Score: 0
(0/17/0)
Santa Cruz County Grand Jury
• 2020-2021
Homelessness: Big Problem, Little Progress It's Time To Think Outside The Box
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 22 findings
F1
The inaccuracy of the HUD PIT Count results in significant numbers of homeless adults and children not being counted and therefore not receiving needed services.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Santa Cruz County and Cities should coordinate to perform a count of the number of homeless individuals in the County annually, and use that contact opportunity to encourage individuals to enroll in the Smart Path system. (F1)
F2
The lack of coordination between key stakeholders is a significant barrier to the efficient and capable implementation of homelessness solutions.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and City Councils should jointly develop programs, services, and housing equitably distributed throughout each district and city in the County, communicating to the public an itemized list of such and broken down by supervisorial district by July 1, 2021. (F2)
F3
The public opposition to homeless solutions is partially due to a lack of education, engagement and political will by City and County leadership.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
By December 31, 2020, the Santa Cruz Administrative Officer (CAO) and Cities should create a Community Task Force that includes City Managers, nonprofit leaders, former homeless individuals, media personnel, community members, and political leaders to create good will, and encourage collaboration in solving homeless issues. (F3, F4)
F4
Santa Cruz County elected officials have been unable to combat NIMBYism, which is a significant barrier to getting projects approved and built to support the homeless.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
By December 31, 2020, the Santa Cruz Administrative Officer (CAO) and Cities should create a Community Task Force that includes City Managers, nonprofit leaders, former homeless individuals, media personnel, community members, and political leaders to create good will, and encourage collaboration in solving homeless issues. (F3, F4)
F5
Inconsistent and unclear funding sources and processes inhibit the effective implementation of solutions that require long term planning and sustained operations.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Santa Cruz County and Cities should collaborate to develop a JPA that would be responsible for setting short and long term goals to reduce homelessness, measuring the cost of homelessness, allocating funding, and tracking the effectiveness of funding, by July 1, 2021. (F5, F6, F19)
F6
The Homeless Action Partnership (HAP) is not organizationally equipped with the appropriate authority, structure, leadership, staff, training or processes and as a result is ineffective in its mission of reducing homelessness.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Santa Cruz County and Cities should collaborate to develop a JPA that would be responsible for setting short and long term goals to reduce homelessness, measuring the cost of homelessness, allocating funding, and tracking the effectiveness of funding, by July 1, 2021. (F5, F6, F19)
F7
An insufficient number of treatment facilities in Santa Cruz County for mental health and substance use disorders leaves homeless individuals without necessary treatment options.
Related Recommendations (2)
R5
The Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency should expand relationships with regional psychiatric hospitals to identify more beds and treatment options when they are unavailable in Santa Cruz County by December 31, 2020. (F7)
R16
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors should request the Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer investigate and report on the viability of converting the underutilized County Juvenile Hall campus, located at 3650 Graham Hill Rd, Felton, CA into a facility focused on fulfilling crucial homeless, mental health and substance abuse needs by December 31, 2020. (F7)
F8
Because Santa Cruz County lacks adequate prevention and diversion programs, individuals who could remain in their homes with minimal cash assistance are ending up homeless.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
In the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors should direct the agencies that provide grant funding for homeless services to prioritize more funding for case managers, diversion and prevention programs, and the extension of supportive services to more than one year when appropriate. (F8, F10, F11)
F9
The lack of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) results in the significant compounding of the homeless issue.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
The Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer (CAO) and the County’s City Managers should identify parcels of land within their jurisdictions that could be utilized to supply homeless services and/or temporary or permanent housing, and report such sites to their governing bodies by December 31, 2020. (F9, F21)
F10
Supportive services are limited to one year; this limitation can contribute to instability, a loss of housing, and a return to homelessness.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
In the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors should direct the agencies that provide grant funding for homeless services to prioritize more funding for case managers, diversion and prevention programs, and the extension of supportive services to more than one year when appropriate. (F8, F10, F11)
F11
A lack of case managers and outreach results in homeless individuals not having timely access to necessary supportive services.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
In the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors should direct the agencies that provide grant funding for homeless services to prioritize more funding for case managers, diversion and prevention programs, and the extension of supportive services to more than one year when appropriate. (F8, F10, F11)
F12
There are parcels of land throughout the county that appear to be unused or underutilized, and could possibly be used to build housing for the homeless.
No recommendations for this finding
F13
Santa Cruz County law enforcement response to homeless, addiction, and mental health issues has the potential to criminalize social, medical, and psychological conditions. This requires law enforcement to perform the role of social worker; a role for which they lack the resources and mental health training.
Related Recommendations (2)
R9
By December 31, 2020, the City of Santa Cruz should evaluate whether closing Coral Street permanently to thru traffic, to make more space available for additional housing and services for the homeless, would be a viable option. (F13)
R18
Santa Cruz County should create a 24-hour mobile crisis response unit that includes medical staff and an experienced crisis worker to respond to emergency 911 calls and non-emergency police calls that do not involve legal issues or threats of violence. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors should work with the County’s law enforcement agencies to identify funds in their budgets that could be allocated to this program. The Grand Jury recommends the County consider using CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) in Eugene, Oregon as a model. (F13)
F14
There is a lack of leadership from County and City officials to engage the business community in exploring potential solutions to homelessness.
Related Recommendations (1)
R10
Beginning in December of 2020, the Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer and the County’s City Managers should direct their agencies involved with homelessness to engage with local business leaders including Chambers of Commerce, to collaborate on innovative solutions that could reduce the number of homeless. (F14)
F15
The Rountree Detention Center provides inmates with construction skills training. This training could be effectively applied to the building of tiny homes or other structures that could provide much needed housing.
