SANTA ROSA (CBS SF/BCN) – Sonoma County officials announced this week they are ramping up efforts to recruit foster parents and adoptive families to address a shortage of foster homes in the county.

County officials announced an expansion of a partnership with the national group RaiseAChild to recruit families willing to take in foster children, according to a news release issued Friday.

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The county has entered into a $25,000 contract with RaiseACild for a year-long campaign of community events and multimedia promotions to raise awareness of the needs of local children in foster care.

Fifty to 75 local children are in temporary housing in the county, most at Valley of the Moon Children’s Center — the county’s emergency shelter for youth — according to Meg Easter-Dawson, program development manager for the county’s Department of Human Services’ Family, Youth and Children’s Division.

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“We are experiencing a shortage of foster homes for the children and teens in need,” Easter-Dawson said in the statement. “Valley of the Moon Children’s Center is meant to only provide temporary housing for up to 10 days. But we have children, especially teens, who must stay much longer because we don’t have a foster home for them to go to. Not having a stable foster home just furthers their trauma and makes it harder for them to heal.”

Learn more about the benefits of becoming a foster or foster-to-adopt parent by attending a free informational meeting on Zoom. The next webinar in English will be held on Thursday, May 12 at 6 pm and the next webinar in Spanish will be held on Wednesday, May 11 at 6 pm

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For more information, see Advocate@RaiseAChild.org or call (877) 417-1440. More events and information are on the nonprofit’s website.

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The coronavirus pandemic postponed the Point-in-Time, or PIT, count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless people that was to be held in 2021.The PIT count is a federally mandated tally of people experiencing homelessness conducted every two years that is considered the best data for measuring homelessness trends across the US The last count was held in 2019, and indicated 8,035 people were experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

As the economy tumbled and forced social distancing changes in housing services, it’s been difficult to quantify the impact of the pandemic on the number of people experiencing homelessness. But in San Francisco, the city has continued its efforts to periodically count the number of tents, structures and vehicles potentially occupied by people who are experiencing homelessness.

The number of these tents, structures and vehicles skyrocketed during the early months of the pandemic. Though those numbers began to decline in late 2020, the latest counts from November 2021 are still much higher than in October 2019.

“There’s some sense that homelessness (in San Francisco) has increased,” said Sam Dodge, director of the city’s Healthy Streets Operations Center, or HSOC, which conducts these counts. “The added shock to the system around the pandemic and other ensuing crises, like the opioid crisis, are things that lead to more population increases in homelessnesss and vulnerability to homelessness.”

In November 2021, the city counted 526 tents and structures, and more than 1,000 vehicles, which include RVs, compared with less than 450 tents and structures, and more than 700 vehicles in October 2019, HSOC data shows. The November 2021 totals — both for tents and structures, and vehicles — are still far lower than the highs during the early pandemic months in 2020.

Those early months were when social distancing measures disrupted congregate shelters most, Dodge said, which could have contributed to more people setting up camp outdoors in tents and vehicles. It was later in 2020 that many city programs to address homelessness, including the shelter-in-place hotels, which temporarily placed people in need of housing in the city’s hotels.

The city collects this data, which is based on visual counts performed by people, to help inform the city’s response programs, Dodge said. It doesn’t account for all types of living situations for people who are experiencing homeless, nor does it show who is newly homeless, he and other experts said. The delayed PIT count, which will finally take place on Feb. 23, will provide more insight. The data will be available this summer.

The tent, structure and vehicle count done by the city is not meant to be a comprehensive picture of homelessness in San Francisco, they say, but it offers insight into where help is most needed. “This is a practice that we developed long ago to have an ongoing surveillance of what we were working with to make sure there was equity where we are bringing resources,” Dodge of HSOC said.

The data shows that the South of Market neighborhood consistently hosts some of the largest congregations of tents and structures among San Francisco neighborhoods. SOMA had the highest number of tents and structures in November 2021 with 130. Tenderloin and Mission districts also generally have large numbers of tents and structures. Larger encampments tend to be in areas that are close to service providers, Dodge said. The neighborhood boundaries used in this data were established by the Mayor’s office in 2016.

The places with higher concentrations of tents and structures aren’t always the same as those where there are the most vehicles that people may be living out of. The HSOC data shows the Produce Market, Lakeshore and Central Waterfront neighborhoods had the highest counts of vehicles in November 2021. It also shows that the number of vehicles across the city haven’t decreased in 2021 as much as the number of tents and structures did .

