This Church In San Francisco Allows Homeless to Sleep Overnight

St. Boniface church in San Francisco opened its doors almost 15 years ago to the homeless in the region providing bedrooms. Father Louis Vitale began offering the church as sleeping quarters, along with Shelly Roder, a community activist, in 2004. The project has the name of The Gubbio Project.

Blankets Are Handed Out For People to Sleep in Pews

Each day hundreds of people make their way to the church and once there they are given blankets and use the pews as their beds. When people walk into the church, there are no questions asked, and this removes all of the barriers. People do not have to sign intake forms or any sign-sheets, and no one is ever turned away. It is said that everyone is welcomed at the church; they are treated with dignity and respect.

The church also remains open for those wanting to attend church in the day; however, there is a portion, around two-thirds, that remains reserved specifically for the Gubbio project.

A representative of the project said that what they are doing sends out a message that is powerful to the neighbors who are not housed. It was said that they are a part of the community and should not be sent out when people come to the church to worship.

It was said that the project also sends out a message to those attending mass in that the community includes people who are tired, poor and who have issues with mental health, along with those who are cold, dirty and wet.

One of the biggest complaints associated with homeless shelters is that they are made to feel like prisons. They can also be very dangerous places to be, and the Gubbio project is different. 95% of the people asked said that they are always made to feel safe, and they do not feel like prisoners.

Seattle, San Francisco and California All Try To Keep Homeless Away

It was only last year when the city of Seattle announced they were planning to put up fencing with razor-wire to keep the homeless from setting up camps. Shortly after that, it was revealed that in San Francisco the city was using robots to frighten homeless people away from camps along with them being reported to the police.

San Francisco spent $8, 700 on the installation of huge boulders putting them underneath underpasses to stop homeless people from camping. There had been reports of numerous camps set up by the homeless in the region, and they were forced from the area. The government in the city is said to be doing everything possible to stop homeless people from setting camps back up in the city.

In Wells Park in El Cajon in California, a group of activists was recently arrested when they fed homeless people in the park, this included a boy of just 14 years. Authorities claimed that the law was in place to stop the spread of disease; however, the activists complained that they had used this to criminalize the homeless people.