursday at 40 Prado, Klevins recalled her screaming at him in jail as they talked through a little peep hole.
“I asked her ‘Can I get you to trust me just a little?’ ” Klevins said. “She said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘Can we get you to take the medications they want you to take?’ ”
Now the woman is off drugs, housed, healthy and alert. She thanked Klevins for his role in her life.
Klevins said more advocates like him would help more people, as he’s the only one in the city in his position.
“A lot of people out on the street see me as a hero or as a zero,” Klevins said. “I love this job. And my goal is to offer hope, and to get people to want to make changes in their life.
“There are many good people in this community trying to help homeless, but it’s also up to people to want to make change in their lives — and that comes from within.”
%20Cropped.jpg)