“It comes back to the lack of affordable places for folks to live and (vehicles) becoming their primary option,” said Andrea Evans, chronic homelessness initiative director at Tipping Point Community, another Bay Area organization working on issues related to poverty.

“We’ve known for a long time that San Francisco has an affordable housing challenge that it’s trying valiantly to address,” said Gail Gilman, chief strategy officer at All Home California, a Bay Area nonprofit organization that works to reduce poverty and homelessness in the region. “But it has a long way to go to catch up (to the need).”

During the pandemic is also when San Francisco greatly accelerated its pace of providing at least temporary housing options, such as the residential hotels, Gilman said. That showed that quick responses and streamlined processes can make a big dent in reducing homelessness, she added. “When we act with urgency, we can bring individuals indoors.”

Yoohyun Jung is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: yoohyun.jung@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @yoohyun_jung

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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) – Retail chain Walgreens announced Tuesday that it was closing five of its San Francisco stores for retail theft.

Meanwhile, SF overseer Ahsha Safai said he hoped a law he recently proposed can prevent stores from closing more locations.

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According to Walgreens, it will close its following SF locations next month: 2550 Ocean Ave., 4645 Mission St., 745 Clement St., 300 Gough St., and 3400 Cesar Chavez St.

“Because of the ongoing organized retail crime, we made the difficult decision to close five stores across San Francisco,” Walgreens said in a statement Tuesday.

“Organized retail crime remains a challenge for retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to it. Retail theft at our San Francisco stores has continued to rise in the past few months, up to five times our chain average. To combat this issue, during that time we have increased our investment in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average to create a safe environment, “the company said.

Upon hearing the news, Safai said the closings would severely affect children, families and seniors, many of whom get their prescription drugs from Walgreens pharmacies.

“I am completely devastated by this news. This closure will have a significant impact on this community. Less than a mile from seven schools, this Walgreens has been a staple for families and children for decades, ”he said of the Mission Street location. “The city must act urgently to reduce and prevent the number of incidents of commercial retail theft.”

Safai has worked with Walgreens and other retailers to find solutions to rampant and ever brazen retail thefts across the city.

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Two weeks ago, Safai introduced a law that would amend the city’s administrative law to allow sheriff’s deputies to enter into contracts with businesses, private events, and community areas to ensure safety. Under the law, private companies would pay MPs overtime at no cost to the taxpayer.

San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto supports the legislation.

“With the recent surge in property crimes in San Francisco, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office (SFSO) stands ready to do its part to keep our communities safe,” said Miyamoto. “Our office and our members support legislation that allows FSO employees to be present in shops and companies to ensure everyone’s safety and reduce the opportunities to commit crimes. It is important to keep stores in our community to provide access not only to retail stores but also to pharmacies and medical services that host or offer them. “

In addition to the proposed laws, Safai has also set up a commercial retail theft working group that will include Police Chief Bill Scott and District Attorney Chesa Boudin, which will make policy recommendations.

Scott and Mayor London Breed also announced a number of new initiatives to address retail theft last month, including expanding the police’s organized retail crime division and recruiting more retired police officers to patrol the neighborhoods.

Back in July, Governor Gavin Newsom announced an aggressive enforcement plan aimed at a staggering increase in brazen retail thefts by organized gangs.

With the five Walgreens locations closed next month, Walgreens said each store prescriptions will be automatically transferred to another Walgreens location nearby within a mile radius and patients will receive a notification in the mail. In addition, the company announced that it will be relocating employees at the closure locations to other nearby locations.

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SPARKS, Nev. (KOLO) – Jet plumbing, heating and drainage services are facing a supply shortage. Jim Walker, president of the company, struggled to get what he needed for his customers in a timely manner.

Walker said he was struggling with his orders and received them four times later than usual.

Plumbing manufacturers and mills have played catch-up after the shutdown during this pandemic, but construction has not stopped. Walker said this makes the amount of inventory available very limited and difficult to come by.

“Every little bit in the supply chain creates so many problems and such a ripple effect,” said Walker.

With high demand for plumbing services, but with a low plumbing inventory. Walker said the cost is skyrocketing.

