Homeless Shelter is being pushed for North San Rafael

Homeless services advocates seek support for North San Rafael center

This vacant building at 67 Mark Drive in San Rafael is being considered as a year-round emergency shelter for homeless. Alan Dep — Marin Independent Journal

By Stephanie Weldy, Marin Independent Journal

POSTED: 06/24/16, 8:39 PM PDT | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO

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Cia Byrnes, executive director of Ritter Center, stands at the nonprofit’s building in downtown San Rafael. Ritter Center might move with other programs for the homeless to a vacant building at 67 Mark Drive in San Rafael.Alan Dep — Marin Independent Journal

Promoters of a plan to consolidate some of Marin’s homeless services are launching a public effort to gather support for a homeless multi-service center in North San Rafael.

“This offers the possibility of connecting people sleeping on floors with showers and other services that could get them to be housed,” said Cia Byrnes, executive director of the Ritter Center, a nonprofit that serves the poor.

The idea is to move the Ritter Center from its downtown San Rafael site to a vacant building in an industrial area south of Smith Ranch Road.

Under the proposal, the organization would not be the only one relocating to the 24,000-square-foot building at 67 Mark Drive.

St. Vincent de Paul Society would move some services to the site, excluding its dining room. The REST program, the county’s rotating emergency shelter program now operated by volunteers only during the winter, would also call the site home.

The goal is to establish a year-round emergency shelter there that would replace the REST program’s rotating shelter staged at churches and synagogues during cold months. See full article in the Marin IJ

Editor's Note:  A few years back, then CSD Board President Bruce Anderson  (currently the moderator for NextDoor/Lucas Valley) proposed that Marinwood Community Center become a "Temporary Homeless Shelter" if needed.  The board consisting of Cyane Dandridge, Leah Kleinman-Green, Tarey Reed, and Bill Hansel   approved unanimously.  Ir never was adopted because of the distance from downtown.  If the shelter comes to North San Rafael,  it is likely that a "temporary" homeless shelter may be located in our neighborhoods at Marinwood Plaza, Big Rock Deli or the Marinwood Community Center.  I believe these voluntary agreements are valid for ten years.  Lucas Valley Community Church at the corner of Lucas Valley Road and Las Gallinas also participates in homeless services.