Westside Reader December 2015

December 2015 THE Reader • 19
house a 60-bed winter shelter and community
center, plus office space for medical and
dental clinics and veterans services. While it’s
still too soon to project a final cost, he expects
somewhere between $1.5 million and $3 million
will need to be raised.
Funding, he said, he will be sought from
government agencies, grants from foundations
and community fundraising efforts.
“The community has been positively amazing
for the last 20 years anytime we needed
something,” Davis said.
While much work remains to be done,
Davis said if all goes well he would hope to
see the new campus operational by 2018.
Learning to Hold His Head Up
Lean with tanned skin and piercing eyes,
Mike Crosby will be quick to tell you what a
difference has been made in his life by Bridge
to Home.
With the exception of one year, he’s been
living on the streets of Santa Clarita Valley
since 2004, but said he’s hopeful that chapter
is coming to an end. He’s been a Bridge to
Home client since 2011.
“My experience before I came here was
awful. It was dark, I was alone and I was
afraid,” he said. “It’s taken me three and a half
years to learn to walk across the street and
hold my head up.”
Nearly five years sober, he credits the staff
and volunteers of Bridge to Home with helping
him make positive changes in his life. In
addition to being a client, he helps out at the
shelter, and is hoping to move into affordable,
permanent housing soon.
“I’ve been doing everything I can to get out
of here, and it’s
going to happen
soon,” he said.
Crosby said he
strives to be a positive
influence in the
lives of others at the
shelter, and said he
also helps counsel
others who have
dealt with substance
abuse.
“God puts people
in your path for a
reason,” he said.
“It’s been a long road. If I don’t give up, there’s
many opportunities.”
Illegal Campsite Cleanups
Over the past year, Bridge to Home officials
have assisted with efforts by the city of Santa
Clarita and the SCV Sheriff’s Station to remove
homeless camps from the Santa Clara
River bed. Officials have cited code violations
and crime concerns as reasons for the
cleanup efforts.
“To date, there have been a total of 140 illegal
campsites that have been cleaned up, 32
on private property and 108 on public property,”
said Tom Cole, Santa Clarita’s director
of Community Development.
He said officials have seen a number of individuals
return to the same areas to set up
“My experience before I
came here was awful. It was
dark, I was alone and I was
afraid. It’s taken me three
and a half years to learn to
walk across the street and
hold my head up.”
new campsites. Cole said the city and Sheriff’s
Department have been carrying out the
cleanup efforts on a monthly basis, with no
plans at this point to discontinue the program.
Davis said when city and sheriff’s officials
go out prior to removing camps to make contact
with homeless individuals, Bridge to
Home staff and volunteers go along to let
people know about
resources and help
that are available for
them.
He said the visits
also provide an opportunity
to survey
homeless individuals
using the Service
Prioritization Decision
Assistance Tool,
or SPDAT, to interview
people.
“It gives you a real
good reading of
what the issues are that the client has,” Davis
said.
The SPDAT compiles survey information to
score the individual on a scale of 1-4, he said,
1 signifying the individual has very low barriers
to entry to get off the streets, and 4 signifying
high barriers and that the person
would likely require supportive housing and
case management services.
Davis said the cleanup efforts have resulted
in success stories.
Bridge to Home officials have met about
100 people through the course of the
cleanups, he said, and added about 40 have
been able to get into assistance programs
and about 40 have moved into housing.
However, through the course of outreach
there are individuals who either won’t or
Mike Crosby, a longtime Santa Clarita Valley resident,
has been a shelter client since 2011 and credits
its services and volunteers for many positive
changes in his life. phoTo By JoSh pReMAko
can’t take help, Davis said.
“It’s very complicated,” he said. “We’re seeing
a number of people with drug, alcohol
and mental health issues that don’t want
help.”
Davis has described the SCV’s homeless
population as generally falling into three categories:
Those who are briefly homeless due
to any number of life situations, such as losing
a job and falling behind on bills; those who
may go through several years of being in and
See Bridge to Home, page 22