Jim Featherstone Quotations

People are confused and think there are one group of homeless. Thirty percent of the homeless that use the shelter are employed, a third have high school diplomas and 10 percent have college degrees. Only 6 percent are on public assistance.

People not only had economic issues, at that time we began to see an epidemic of drug and alcohol abuse. Drug and alcohol addiction made it difficult for many to hold jobs and keep the family together.

Napa County doesn't have that many mentally ill homeless. It's only about 15 percent. The county has many aggressive programs to reach that population.

We do have a group of about 50 people who are chronic homeless. They use the winter shelter when the weather is bad, but once it gets warm they are back at their makeshift camps under the bridges and along the river. They make very little effort to use the homeless services and improve their lives. We can offer all the programs in the world, but if they don't want to use them and don't want to change their lifestyles, there isn't much we can do about it.