Archives



‘That’s how it feels to be homeless’

Posted on February 6, 2022 by Sonoma Valley Sun

Nancy, age 62, is a client of Sonoma Overnight Support, which oversees overnight parking for the homeless in the city-owned parking lot on First Street West. The city is nearing a decision this month to move the SOS Safe Parking Program to the nearby Veterans Building lot or a municipal yard on Eighth Street East. A council vote will likely come Feb. 16.

Meanwhile, Nancy is is scheduled to move into Los Guilicos Village, the County’s tiny-home village near Kenwood. It’s good news — shelter at last. But it’s a hard life. “Sometimes,” she says, “you feel invisible, because they look right through you, and then other times you wish you were invisible. Certain things happen in our lives – it takes a turn for the worse, and you may not see it coming and protect yourself.

“I’m a certified nurses aide, and I do in-home healthcare. Then COVID hit, which scared me to death, because I’m in my sixties. I have diabetes and high blood pressure, and I was afraid. Savings, you know, only last so long. What hurts me the most is when I’m looked at as less than a human being, because I’m still a human being.

“That’s how it feels to be homeless.” 




Sonoma Sun | Sonoma, CA