Homeless in Novato For my topic of study I wanted to look into the local population of homeless people in Novato. Ive lived in Novato since I was three years old and their have always been a few homeless that i have always seen. However the past few years it seems as if we have more homeless than before. I wanted to know why this could be happening and who are the homeless in Novato. Novato seems to have a homeless person panhandling on each busy street corner. I wanted to know why these people are homeless and what their living conditions were. If there are any trends that connect them together and what help do they get in town. Also how do they live their lives. What tips do they use when panhandling or how do they get their own money. What …show more content…
The layout of the land in Novato provides a great place for homeless encampments. It isn't as densely populated as a lot of the other towns and is full of space. It has long stretches of woods, bridges, and waterways that are close to shopping centers. I found that the homeless in Novato are split into three areas in town. Bel Marin Keys lagoon where there is a lot space and isolation but there is not a lot of food or shopping near by. The creeks in downtown Novato that is full of bridges and natural shelter for people to stay overnight. These points seem to have a lot more people probably because of all the stores nearby. Lastly Rowland plaza and Vintage Oaks shopping center which is the most popular place for them due to the high traffic. This is where I did most of my observing because there was always someone out. During this time I talked to a police officer about the homeless encampments in the area and the information that they had. He told me that they have had almost two hundred encounters with the homeless this year. They are getting calls more frequently about their encampments and give them fliers for local shelters and social services. That drove me into finding what shelters and social services do we have in the area for them to go to. The two main ones that I found were Homeward Bound of Marin and the Novato Human Needs Center. I learned from asking questions over the phone that there is a lot more than the homeless that I had thought of before. The homeless are split into two categories between sheltered and unsheltered. About sixty percent of the homeless in Novato are sheltered. In Novato there are an equal amount of homeless who are living in cars as their are living in encampments. What I also learned from them is why the rate of homeless in Novato is increasing. Due to the increase in popularity all of marin has an increasing homeless rate. Many can't