Last year, in response to concerns about the spread of COVID-19 among unhoused people, officials in Santa Rosa created a sanctioned encampment in the parking lot of a local community center. Those living at the site reported feeling safer and having better access to services, and neighborhood residents who initially opposed the idea came to view the program positively. Elsewhere in the state, San Francisco set up “Safe Sleeping Sites” last May, and Sacramento recently created two “Safe Ground” sites, with one being for people living in cars and RVs. The idea is being floated in Los Angeles, as well, after police and protestors clashed over the clearing of an encampment at Echo Park last month. We’ll talk about Santa Rosa’s experiment in addressing homelessness and how other cities in California are implementing or thinking about sanctioned encampments.

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