Being homeless for the holidays is a hard place to be, but there are people in Sacramento that are helping make it easier. Their jobs may seem hard, or even thankless, yet they put their hearts into it to help others, and set a wonderful example to others on giving back.

Teresa Olivas, who has a passion for helping the helpless, is just such a person. Without her as an advocate, many of the homeless could lose hope.

This month, Olivas celebrated her first year anniversary as part of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership’s (DSP) 3-person Navigator Homeless Outreach Team. The DSP represents downtown property and business owners and has been the voice of Downtown since 1995.

As a Navigator, her goal is simple, to help homeless individuals find solutions to end their state of homelessness. Navigators serve as a bridge that links homeless on the streets of Downtown Sacramento with social services. They serve as a guide helping their clients navigate the complex social service network to get the care and support they need.

“Every day, I go out there and help homeless individuals that no one else will touch,” said DSP Navigator Olivas. “I meet people everyday and guide them through the steps.”

Monday through Friday, you’ll find Teresa and the rest of the Navigator team walking the DSP’s 66-block district and connecting with the homeless on the street. On average, navigators meet with at least 20 people a week. Some are familiar faces of chronic homeless people while others are new or recently homeless.

For some of her homeless clients, that process could be quick, lasting just a few encounters. For other clients with more complex situations, it could take over a year to build rapport before they can even begin work with social services.

“I’ve been working with one of my clients over a year and in all that time he declined our offers to help him. Then, very recently he decided he wanted help,” said Olivas. “I think because we gave him hope and we were a consistent presence, always checking in on him every day.”

Now, that those barriers have been broken down her goal is to get this particular client, who had been homeless for a year, into housing. Olivas partnered with Loaves & Fishes’ mental health counselor to identify and address his issues with depression. She has also been his advocate and helped him secure a reference letter from the property manager at his previous residence, and identified properties locally within his budget.

“Not every case is the same. Sometimes you’re able to help someone immediately,” said Olivas.  

In another recent case, she met two youths that had just moved from Santa Cruz and lost their apartment. She was able to connect them with Guest House, a facility that also helps clients with reinstating social security benefits. She also referred them to the winter shelter. They called her that same day to tell her they were ok and had been placed.

Olivas came to be a Navigator after being clean and sober for 14 years. She decided to give back to the community and took a position with the Sacramento Volunteers of America (VOA) as a mental health outreach worker. In that role, she would often team up with DSP’s Navigators to provide support to homeless clients. But, when her program funding at the VOA was cut she found herself out of work. She later reconnected with the Navigator team when an opening became available.

Having worked with the Navigators through the VOA, Olivas knew that the Navigator Team connects homeless individuals with local community service programs, facilitates access to care, and identifies solutions to improve clients living conditions and quality of life. Their goal is to increase access to care and to identify long-term solutions to improve their clients’ quality of life and ultimately end their state of homelessness. Her work was cut out for her.

Today Olivas continues her passion by serving homeless clients through:

• Accompanying them to appointments
• Reviewing paperwork
• Following up on their waiting list status
• Arranging transportation for meetings
• Accompanying them to access services
• Partnering with social service organizations to provide care to them
• Monitoring their social service availability
• Finding places for them to stay

“I really enjoy working with the people that wouldn’t normally get the time of day,” said Olivas. “This is one of the only outreach programs in Sacramento. It [the Navigator program] is a one of a kind program that actually seeks out homeless people to help.

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