This month on Healthy Mendocino
Housing
Healthy Mendocino Editor’s Note: Housing and homelessness play a key role in community health and well-being. This month, Healthy Mendocino continues to explore housing issues throughout Mendocino County by focusing on the current trends on the Mendocino Coast.
Homelessness is an issue which affects the whole of Mendocino County. The coast of Mendocino (between Gualala and Westport) has an estimated 40% of the county’s homeless.
The homeless population of the county is counted every two years, always on the third Thursday in January before and after dawn. The count takes place at the same time across the county so that a homeless person cannot be counted twice if they move location during the day . . .
The image most people think of when they think of homelessness is the scruffy single man. Yet, homelessness impacts families too. For the children in these families, the impact of homelessness can disrupt education and learning, since it is hard to concentrate when you are worried about where you are going to sleep that night. The benefits of rapidly housing homeless families extends from the immediate moment into the future as children with stability and safety have better odds of finishing school and as a result finding economic security in the future. To help kids in the mean time, Mendocino County Office of Education Homeless and Foster Youth services program works with homeless students to ensure that they have the educational stability. To learn more about educational services for homeless youth, visit the MCOE website.
Housing is not necessarily the topic that comes to mind when one thinks of community health, but location, quality, and affordability of housing all make a difference in health outcomes. In looking at the social factors that impact health (called the social determinants of health), housing makes a material difference. Not only do people spend more time in their houses than other places, but they also spend more money on housing than on any other expense. In Mendocino County, many people are concerned about housing and homelessness because of the increase in illegal camping and aggressive panhandling, as well as the changes to emergency shelter availability in the county . . .