Antioch's Unhoused Resident Coordinator Leaves

We advocated for years for an unhoused resident coordinator to interact with the unhoused, local non-profits, and community members to help the homeless on the streets. We got one who did not even do outreach and got most of her information from Code Enforcement and APD. Made it hard for our friends to get into the motel voucher program (which she did not bring forward or assist folks when they got in) because she said they had to have a viable exit strategy, mind you they could only be there for 3 days. If it was that easy majority of people wouldn't be on the streets. She worked with APD and attended and assisted in encampment sweeps and barely ever answered calls from the unhoused who were begging for help. In my opinion she came across as lacking compassion for those on the streets and was more focused on making Antioch look good with false statistics.

She ends up quitting after about two years and left us with no safe parking, no bathrooms, no additional showers, no managed encampments, no nothing and the city gave her salary of $120,000 to the consultants Focus Strategies who we already use and don't even ask me what they do because I haven't seen anything in council meetings that is worth all of the money the city gives them. They aren't even located in California!

How in the hell are they going to take on the unhoused resident coordinators position from another state!!? How are they going to reach out to folks on the streets, go into their areas and figure out their needs? Collaborate with locals who serve the unhoused?

Andrew Becker speaks at the city council meeting on January 24, 2023. We can understand his frustration with the city of Antioch.