Thread by @MtnShepherdess

@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller I wanted to share with you a very serious problem for Fresno's homeless, most of whom have disabilities like mental illness. Fresno & @FresnoCountyCA do NOT provide them with bus passes to get to appts. -Michaela /1
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@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller @FresnoCountyCA @threadreaderapp 2/ County case workers from Behavioral Health, did NOT meet clients needing housing throughout Fresno OR give them bus passes. Clients required to go to meetings every 2 wks with case manager. Case closed for housing if appts missed, including due to transportation prob.-Michaela

@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller @FresnoCountyCA @threadreaderapp @threadreaderapp unroll

@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller @FresnoCountyCA @threadreaderapp 3/ The majority of Fresno's homeless suffer from mental illness, a brain malfunction (look at the pictures of brain colors on Google Images) and are NOT receiving Social Security disability, which in most cases takes yrs to be approved and an atty to appeal at fed level.-Michaela

@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller @FresnoCountyCA @threadreaderapp 4/ I liken the process to taking our most vulnerable, forcing them to climb Mt. Everest, and the few that complete the grueling obstacle course are pushed off the top of the mtn, because that is the downright cruel game played by our gov & society on most vulnerable.-Michaela

@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller @FresnoCountyCA @threadreaderapp 5/ I am a SF Bay Area paralegal who moved to Fresno 4 yrs ago for cheaper rent & a Social Work degree @fresnostate . My plans derailed by sick, hospital, yrs long wait for gov apt. Sleep in my car. -Michaela

@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller @FresnoCountyCA @threadreaderapp @FresnoState 6/ I do not drink, use drugs, or have a criminal history. There is no place for me in Fresno 's transitional housing. I've tried them: creepy, abusive, unprofessional, unethical, and lacking in training in the primary causes of homelessness: mental illness. Grade: F. -Michaela

@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller @FresnoCountyCA @threadreaderapp @FresnoState 7/ I used my SF Bay Area paralegal education & law ofc experience in court-appointed conservatorships to get a homeless schizophrenic veteran off the sts of north Fresno where he'd been for 4 yrs. I got him his disability. No one -feds, state, county, or city - came to help him.

@DaniBergstrom @Maxwell4Fresno @thaddeusmiller @FresnoCountyCA @threadreaderapp @FresnoState 8/ Fortunately that homeless veteran was legally entitled to many VA services. He just needed help in getting them. We have bright, kind, talented, gifted people on our sts who've got portions of their brains that don't work. Then people complain sick
haven't progressed 🤨.-