Community Through Hope held a peaceful rally on Oct. 26 at Chula Vista City Hall requesting the formation of a committee that will benefit unsheltered populations, accountability and collaboration in finding equitable solutions.
This is the nonprofit organization’s first rally. According to their Chief Executive Officer, Rosy Vasquez, the rally is a direct response to the city returning a donated homeless shelter worth $800,000.
“We need to let the city of Chula Vista know that the community does care. We would like to be engaged in the process of taking a look at options that are available for us to be able to support the unsheltered living on the streets. We are hoping that today’s rally will inspire both city council and community members to work together” Vasquez said.
Last May, the Lucky Duck Foundation donated the Sprung Bridge Shelter to Chula Vista which had the capacity to hold 250 people. Chula Vista Director of Development services Tiffany Allen and Senior Management Analyst Angelica Davis from the Housing Division announced the city would not utilize the shelter since congregate housing is not recommended during the pandemic. Plans to utilize individual options such as a “Tiny Home” design that will offer more dignity to the unsheltered community are underway.
“We needed that tent. It was for unsheltered people to be safe,” Vasquez said.“Though, Tiny Homes sound great, when might that happen? It poured rain last night and people slept out on the sidewalk. People probably got sick and lost their items. If the tent had been well thought out, and if we worked together as a community, we might've had that tent in the interim of getting something better like Tiny Homes”.
Further discussion on Tiny Homes was scheduled for City Council on Oct. 26, but was moved to Nov.9. Last week, the Chula Vista Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit informed Vasquez of this change. According to Vasquez, the CVPD expressed concern of rally participants attending under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“How marginalizing is it that the police department would think we would have a peaceful rally around the homeless, and the homeless are going to show up and be high. I did not find the conversation to be helpful in any way. I feel like that phone call makes it even more imperative that we rally today and we ask for accountability. We are not afraid to expect our city to do the right thing by the poorest of the poor.”
Rally speaker, John Brandy shared his lived experience of being unsheltered in San Diego for a year before finding shelter with Our Voices of the City Choir, full time employment and eventually began advocacy work for the unsheltered. Additionally, Senior Pastor Elizabeth “Liz” Aguilar and Sebastian Martinez, Executive Director of Community Through Hope addressed the public.
“You know that saying to look for the light at the end of the tunnel? When you are on the streets the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of a lamp of an oncoming train. There is nothing good about your day. It is a struggle from the moment that you get up, to the moment you lay your head down, and throughout the night with everything that is going on around you” Brady said.
Community Through Hope conducted research and collaborated with organizations and local community leaders to ensure peace in organizing the event. According to Vazquez, the calls for transparency are in the spirit of collaboration.
“When people have peaceful rallies, it does light a fire under organizations or bureaucracy to take a look at their behavior and how they can make changes to do the right thing. We are not trying to do anything other than raise awareness and hopefully go into action alongside the city of Chula Vista to help those in need. This is not an adversarial move. This is what communities need to do when they need accountability” Vasquez said.
