Report Back from Senior Lobby Day

Two scooter-riding Seniors from St. Mary’s Center volunteered to participate in the March 25 Corporation for Supportive Housing Lobby Day. We investigated the transit options from Oakland to Sacramento and were grateful when the district director for State Senator Jesse Arreguin offered to host a meeting in their Oakland office. Ms. Lillian Walker and Mr. Lee Williams raced downtown and met up with executive director Sharon Cornu at the State Building. It took extra effort to pass through security, but staff were helpful, and we arrived a little early. We reviewed the helpful documents prepared by CSH about:

• Budget Request: Funding for Medi-Cal Housing Support Services Benefit (Assembly Bill 804 support)
• Budget Request: Funding the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program
• Budget Request: Homeless/Housing Support for LA Fire Victims
• Assembly Bill 1229 (Schultz): Budget Request: Reducing Homelessness in the Prison Re-entry Population
• Assembly Bill 1165 (Gipson): CA Housing Justice Act

We met with Ariana Casanova and Ericka Neal from Senate District 7, and Haley Hester from Assemblymember Mia Bonta’s District 18 office, then with Ilaf Esuf and Daijon Jackson from Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ District 14 office.

We thanked Assemblymember Wicks’ team for her leadership on AB 804 which would provide housing navigation and support services to Medi-Cal patients as a benefit, because housing is health. We asked for support of AB 1229 to assist people coming home after incarceration with better access to housing and services. We thanked her for sponsoring a $10  billion State housing bond and said that St. Mary’s Center would be involved in local efforts in Alameda County.

We highlighted the need for housing that people can afford, and services that help people complete the obstacle course to go from being unhoused to becoming and remaining housed.