“Everything has gone up so much in price and if the supply chain is in place hopefully the stuff will go down, but we’ve seen prices like never before,” explained Walker.

According to the Independent Pipe and Supply Corporation, the price of hot rolled coils has increased nearly 80% since January 2020, copper has increased 75%, and steel pipe has seen a 138% increase in the past eight months.

“When people have a problem of any kind, they call and expect to get service, and if there’s nothing we can do about the inventory, it gets a lot harder,” said Walker.

Walker said the effects of this pandemic are becoming clearer the more America opens up again. The owners are hoping for a change in supply to keep their businesses afloat.

Copyright 2021 KOLO. All rights reserved.

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SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS (CBS SF / AP) – Drought conditions in California are worsening, and state officials fear wildfires could wreak more damage than last year when the complex fires burned 4% of the state – record damage.

The danger prompted Governor Gavin Newsom this week to urge the state to spend a record $ 2 billion on fighting forest fires. That is twice as much as he suggested in January.

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“We are very clear that we need to step up our efforts here in the state of California, and that is exactly what we started earlier this year,” he said on Monday.

Above-average wildfire potential is expected in the mountains and foothills of California from June through August and possibly into fall, which is the usual main fire season, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center and the Southwest Coordination Center.

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While some parts of the Southwest experienced cool and humid conditions last month, California did not, said Chuck Maxwell, meteorologist and predictive services manager at the Southwest Coordination Center in Albuquerque. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which measures conditions, 94% of California has drought conditions that range from moderate to exceptional.

This year’s fires have burned almost five times as much area as last year at that time. But the 62 square kilometers drawn by about 2,600 fires this year is a small fraction of the total of nearly 10,000 fires last year, and an astronomical 17,231 square kilometers were burned. The fires killed 33 people and burned more than 10,000 houses and other buildings.

In the Bay Area alone, Northern California’s 2020 historic fire season burned more than two million acres – 3,125 square miles – almost three times the size of Chicago, Manhattan and Los Angeles combined.

Last year’s epic fire season lasted so long that it slowed Cal Fire’s attempts to make their own fires – the mandatory burns they increasingly want to include in their long-term endeavors. By April 30th, they were able to deliberately burn 44 square kilometers, a 40% decrease from the previous year.

“Even a dry winter would have allowed the mandatory burns, but officials got off to a late start due to the extreme fire activity in the second half of last year,” said Christine McMorrow, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Safety.

“Mandatory burns are a big part of our strategy,” said Newsom, who added $ 50 million to its proposed budget for them.

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Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter called them “our best, most affordable tool” for clearing both overgrown areas and invasive alien plants. But he warned that “not every piece of California is ready for regulatory fire yet,” with “many areas where it is not safe to set fire to the ground under any circumstances.”

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Smoke from deliberate burns is also a problem, he said, although the state tries not to burn near sensitive places like hospitals. And the state cannot deliberately allow fires to burn on private land without permission and safeguards, Porter said, despite trying to get blanket permission from large forest owners so that the fires can safely continue after they start.

This means that officials in many areas continue to have to use manual crews, machines or animals to clear overgrown areas.

“As soon as we have safe areas to burn, we will reintroduce fire and that will be the most important tool in the future, but I am talking about decades,” Porter said. “We have to build this up gradually over the next many, many years to get to the right place and the right combination.”

The budget proposal, which lawmakers will consider before June 15, includes more than $ 48 million for the launch of a dozen new Cal Fire Fire Hawk helicopters and seven large C-130 air tankers like the ones Newsom said on Monday Fire Brigade Airfield in Sacramento. It has nearly $ 34 million to replace two state helicopter bases and build a new emergency operations center in Southern California.

More than $ 182 million would be spent on an additional 33 firefighters as the state partially offsets a dwindling number of firefighters in inmates from previous releases due to the coronavirus pandemic and years of relaxation of criminal laws. The money includes hiring an additional 1,399 seasonal firefighters. That will bring the total number of seasonal firefighters to nearly 4,000, which equates to nearly 3,400 permanent firefighters, Cal Fire said.

Legislators already approved $ 536 million earlier this year so the state can quickly begin approving local contracts for building fuel quarries near vulnerable communities or managing forest areas.

The rest is included in the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, though Porter said most of the firefighters have already been hired.
___
Associate Press Writer Susan Montoya Bryan contributed to this story from Albuquerque, New Mexico

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