Related Recommendations (1)
R11
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff should assess the viability of instituting a program at the Rountree Detention Center to train inmates to build small housing structures such as tiny homes or ADUs, to increase the amount of homeless housing. The results of this should be reported to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors by December 31, 2020. (F15)
F16
Santa Cruz County and Cities, despite owning numerous parking lots, choose not to utilize their parking lots for safe parking programs, which results in an underutilization of resources that could help reduce homeless parking in neighborhoods and business districts.
Related Recommendations (1)
R12
By December 31, 2020, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the County’s City Managers should direct appropriate agencies and staff to implement a city and county wide safe parking program using the successful model of the Association of Faith Communities (AFC). This should include investigating whether college campus parking lots could be incorporated into this program. (F16)
F17
Faith-Based Organizations are an underutilized resource in the effort to end homelessness.
Related Recommendations (1)
R13
Santa Cruz County and Cities should coordinate a retreat for all Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) in the County to collaborate on how to work cohesively on the issue of homelessness. (F17)
F18
Due to the inconsistent collection of Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data, the accuracy of funding decisions for service providers is negatively impacted.
Related Recommendations (1)
R14
Effective with fiscal year 2021-2022, the Santa Cruz County Administrative Office should work with the Homeless Action Partnership (HAP) to ensure that grants awarded to homeless service providers require a contract that mandates the use of the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). (F18)
F19
Santa Cruz County lacks an organization that is accountable for tracking the cost of homelessness, allocating funding, and measuring the effectiveness of funding which results in the inability to make progress toward solving the homeless problem.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Santa Cruz County and Cities should collaborate to develop a JPA that would be responsible for setting short and long term goals to reduce homelessness, measuring the cost of homelessness, allocating funding, and tracking the effectiveness of funding, by July 1, 2021. (F5, F6, F19)
F20
There are tools available, such as Santa Clara County’s “Silicon Valley Triage Tool," that could be applied to Santa Cruz County to allow the County to better understand the true cost of homelessness enabling the County to use public resources more efficiently.
Related Recommendations (1)
R15
By the beginning of fiscal year 2021-2022, Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer should develop and implement a system for tracking the cost of homeless, fashioned after the Silicon Valley Triage Tool, and require it be utilized by all agencies receiving funding for homeless services of any kind. (F20)
F21
If underutilized parcels of land throughout Santa Cruz County were identified, such as the area near Coral Street in Santa Cruz, and the parcel adjacent to the County Government Mental Health Building in Watsonville, these parcels could potentially be used to increase the number of beds and services to support the homeless.
Related Recommendations (2)
R6
The Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer (CAO) and the County’s City Managers should identify parcels of land within their jurisdictions that could be utilized to supply homeless services and/or temporary or permanent housing, and report such sites to their governing bodies by December 31, 2020. (F9, F21)
R17
By December 31, 2020, Santa Cruz County Planning Department should evaluate whether using the parcel of land adjacent to the County Mental Health Building to provide more temporary or permanent housing for the homeless would be a viable option, and report the results to the Board of Supervisors by December 31, 2020. (F21)
F22
The information provided in the ADU section of the Santa Cruz County Planning Department’s website is not user friendly, and therefore not as encouraging as it could be to homeowners looking to build much needed housing for the County.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
Santa Cruz County should redesign their Planning Department's ADU web page to showcase and direct interested visitors to begin the ADU process online, using the San Jose or Santa Clara Planning Department's web sites as a model by December 31, 2020. (F22)
Conclusions 1
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CL1 Page 43The issue of homelessness in Santa Cruz County is not new, nor is it going to be solved overnight. Santa Cruz County has a lot of challenging work ahead. There are five key areas this Grand Jury has identified that are in need of attention. First and foremost is the need for the community and the elected leadership to work more closely together to come up with solutions to address the multitude of issues faced by the County. Education of the community to the realities of the homeless problem, and engaging the community more into the process would allow elected officials to exercise the political will needed to provide additional housing and services throughout the County. Second, there is a need for a new governance structure to be accountable for managing the complexity of the homeless problem, and it is recommended the County consider the formation of a JPA, a legal entity with representation from all the Cities in the County. The JPA would need strong leadership to oversee the allocation of funding, take responsibility for measuring and tracking effectiveness, and hold organizations accountable for non-performance. Third, additional funding must be allocated to improve services and increase case managers available to homeless individuals. To minimize the cycling in and out of the judicial and medical systems due to illnesses such as mental health and substance abuse, and to reduce burden on law enforcement, the county should adopt a 24-hour crisis response team similar to Oregon’s CAHOOTS team. Funding is also needed to increase the number of shelter beds and permanent supportive housing if Santa Cruz County is ever to make a dent in the overall number of homeless persons in the County. The promotion of ADUs to increase the supply of affordable housing would reduce the strain on the housing market which is forcing so many to live on the streets, in their cars, or on someone’s couch. Fourth, Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz Cities should be more effective in utilizing existing resources. County and City owned land should be made available to provide safe parking, and to build easily constructed homeless communities, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing using a variety of shelter options such as tiny homes and trailers. In addition, there is a need for closer engagement with local businesses and faith-based organizations who can be significant assets in providing solutions to the homeless crisis. And finally, all participants in the homelessness effort must be rowing in the same direction. New data gathering and measuring mechanisms need to be adopted by all agencies supporting the homeless. Consistent and accurate data is vital to enable the entire system to work effectively for all.
Commendations 1
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CM1 Page 48C1. The Grand Jury would like to commend the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Cruz County Human Services Agency for building the South County Behavioral Health facility, thereby expanding behavioral health services in the South County. C2. The Grand Jury would like to commend the vast number of individuals, non-profits, faith-based organizations and County agencies, who are dedicated and working hard to support and reduce the homeless population in Santa Cruz County.
Agency Responses 3
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.